Common Phase 1 Challenges: Family Pizza Night

“I just started the diet and my family is sitting down for Friday night pizza – it’s killing me. I can’t imagine life without a slice of pizza. How do people deal with this ongoing issue of not having your favorite foods anymore?”

I saw this request for support recently on the HMRdiet Forum. People on the diet face dilemmas like this all the time. Let’s face it - when you go on a diet, the rest of the world more-or-less carries on as usual. It may not be pizza, maybe it’s a business dinner, a special family occasion, or even a late night snack. Here’s what they all have in common: this food is nearby, it’s not “in the box”, you used to eat it (and love it), and you are so tempted…

The solution isn’t to grit your teeth and try to muster through these situations. The fact is if you are in a tempting situation like this, you need to do something – perhaps even 2-3 things. The more you do, the easier it is to stay “in the box.”

Let’s take a look at what you can do to move beyond these difficult situations and stay “in the box”:

A Little Perspective: Keep in mind that Phase 1 is the short-term part of the program. There are ways you approach food in Phase 1 that you may not need to do in Phase 2. The goal here is to give yourself permission to make being “in the box” your #1 priority in Phase 1 in the service of losing weight in the shortest possible amount of time. Phase 1 isn’t forever.

Have a conversation: Remember how you felt just before starting the diet? How much weight did you want to lose? Did you have health concerns? Did your doctor recommend that you lose weight? These factors are still important, and are something you may need to share with your family and others. Sharing these reasons with others gives weight to why you’re saying no to the foods around you that are not on your diet. And hopefully, you will get some added support as well.

Negotiate: Now that you’ve had an honest conversation about why it’s important that you lose weight, ask yourself (and others) if there is a way you can either avoid the challenging situation altogether or at least lessen the impact it will have on you. Using the pizza example above: Can the family go out for pizza while you do something else? Can they have pizza less often? Can you go for a walk while the pizza is in the house? Can they remove left-overs from the house? Can they not have pizza while you are on the diet?

Get full and stay full: If tempting food is around, it’s important to fill up on “in the box” foods, and stay full, while you are near those foods. It may mean having 2, 3, 4 or more shakes, 1 or 2 entrees (with vegetables, if on your diet), or both to be full enough. This won’t make all the urges fully go away, but it will make those urges easier to tolerate.

So, I’m curious, what are some of the techniques you’ve used to successfully fend off tempting high-calorie foods? Use the ‘add your comment below’ button to share what you’ve done.
  

 

by KeithVanGasken on 04/11/2012 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: Weight-Loss, HMR, motivation, in the box, planning, strategies