by Maria's Last Diet
The road to diet hell is paved with good intentions. Even when you go ahead and act on your good intentions, there will be obstacles that you didn’t expect and that you are unprepared for. Then your good intentions are overpowered. That’s dieting for you.
How can you get past the distinct possibility of not following through on your good intentions?
The solution does not lie in strengthening your intentions. The answer is to make a good plan for acting on your intention: the more specific the plan (time, place, how, etc.), the greater your chance of acting on your good intentions.
There will always be obstacles that you haven’t planned for. Even so, the specific plans you make will give you what you need to overcome these obstacles.
Let’s say you declare to yourself, “I will start my diet tomorrow.” This is an intention, pure and simple. It leaves you vulnerable for stumbling over any obstacle that may come along (changing your mind, too busy, don’t feel like it, feel daunted by the idea).
So, what happens if you make a plan? First, a slightly more specific intention: “I’ll start my diet in the morning.” Then, get more specific: “I’ll start my diet at breakfast. I’ll have a Swiss cheese omelet with 2 pieces of bacon and a fresh orange to balance it with enough protein to feel satisfied on my first diet meal.”
With this specific plan, you would be already anticipating a possible obstacle—feeling unsatisfied. Perhaps you even visually rehearsed, without realizing it.
If the unforeseen circumstance the next morning is that the bacon has passed it’s freshness date, you will still be prepared to do what you need to do according to the guiding principle of your plan—to make sure you feel satisfied. You can find something else to add to breakfast to accomplish this. So, the unanticipated obstacle, while it is an obstacle, does not loom large. You’ve reduced it with your specific plan.
On the other hand, if you and your teenage daughter have an argument first thing in the morning, can this be the unanticipated obstacle that sends your diet intentions all to hell? It could be. In this case, you didn’t anticipate that “feeling satisfied” might mean being OK emotionally, being OK in a non-food way. Will your specific plan help you here?
You’ll be surprised to learn that the planning you’ve already done in one area will help you here as well. That’s because the pressure is off having to figure out the eating part, and you have energy left to deal with your feelings. Furthermore, you’ve already empowered your intentions to start a diet—by making such a specific plan. There is now no need to re-energize these intentions at a time when your energy is taken up elsewhere.
Following up your good intentions with good plans is the best way to get on the road to diet heaven.