It all starts with getting a deeper understanding of yourself, understanding your own behavior around food and then finding an apt solution that works for you.
The changes that we aspire to achieve with respect to our health requires minute and consistent changes in our daily routine. Make sure you don’t set short-term goals like crash diets or skipping meals for instant results, but instead focus on a long…
Let see the example of sweets and people who have a sweet tooth. There are 2 types of people:
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐈
People who can eat a small portion of a chocolate/ice-cream/other sweet (as per their macros), and then keep the rest of it back and not cheat. They have better self control with cravings.
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐈𝐈
People (myself included), who will eat a small portion of a chocolate/ice-cream/other sweet and then won’t get satisficed until the entire chocolate/sweet is finished. This type of people have poor self control and cannot trust themselves around sweets.
𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐈
Keep adding small amounts of sweets (within macros) on a daily basis. Just enough to satisfy your cravings but not as much that may cause you to consume a lot of empty calories.
𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐈𝐈
For this group of people, removing sweets completely is a much better option. Not keeping sweets that you crave at home is a practical solution. If you share your home with others (partner/friends/kids), then requesting them to stash sweets in their respective spaces but not in the shared spaces would be an intelligent plan of action.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬
Don’t bring sweets home. Go to a sweets shop and eat a single serving and come back home.
Bring home a single 10 rupee small pack (smallest SKU) of any chocolate or sweet so that you only have that available and no more.
𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭
I personally believe that learning self control during a lifestyle change, when you’re already going through a lot doesn’t make much sense. Try to create an environment where being successful is easy. We are not good decision makers (especially when we’re deprived of indulgence). Thinking about such scenarios where you have gone wrong in the past and coming up with pre-emptive strategies for such times will only reduce the decision making involved and set you up for success.
INFS Certified Fitness & Nutrition Coach
About the author
Expert Nutrition and Fitness Coach certified by INFS, an Exercise Science Specialist (ESS), a Certified Specialist in Nutrition & Lifestyle in Pregnancy from LMU University, Munich (Germany)