Why Dieting Is Like Tidying Your Room

A strange comparison some might say, however hear me out.

If you are anything like me, you had a messy room growing up.

For me, there were always clothes strewn on the floor (some clean some not), a mug or two knocking about from a brew the previous day, and a desk that generally resembled a bomb going off in the national archives.

You get the idea.

Every so often something would spur a mass tidy –  it may have been a particularly effective nag from my mother, treading on something painful while barefoot, or very occasionally even I would decide enough was enough and begin myself.

Hours were spent tidying cleaning, rearranging, binning, putting away (or in the case of my clothes going in the washing basket) and at the end I would always, without fail, do 2 things: 1.I would bask in pride at how glorious my room looked. 2.I would promise myself (and my mum) that from now on I would keep my room tidy.

Every time in that moment, I would swear to myself that THIS TIME my room would stay this tidy. Attempt number four million and three was the one.

After all, all I needed to do was keep on top of it. 10 minutes a day max and who can’t manage that?!

I never followed through.

It may have stayed tidy for a few days to a week, but long  term as if by magic I would wake up in a messy room again.

Why?

Was it because I didn’t have the motivation? Because I didn’t have enough storage space? Or was it because I was just destined to be a slob?

Or was it because my epic room tidying bonanza never addressed the reason my room was untidy in the first place – An epic room tidying bonanza is the cure, keeping my room tidy required some prevention!

Over time my old habits would creep in. I’d not put my washing away and move it to the floor – “I’ll do it in the morning”. I’d be in a rush and forget to move my mugs – “I’ll do it later on”, I’d get bored of my complex filing system and dump stuff on my desk – “I can’t be bothered”.

Bit by bit I stopped doing the extra things to keep it tidy and my room would go back to “normal”. A tip.

Now the above example fits numerous scenarios, be it your room, your car, your kitchen cupboard, your shed – most of us either have one of these places or knows someone else that does.

Parents think Kids, wives think husbands, husbands accept it is probably you (I jest it could be your wife) and it tends to follow a similar pattern.

The same is also true when many of us follow a diet.

Diets tend to be a fairly strict set of dos and don’ts around what to eat – it’s an epic room tidying bonanza, but for your food.

You’re often cutting stuff out, adding stuff in or swapping meals for some powdery chemical gunk in a shake – You’re motivated, you feel good and here’s what turns out to be the killer.

Often, YOU GET RESULTS.

You get yourself a tidy room (you lose a stone, feel better, have more energy etc).

Then steadily over time the wheels come off. You stop resisting the treats at work, get fed up of salad, go out for tea and eat the menu, it’s Christmas, Easter, the kids birthday etc.

Eventually, stuff comes up which doesn’t fit in with the strict set of rules, so we bend or bin the rules and start reverting back to “normal”.

Gradually our room becomes a mess again.

So what do we do??

We give it another massive tidy!

Or

We go on another diet!

I remember as a kid getting extra bookshelves, cubbyholes, drawers, you name it, I tried it and every time I would tell myself THIS time it will work,

THIS new storage device will crack the code, THIS time I will try even harder to keep my room tidy and THIS time will be the last time mum has a go about me living in a “pigsty”.

We do the same with our diets.

The sad thing is I also remember the massive frustration of feeling like I was constantly tidying my room and getting absolutely nowhere.

Feeling like it “should” be so simple,.

Like I knew what I needed to do and didn’t understand why I couldn’t do it.

Feeling like a failure because I couldn’t even keep my bedroom tidy.

Eugh.

Now imagine if I had stepped off the epic room tidying bonanza merry-go-round  and committed to one simple thing every few weeks.

This week I will put my clothes in the washing basket on a night.

This week I will take my mugs downstairs before I go to bed.

This week I will put my clean clothes straight away.

Imagine if I broke “keeping my room tidy” into specific, easy tasks that needed to be completed  and committed to doing them on a consistent basis.

Imagine if I took the time to practice the tasks regularly so they became habits.

Imagine if I focussed on making progress over being perfect.

Imagine if I allowed myself the odd blip without telling myself I was destined to be a slob for the rest of my life.

Now imagine if you did the same with your diet.

Where could you be in a couple of months?