Dieting changes more than just your waist line....

At the start of this 3 week detox, my whole point in doing it was to clean up my diet and drop a few pounds. I just woke up last Monday, texted a friend to see if she would do a detox with me and we laid out the rules and here we are now. About five days into it, I was going strong and was super motivated about this awesome change we were making. However, day 6 hit, I wanted nothing more than every food that I "wasn't allowed" to have. I was dying to eat chips, salt, sweets, and wine. I was cranky and emotional because it's like telling a kid no then of course all they want is exactly what you told them they couldn't have.

I stuck to the course, sucked it up and pushed through it. Now we are at 1 1/2 weeks into this and it doesn't seem quite so hard. Why was it though? Why is it so hard for us to give up certain foods or cut back on things we KNOW are not healthy for us?

It has everything to do with our relationship to food and our lives. I would always read interviews from fitness models or body building competitors who when asked how they can be so disciplined with their diet answered with "Because I eat to live, I don't live to eat. I use my food to fuel my body and make selections based on what my body needs for that day. I don't eat just to eat. I eat for a purpose." I remember reading that and thinking, "Ha! That's crap, nobody does that. I live for my weekend cheat meals! Why else do I eat so strict during the week? Simply so I don't have to on the weekends and can let go of all discipline and inhibitions and just relax!"

And now going through this, I can honestly say I get it. I have had to vary my meals, carbs, and water based around my workouts- is it a leg day or shoulder day? Is there cardio or no cardio? Is it heavy weights or light weights? At first, it was frustrating and incredibly annoying having to think about food so much! Trust me, I cried one day because I was just so frustrated and tired trying to figure out what to eat and when to eat it without any salt or additives when I already felt like I ate clean in my diet before the detox!

Any time something is that hard for us to change usually means that the change needs to happen because our perspective or beliefs about it are not how they should be. Anything that you are wanting to make a positive change about in your life is going to take work, focus, and discipline, but every time you make it through that you end up wondering how you could ever go back to where you were! Think about when you first started working out....it sucked! You were probably tired, sore, cranky, and it hurt just to sit down to go to the bathroom! Look at where you're at now though! Can you imagine with how far you have come going back to that? That is what keeps me motivated in my workouts. I don't ever want to start over again or be to the point where running 1/2 a mile killed me. If that's where you have to start though, then it doesn't matter just start!

See none of us live to eat, that is why we have this life. But, we live our lives completely centered around food. Next time you're coming up with something to do with your friends or family completely cut food and alcohol out as options of things to do....what do you come up with?

The whole world is available to us, but instead of realizing that we try to stick to our habits to keep us safe and from experiencing discomfort. 

Once this deetox is over, I will probably still eat the same as I am while on this because I GET IT NOW. I don't need certain foods all the time or certain amounts of them just to eat. I eat according to what my body needs for that day.

Will I still eat foods like chocolate, cheesecake, blue cheese, movie popcorn, pizza? Heck yes! However, I no longer needs them as my one weekend victory meal to get me through another week of clean eating because I have found other things that satisfy me more then a huge binge night.

Maybe it's time for you too to make a change and to change your perspective. It's hard to take a close tough look at why some things in your life are so hard to let go of or change your habits, but you have to be honest with yourself. If you want something different then the life you have now, you have to do something different. Stay motivated, keep going!