How long will your diet last?

February is almost over and I don't want to brag but the healthy life style changes I made on January 1st are still very much in motion with no sign of disappearing. It dawned on me today that its almost been 2 months which is probably the longest I've ever carried on doing something like this. It got me thinking, what have I done so differently this time round? Have I exercised my will power so much that I can laugh in the face of pizza? Or is it because I walked into this knowing that if I want a pizza that badly, I will have a pizza. (Just for the record I have not had a pizza).

It's most definitely the latter. I couldn't promote the 80/20 rule any more if I wanted to. Granted my results would probably happen a lot quicker if I didn't allow myself my daily little indulgences, but I've been trying to deprive myself of treats for a decade, and it's never got me anywhere before so it was time to try something new.

How depressing is the thought of never eating your favourite food ever again? Assuming of course, that your favourite food is something that's no good for you! Lets take chocolate for example. How many times has chocolate sabotaged your diet? You went all week without and then BAM! Completely unpremeditated, you've had a slight dip in will power and all of a sudden your stuffing your face with a giant galaxy bar or something similar.

This is the kind of behaviour that I want to avoid, rid myself of guilt and really enjoy my food. Lucky for me I truly do enjoy eating healthy food - from the ages of about 16-21 all I ever ate was pasta and cheese so to make up for lost time, theres nothing I love more than getting in the kitchen and experimenting. I like using clean, tasty ingredients but every so often I will crave something sweet. And fruit ain't gonna do the trick.

Now I've said it before and I'll say it again, bitches need chocolate. I particularly struggled this weekend because my boyfriend came to stay and I have to sit next to him whilst he eats his cream cakes, sweets and ice cream... So Saturday night I decided to make myself teeny treats based on some of my favourite chocolates - Reece's peanut butter cups and bounties.

I was using Green & Blacks 80% dark chocolate and unfortunately I only had half a bar on hand, so they didn't come out as good as they should have done!

To make these just melt some chocolate and distribute a little into the bottom of some cupcake cases - I had these 6 little silicone ones which were perfect. Stick them in the freezer to set and then stick a dollop of whatever you want in there. I used peanut butter and coconut mixed with a little honey, then cover with chocolate, top with whatever you want and pop them back in the freezer until they're set. So easy and delicious. I'm keeping these in the freezer for when I want chocolate so badly I could cry - believe me. It happens.

I know that eating one of these will have no effect on me whereas if I were to eat a whole bar of chocolate I would spend the rest of the day, or maybe even week feeling shitty about it. It's a cycle I am and wish to continue avoiding!

So anyway, the moral of this blog was that I believe that the key to healthy living success is to not deprive yourself too much. I was reading an article earlier today on this website www.hipandhealthy.co.uk and one of the things I saw written was:

"The most important thing to think about when you embark on any new diet journey is; can I sustain this for more than a year? If the answer is no then my advice is don’t do it".

If you're like me than you're probably sick of hearing people refer to 'lifestyle changes' but it is the only way. Unfortunately we don't have the best advocates for this with magazines showing z list celebs fat one month and skinny the other - which is mega unhealthy, but those celebs are paid to do that.

You need to find a healthy lifestyle that suits you as an individual and allows you to still live your life, enjoying good food and having fun. Once you find that balance, it all becomes rather easy.

Minnie
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