3 Strategies for Guilt-Free Summertime Fun
With Fourth of July weekend beginning tomorrow… and really summertime already having been in effect for some of us for maybe two to four weeks… we’re starting to feel the guilt of some of the different indulgences at the various outings. At least I know that I have been and some of the clients that I work with on a daily basis have too.
We don’t have to feel guilty though. The guilt is just a choice. We can prevent that from even getting to that point by making choices that wouldn’t lead us to feel that guilt or we can let go of the guilt all together. I know that that sounds easier said than done but bear with me here.
Slow Down & Enjoy
If you slow down and enjoy your food… that simple act alone can help you not have to battle the guilt afterwards. When we have a great deal of enjoyment from something, that can help us weigh that against the cost. I know that this seems very simplistic… So it can’t be real… That can’t be the answer, right? But it is. The things that we enjoy thoroughly are the things that we’re OK with later on too. And this brings me back to some guidance that I give every single client… ask yourself two questions before you have anything that you’re wondering about.
Does this item bring you value?
Does it give you satisfaction? Does it fill your protein needs? Does it satisfy a craving that you’ve had for a week now? Does it help you fuel for your run tomorrow?
Will this have still brought you value when you look at things mentally, emotionally and physically later on?
Is this something that is just a momentary want? Is this something that you’ll be OK with later on when you’re faced with consequences or the cost?
If the answer is yes to both of these things, there’s no guilt to be had. You’ve made a choice and that’s OK. You get to do that in your life. But you also have to take responsibility for that choice later on too. And that’s not always very comfortable.
This reflection for intention is another great way to be sure that you are tethered to that value or that enjoyment.
Eat Strategically
We tend to feel guilty more when we are more on one side of something than the other. When I work with clients who are in a calorie deficit and decide to remove a lot of their social life, they have a tendency of feeling guilt down the road because they’ve missed out on these moments of connection in order to just get to XYZ. I also have clients who do go out and overindulged to the point that they feel uncomfortable and then they feel a ton of guilt because they have fallen off of some wagon or cheated on their diet. It’s kind of maddening the things that we do to ourselves.
And I know that we want to do things and we want to do them fully and fast… but that’s not always the right answer. I try to stay away from saying right or wrong when it comes to solutions or strategies but we do this to ourselves. If instead we try to be a little bit more strategic with what we do on a daily basis, we can go into different moments knowing that we’ve pulled back knowing that we were going to press in. We can build trust in ourselves. Because that’s what it really is… Trust that will take care of ourselves instead of beating ourselves up over the choices that we make that we don’t want later or live by.
So How Can We Do This?
- Go light and lean for breakfast. Think of different breakfast that you’ve had that will get you to a really great place with your protein levels for not as many calories. Try to get this meal to be very volume oriented. Two of my favorite meals; 1.) 200 grams of egg whites, 250 grams of roasted asparagus (in the air fryer), a tablespoon of pesto, and half of an avocado and 2.) 2 containers of high protein greek yogurt (I like the :ratio yogurts with 25 grams of protein), 100 grams of blackberries, a tablespoon of chia seeds, and
- Don’t skip meals. I think it’s better to eat at maintenance for a day than it is to skip a meal and have the possibility of your hunger building to appoint that it’s hard to maintain your self-control. And please remember that self-control is simply the acceptance of the responsibility of your choices. Not skipping meals puts you in the driver seat and allows you to make the decisions needed to get to where you’re going easily.
- Grab a quick snack before. When I am in a diet phase, I will have half of a protein shake if not a full one before I walk out the door to go to an event. There’s no telling sometimes what will be there and I know that I have to always be ahead of my hunger.
- Scan & Grab. Once you get to the event, take a look around first. Try not to grab anything right away. Survey all that there is. Ask questions if you don’t see certain things. Maybe there are more on the way or maybe there are other things that are cooking that might be better than the choices that are out right now. Once you’ve had the chance to really take it all in, think about what is going to be worth it.
- One plate. This can be one of the harder ones, but I challenge you to only have one plate for one go round. That includes appetizers, meals, and dessert. Many times the plates that are set out for these occasions are on the larger side and minimizing our consumption by making a one plate only rule helps. Of course, if the plates are on the smaller side, definitely have a dessert plate too. But be conscious of what goes on that plate and give it gravity. There’s not that much real estate. You have to be picky and choosy. And this helps tether everything back to what is really going to be worth it to you.
- “No.” is a full sentence. So this is probably one of the hardest things that I’m going to say here… “no.” is a full sentence. When you’re at different social events, you may feel some social pressure to have some extra dessert or to have some drinks that you didn’t necessarily really want. You can say no. Remember this is about taking responsibility for the choices that you’re making. If you allow that social pressure to make the choice for you, then that’s some thing that you have to accept about yourself. Are you willing to do that?
Avoid the “screw it” mentality
So the first part of this definitely goes hand-in-hand with the list that you just went through…
Moderation over perfection. Perfection does not exist. Striving for it is a senseless battle. Instead, working towards progress and moderation… We can achieve greatness… It might not be perfection… but that perfection is just merely an expectation that we have created in our own head. It’s a standard that we want to hold ourselves too, and that we can simply just change to what we are capable of.
Little ways that we can work towards that progress and moderation…
- Add a short walk into your day
- Add a fruit or vegetable to a plate
- Have one less drink
- Go to bed 30 minutes sooner
Little things like this do matter. They build the wins. They simply seem like they don’t matter because you can’t see what it would’ve been like if you didn’t choose them.
I hope this helps!
With Love,
Coach Nik
If you’re looking for some of the other helpful things for summertime, you can check out these!
