This week I fell off my diet - 5 things I learned

This week, I fell off my diet.
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Okay so here is the deal...Some of you guys might be thinking, AIDAN you are a skinny B.I.T.C.H! Why are you on a diet? Well, believe it or not; I may or may not be working on a project that involves stripping down to my thong to dance like a Chippendale Dancer. Which I cannot believe! Me, a Chippendale?

When I was in middle school, I was literally the slowest in the mile run in PE. It took me 14 minutes to run a mile. Also, I cheated. You had to run around this court like 10 times. I ran like eight laps. I told my teacher I ran 10. Before you judge me, everyone did that at Presidio Middle School okay?! What it all means is I ran like a 16-minute mile.

As I mentioned, I am working on a project where I have to get down to my skivvies and I have to be hot. Getting in this kind of shape is harder than I thought! My body is certainly not a Chippendale Dancer body. So I put myself on a diet of chicken and vegetables. I’m working out every day. I was doing great for about two weeks, then it all fell apart.

Five things I learned:
5. Keeping a fit body has to be a lifestyle
I have been a serial dieter all my life. Seriously the only thing that has ever worked for me is small changes in my diet that I can stick to over time.

This time around I trying to do a crash diet. I wanted to get in shape, and I wanted to get in shape FAST. I don't know when I will ever learn that doing this NEVER WORKS! Look what happened, I was GOOD for 10 days, then I lost it! It's so much better to handle a diet in bite sized chunks. Trust me, I have been doing this for years. It seems that crash diets just don't work.

4. A support system is super important
I did notice that when I hang out with very supportive and very cute Tom Cat, (that’s what I call my guy Rob. He's adorable, he calls me puppers,
and I scratch at him like a dog and he hisses at me like a cat. We are adorable, and we make everyone around us sick with our cuteness).

Anyway, when he’s around, Rob is always encouraging me to stay on track. Not for any other reason than to support me in my journey. I am super blessed. He cooks me cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. Chicken instead of full fat pork. A sugar free muffin instead of the entire cake.

This weekend he was not around, and I fell flat. I didn't have a support system. So it was easy for me to go off track and promise to be good tomorrow. Because today is a special occasion!

3. Any day can be a special occasion, and there goes the diet
I think about the times I told myself, it’s a special occasion! Live a little! Just eat a little bit.

This actually applies to everything in life. Any discipline. Let's say your goal is to meditate every day but it's your birthday so today is a special occasion! So you give yourself a break!
Let's say you have a goal to study every day but your mom calls with something stressful. It's a special occasion because you are really stressed out. What life has taught me is that there is ALWAYS a reason to take the easier path. A special occasion can be anything from a gender reveal party, a birthday, an annoying phone call that drives you over the edge, long hours at work, obnoxious kids, too many red stoplights on the way home, a sprained toe, winning the lottery. Literally, anything can be a special occasion. So it's best to look at a diet as something you do rather than something that you are doing for NOW. This way, there is no going back to your ‘normal eating’ after a special occasion.

The next thing, I know to be true…

2. ‘I'll start tomorrow’ is a great way to NEVER hit your goals
Seriously I have done this so much. This is the never ending very common diet cycle that no one seems to be able to get out of.

This is how it works:
"OMG I am out of control! I hate my body.” You might say to yourself:
Well, ok I will start this brand-new diet tomorrow and it will be great!
I am going to look fantastic. Since tomorrow is the start of a new perfect life for me, I will never falter on my diet. I will be skinny, beautiful and disciplined; plus everything virtuous ever to exist on earth! So TONIGHT I need to satisfy my bad behavior. So, I'm going to eat three cakes, a box of cookies, a couple of gallons of ice cream and a diet coke! This is really common. I do it all the time. It’s a trap. Every time I have failed, it's because of the idea of ‘I’ll start tomorrow.’ It’s a great way to keep kicking the can and never take the necessary action to get on board.

Of course, I know all of this, but these elementary lessons are so easy to forget. I like that I get to humble myself by posting about my week's experience and what I learned from the experience.

If we can eliminate one thing that will make biggest difference in all of us
finally achieving our goals, it would be abolishing the start tomorrow idea.
I think even more important than that, the number one cause to keep us on a negative track when it comes to dieting is…

1. Negative self-talk
If I take a look at why I tend to binge on food, 80% of the time it has to do with relieving negative emotion.

This is how it happens: I might eat too much on a day. Then I start beating myself up. I suck. I don't suck. I eat. I am a failure. I am awful. I am worthless, and on and on and on. It’s like a vortex of CRAP. It’s real easy to get sucked in if you are unaware!

When you start thinking these negative thoughts about yourself, you start experiencing negative emotions. Here’s how it goes. It's literally a cycle.

Let's say for example, that you have a sad thought. You think a sad thought. Which causes you to have a sad emotional experience. Then it triggers your brain to think another sad thought, which then triggers another sad emotional experience. Every time you have a sad emotional experience, the toxicity level in your body goes up. It's like an emotional tumbleweed. The bigger the tumbleweed the more unmanageable it becomes. Then you get to the point where you think, SCREW IT. I can’t take it any more. I just need some relief. What will give you that relief? It depends on the person. For me, it's food. For others, it's alcohol, or sex, or work or whatever. We turn to whatever it is to give us relief from the negative feelings inside us.

If you are looking to break a habit, it would serve you to keep toxic energy levels low in your body. You want to avoid triggering yourself into a ‘seeking relief’ response. For more on this check out my blog about emotional momentum...

It's funny because these are all lessons that I have learned. They can be difficult to implement. With a little focus I think it’s worth looking into!

Any change is quite difficult and at first we are all going to hit bumps. I believe most of our changes start with our thoughts. Yes, I fell off my diet. I had a stumble in my eating, but I will get back on and try again. I will reinforce these thoughts and patterns that I know work, and are healthy for my life.

Have a great week guys!
Thanks for watching.
Aidan Park
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