THE 80/20 RULE

The 80/20 rule is the best piece of advice that I picked up at the Craving Change workshop.

We were told that no one is perfect and there is no need to feel guilty if we stray away from our healthy eating once in awhile.

The rule is: 80% healthy and 20% splurge.

This means that the majority (80%) of the food you eat should be healthy (whole grains, veggies, lean meats, etc). The other 20% can be used to indulge in an unhealthier option. You can split the rule by the meals you eat or the total calories you consume, to the quantity of food or the quality of food.

The most popular method is to do a weekday/weekend split which focuses on good habits during the workweek and loosening up on the weekend.

This is the method that Al & I use. It seems to work best for us for two reasons...

#1, weekends (his are Sat.Sun.Mon.) are when Al is home from work so our eating schedules aren't as rigid. Plus that is the time that we are more likely to eat out especially if we take one of our out of town shopping trips one of those days.

#2, for myself, I use it as a reward system...eat well during the week, treat myself on the weekend. It makes it so much easier to get through the week eating healthy small portions knowing that on the weekend I can indulge my craving.

Mind you, we don't go hog wild and pig out every day, all day long, lol. It's just a guilt free zone where we can have a higher calorie/less healthier meal without feeling remorse.

For instance, during the week, we'll have healthy cereal for breakfast. But come the weekend, it's bacon, egg and toast. LOL...not a full truckers special but just one fried egg, one piece of bacon, one slice of toast :)

Another way to apply the 80/20 rule in a healthy lifestyle is with exercising. You can't just eat healthy food and expect to lose weight. You've got to get in at least 30 minutes a day of some activity that raises your heart rate.

LOL...and no, you can't eat junk food 20% of the time and exercise 80% of the time, it's just not going to work!

The 80/20 rule can also be applied to other situations while striving for a healthy lifestyle and these will be covered in future postings.

THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE:

Think about how you will be able to incorporate the 80/20 rule into your healthy lifestyle. What is your food weakness? Which food tempts you the most?

Okay, it comes as no surprise to you all, that my reward on the weekends is chocolate! Looking forward to hearing from you...If you choose to try out this rule, comment below on which method you chose and how it worked out for you :)

NEXT WEEK'S BLOG: my secret to weight loss (according to Al)

http://www.cravingchange.ca/

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DISCLAIMER: Whenever I use the word DIET in my blog posts I am in no way suggesting that I have invented/discovered some miracle system to lose weight. Whenever I use the word DIET, I am simply substituting a single word to replace the longer phrase EATING HEALTHIER THAN IN THE PAST.