St. Pete Personal Trainer l How To Stop Over Eating PT2

Happy Spring from St. Pete’s Best Personal Trainers & Weight Loss Experts 

Welcome back !   If you missed Pt. 1 where I uncover simple changes you can make to your diet to put an end to overeating, you can check it out HERE. 

Over the last couple of years, we have been getting a reputation as St Pete’s  Personal Trainers who get results when nothing else has seemed to work.

Most people call it “amazing”, “magic” or “astounding” but the reality is, it’s nothing more than science and the systematic application of the 10 tips I’m sharing with you here.

They have changed thousands of lives and redefined what people think is possible and I know they will help you too…… … if you apply them !

In How To Stop Over Eating Pt 1 , I talked about simple changes you can make to your diet to take care of the physiological aspects of over eating. More often than not, these changes will eliminate the majority of over eating but today I want to give you some tips on overcoming societal and habit issues which often lead to overeating.

Today, I want to share with you the 2nd  5 of 10 “secrets” we teach our group personal  training members to eliminate unplanned over eating …. for good. Yes, these are the same ones which produce 5 – 12 pound weight loss in a few weeks without starving or taking pills or shots and continue to produce 20, 30 plus pound weight losses consistently and give you some of our member favorite fat blasting, hunger curbing recipes. 

1. Have A Strong Why

Knowing what you want, why you want it and having a clear vision will beat “willpower” all day every day. In fact, it’s the one thing I attribute to the consistent and amazing success of our group fitness training members and private clients. Every transformation challenger starts their program by finding their why and creating a clear vision of  what they want. Being clear on why you want to lose weight, get fit and create a healthy lifestyle how overeating is keeping you from living in a body that looks and feels amazing is KEY!

I’ve written about  the power of having a strong why, how to create yours and how it beats “will power” 100% of the time, so I won’t go into it here but being clear on your why and having a strong vision of the body, health and life you want is KEY.

ACTION STEPS:

1. Write down FIVE reasons you want to lose weight, get healthy and become more fit. Make a list of 5 ways your life will be better. What can you wear? Where will you be more confident? What activities will
you be able to enjoy, etc. etc.

2. Write down 5 things you are sacrificing by carrying that extra weight and continuing with the unhealthy habits.

6. FOLLOW THE 80/20 Rule

if you are like most people, this will sound familiar. You start a new diet and cut out all of your favorite foods or “anything white” or “anything with sugar” or “all carbs” and it  works and the pounds fall off ………

until it doesn’t and you go on a binge of everything and anything you “couldn’t eat” until you gain all of your weight back plus a few, label yourself a “failure” and vow to “have more willpower” next time.

Swearing that you will never ever have a glass of wine, ice cream, pizza or piece of chocolate again is simply not realistic for most people. “Diets” that are too restrictive end in a binge and rebound weight gain more often than not.

Here at Fitness St. Pete I Tierra Verde Fitness, we teach our private clients and group personal training members to live by the 90/10 rule.

This means that you eat whole, nutrient dense, unprocessed foods 90% of the time and have a  plan to indulge in your favorite (less than wholesome) foods or alcohol. We set up our food plans with either a whole day considered “unstructured” or 2 meals throughout the week.

This will teach you how to actually have a life and enjoy friends, family and socialization while creating a healthy lifestyle and relationship with food.

ACTION STEP:

Focus on eating whole, unprocessed, single ingredient foods either 6 days or 5 Days with 2 meals which can include alcohol or your favorite less than wholesome foods.

MORE FROM FAT LOSS U:  How To Create A Fat Blasting Food Plan That Won’t Leave You Hungry

3. Plan Ahead

If you’re not prepared, there is a good chance you will over eat.  I never understood how people could go into a day or week without a plan on how they were going to best fuel their body……….. Until I started the new Fitness St Pete I Tierra Verde brands last year, my schedule changed drastically and I fell prey to this packing on 10 pounds in about 6 months…… after 21 years of pre planning and prepping my food.

I’ve also spent 22 years working with busy men and women over 45 so I get it. Hectic schedules often lead to a quick trip through the drive through, meals purchased from restaurants on the way home or a quick snack grabbed from the convenience store while pumping gas on the way to the next stop in a crazy day. (my go to for about a year was Hugry Howies Pizza Delivery)

Day 1 of our 7 Day Fat Loss Blue Print is Sunday: Plan and prep. Every Sunday (or Saturday for some folks), our members take a look at their upcoming week’s schedule, plan, shop and prep their food for the week. This saves a lot of time, stress and money. You can grab a copy of my 7 Day Fat Loss Blue Print in our private group St Pete & Tierra Verde’s Fit Over 50. It’s free. Just click HERE to join.

Keeping healthy, on the go snacks on hand like boiled eggs, pre measured nuts and fruit, turkey and lettuce wraps and prepping as much of the week’s dinners as possible (or at least having them planned) will have huge impact on not only over eating but energy levels and budget.

ACTION STEP:

Check out “How To Prepare 15 Healthy Meals in under 60 Minutes” and give it a go!

4. Upgrade Your 5 

Who you eat with will have major impact on your own food choice. The food choices of your social circle has impact on your fitness and food intake than you realize.

The reality is: you are a  reflection of the 5 people with whom you spend the most time.

Numerous studies have found that people’s food and alcohol choices are heavily influenced by the people with whom they socialize. If your social circle over eats, you will be inclined to also.

Other studies have shown that a person is more inclined to order unhealthy options when their dining partners do. This often times begins with restaurant selection.

Choosing to eat with family and friends who have similar health goals can help you stay on track and reduce your chances of overeating.

ACTION STEPS:

1. Surround yourself with fitness and health minded people.
2. Try to socialize with people who eat healthy meals in moderate portions.
3. Don’t have any health and fitness minded people in your immediate network?  CLICK HERE to join us in our free Facebook community, St Pete & Tierra Verde’s Fit Over 50 for weekly challenges, tasty recipes and real talk on what REALLY works if you are ready to step off the dieting merry go round and finally have the body you want and deserve!

5.  THE ONE THING:

Breaking habits is hard…. especially when they involve food. It took me over 30 years to break the ones I had since I was 18. Fortunately for me, my habits were healthy.

We tend to get into comfortable routines, like eating dinner in front of the TV, having a glass of wine to relax after a stressful day, eating at our desks or swinging by the drive through in between errands. For me, it was hitting the “order delivery” on the Hungry Howies website at the stop light before my house so it would be there shortly after I arrived home.

The biggest challenge I see keeping people from living in a body they want and really deserve  is trying to change too much too soon, too drastically when they start their “new diet” or decide to “be good”.

The reality is, it doesn’t work and leads to frustration and quitting.

It will take some time to identify unhealthy behaviors that lead you to overeat and replace them with new, healthy habits but taking the first step will be a game changer in the way your body looks, feels and performs just like it has been for our private clients and group training members.

Below is a list of what I call “fit people habits”.

To be clear, starting is more important than WHICH habit you choose.

Working Out 2X week for 30 – 45 minutes
Prepping and planning for the week ahead of time
Protein at every meal
Veggies at every meal
1 big glass of water as soon as you wake up
Drinking 64 plus oz of water daily
Swapping out a protein based breakfast for the usual go to of cereal or bagels.
Getting 7-8 hours of sleep (yes, this can help you avoid over eating)
Eating whole, nutrient dense foods 80-90% of the time
Identifying habit eating or drinking by asking “am I really hungry or am I just bored, tired, stressed, sad, etc.
Eating only in your designated eating place

ACTION ITEM:

Pick the biggest habit you feel contributes to your over eating. Focus on changing that one thing until it is a normal part of your daily life before moving onto the next one.

To be sure, our Transformation Challengers focus on multiple things at one time but, they have a proven and built in accountability system to keep them focused and on track. The maximum I recommend to everyone else is changing 2 habits at a time.

BONUS TIP:

GET RID OF DISTRACTIONS:

Whether it’s eating lunch in front of the computer while working, grabbing that glass of wine “to relax” while preparing dinner or watching the sunset, grabbing a bag of chips on the way to the sofa or out to watch the sunset,  distracted eating is one of the biggest habit I see leading to over eating.

A review of 24 studies found that being distracted while eating caused more calories to be consumed. It also caused them to eat more food later in the day compared to people who paid attention to their food while eating.

Action Step: 

Pick 1 or 2 designated eating areas at your home and one at your office and make an effort to turn off or put away potential distractions like phones, computers and magazines.

Need some extra support and accountability? Click HERE to join us in our private, FREE facebook Community, St Pete & Tierra Verde’s Fit Over 50.

SOURCES:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3598881/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3268700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3607652/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25265153

Committed To Your Success & Awesomeness,

Dianne Villano, THE Fitness & Transformation Expert For YOUR Over 50 Body

Fitness St. Pete I Tierra Verde Fitness

P.S. Hearing from our readers is one of the best parts of my day. Drop a comment if you have any questions or just to let me know what you think about this or let me know a topic you want me to write about!