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Hi Anon! Thanks for the super important question! I’m glad you asked this.

Now, this is the strictest my diet has ever been, and I will face some new challenges in the next 5 months (especially with Thanksgiving and my birthday being under a month away from competition…ohgod), but I plan to be prepared, and here’s how you can be, too:

1. COMMUNICATE. I have already let my close friends and family know about my meal and training plan, I have emailed them copies of it, and asked them personally to support me. So all the people I spent the most time with are aware and consciously make the effort to a) not bring cupcakes to my house and b) affirm my healthy diet plan. Of course, sometimes they tease me, waving brownies under my nose…but it’s never malicious, I know they support me and that’s the most important thing.

2. Plan and do activities that don’t involve eating! I feel like our culture has become so socialized to associate recreation or friendship with food. That shouldn’t be the case, and I think that’s a HUGE contributor to both eating disorders and an overtly relaxed/unhealthy attitude towards food. Food itself should not be the entertainment. Now this is coming from someone who LOOOOVES eating out – seriously, I LOVE it, ask anyone – so I know it’s not easy, and sometimes centring your Friday girl’s or date night on that amazing dessert place is plain awesome. But I have been working on my perception of eating out and it has really helped. Eat for purpose, not for pleasure. Again, communicate with the people you do spend time with and get creative; find other ways to fill your time together!

3. CATCH HUNGER BEFORE IT CATCHES YOU. I can’t stress this enough. You are five bajillion times more likely to cheat on your diet if you’re hungry. (Like my scientific accuracy there?) Seriously though. You need to plan your meals and eat before your tummy starts growling. Sometimes I feel like I am literally doing nothing but eating all the time. I eat at work, I eat in the car, I eat when I’m doing my hair in the morning. Every 2.5 hours on average. But by planning your meals and ALWAYS having enough food with you, you’re never hungry, so it becomes even harder to justify just that one nacho or banana or whatever it is on your “no-no” list.

I bought a big cooler for this purpose, and a whole bunch of divided Tupperware, and labeled them Meals 1 through 6 and I pack those every morning and that is it, amigos. Set to go.

4. DRINK WATER. Water is your new best friend. Water wants you to stick to your diet. Water wants you to feel full, even if you’re not! Superglue a bottle to your hand and drink drink drink at all times.

5. Pick and choose your social outings. If you have three party invites (you social butterfly, you) pick the most important one and make that your cheat meal for the week. (*YOU SHOULD HAVE ONE CHEAT MEAL A WEEK! For sanity and metabolism’s sake.) Or if you simply MUST attend all three, pass on dinner & drinks and stay for dancing. Skip the pizza and arrive in time for the movie. If you know you’re going to be way too tempted by tequila, then I gotta tell you, you have to politely decline. It’s about priorities. What do you want NOW, vs. what do you want MOST?

P.S. Sometimes I write NOW vs MOST on the inside of my right wrist, which is a good little reminder when I’m about to reach for something off limits (:

Eyes on the prize, my dear. We’re in this together. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s SO going to be worth it!!!

xoxoxo

Astra