Where to start when you're cutting back...(don't worry - the chocolate can stay...)
So you've read my breakfast blog. Breakfast is fixed. Tick. So you're moving on in your journey of taking charge of your diet. By which I mean, how you plan on eating forever. Please let's not cut something out for four weeks or drink juice only for a week or any of that gubbins. If you can't make a change to your diet that's genuinely for the long-haul, maybe ask yourself why you're making it at all. Maybe there's a really great reason. But maybe you're depriving yourself of something you're just going to really badly crave and have five times as much of in a week's time.
So here's my tip. Make a list of all the foods you eat that aren't great for you. Crisps, chips, cakes, the lot. Mine would go like this:
Millionaire's shortbread from M&s (They come in boxes of 4. I'm incapable of eating fewer than all 4.)
Dominos pizza (and garlic bread and chicken strippers)
Pringles
KP salt and vinegar peanuts. Never tried them? You should. Actually, if you're keen not to pile on pounds, probably steer clear. They're like crack.
Profiteroles (From Tesco. Trust me. I've tried everywhere. Theirs are the best.)
Monty Bojangles truffles. (See above, under crack.)
So then I look at each of these things and ask myself - could I lose any of them? I mean, no is my answer. OK, so, can I rank them most important in my life to least important. Sure. The millionaire's shortbreads are a necessity in my life. I crave them. I'm addicted to them. I have a problem. Crisps meanwhile come bottom of the list. Sure I like them. I love them. I could eat 2 packets of sour cream and chive Pringles without trying, all washed down with a packet and a half of salt and vinegar peanuts. But putting that four and a bit thousand calorie dream to one side, actually I can have them a few times a year and be happy. So I do that.
Maybe your list is the other way round. Maybe you need to have burgers twice a week but you can live without chocolate. Work out your list and the order, then just see where you could cut down or back. Could you do half a packet once a week instead of the whole packet? Could you have Dominos every other week rather than every week? Small, sustainable changes. It's not the key to losing weight at speed. But it's the key to losing weight sensibly, and keeping it off.
And seriously, if you haven't tried those peanuts, don't. Just. Don't. Touch.
Don't.
Put them down.
Well, I did warn you.