The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule is something that is often debated, but realistically, it’s the same as most people say’ it’s everything in moderation. You can apply it to many areas of your life, as it was known as the Pareto principle, which states that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. 

Don’t Deprive Yourself

Depriving yourself entirely of the food that you love is never a good thing; it only leads to a bad relationship with food. It’s common knowledge that everything in moderation is the best way to go about your diet. You don’t always have to make healthy food choices, 80% of the time is enough. Healthy options mean cooking from fresh and using the right ingredients. You can still eat chocolate, enjoy a glass of wine, order a takeaway etc. You just need to ensure that this is only 20% of the time. Don’t overdo it. 

Don’t Feel Guilty

If you have have been working hard to eat well and look after yourself, and then you decide to accept a piece of birthday cake…it’s Ok. If you hate yourself for it and beat yourself up, the chances are that you will continue to eat rubbish to make yourself feel better. What else can you do? Just accept that one piece of cake isn’t the end of the world, and it certainly does not define your diet. 

How To Incorporate It

First things first, cook from fresh and eat well most of the time. Secondly, don’t go hungry; hunger makes everything worse. Finally...indulge on the weekends. If you know that your weekends are there for indulging, you have something to look forward to, and it’s easy to follow in the week if you set the right routine. 

Don’t Just Enjoy The 20%

If you hate what you eat 80% of the time, are you going to stick to it?! NOPE! Eating well can taste really good, you just have to find what’s right for you, and what you enjoy. Healthy eating may surprise you, but you won’t know until you exhaust every option. 

Also, let’s not forget that diet and fitness go hand in hand. If you want to lose body fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit, and exercise is the best way to enable this. The same 80/20 rule can also be applied to diet and exercise. It’s 80% about what you eat and 20% exercise. You could work out every day, but if you are filling your body with fast foods, sugar, fat, and carbs all the time, you won’t see the difference that you want to see. Routine breeds stimulation, and the quicker you sort yours out, the better you will feel.