Diet and Mental Toughness

Diet. You know, the part of the fitness equation that turns the most calloused lifter into a little girl in a Disney princess T-shirt. See, training is easy. Not easy to do, but easy to stick with for dedicated lifters. Why? Because we love it. Lifting is rewarding and fun. But diet? Ew.
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Just the word makes people think of bland foods and, well, basically not getting to do what we want to do. And “diet” isn’t just an hour a day. It’s all day long. It’s easy to get worked up for a heavy set of deadlifts. It’s not as easy to get excited about NOT eating something we really want to eat. Nutrition is where mental toughness is really put to the test.
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So how do you boost dietary toughness? Some will tell you to focus on the outcome: being healthy, seeing your abs, etc. But that’s hard to fathom in the moment, like when you’re looking at your chicken breast as your buddy is biting into a pizza. That’s when the voices start talking to you: “Hey, you deserve a cheat meal.” “You can get back on track later.” Those voices are a form of rationalization, an ego defense mechanism that helps you justify bad choices. And those voices can be LOUD when it comes to food.
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The first step? Recognize the rationalization. Catch yourself in the act. It’s kinda hard to keep doing something that’s been defined in a freshman psych textbook. Makes you feel lame. The second step can take many forms, but here’s what works for me: anger. I get pissed off at myself. I think back to my fat-boy days when I was diagnosed as obese. I remind myself that all I have to do is NOT put some crappy food into my mouth. I can replace it with something almost as good that supports my goals.
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The good news is, once you’ve been “clean” for a while with your diet, those loud voices soften into whispers and then pretty much disappear.
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“Wait, so your advice is to yell at yourself and call yourself a wus?” Yeah, kinda. Sometimes you just have to sack up and kick some ass. More often than not, that ass is your own