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Summary
On episode 85 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan covers the mental side of staying on an eating plan, a topic suggested by a member of his Facebook group.
He breaks the problem into three pieces: decision fatigue, the personal triggers that knock you off plan, and the difference between a single slip and giving up entirely. He ties all three back to the deep, emotional commitment he asks clients to make at the start of any program.
The episode stays intentionally high-level rather than drilling into any one piece, giving listeners a practical framework they can apply right away: plan ahead to protect your decision-making, know your personal triggers, and don’t let one bad choice become a reason to quit.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Decision fatigue is real: your decision-making quality drops as the day goes on. Every decision you make draws from the same daily reservoir, so by evening, tired and depleted, you’re more likely to make a poor food choice than you were in the morning.
- Remove decisions ahead of time instead of relying on willpower late in the day. Packing a healthy lunch, cooking meals in advance on the weekend, and clearing bad food out of the house all take the decision away before fatigue sets in.
- Know your personal triggers. For Allan, stress is the trigger that pulls him toward sugar and alcohol; identifying your own trigger lets you see a bad situation coming before it happens.
- Journaling surfaces your triggers and patterns. Writing down what happened and why at the end of the day, especially early in a program, helps you spot the specific situations, like stress or an unplanned dinner out, that consistently derail you.
- Accountability partners help you get through a trigger in the moment. Having someone to call when a trigger hits, the same way a wedding ring and a ceremony create accountability in a marriage, gives you an outlet besides the vending machine.
- A slip is not a failure unless you let it become one. Eating one donut off plan doesn’t undo your progress; treating that single slip as an excuse to eat three or four more is what actually causes the damage.
- A real commitment starts with writing a vow. Allan has clients define their why and write it down as a personal vow, with the same emotional depth as a marriage or religious commitment, so they have something to return to when motivation fades.
- Pull out your vow when you hit a plateau or start slipping. Revisiting the specific reasons you started reconnects you to your motivation faster than trying to muscle through on willpower alone.
- Replace a trigger response with a planned action. Allan’s own fix for stress is keeping running shoes and clothes ready to go so he can run sprints instead of reaching for sugar or a beer when a stressful day hits.
“It is not failure unless you quit.”
Coach Allan Misner
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 115 – 8 Keys to Mental Health Through Exercise With Dr. Christina Hibbert