Eating healthy is easy… ’til it’s hard. Yesterday, I passed on free potato chips at lunch only to be sidelined by a small-but-definitely-not-low-calorie slice of my co-worker’s famous upside-down pineapple cake. Which is fine, because I follow the 80/20 rule. But… then I had another one. Oops.
I used to keep my slip-ups to myself, until I heard my fave TV doc talking about the perils of dieting alone.
Basically, it boils down to this: When you’re the only one saying “no” to seconds and skipping dessert, motivation is scarce and willpower is hard to come by. But if you have a buddy along for the ride, you have built-in encouragement, empathy and accountability — three things that can really help when your co-workers keep bringing in baked goods! (You know who you are, cake temptress!)
So, I told my “diet buddy” about the cake — she was forgiving but told me to tack on a few extra exercises to my workout as penance for my pineapple transgression. I did, because I didn’t want to let her down! And she also had the amazing idea for me to put out healthy snacks on my desk – apples, plain popcorn and pumpkin seeds – to “tempt” my co-workers (and myself!) into munching on something healthy.
Thanks, buddy. Turns out eating healthy is a piece of cake! Unless someone brings in a pie next…heaven help me if there’s pie.