With Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, food is everywhere—lots and lots of high-calorie, high fat, delicious food. But this time of year doesn’t have to lead to a dieting disaster, says one expert.
Steve Siebold is author of the book Die Fat or Get Tough: 101 Differences in Thinking Between Fat People and Fit People, and has helped thousands of people lose weight.
Here are his 7 steps for making it through the holiday season and staying focused on your diet:
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Employ accountability: Get a support system in place or someone who can hold you accountable. It’s someone to help you remain compliant when there is an abundance of opportunity to make bad eating choices.
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Just say no: It’s okay to politely decline. Say something like, “Thank you, Aunt Carol. Your pie looks delicious, but I’m really committed to achieving my weight loss goals this year and will have to politely decline.”
Read Related: 6 Ways to Stick to Your Diet During the Holidays
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Feed your visions (not your belly): We need constant reminders of what we really want to accomplish this time of year. The best way to do this is to create a vision board and put it in a very visible location. It’s simply a poster board filled with pictures of lean, fit and sexy people, along with words that inspire you.
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Have a plan: Maybe it’s eating a small snack prior to trick-or-treating or Thanksgiving dinner; maybe it’s filling up on water which is good for you anyway; or maybe your plan involves steering clear of the buffet line and asking your spouse to make you a plate. Always have a plan in place.
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Create a no-cheat zone: Cheating is detrimental to your diet because one bite here turns into a little more and a little more until you’re out of control. Create a no-cheat zone. This means we see 99% compliance as failure. You wouldn’t cheat on your spouse in a committed relationship, so why would you cheat on something as important as your diet?
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Get really clear: Don’t just say “I want to lose weight.” Get ultra-specific in what you want. “I want to lose 15 pounds of fat in my gut and I refuse to let the holiday season bring me down.” “I want to get out of my size 16 dress and fit into a size 10 in the next six months.” The more you can see it, the more likely you’ll be to accomplish it.
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Stop making excuses: The holidays are just another obstacle in your weight loss journey. Develop the mental toughness to stop blaming outside factors like the season and all the food, and realize that you are the problem and you are the solution.
