How to start a diet, achieve results and not «eat» others

Organize your kitchen according to Taekwondo principles

Of course, your home environment and your eating habits are unique. But you can certainly use my recommendations, slightly supplementing or modifying them.

The kitchen is the main source of temptations. The fridge is full of delicious things, and besides, your family is not going to give up chocolate croissants just because you suddenly decided to lose weight. It is impossible to put the whole family on a diet, not to go into the kitchen or stop cooking — too. Especially if you are the only housekeeper.

To get out of the situation, we will use your natural forgetfulness and your natural laziness. That is, we will use something that, it would seem, is impossible to find a positive application.

• Mood food

Snacks and small temptations: changing location

Look carefully: is there anything edible in a conspicuous place? Are these dishes included in the cherished list of foods that you allow yourself to eat when you go on a diet? If it’s fruit, great, let it stay. If a vase with sweets, better hide it. Try to remove everything that is not allowed in the closet behind closed and opaque doors. Then you will forget about the existence of sweets or you will be too lazy to climb for them on the top shelf …

Oddly enough, both of these methods work: the less often you see unwanted foods, the less often you will use them (you simply won’t remember them until you see them).

Get creative: if you don’t have free lockers, swap the unwanted with the inedible. Have cereals or paper towels handy, and marshmallows and a supply of cookies in the closet instead.

Rearrangement in the refrigerator: we continue to confuse ourselves

As a rule, people load the shelves in the refrigerator according to some principle: fruit on the bottom shelf, and cheese and sausage on the top. Analyze how you do it, and then decide: are those products that first catch your eye when you open the refrigerator — are they from the treasured list? If not, out of sight.

Change the purpose of the shelves in the refrigerator, and let fruits and vegetables lie closest to you, and hide everything else away. If this principle contradicts your logic (fruits must be stored at the bottom so that they do not deteriorate), then think about what is more important for you — to lose half a kilogram in a week or to grieve about two shriveled apples? Also, think about how much fruit you need to buy so that there is no surplus.

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Drink water instead of boredom and hunger

Too many people do not understand when they are thirsty and when they are hungry. Others confuse boredom with hunger. And such confusion can critically affect how effectively you can lose weight.

Can you tell one from the other? Fine! If not yet, put drinking water in a large bottle near the source of temptations. Every time you do remember the existence of delicious cheese in the refrigerator (which is not included in your diet plan), try to drink a couple of sips of water and wait 10 minutes. If after this time you still want to eat something, then you are most likely hungry and it’s time to eat normally. If instead of cheese you now also want marshmallows from the closet, then most likely you are bored or lonely. Drink some water and leave the kitchen.

• Eating at night: how I unlearned to snack before bed

Size matters: we carry out an audit of dishes

Many have heard about this effect, but few have decided to do something about it: people are guided by the usual portions based on the size of the plates. And they are horrified that they eat more food than they need just because they are used to putting it on a larger plate.

I encourage you to remove the large plates and use the small ones. Much less than what you currently imagine. Throwing away is not necessary — you can just start eating from a saucer for a couple of weeks. The same goes for the spoon. You ate with a fork — now your device for the diet is a teaspoon: it will force you to eat in small portions and stretch the time while eating (for which satiety is guaranteed).

Of course, these recommendations do not guarantee you that you will immediately lose weight, but it is obvious that with them the process of losing weight will go faster. And I definitely want to warn you that they are not suitable for those who have an eating disorder: bulimia, anorexia, or something similar. In these cases, psychotherapy is indispensable.