It amazes me how much trouble people go through just to avoid the trouble of eating right to get to a goal they really want to achieve. Absolutely boggles my mind. I’ve seen someone with all the proper tools for eating right to achieve a goal of fat loss, which they know and admit made them feel better, spin their wheels and wrack their brains to find a way to accomplish what the proper tools accomplished…without having to do all the work. The whole while getting increasingly frustrated by lack of progress, feeling like shit, low energy and a multitude of other issues that would all be eliminated again if they just followed the proper tools that had previously worked for them. Mind. Boggling.
Guess what?! You are creating a roadblock to your own success by increasing anxiety and mental stress. You think you don’t have time to organize yourself for your meals. You work hard on your training and you waste those efforts by not taking the time to cook, organize and eat properly. If you would just accept the fact that effort is needed for progress to occur, you could just get on with it and proceed to progressing…but, for whatever reason, you just think that it’s soooo much work it’s impossible. Well I call bullshit. One, because you’ve done it before and made it work. And two, everyone has the same 24 hrs in a day and lots of other people with kids, with a full time job, school, with dogs to walk, with husbands to pick up after, and they can do it. And three, you have to eat anyway, and you have to cook. So that’s time spent already, you just need to take a few extra MINUTES to prepare a full meal, instead of unconsciously eating whatever. MINUTES. It’s totally do-able.
I guarantee you that when you consider the added anxiety and the mental stress you’re putting yourself through in order to avoid the 20 minutes a day it takes to plan out your meals that you are not saving anything by not doing it. Not only that….but you’re adding such stress to your life for no reason. That stress is only adding to the lack of progress and feeling like shit….double whammy. Stress kills. And you’re unnecessarily creating it by purposely avoiding what you know works! FFS, just suck it up and do what you have to do!
If you’re reading this…and think I’m talking to you…..I probably am.
I understand the frustration as I have felt it! However…I STILL plan all my meals each week including what I am eating with the family (which is as clean as it can be), making all my foods for the whole week ahead of time….3 hrs sometimes by the end of it all. Is it worth the effort?? HELL YA! I am not fat anymore (and yes 5’3 @ 185 if FAT!!) and I look and feel amazing. I know how to keep myself that way.
But on the other side of the fence….the devils advocate; its always easier to give up then keep on moving forward, and it is always easier to fall back into those rutts because we as a human race stupidly stick with what we know, despite any type of “new” knowledge!
Keep the faith Leah! As hard as it is on your head (smashing against the wall that is) at those who “just wont change” you have greatly altered the lives of those that did change!
Good post!