Is food good or bad? Does eating a thing on your “bad” list of foods once in a while something you should feel guilty about? Are there actual foods that you need to eliminate from your eating completely because they are “bad”? Let have a look.
STICKING TO THE PLAN 100% – DOOMED FOR FAILURE
So the usual scenario plays out like this – you have been completely on track all week with you eating and training. You have been kicking goals all week with how much you have been sticking to “the plan”. You cut out all those naughty carbs and made sure that you rejected every chance that came up to eat some chocolate. Nothing can beat your WILLPOWER!!!.
There is just one problem – Life!. It manages to get in the way all the time and the best laid plans just seem to not work as well. You see it can be anything
- Your boss giving you too much work and not enough time,
- Staying up late one night of the week which leads to most nights of the week and you just feel like a zombie by the end of the week
- Partners/kids providing various amounts of stress
THE REALITY
Also these things are designed to crack away at your will power so by the end of the work week all of the limits you placed on yourself seem to push you more towards binging and going off the plan. For a lot of people this small divergents from the plan can cause the “oh well” moment (credit to Layne Norton). This is the moment where the small treat of a chocolate becomes the whole block and then the whole weekend of binging. Then by Sunday the feelings of guilt hit and its back to “the plan”.
So even though this might sound grim there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it can be all in the way you think about your behaviours. Recently I was able to attend a seminar with Laurin Conlin (MS(C), IFBB BIKINI PRO) and she completed a presentation on eating behaviours which gave an insight for me on what some of the best ways to influence people to reach their goals.
FLEXIBLE VS RIGID DIETING
Each approach has its own characteristic which really seem to lean towards a flexible approach to dieting having better physical and mental outcomes
RIGID DIETING
What is it?
- it is a “all or nothing” approach to eating behaviours and general view of the person dieting e.g this could be the person who is eating in a usual behaviour and when they decide to lose some weight for an event or summer go straight to a detox, 5/2 diet or eliminating carbs or fat (the “all or nothing” options)
What are the down sides?
- people with this view can have more and severe binge episodes
- more abnormal relationships with food and feelings of guilt associated with food
FLEXIBLE DIETING
What is it?
- Best described as a more moderate approach to eating behaviours and attitudes e.g when this person decides to lose weight they take into account that they may not be able to follow their plan 100% and any hiccups along the way are taken in context and forgotten.
What are some upsides?
- Less disturbed eating behaviours than previously mentioned
- Able to handle “real world” scenarios better without resorting the the “oh well” approach
WHAT CAN I DO WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE?
Here are some take home points to think about with yourself
- Out of the two approaches best describes you view on eating?
- Do you adopt a “all or nothing approach” to eating?
- Are there ways you can be more moderate in your eating behaviors?
- Would being more knowledgeable about food help you adopt a more moderate approach?
If the concept of flexible and rigid view of dieting is new to you in can be a very powerful thing that can give you ownership over your own eating behaviors.
Implementing this approach takes coaching and guidance and that is where Fortitude Performance comes in.
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ARE YOU
- Lacking Motivation?
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IT INCLUDES
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Do You Want Results Like This?
