Thinking of eating chocolate or crisps? Reach for a handful of nuts instead. We’ve seen this advice before, but is it stopping your weight loss?
I followed this advice for the longest time and having seen the suggestions to do it on every health website I had ever visited I assumed it must be right. But here’s where the suggestion falls down.
1. Good foods vs Bad foods
This food is good and that food is bad and you must avoid the bad ones and eat the good ones in order to be healthy.
This is a view shared by many that actually helps very few people. Creating food rules causes feelings of restriction and the feeling that breaking those rules, as is inevitable, means that you’re “lazy” or “undisciplined”.
The truth is that some foods are more nutritious, some foods are more processed. Both have their place and depending on your goal you may have to be more mindful about your choices in order to reach your goal.
i.e – If you want to lose weight you might benefit from eating less chocolate until you reach your goal – not because it’s “bad” it’s just a calorie dense food that doesn’t keep you full for long.
2. Are you eating because you’re bored?
Oftentimes we use this strategy when we want an unhealthy snack, but how often is this craving down to true hunger? It’s more likely that it happens late at night when you’re bored or after a long day at work when you think you “deserve a treat”.
We reach for the “healthy food” alternative assuming that we’re making progress, but if you’re not hungry those “healthy” calories are still extra calories that could be stopping your weight loss.
Extra calories are extra calories. And energy balance does not lie. Too much is too much, end of.
So, what can you do?
Don’t misunderstand, your choices are your own and it’s not up to me to tell you otherwise. I’m not here to shame you, but if you’re reading this the chances are that you want to get your weight loss moving again.
The secret here is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. The urge to snack at night from boredom or stress is the real issue to be addressed. Not the nutrient content of the snack that you choose.
Instead of swapping the chocolate for celery, try sitting with that emotional hunger and see how it feels. Pretty crap at first I’ll admit. But once you can master this, there’s no need for snack swaps.
Ainzlie
p.s – making these changes to your lifestyle and mindset is challenging and sometimes a little support goes a long way. I’m taking online clients at the moment for my nutrition coaching, head over here to find out more.
