Learning Discipline to Reduce Belly Fat

After a sleepless night filled with tossing and turning, partly worried about why my college aged daughter wasn't home from the movies and trying to will myself to get off the couch and and into my own bed, a familiar thought formed in my mind: I'm tired of this damn fat stomach. Like I said, the thought isn't one that I haven't had before. I don't think a year--a day, actually--has passed over the last 20 years that I haven't had that thought. But what's different is that now I have 20 years worth of information stored in my head along with a made-up mind that surgery is not an option. Only consistent exercising--not just cardio-- and cleaner eating is going to do for me.

When I finally got of the bed I had a determined mind to start make morning with healthy breakfast--egg white and spinach omelet.

"Why can't you do this everyday?" I asked myself. "Why is disciplining my eating so hard?"

I'm not alone in this struggle. Later that day, I Googled, "how to get discipline with healthy eating." I sure did. And I was glad I did. One of the first articles that came up was a runner struggling with the same thing as me. Check out the problem followed by the responses that I found the most useful or motivating.

Problem: I've been running 9 months. I'm 50 years old, 6'0",  205 lbs, same as when I started running. Currently running 30+ mpw in a spring marathon training group.

I'm stunned at the discipline I've been able to bring to my running, as I've never been very consistent at anything. I wake up 5AM, 5 days a week, and do whatever is on my schedule for running that day. I always finish every run, every time. I never miss a day, never slack off. I'm really, really serious about finishing a marathon and feel like I bring a determined resolve to the training.

So why can't I eat right? It makes no sense. I literally can't control myself with regard to what I eat. In fact, the more I run, the worse I eat. It's like my one weakness over which I have no control.

 If this sounds familiar and you overcame it, what did you do? It's really starting to bother me that I wake up every day, do my run like I'm suppose to, tell myself "eat right today, eat right today, eat right today ...", and by 11:45AM I'm down at the BBQ joint rationalizing that I deserve some ribs and sausage and that I should just enjoy life. Like an alcoholic, but with food.

  

Response #1 It sounds like the reason you are able to maintain discipline with your running is because you have a plan and a schedule - you know exactly what you are supposed to do each day and you do it.  Are you planning what you will eat each day, or are you just leaving it to chance? Telling yourself to "eat right" is too vague - you need to plan ahead, decide in advance what you will eat, and have it prepared and ready to eat before you get too hungry.   Oh, and there's no reason you can't have ribs & sausage every now and then.

      

Response #2 What worked for me was setting out a day to cook food for the week--meaning, I try to prepare a few dishes of lean meats, hard boil eggs, buy cottage cheese, cook some vegetables, chop up raw vegetables for salad, and put it all into containers to grab-n-go during the week. The easier the access, the more likely you will choose to eat the healthy food.

Response #3 Studies of folks who have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off over the course of many years show that they tend to eat a lot of the same things- similar breakfast, lunches, and dinners. As a previous poster said, having a schedule (i.e. breakfast is toast with PB and eggs or oatmeal and ..., lunch is sandwich, nuts and fruit, or soup and ...) might be helpful. Replacing your "go-to" meal of take-out with a different set of options (just like you have different running workouts you choose from) is a way to give you some control over what you're eating. Hope this makes sense

Well first of all, attitude means everything.

Response #4 Stop saying "I cannot control it". Yes you can. To say you cannot is a lie. Do you not control your own actions? You have control over your body and what you chose to eat or not eat. So if you are asking for advice based on what each of us personally does, I don't ever make excuses and say I can't do something when I very well can. I say "I don't want to".

Response #5 It isn't about having motivation, or reward, or the desire or enjoyment of doing it. You just DO IT, no excuses. You want to eat right, then do it. Don't complain, just do. I believe that your lifestyle is largely about habit. Just focus on making a new habit. Again doesn't have to be fun nor do you have to have motivation, you just do it.

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