So, you’re following your diet, you’ve started strong, but you are a little worried…

• It’s the weekend
• You’re out on Thursday night
• It’s your birthday next week
• You’re off work tomorrow
• You’re at an all day conference on Friday

The list goes on and on.

basically, something is coming up that you know will be hard to fit in your diet. It’s a different routine, or you will be expected NOT to diet, something, whatever it is, has the audacity to get in your way!

So the natural response is

“I won’t possibly be able to diet then” or “Well I will TRY to be good”

Both of those are ridiculous, IF you are WANTING to diet. Both are just childish idiotic statements.

If you do NOT want to diet then that’s fine of course, but own it. Don’t blame the situation for you not dieting, simply admit and be comfortable with the fact that forever reason, at that particular time, you do not want to diet. And that’s fine of course. it’s your body, your diet, your journey.

But if you DO want to diet then get on top of it. You CAN say no, You don’t have to have seconds, you do NOT need dessert, you could alternate your drinks with water, whatever it is, BELIEVE ME (and bear in mind the diet that ‘I’ follow), I speak from experience that you CAN DIET , *IF YOU WANT TO*, In *ANY SITUATION*.

By diet I mean this though:

Showing some restraint, being sensible, not throwing all caution to the wind and simply thinking “Well I can’t stick to my diet here so I may as well go all out”

Slashing all 4 tyres cos one has a flat, kind of thing.

Ultimately, if all else fails and there is literally nothing you can eat or drink on your diet wherever it may be you are, your last resort weapon, your ultimate self defence, is portion size. YOU CAN control that (but whether you choose not to is your call).

What I am saying is this: No matter what is coming up, when you say “I won’t be able to diet there” or “This weekend will be messy I am with the girls” or “Saturday is going to be difficult because we are going out for a meal so not sure what will happen” what you are basically saying is:

“I have already decided I am NOT going to diet, because I don’t want to”. So in which case, just say it.

Stop using the situation to justify your decision.

BUT IF YOU DO WANT TO DIET, then approach the situation with the attitude of you ARE going to diet, and no matter what happens you WILL be doing your very best to stick to plan.

So many times members will say to me

“Yes JJ the week has gone great but I am out tomorrow with the girls so not sure what will happen”

Well from that statement I already KNOW what is going to happen, and so do you.

However, if you said to me “Week has been great JJ, and even though I am out with the girls tomorrow, I am going to finish the week strong” then all of us can sleep easy in our beds and the likelihood is, the weekend WILL go well.

because you want it to

You’re not looking at the weekend as a diet stopper, you are seeing it as a diet challenger, or at worse a simple swerve in the road, and if you find yourself having to eat slightly off plan, you won’t throw the towel in completely, you’ll just damage limitate as best you can.

At the end of the day, as I have said a million times, events, occasions, they happen all the time. If each time you decide before it even happens that you won’t be dieting, and that leads to a weekend ruined, how much progress do you think you will ultimately make?

How has it worked out so far for you doing that?

Events are part of life, they are always going to happen, you need to learn to manage them and ride with them, going with the flow. But they do NOT mean the diet is over, you can still make good choices and limit the damage

unless of course, you don’t want to. And that is YOUR choice X

EDIT (post writing this)

Just been sent a message by a member who has flown on holiday and THIS is the message she sent me:

Hi James , travelling day today, we’ve come to Kefalonia in Greece for a long weekend.
Still made good choices I think….

– Wrap with scrambled egg, bacon and salsa at the airport. (3 snacks)
– small bag of metcalfes popcorn on plane. (1 snack)
– ham and cheese salad for lunch (2 snacks)
– strawberry daiquiri (fresh made no sugar syrup so allowed 2 snacks??)

Dinner is a Greek buffet but will be careful to only have one plate portioned sensibly!
Xx

THAT would have easily been a “I can’t diet today” day, but not for this member!