In Part 1 of From Fat To Free With Food I explained the nutritional changes that were necessary for me to go from Fat to Free. Allow me to give you a little more detail into the different stages.
Stages of Nutritional Change (AKA – Going from Fat to Free with Food)
- Recognize your emotional or stress eating patterns
- Keep a food log for at least 30 days and review it weekly. Look for patterns of unusual eating. Ask yourself and make note of the times of the day when you ate certain ‘bad’ foods. Were there certain times of the week at work that were more stressful than others. Did this stress affect your work and eating?
- Set up modifications to help you manage your stressful and emotional eating situations.
The purpose of these ‘modifications’ are to keep you from falling too far off base when you do succumb to stressful or emotional eating situations. For me they include,
- Packing and bring along No Sugar Added Fudgesicles.
- Purchase and bring along low calorie yogurt such as Dannon’s Light and Fit Variety.
- Prepare and pack up some of Neil’s Yummy Yogurt Pops
- Packing Diet Soda Pop or Crystal Light To Go packets.
- Begin to create and practice healthier eating practices for daily life.
- I have created a personal food inventory that I shop and prepare meals from. This list is what I call ‘Pete’s Approved Foods’. These are my foods. Not yours. The key for you is to create a food list of acceptable foods for you! That way you can develop a way of eating that works for you personally.
- Create different eating plans and practices for different situations
- Let’s say that, for example, you have a regular outing with your family and friends every week. What I have personally done is to review the menu and food options that are available at the restaurant we are gathering at and then I select three different meals that I can eat from. This way I avoid feeling deprived and yet I still have some discipline in my eating.
- Think about and plan ahead for reoccurring food related events in your life such as office parties, family gatherings etc.
How will you approach your eating during these times? Try one or all of the following as I have personally.
- ‘Banking’ calories the day before the big event by eating less. This allows you to have more on the ‘day of’ the big event. (This caused me to overeat on the big day)
- Cutting back on the food you eat for breakfast and lunch so you save extra calories for that big dinner event. (This has been moderately successful)
- Not eating lunch or snacks before the big dinner event. (This has been moderately successful for me)
- Eating a small meal one hour before the big dinner event. (This has worked best for me personally.)
- Repeat the above behaviors over and over until they become second nature.
To go from Fat To Free With Food you will have to be an active participant in your own food choices. Five years after my appearance on The Biggest Loser I am able to maintain my success by “Managing My Mouth”.
It has not been easy but it can be done. Start by doing the things listed above and you will be well on your way to permanent success. In addition, check out HealthyWage, which provides health incentives for everyone. Incentives make accountability fun, and studies show that incentives increase your odds of success. Check it out! And keep up the good work!
This article was re-printed from a blog post over at www.WinningMan.com.
