Beating Temptation by "Making Space"

"Between every stimulus and response, there's a space. Within this space, we have the capacity to choose our response." - Dr. Stephen Covey

Embarking on a lifestyle change is one of the most difficult decisions a person can make.  Uprooting years of ingrained habits and establishing new modes of behavior is trying for both body and mind.  However, it is important to remember that you are always in control of your actions--even if it sometimes feels as though your responses are on autopilot.  The decisions you make do not simply materialize out of the ether.  Those decisions are the result of the space between "stimulus and response:" that time, however short, in which you can commit to the life you truly desire. 

Like Pavlov's dogs, we all have conditioned behaviors.  The difference between us and the dogs is that we have programmed ourselves!  Maybe it is an impulse to eat junky food after a particularly bad day or curl up on the couch instead of going to the gym.  These impulses have been fostered over years, and when the impulse leads to behavior (i.e. you DO eat the junky food or watch TV instead of working out), the result can be extremely disappointing. 

However, all of your behaviors are ultimately just small decisions, decisions that can be consciously manipulated.  The trick is to create a life in which your decisions and desires are in sync. 

Define

What sort of person do you want to be?  Write down your goals and desires for the future.  Make these goals concrete and achievable.  For example, Malenna's current goal is to win a pro card in April.  Perhaps your goal could simply be to be competition ready by November.  If you are a bit more ambitious, your goal could be to place in competition by November. 

Decide

Once you have a concrete goal, map out the steps it will take for you to achieve the goal.  These steps should be realistic, but also challenging.  No true change is easy. 

Make sure to write these steps out as well, so that you have a tangible record of your decisions. 

Make Space

Once you have defined your goals and your plan to achieve those goals, the next step is to be conscious of your day to day behavior, especially in areas that are not conducive to your stated goals.  When a stimulus is presented, make sure to be aware of the "space" before you make your final decision. 

Most decisions work like this:

Stimulus --->  Space (this is where you make your decision) ---> Outcome

Be conscious of what you currently have conditioned yourself to do:

Cheetos (stimulus) --->  Buy Cheetos/Open bag (decision) ---> Eat all the Cheetos (outcome)

Instead, when you are faced with a tempting stimulus that goes against your goals and plans, concentrate on the space before the outcome.  Really think hard about your actions.  Take 10 to 30 seconds to remind yourself of the reasons you are undertaking a lifestyle change.  Then your actions will align with your pre-defined desires and your decision making process will go more like this:

Cheetos (stimulus) ---> Do not buy/Do not open bag (decision) ---> Stay true to your goals (outcome)

When you concentrate on making mindful decisions, an added bonus after the final outcome is a sense of pride and achievement.  Further down the road, your bonus will be the successful accomplishment of your goals!

What are your goals?

How can you "make space" to achieve them?

Let us know in the comments! 

(c) Alex Sidiropoulos 2012

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."

Malenna's pre-prepared travel spread – she's ready for clean-eating, even in Sin City!

Malenna is travelling this weekend, visiting the bright lights of Las Vegas.  Those endless buffets coupled with the "what-happens-in-Vegas" attitude could be toxic to her goals – but she took charge and planned accordingly.

Food preparation–pre-planning, portioning, and assembling meals–is integral to competition success on a number of levels.  Obviously, controlling your portions and knowing exactly what you are eating is extremely helpful when undertaking a health and fitness regimen.  However, there are other benefits to pre-planning your food intake: 

• Making your own meals is often much less expensive than eating out. 
• Though pre-planning and preparing food can seem overly time consuming, in the long run such preparation actually saves you time and energy.  All you have to do is grab your food and go!
• Continually planning your food strengthens your willpower and determination – qualities that are vital both to competition and simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle (and hot body!)

Though the above reasons are compelling, food planning can still be a difficult habit to integrate into your life.  Here are some methods to help the process. 

Planning

Are you a vegetarian?  An avowed carnivore?  Are you trying to emphasize a certain nutrient in your diet?  Are you following a specific diet?  What foods do you eat consistently?

The first part of planning is having a food strategy.  Creating a shopping list that reflects your nutritional needs is crucial.  Make a list of the foods that you like, that fit into your diet, that are based on recipes you will use, and that you know you will be eating on a regular basis. 

Make sure to create a physical  list – something that you can bring with you to the grocery store.  Having the list in your hand while in the store keeps you accountable to the choices you want to make. The list can also be used later to compare and contrast future food purchases.

Some tips and tricks for food shopping:

• Always go shopping on a full stomach!  With your appetite satiated, you will be less tempted to make poor food purchases.
• Avoid supermarket aisles and stick to the store's perimeter, as this is usually where your best "clean" and unprocessed food choices–produce, meats, dairy–are located.
• If you have a partner who is not following your nutritional regimen, it may be helpful to go shopping without them.  This way, your partner is less likely to influence you with less-desirable food choices (like putting Haagen-Dazs in your cart when you aren't looking!)

Portioning

Now that you have your food, it is time to put it all together!  Having a set of measuring implements (as pictured to the left) is extremely helpful in portioning out your food. 

Read labels carefully.  Often portions that you would assume to be "1 serving" can be 2 (or more!) servings.  Online nutrition services such as MyFitnessPal can be helpful in determining portion size, as well as providing ballpark estimates of caloric values for a particular recipe. 

Here's a quick and dirty guide for eating out or when your measuring implements are unavailable:

• The area and thickness of your palm is a portion of meat or poultry (about 3-4 ounces).
• 3-4 ounces of fish may be little larger – about the size of a checkbook.
• Make a fist. That’s about 1 cup.
• Your cupped hand can hold about 1-2 ounces of cereal or a snack food.
• Your cupped hand will also hold about 1/2 cup of foods like pasta, rice, and ice cream.
• Your thumb is about 1 ounce of cheese
• Your thumb is also about 1 tablespoon. "Thumbing" is useful for measuring peanut butter and salad dressing.
• Your thumb tip is about 1 teaspoon – great for butter or tub margarine.

Information courtesy of The Happiness in Health 

Assembling

Putting your meals together ahead of time is essential for both time management and keeping on track with your nutritional goals.  The most common way to stay prepared is spending 1-2 hours on a weekend making only your weekday lunches.  Just doing this gets you way ahead of the game.  If you can go one step further and take an extra 1 or 2 hours to prepare, portion and assemble your entire menu for the week, you can coast! 

Reusable plastic containers are extremely inexpensive and usually available for purchase at nearly any grocery or dollar store.  A great and very cheap New York City resource for obtaining measuring implements, food containers, and often even clean food is Jack's 99 Cent stores.  There are several locations in Manhattan. 

 

               Consistency

Making the above food preparation steps habitual, rather than something you do sporadically, is KEY. 

Having your meals consistently pre-prepared gives you an edge in nutrition, managing your time and, ultimately, RESULTS. 

 ......................................................................................................

Here are some great websites for further reading.  Hopefully they can help with strategies in your quest for persistent food preparedness!

5 Simple Strategies to Make Eating Clean(er) Easier

Making a week's worth of meals in advance (This site is geared toward people on the Paleo diet, but the principles are universally useful)

Tips and Tricks for Make-Ahead Meals
An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day (mind hacks for time mangagement)

What do you think? 

How will you be pre-planning? 

Leave a comment and let us know!

(c) Alex Sidiropoulos 2012

Malenna's Week 1 Progress Pictures

Here is Malenna in her glamorous show suit, ten weeks out from competition! 

These pictures were taken in a very grimly painted hallway on Monday, February 6, 2012.  (The picture quality will be much better in next week's photos!)  Malenna is at 146 pounds in these pictures.

Next week we will be adding measurements to the progress pictures.

(c) Alex Sidiropoulos 2012

Here we go!

The purpose of this blog is to update the world about what's going on with Malenna Saunders and the Elite Heat team as we blaze new trails in fitness competition.

The next few months will be afire with activity, as Malenna prepares to win a Pro Card at The WBFF Fitness Atlantic Championships in April, whle the rest of the team starts burning up the gym for later competitions!

We will be posting pictures, video, articles, profiles of our awesome team, and lots more fire-related puns soon!








(c) Alex Sidiropoulos 2012