Australian outback, schmoutback. If you're up to a true challenge, talk about losing weight. The tests: Surviving going to a buffet and choosing the salad bar instead. Choosing to exercise during the one hour you have to yourself. Staying motivated when you hit a plateau ... now there's a challenge!
- Downing diet soda. I was a guzzler. It was not unusual for me to gulp down three or four glasses of soda at one sitting. Once I decided to add up how many calories those sodas amounted to. Can you believe I was drinking more than 2000 calories a day just in soda?
After years of swearing that I would never drink diet sodas, I switched. I couldn't stand diet sodas at first, but the more I drank them, I got used to them, and now I actually prefer some diet sodas to their high-calorie counterparts.
- Exercising when I don't want to. Sometimes I can list a dozen things I could be doing instead of exercising. It's hard not to give in: "Well, I really do need to reorganize my closet."
The only thing that gets me to exercise when I don't want to is to think about how I will feel afterwards, knowing deep down that I have done something that is far more beneficial than arranging my clothes by color.
- There are also two other tricks I use to "force" myself to exercise. One is to focus on the benefits besides weight maintenance.
For example, when I walk on my lunch break, I remind myself that it's to get fresh air after being stuck in the office for hours and to get moving after being seated in front of my computer for a half a day. I know that it's good for my mental health and emotional well-being.
- Another way I get myself to just do it is to go ahead and change into my exercise clothes, even if I think I don't feel like exercising. Most of the time, it works; sometimes I'll end up watching TV. (Subconsciously, I think I believe that channel surfing can be considered an aerobic activity if I do it wearing spandex!)
But nine times out of 10, I feel obligated to finish what I started.
- Pack up a portion. I read this tip years ago in Prevention magazine and I recently started putting it to use. We all know how massive portion sizes have become in restaurants.
Cut your fat and calories in half by putting half of your meal in a container to take home. It cuts down on how much you are consuming in one sitting, and provides you with a meal to heat up for lunch the next day.
