You know you shouldn’t. And yet, three days into your new diet, you are wiping the crumbs of a very crumbly cupcake off your face. Oops! You had no choice, you reason with yourself, because it was your best friend’s birthday, and, well, one couldn’t hurt, right?
Right. Small slips rarely have any great calorific impact ­ so long as you are able to quickly burn it off. But left unattended, many `slips’ can pile on as calories before you even realise it. It takes 3,500 un-burned calories to gain a pound of weight, and the more slips you have without doing anything about it, the more the calories go unburned, and in turn, the more weight you gain.

But this is not about setting sail on a guilt trip. The larger point of this article is to understand what derails your intentions to eat healthy. And you’d be surprised at how innocuous it may be.

CAN’T SAY `NO’ TO AUNTIE

Social pressure is one of the key reasons our diets fail time and time again. Without realising it, that loving bua or neighbour or host, who is pushing you to eat her laddoos -because she equates food with love -is setting back your efforts to lose weight. And while she may definitely have your best intentions at heart, it’s important to gently let people know that it is not compatible with your health plan at the moment. If they genuinely love you, they will respectfully withdraw. Be strong. The more you say No, the more people will understand.

ARE YOU DIETING?

So many people don’t want to look like they are dieting on social occasions. They would actually eat stuff they never usually eat. While it could come from being self-conscious about dieting, the fact is that it’s more   important to think about what you want. Don’t worry so much about what people think: even if you do incur comments initially, these will slowly slide to a stop as people find other things to talk about.

THE HOLIDAY FROM HEALTH

A lot of people, who go on vacation, seem to take a holiday from healthy eating too. There’s no point working hard to shed the kilos before you leave only to find yourself back to square one on your return. Most cuisines have healthy, low-fat options. Enjoy your holiday but don’t make food a part of the vacation experience. Sightsee, shop, walk around and spend quality time with your loved ones: there are other ways to enjoy your time off.

PACK SAYS `LOW-FAT’

One of sneakiest detailers to any healthy diet can sometimes be something you least ex pect: foods marked `low-fat’. Low fat doesn’t always mean low calorie. It’s also important to be vigilant about the other ingredients that go into low-fat products. Sometimes manufacturers add sugar to add to the taste -which adds to the calorie count -or sometimes eating double of something which has 50% less fat, pretty much amounts to same level of fat being consumed. It’s definitely something worth thinking about.
Enjoy your new lifestyle but whatever you do, be aware of what causes you to get off the healthy eating wagon. Because slips, after a point, don’t lie.