 Question is from Sarah shapes up. What are your best mindset tips and tricks to sticking with a diet plan when cravings are hitting? Oh Those cravings. Okay, so I'm glad that she used the word mindset Okay, because it is a mindset now I don't like the tips and tricks part because at some point you have to change really gonna trick yourself Like all the time. No, you know when we trick ourselves to do the shit the opposite like to trick ourselves It is a mindset. You have to shift your mindset. Here's something that might help you. Okay? Realize that a craving Means something different than a want. Okay, so I'm craving that that cupcake Doesn't necessarily mean I want to eat that cupcake It just means that I'm acknowledging that it'll taste good and it's gonna be pleasurable to eat But when I weigh it in with everything else the fact that that cupcake isn't really gonna be good for me I'm trying to get a little bit leaner or I'm trying to get healthier or that cupcake is going to bother my digestion It's gonna give me heartburn Or I'm just not gonna feel good When you add all that up then I can look at the cupcake and say wow I'm craving the taste of that cupcake, but I really don't want it. I don't want that cupcake It's a totally different mindset, but it makes it a lot easier It's a lot easier when you're when you get offered food or when there's food in front of you Rather than saying I can't eat that saying I don't want to eat that But also acknowledging because there's there's a duality here You have to acknowledge that you would enjoy the taste and the flavor of eating that food because I think sometimes when people say They can they say to me I can't say I don't want it because I do I'd be lying. I said no, no, no It's not the same you acknowledge that you'd enjoy look It's like being it's like being in a committed relationship And you meet an attractive person and you think to yourself like wow that person's really sexy Does that mean you want to sleep with it? No, it means you acknowledge that will probably be oh, yeah I'm sure I'd enjoy that but I don't want to because I'm committed and that's not something that I really want to do It's the same thing. That's the mindset that you need to go into with your nutrition Is that you're making those kinds of decisions because if it becomes a I can't I'm craving it But I need to restrict myself. Oh, you're gonna be in you'll lose at some point. I don't mind I don't mind tips and tricks But I do agree that the the number one thing is awareness You have to you have to become aware and that's all you're talking about right now is aware what's what's really going on and You know, why do I want this or feel like I want this and that 100% is for sure But that doesn't mean that I don't think there's things that I've done That would fall in the category of tips or tricks to to help me stick to routine one of them an example This is where I'm like things like weighing and measuring food and portioning it out Because just behaviorally, I know myself I know clients and when you sit at a table and things are in a giant bowl with a big You know spoon in there to spoon it out onto your plate You know, most people Grossly underestimate they all that looks like about six ounces or all that looks like about my cup of rice I should be having yeah, you ever see someone way out like a tablespoon of peanut butter Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's like four tablespoons of peanut. That's a great. That's a great example So this is where I think, you know portioning your food out This is I had a ton of success competing when this stuff really mattered when I had to be like precise And I and I had to stick to a diet if I didn't stick to a diet then I would lose right So, you know, one of the number one things to make sure I had success was portioning out my food I have a prep day on Sundays I would make most all the meals that I'd be consuming for the week You would be already weighed and measured to be in Tupperware So all I had to do is heat it up and eat it and when I was done. I was done It wasn't like oh, I think I'm still hungry a little bit or oh Let me have this house or or in between meals going like oh I feel like a snack like there was no such thing as snacks just incomplete meals It was I got a meal and then when I'm hungry I eat the next meal that I've prepared for self when I eat all the meals. I'm out of meals I'm done. So, you know that to me is a great tip or trick for people that are trying to stick to a diet And they want to be consistent with it another thing that I find Like and this is going back to like the mindset like Sal was talking about. I don't like saying you can't have things But if I was gonna go have something that I know like, you know chips or nuts or You know some sort of a sweet treat that I know that I could easily just keep digging my hand into it I'm very aware of if I'm doing it in front of a television and I used to have those little They're like the little, you know, couple ounce maybe two three ounce Ziploc bags are real small And I would go when I would get a you know Handful and so just getting grabbing in in the box or grabbing in the jar and eating out of the jar while you're watching I would go portion out, you know The treat or the thing that I wanted to have and control it in the Ziploc bag And then I if I'm gonna go walk and do that in front of the television or have it later on I know that once I eat that one ounce of nuts or whatever it is that I've put in there. I'm done It's because it's in this little Ziploc bag. So these are things that I think that have really helped me I also like if you know, if I have a client I always ask like what types of things do they do they crave or they Gravitate towards when they when they overeat like what are you a sweet eater? Are you a salt person? And so figuring those things out and there's I mean God with Instagram and Pinterest and the internet now There's it's so easy to find Healthy alternatives. I saw I know you've made this I used to do this all the time I want I'm I think you posted on your Instagram not that long ago, but you know I used to make this rice cake with a Greek yogurt over it sliced up strawberries And you know, you could even do like a tablespoon of Nutella or something on there and make this like strawberry short And it tastes amazing. So when I have a sweet craving, you know I would eat alternatives like that and that's extremely lower in calorie in comparison to what you're gonna get that's processed You know what I'm thinking about as I'm thinking about this question It's it reminds me some time every once in a while we get a client that would get would be so uncomfortable with the pain of Working out like we'd be doing reps and they just because they'd never exercised before do you guys ever get clients like this? I mean, yeah, never exercised. I think I hurt. It's like, oh my god. I can't anymore You know and but over time as you train this person for months and months They start to get used to and then comfortable with the uncomfortable feeling of working out like I've been working out forever I am very comfortable with the feeling of doing reps so they burn and to the pump and you know that that feeling to me Is it's still uncomfortable? But my mindset around it has completely changed where I'm comfortable with it and what's funny about this question is when you think About this like yeah, it's the same with hunger. Yeah, we're so Uncomfortable where I mean we're so fearful of uncomfortable feelings and being hungry or having a craving can be uncomfortable But I think if you sit with it for a little bit a sit with it for a little while let yourself feel it Don't deny it. Don't ignore it. Don't try to distract. This is how we suppress it This is where we talk about the benefits of fasting That's this is one of them the number one things that I think and this is why I Definitely integrated into everybody's diet routine or program at one point You just have to be careful, right? You don't want to do it for a lot weight loss, right? Exactly and that I use it as a teaching tool like hey, we're going too fast for 24 hours And it's not let's see if we can get shredded doing this It's getting comfortable with that exact feeling that you're talking about but yeah I you know, there's to me that it's okay to have these These little hacks that that help you along the way. I mean I drinking seltzer water That's a good one. Yeah, like yeah, I was just gonna mention water I mean in general like that like nothing like fancy in terms of a hack But that's something that I especially at late night craving stuff like when you're watching tv Like that will always pop up and that will be a thing until you know You really can can sit through it and recognize it and so I do that I'll drink water have something for my mouth to do or like it'll help to kind of like suppress a little bit of the hunger But you know after a while it just becomes like less and less I used to make a rule for myself also like that Eat what I my body needs first and then if I still want this thing whatever it is that I'm craving Then I would allow myself a portion of whatever that is and you'd be surprised how many times when we get these cravings It's because we've just gone a long time without food or that's that feeling setting in that your body's like hey We need some fuel and because you maybe stretched it too long all of a sudden it's like You know how that feeling is right when you eat consistently every few hours It's a lot easier to stick to eating something that's balanced and maybe not the most You know rich in calories when you've gone for a long period of time sometimes all of a sudden you go from Oh, yeah, I want some chicken and rice and broccoli to I'll eat anything I'm so hungry and you whatever you can get your hands on so your willpower. It's like it's waning exactly It's been you've been holding it for so long So a lot of times if I if I play this mental game of okay, adam If you still are craving this thing after you eat the meal that you need because you're still behind I haven't hit my protein intake yet. I haven't hit my my fat my carbon tank for the day Go eat it and then ask yourself. Do you still have that craving? A lot of times that craving subsides after you fuel your body with what it needs Well, here's another tip go to bed on time. It's a big one. I'll just take a little bit early Yeah, go to bed the kitchen down. Yeah, I used to just go to bed Dude staying staying up late is a great recipe for disaster When it comes to diet because we tend to want to eat late at night after we've had Breakfast lunch and dinner, but you know at the end of the day, I really think it's like we got to learn to be comfortable with uncomfortable feelings and you don't need to React with every impulse just because you feel uncomfortable I got to put something on my mouth like sit with that feeling get used to it a little bit Make friends with it. Don't avoid it. Don't distract yourself Because at the end of the day long-term success I mean short-term success trip, you know tricks and tips can help long-term success got to change your mindset There's no way around it. I agree with you. You can't yeah, you have to have a different mindset