By: Marius Bezuidenhout
Well, why is it that we are always trying to make ourselves look better? We feel better when we are on diets, our skin improves, and our hair shines a little bit more and you feel 10 times better – even when we haven’t lost any weight yet. Admit it, you just feel better because you know that you are trying and have the though of “maybe one day I can be fat free too!!”
Diets have to be the most boring and painful thing in the world but there are thousands of people who start them every day, and there are also thousands who fall of the wagon and tuck into a 800g bar of chocolate, then the very next day rejoin the thousands who are starting – again!
We all know that diet foods are good for you but why don’t they taste as good as a juicy steak with chips, onion rings and lashings of gravy? If dieting and healthy eating were easy there would not overweight people in the world, every one would be skinny. But the chips aren’t going anywhere so you just have to get used to the taste of health foods and keep on trying to eat healthy.
To be on a diet doesn’t mean that you can’t have some treats, why not go on a diet from Monday to Saturday, and then treat your self on a Sunday? I don’t mean eat enough chips and chocolate until your stomach hurts and you feel physically sick, but just have a little bar of chocolate and maybe have that steak and chips. Doing this doesn’t ruin your diet, it will make you feel better and it gives you short term goals, then making the long term goal of healthy eating a lot more easy to handle.
Also, diets go hand in hand with exercise, again, not necessarily running 5 ks each morning before work but going for a 20 minute brisk walk every day, leaving out your treat day – go on, its only 20 minutes and you will be surprised at just how many calories you burn in a week. Once your fitness levels improve try to jog for 10 minutes then walk for 10, eventually you will be able to jog for 20 minutes, walking briskly does improve fitness and it doesn’t matter how overweight you are. You will feel a difference after one week.
So go on start another diet, but don’t be so strict on yourself that you are destined to failure in 2 weeks. Take it slowly and remember to have one day a week away from healthy eating and exercise – too much of something only makes you bored, so vary the healthy food you eat to keep your diet new and exciting. Good Luck.
