Self-Sabotage #1 – All or nothing tracking/dieting
You may not be realizing it or acknowledging it, but you sabotage yourself from getting the results you desire. Maybe this is done by habits or possibly even your belief system; regardless if you acknowledge what is actually going on and address it, you will be one step closer to reaching your goal.
I’ll address the top self-sabotage gremlins that show up:
All or nothing tracking/dieting – you eat something “off your plan” or a little more that you would like. What you do? Decide that your day is ruined and you might as well eat whatever you like because you already “messed up”.
There are so many layers to this…
Example:
You ate ice cream, it’s on your “no” list.
Questions:
1) Are you tracking your calories?
If yes, go to #2. If no, why not? If your goal is to lose weight than tracking is imperative. If you really have no goals but this all or nothing cycle is affecting you, I would be helpful to actually see that little indulges here and there are not as bad as you think.
2) Are you over your calories for the day?
If yes, see thought work below. If no, then you are still fine to eat within your allotment.
3) Does your diet include treats?
If yes, go back to #1. If no, why not? The more you restrict any food or food group the more likely you are to crave and binge.
THOUGHT WORK
Acknowledge your reasoning - “I went off track – I might as well eat whatever I want”
Realistically examine this thought – So you ate ice cream, and you are going to end up being over calories by the end of the day….how much realistically if you just ate that ice cream? 200 calories? 200 calories over is not going to make you gain weight. You could easily eat 50 less per day for the following 4 days and completely even it out.
If you choose instead to throw in the towel and eat everything in sight you could possibly be over 2000 calories which would make you gain weight.
· You would definitely be holding on to water weight for the next few days.
· 3600 calories = 1 pound. So you would actually have gained .5 # of fat that day. Add that up a few times a month and you can see where the problem lies.
· You would feel sluggish. All that junk food would have you feeling lethargic.
· Most likely you would be beating yourself up and thinking negatively because of those over indulgences.
STRATEGIC THOUGHTS/ACTIONS
So what do you do moving forward?
Strategic thoughts: Remind yourself – you can eat a little less the next few days, 200 over is better than 2000 over, you still have a goal you are shooting for and can easily recover from this little slip.
Strategic actions: Track you foods. Plan to eat a little less the next few days. If it is early enough in the day, you can easily choose lower calorie/higher nutritionally dense foods to counterbalance the ice cream. Next time you crave ice cream, pre plan it into you food log.
What other thoughts and actions can you come up with? Comment below…..