SSP 65. How to Stick to Your Diet When Traveling or Attending Social Events - a podcast by Scott Abel, Mike Forest

Traveling and social events can be tricky situations to navigate for dieters. We discuss how to do it sanely, and how to tell the difference between dedication and obsession, or between being flexible and just "making excuses."



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? Sticking to Your Diet While Travelling ?

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The episode began because while Andy was travelling in Vegas for a photoshoot, he stuck to his diet the entire time. So even though Andy regularly practices huge refeeds and cheat days with The Cycle Diet, in this case he chose not to partake in some of the huge buffets and smorgasbords of foods that Vegas had to offer. Why?



Similarly, Mike, while traveling to Kingston with his fiancé, chose to pretty much stick to his diet without going out to any fancy restaurants. He brought some food along, then stopped at a Loblaws grocery store to get the remainder of what he’d need for the rest of the trip.



In both cases, there was a decision based on practicality, desire, and goals. Mike had his dog with him the entire time, so eating options were already limited, and it was just easier for him to stick to the diet than to try to make decisions about how to “make it work.”



In Andy’s case, first, he was at a photoshoot, so until that section was over, of course he needed to stay pretty strict. And beyond that, he too found some of his options limited by time and responsibilities, so he just kept off until he returned home, and had a real cheat day the Sunday he was back.



Key Concept: Mike likes the idea of “satisficing,” especially when traveling. That is, you don’t need to be perfect… you just need to get things good enough. The challenge is that our brains really like being perfect, and just being good enough makes us question ourselves. The solution, for Mike, is to use personal weirdo rules. These are personal rules that will keep you satisficing your diet over the long term. They work by balancing real life with psychological bright lines; they give your brain something to latch onto, something that says, “Yes, I followed the rule. This is definitely a win!” (As opposed to: “Uh… that was probably good enough… but oh geez… what if… what if… what if…” etc.)



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? Recurring Themes: ?

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» “Choose the behavior, choose the consequences.”



Don’t be a diet martyr. You don’t “have” to diet. It might be a bummer that you need to diet “more” or “harder” than that other person over there with a six-pack, but focusing on this doesn’t help. All there is, at the end of the day, are your decisions, and the consequences of those decisions for you. That’s it.



» “Mindset determines behavior.”



Two people engaging in the “same” behavior (e.g. eating a lot of food for a “cheat” day vs. an uncontrollable binge) can be engaging in what looks like the same thing, but the mindset behind the behavior is totally different. There’s a difference between being a diet martyr who “has” to stick to their diet, and who makes everyone around them miserable, versus being someone who simply, politely and firmly says, “No, thank you. Not this time, but thank you for the offer.”



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? LINKS & RESOURCES ?

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Andy's website: realandysinclairfitness.com



Awesome Abs: http://absbyandy.com/

Further episodes of The Smarter Sculpted Physique: Training | Nutrition | Muscle Gain | Fat Loss

Further podcasts by Scott Abel, Mike Forest

Website of Scott Abel, Mike Forest