It Ain’t Over Till You Say It’s Over – How You Can Still Kick The Easter Bunny’s Butt

Sorry kids, but that cuddly little rabbit who came bearing gifts over the weekend? He isn’t really your friend, is he? Not unless you mean one of those sneaky manipulative friends you had in school, the kind who convinces you that you’ll finally be cool if you deliberately don’t finish your homework on time, and then laughs behind your back when you get in trouble. The kind of friend who, deep down at least, you know you’re better off without and yet for some reason you still can’t quite seem to shake.

You might hate to admit it, but you know I’m right – using Easter as a ‘reason’ to stuff your face is plain and simple a fast-track to feeling like you-know-what.

no more excuses! isn’t it time we grow up and learn to do the stuff that really makes us feel good?

Of course you can justify all you like that we should be able to indulge guilt-free over Easter (and don’t think for a second that I avoided chocolate these past few days, cause as you may have seen over at the Woman Incredible Facebook page I sure as heck did NOT), but really – in what kind of messed up world do we need a big bunny and the distortion of what was once purely a religious holiday to give us permission to drive our blood glucose levels from healthy and lean to pre-diabetic in less than 24 hours?

I for one am sick of the idea that there are set occasions or events when we ‘should’ stuff ourselves to the gills because it makes us normal or it’s social, or whatever the reason du jour may be.

Of course I could have written this post last week and given you loads of ideas for preventing the Easter onslaught, but let’s face it. We were all going to tear off the shiny wrappers as quick as our eager hands would allow anyway, weren’t we? It’s okay; you’re only human! But – now that that’s done and we all feel so damn good about ourselves, let’s talk about some ways to mitigate any potential disaster.

10 tricks to kick the easter bunny’s butt and melt chocolate blubber!

1. Put down the leftover chocolate! You do not have to finish all chocolate that you started! Waste not want not, but also admit that you may never see your waist looking the way you want if you follow that rule. It is okay to throw away leftover half-eaten sweets instead of finishing them off in order to avoid future temptation!

2. Keep the good stuff for sure, but remember that there’s no real that says you have to finish all Easter goodies within the week. I remember winning a large Easter egg in a school competition of some kind and keeping it in the freezer for about 6 months before I finished the thing! Literally one toothfull at a time! Imagine doing that now 🙂

3. Rather than getting down about how much you indulged, flip things around and use it as a motivator to start afresh. I’m not always a huge fan of the whole ‘today is the first day of my new diet’ approach to nutrition, but this time of year is one of the best to re-commit to no sugar or processed food for a period of time. 2 weeks is achievable and also enough to make significant change.

4. If this seems too extreme or simply doesn’t fit your personal goals, then why not make a list of treats you could enjoy now and then in moderation. It’s easy to develop a mindset that having a treat of any kind is wrong or bad, and this can lead to periods of complete abstinence followed by complete binging! Rather than set yourself up for failure, understand that if major fat loss is not your goal then you can treat yourself every day with healthy indulgences such as fresh berries or fruit, unprocessed cream, nut butters, gluten-free pasta or bread, and so on.

5. If you’re kind of at that in-between stage of not needing to spark massive fat loss but also not fully content with where you’re at, simply find the middle ground. Don’t treat yourself every day, but also avoid building up to breaking point and using festive occasions of any kind to completely undo weeks of clean eating. Birthday cupcakes for someone you barely know are not a valid reason for sugar-loading unless you want them to be. To stay on track and continue slow but steady fat loss, set yourself regular treat meals (dinner is best) once to twice a week. Plan and enjoy your treats rather than just falling apart at morning tea one day and letting it go downhill from there!

6. Recognise your triggers. If you did push the sugar-limits at Easter, think about why this might be. Does it hark back to being restricted on sweets as a child? To enjoying being naughty with your diet? Was it simply a good excuse to break your normal rules? It’s probably not as though you normally daydream about scoffing great quantities of chocolate, so what is it that cause you to force-feed yourself beyond the point of pure enjoyment?

7. Ditch the guilt. There is absolutely no point beating yourself up about how you do or do not eat. At this or any other time of year. Even if you ate half the confectionary aisle. What you eat doesn’t make you bad or weak, it just means pure and simple that you love that food (or escape) more than you love whatever the flipside of that is. There’s no rule that says getting leaner or reaching optimal health has to be more important to you than eating chocolate. You create your own rules, and you can also change them.

8. Get a buddy! The mentoring program I’m doing at the moment to become a better speaker encourages me to find a buddy who I can share my goals and dreams with – and also be accountable to. This is a great idea for you when it comes to your nutrition, training and fat loss goals. Find someone who is like-minded and commit to sharing with each other and keeping each other accountable. It really does help.

9. Set rewards with your buddy, and make them non-food-related. If you tend to eat in times of stress, boredom, or simply because its there, then it can be really tough to break the pattern. When you have a clear challenge and you’ve committed that to yourself and your buddy it becomes so much easier to stay on track. Make this process easier by setting a small or medium reward every 1-3 weeks, and a big reward every month or two.

10. Get the feel-good juices flowing! By this I mean stop bemoaning the fact that you think you’re weak of mind, or you feel fat, or you feel gross, or you can’t seem to stick to anything, and get out there and TAKE ACTION! Hit the gym one extra time this week, do a 10-minute at home circuit like squats, lunges and push ups. Pre-plan and prepare all your meals this week and feel good about the fact that you are fueling your body for success.

Finally, remember that you have full control over your actions or non-actions. And surely you can kick one measly bunny’s butt, can’t you? Even if it was actually 4 or 5 not-so-measly choccie bunnies!

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