href="#fb3_img_img_bfc00aec-6bc3-5f58-b354-c5282f724086.png" alt=""/> How do you think being slimmer, fitter, and healthier will affect your life?
Hopefully, the answers to the above questions will have helped focus your mind on the task in hand a little. Research shows that people who have an “intrinsic” or internal motivation to achieve something are more likely to persevere than those who are motivated by “extrinsic” rewards. For example, believing that you’ll feel better about yourself if you drop a dress size is likely to help you stick with the plan more than having to lose weight for your best friend’s wedding. It’s important to be in the right frame of mind – positive, motivated, and confident – before you start and while on the Get a Grip plan. That’s why you’ll find a positive mantra and top tip for each day of your 14-day plan. It’s also equally important to be practically and physically prepared. Make sure you have 14 days in which to commit yourself fully to this program – that means there should be no champagne-fueled parties or candle-lit dinners in your diary. Read through the next few pages and before you start make sure you have everything you need to make the plan a success.
IS MOTHER NATURE ON YOUR SIDE?
No matter how ready and willing you are to change your body, there are natural limitations that may influence your success. I call it the “Three M Theory” – your mother, your metabolism, and your motivation.
YOUR MOTHER
The way you were brought up can have a strong influence on your relationship with food later in life. Research from Pennsylvania State University showed that women who are faddy about foods tend to subconsciously pass on their finicky ways to their daughters. If your mother actively encouraged you not to eat certain foods or not to overeat, warning that it would make you fat, you probably label foods as “good” and “bad” without even realizing it. If you ate a lot of sweet and sugary things as you were growing up, and your diet didn’t include a variety of tastes, it is likely that you now crave calorie-dense sweet foods rather than savory ones. Maybe your mother used to say “finish everything on your plate” and you still do. These attitudes have taken a long time to build into habits, and they will take a long time to diminish. This book will help you reevaluate your relationship with food, showing you how to draw up a sensible eating plan that will help you realize your weight and body fat goals, as well as providing a positive health message for your children.
YOUR METABOLISM
Research shows that from your mid-twenties onwards, metabolism begins to decline year on year. It’s a sad fact that if you continue to consume the same number of calories without stepping up energy expenditure, gradual weight gain will result. In addition, there are specific times in life, for example during puberty, when fat cells are prone to get bigger and multiply. If we eat excessively during these times, it is likely that the body fat laid down in the fat cells will pose more of a problem to shift than the weight we gain at other times of our lives. This helps to explain why some friends appear to drop weight effortlessly while our own attempts require a lot more persistence. We are all designed to have fat cells, and they all have an ability to increase and decrease in size as we gain and lose weight. Appreciating this will allow you to approach this plan with a realistic picture of what you can achieve long term.
YOUR MOTIVATION
Consider this: what we weigh in seven years’ time will not be determined by what we do in the next seven hours, seven days or seven weeks but by what we do consistently for the next seven years. So if your initial motivation to take those first steps is to get into a little black dress in 14 days’ time – great! But once you’ve achieved that, use sections two and three to build on your success and make it last. Whatever your initial motivation to start the plan, try to find a way to translate it into a strategy that you can incorporate and build on to achieve your long-term weight and body fat goals. Establishing a strategy and action plan will be crucial, and the results that you’ll see in 14 days will be the driving force to help you do so.
GET SET
This section is all about the practical stuff – what you need to buy, or have handy, how to take your current measurements (to help you gauge your results), and clear instructions on how to use the plan.
What you’ll need:
KITCHEN CABINET ESSENTIALS
This list serves as a general shopping list of non-perishable items that are used during the 14-day plan. There may be some other non-perishable items required for specific recipes, but the list below should cover you for most eventualities.
Oils, sauces and condiments
| Olive oil | Red pesto |
| Oil cooking spray | Arrabbiata sauce |
| Dijon mustard | Tabasco or any hot |
| Light soy sauce | pepper/chili sauce |
| Balsamic vinegar | Tomato salsa |
| White wine vinegar | Mango chutney |
| Curry paste | Peanut butter |
| Chicken or vegetable | Honey |
| stock cubes |
Herbs and spices
| Mixed herbs | Ground cilantro |
|
Root
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