In my last post I wrote about how I have stopped eating chocolate and having syrups in my coffee. If you’re anything like me you will have made a gasp whilst reading that. This post is all about how I came to cutting them from my lifestyle and how I have managed to keep it up.
So, I am a kinaesthetic and visual learner. I love the concept of bullet journals, planners and diaries. I love the fact I can visually see and know what I need to do or how I am progressing. I decided that the only way I would keep this up was by creating a tracker. I bought a cheap packet of coloured dot stickers from Tesco, opened the yearly plan at the front of my diary and started putting a sticker for the dates so far that I had not had chocolate or syrup coffees. Red for chocolate and green for syrups.
In my last post I wrote about how I have stopped eating chocolate and having syrups in my coffee. If you’re anything like me you will have made a gasp whilst reading that. This post is all about how I came to cutting them from my lifestyle and how I have managed to keep it up.
I have a self-confessed sweet tooth and suffer from the “I’m snacking so I’m doing something” syndrome. This year I started to realise I no longer recognised myself in the mirror. I didn’t recognise the Aeron I have always known. My face had got rounder so my jawline was hidden. I had lost all concept of a physique and I looked like I had no concept or respect for myself. Something had to change.
Now, I’m the first to say that trying to change everything in an instant will never work. So, because I was aware of this, I decided to focus on what I could easily change in my lifestyle and kickstart a positive mindset that it is change time. That’s when I decided that chocolate had to go.
Last March I completed a “dechox” month to raise money for The British Heart foundation. Dechox is their challenge for people to take out chocolate from their life to raise awareness for heart-related diseases and how important a healthy lifestyle is. I realised that if I could manage cutting out chocolate last year then I could definitely cut it out again this time.
However, I needed to start cutting out more than chocolate this time. I knew that a large amount of my daily sugar intake comes from the amount of syrup-filled coffees I had every day. I knew that cutting coffee altogether would be a step too far but to challenge myself to cut coffee back to just americanos and lattes was the right path to take. But how do I keep myself motivated? This is where my tips come in!
So, I am a kinaesthetic and visual learner. I love the concept of bullet journals, planners and diaries. I love the fact I can visually see and know what I need to do or how I am progressing. I decided that the only way I would keep this up was by creating a tracker. I bought a cheap packet of coloured dot stickers from Tesco, opened the yearly plan at the front of my diary and started putting a sticker for the dates so far that I had not had chocolate or syrup coffees. Red for chocolate and green for syrups.
My other big tip? Substitution. Find something healthier that still feels like a treat. Maybe yogurt covered raisins or something similar. If you really struggle to drink coffee without a syrup then maybe first switch to lattes with a sachet of sugar first and then wean yourself off that.
I will say that it’s easy some days and then others there are cravings however the gratification of seeing the progress I have made totally gets me through the hard ones. Making changes to your lifestyle is never easy but it will be worth it in the end!
