What would you never think of giving up or cutting back on, even if it meant losing five pounds in a single week?
The answer: WINE.
Yup. Alcohol in general, but for most women it was the two (or more) glasses a night they would never think of quitting.
Go ahead, call me a party pooper, Buzz Killington, whatever. I’m just stating the facts.
And if wine’s not your thing, hang in there for a minute. Because this pertains to any non-negotiable, whether it’s cheese, ice cream, chocolate, gummy bears and Red Vines.
As for alcohol. Sure, in moderation a glass here and there reduces the risk of heart disease. But I don’t know a single woman who drinks wine for its health benefits. Let’s face it.
In my experience, if you’re serious about losing weight you need to take a hard look at your non-negotiables. The minute you vow to do “whatever it takes except give up XYZ,” you’re setting up a roadblock.
Plus, often these non-negotiables work as trigger foods: Once you start you can’t stop. A handful of M&Ms becomes the whole package one French fry turns into a bag you get the idea.
The client I interviewed admitted she loved wine as much as life itself. But when she made the brave act of cutting it out for a week, between the bloat (which she complained about) and the calories, the weight dropped off. Of course she put most of the weight back on the next week when she went back to her old habits.
And she continued to kvetch about weight gain.
In the case of wine, the problem isn’t just the calories. Imbibing also makes you forget your troubles-mainly the 10 lbs you’re trying to lose and any other health goals you may have. Suddenly it all seems so irrational and silly. Who cares about any of that “un-fun” stuff, anyway? YOU will, once you get on the scale after a week of nightly cocktails.
In addition to wine’s devil-may-care influence, ALCOHOL SLOWS FAT BURNING BY 33%. Your body perceives alcohol as toxic and stops processing nutrients from food while it gets rid of the booze. Excess calories from wine also seem to accumulate fat around your midsection (hence the term “beer belly”). So even if the rest of your diet is on target, too much alcohol can reverse some of that.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying never drink again, but if it’s a weakness of yours just try skipping it for a week and see what happens. I enjoy a glass once in awhile, too, but at 100 calories for 5 oz, I’d rather “spend” those calories on something else.
Same goes for any other NN. Ice cream every night as a “treat” after a hard day at work may be just the thing keeping you from losing weight.
As a personal example, I gave up chocolate this January 1. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love chocolate. But I realized I was eating it nearly everyday. And one square became two squares, once a day became twice a day and I knew something had to give.
Not only did I lose a few pounds by substituting a cup of tea at night and a few almonds, but my craving for the sweet stuff went away. I WAS NO LONGER ADDICTED TO CHOCOLATE! It took a few weeks, as it will when you quit anything, but if you ditch the cheese, soda, fast food, ice cream or other trigger food you’ll also find your cravings will stop.
It could take longer than a week to see a difference-It took me about a month after quitting chocolate because it wasn’t a huge calorie deficit.
Try it! What’s your non-negotiable or trigger food? Please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you on this.
And let me know what happened when you gave it up for a week. Did you lose the craving?
If you found this information valuable please Tweet it out to your social networks and pass it along to friends who may benefit. It would mean the world to me!
Thanks so much for reading!
Fit, feisty & ageless.
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