How many of you are successful with your training and your eating until ‘something’ …?

The something could be anything:

• Weekend
• You’re with your partner
• Out with boys/girls
• On holiday (you have to relax a little bit on holiday)
• You’re at home
• Cinema
• When you visit a certain place or person
• You’re at work
• You are bored/sad/angry/tired

The list goes on, everybody has a certain environment where they are most likely to come away from their nutritional and training goals.

For me my diet would most likely suffer between a combination of the weekend, at home and boredom. So to counter it I make sure that I have all my meals planned and even made if I have time just to keep me going and to keep me away from the cupboard of chocolate and biscuits and stuff!

So what I have done there by making my meals in advance so I don’t go off track is SCREENED MY ENVIRONMENT.

Environmental Screening is an absolute must if you want to succeed.

For the list I mentioned above you need to find a way to counteract the environment so you can stick to your goals. Everybody needs a treat sometimes so you should relax and occasionally eat and drink what you want within reason but if you find yourself in this environment all the time then you should do some damage limitation.

If you find your biggest weakness is when you are at home and bored then don’t buy chocolate and ice cream etc. and then complain when you eat them all. If you didn’t want to eat them don’t buy them and if they weren’t in the house then chances are you wouldn’t have wanted them that much to drive to the shop to buy them.

If at work you always end up getting food on the go or go to the staff canteen for chips everyday then make your food the night before and bring it to work with you, this way you are in control 100% of what you eat, bring some fruit and nuts in as well to keep you away from the vending machines!

If you are going out for a meal with your friends, drive there so you know you won’t drink and just order something healthy from the menu. Healthy food can be just as nice as a mixed grill (well nearly), have something like steak, potatoes and veg that’s a treat and it’s still pretty healthy just avoid the creamy sauces. Every restaurant you go to (as long as it’s not McDonalds, KFC or Dominoes) will have some healthy food choices which you can get your teeth into. Just a little bit of thinking and planning before the meal has meant you have controlled your environment and you can have a great evening without feeling guilty about it.

I came up short this year when I went to Amsterdam for a few days. I was training and eating really well in the build up but I wasn’t mentally strong enough while I was away to keep it going. Of course I was never going to be able to eat the same or train as well but I could have definitely done some damage limitation.

There was a gym at the hotel which I could have used, for every place we ate I could have had a healthier meal etc. and I could have had at least a couple less beers! I came home feeling bloated and rubbish! So this knocked me back a bit even for a few days after I came back before getting back on track.

Amsterdam isn’t as easy an environment to control as your home for example but you can still do a little bit. At the end of the day it was more my lack of discipline that cost me than anything else. BUT I did think ‘I’m on holiday it’s the time to relax and enjoy’.

So I’m not suggesting you don’t treat yourselves when you’re on holiday but you can take a few little steps just to make sure that you can get back to your good ways straight after by not going crazy!

The environment you are in mean everything.

E.g.

Pubs and clubs = Alcohol

Restaurants = High calorie meals and more alcohol

Cinema = Popcorn, coke and hot dogs

Home cooking = healthy ingredients and controlled eating

Gym = Exercise and progress

Which environments do you want to be in? If you find yourself in pubs and clubs week in week out and don’t understand why you aren’t making too much progress then.. well you need to re evaluate.

We all find ourselves in harder to control environments but just with a little bit of planning ahead and some extra will power and determination you can control it which will allow you to stick to your health and fitness goals.

This will make a huge difference to your life.

Peer pressure is a big one. Eating healthy and training well will always come with the questions and statements like:

‘Why you eating that?’

‘Have one night off the gym’

‘You can train tomorrow’

‘What harm will that do’

‘Don’t be boring’

These questions come from the people who don’t have the will power, motivation or drive to make positive changes to their own life, energy sappers!

I’m not for a second saying ditch your friends if they don’t exercise as much as you but I’m just warning you of another type of pressure which can lead you astray. If you can find people who will support you and drive you on towards your goals then do it and spend time with them, it’s a lot easier when it’s not just you.

This can be a massive thing to allow you to make continuous progress in your life.

It is no surprise with all of this going on that Obesity is so high. Obesity is now classed as a disease in America, do you agree with that? Is it a disease or is it caused by poor eating, lack of motivation and laziness?

Maybe that discussion can be had another time.

So that’s all I have for today.

Hope you found it helpful and this new info can help you to control your environment a lot more efficiently.

If you want to be fit and healthy put yourselves in places where being fit and healthy is easy.

Take care,

Jamie Stedman