Picture me shrugging my shoulders right now.
Had a little gain this week, which I was kind of expecting. I have this bad habit, when I'm trying to lose weight, where after I have a good week I sort of go out of my way to have a less good one. I ate some stuff I really didn't need to eat, and for no good reason other than "I just felt like it". While I'm eating poorly, I know damn well what I'm doing to myself, and yet I keep on doing it.
Does anyone else sometimes find themselves self-sabotaging like this (or in some other respect)? I think it must be a fairly normal occurrence but not exactly healthy or productive. For years I have tried to figure out why I sometimes do things like this, and so far the only thing I have come up with is: Fear.
But fear of WHAT? Fear of success? Could be. Fear of what life would be like if I wasn't using food as an emotional crutch for every freaking little thing? Definite possibility. Maybe all of the above. I haven't hit on one definitive thing though.
People self-sabotage for all kinds of reasons, but in the end if you want to lose weight and get fit and healthy, you have to quit the sabotaging behaviors whether you fully understand them or not. This is something I have struggled with in other areas of my life, not just in weight loss: I have this strong need to "understand" all the whys and wherefores, and if I don't understand why then I feel like I can't change things.
But that's not really true! If we wait until we know the reason WHY then we are just using the lack of knowing as another excuse NOT to achieve what we want. Right?
So I think what I need to do is kick my inner saboteur's ass to the curb, and just GET OVER MYSELF already.
Three steps forward; two steps back. Not giving up.
1. Drink one glass of water every hour. It will make you feel full. 2. Drink ice cold water. Your body will burn calories just getting the water to a normal temperature to digest. Also it is great for your complexion. 3. Drink 3 cups of green tea daily. It will help boost your metabolism, plus its anti-oxidants make your skin look great. 4. Take vitamins daily. Do not take vitamins on an empty stomache, otherwise they have nothing to catalyze with. 5. Eat ice or gum when hungry. This will make your body think it had food without the calories. 6. Eat spicy foods. They raise your metabolism. 7. Take cold showers because your body will burn calories to heat you back up. 8. Brush your teeth so you won’t be tempted to eat afterwards. 9. Wear a rubberband around your wrist. Snap it when you want to eat. 10. Use smaller plates and utensils so it seems like you ate more. 11. Chew each bite of food thoroughly and then take a sip of water between bites. You will feel full quicker and will not eat as much. 12. Sleep at least six hours a day. If you get less than six this can lower your metabolism by 15%. 13. If you start to feel hungry do sit ups. 14. Pamper yourself! Give yourself a facial, paint your nails, anything to make you feel pretty. 15. Keep track of everything you eat to manage your weight better. 16. Keep good posture, burns 10% more calories when you sit up straight. 17. Make a list of all the “bad” foods that you crave and tend to binge on. Each day, pick one to take out of your diet that you cannot eat again. Take one off the list each day until there are no more bad foods you can have. 17. Avoid alcohol! A shot of liquor has 100-120 calories, a glass of wine has 80 calories, a lite beer has 110-120 calories, and a regular beer has 140-170 calories. 18. Avoid eating anything bigger than about a cup, your stomach will expand and then you’ll get hungry more. 19. The smell of coffee is thought to supress appetite. 20. Wear applied lip gloss. It makes you more aware of what’s going in your mouth. Also, flavored ones may help with cravings. 21. Have 6 small meals a day. 22. Low calorie hot chocolate curbs chocolate cravings, and makes you feel full. 23. Take a picture of yourself wearing a bathing suit or something equally important to you, look at it before you want to eat. 24. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to realize the stomach is full. 25. Eat lots of fiber. It makes you feel full and takes fat with it out of your body. The natural cleansing helps improve both your energy level and overall feeling of wellness. 26. Before you dig into that cake, bag of chips, candy, or whatever, take a deep breath and count to 100. Usually by the time you get to 100 you will have coninced yourself that you don’t really want it. 27. Celery actually burns calories. Every hour eat a stalk of it. Not only will it fill you up, but it will also get your metabolism kickin’. 28. Read the nutritional information. Remember, fat-free does not mean calorie-free. 29. Keep an eye on fiber content. Get as much fiber into your diet as you can, while cutting fat and calories. 30. Don’t eat a lot at once. Spread your food throughout the day. This will help to avoid binging and keep your metabolism going. 31. Avoid alchohol. 32. Do not eat in front of the computer or TV. This distracts you from recognizing you’re full. 33. Stay away from Slim-fast and other so-called “healthy” candy bars and shakes… one look at the nutition facts will tell you why. Save yourself the money, and the calories. Buy yourself some flowers instead -- they make you happy. 34. When having cravings try drinking a tall, icy glass of water with slices of lemons or oranges -- sometimes what you think is hunger is really thirst. 35. Remember, an occasional binge doesn’t hurt, in fact it’s quite beneficial if you have reached a plateau (stopped losing weight). Just don’t binge too regularly! and finally, 36. Love and respect yourself and your body.
ReplyDeleteAnd there you go: 36 good tips for weight loss. Thanks! And I think this might be the longest comment I've ever received on any blog post!
ReplyDelete:) I read it somewhere, and immediately thought of your blog. I like these.
DeleteJust love this reply, thanks for all the tips.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I have in self sabotaging is this...... Somehow the minute someone realises I am losing weight and starting to look great and says that to me, it's as if something goes off in my brain and I start on a binge and nearly before you can bat an eye I've picked up all the weight I've lost..... It's as if I'm not allowing myself to receive compliments..... jissie so irritating to myself! Thanks for this blog Lisa
Interesting, Sue. Sounds like you're aware that you're doing this, which is a big first step to changing it. The (former) life coach in me wants to ask a question: What would it mean to you, if you gave yourself PERMISSION to accept compliments without hesitation, guilt or self-sabotage? What if you just accepted the fact that other people are entitled to their positive opinions of you, and that furthermore it's none of your business WHAT they think of you anyway (good or bad)? So really, it's nice to get compliments and just let it go. And if someone doesn't like who we are or what we look like or what we do, does that always need to matter either?
DeleteJust some open-ended questions for you to reflect upon. :)
i do the same thing....as soon as i lose a couple I give myself permission to pig out.......and if someone notices that i have lost anything, I also end up shrugging it off & eating more again....wtf
ReplyDeleteYes, I still haven't gotten this one quite figured out. And it's clear I'm not the only one with some version of this issue!
DeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteWish you would post on here every week, even if you don't lose. It is kind of inspiring to me to be on the weight loss journey (once again) and to have you there with me. I don't lose every week either. That's realistic and I think you could have a really hot blog here if you posted on a regular basis. People like honesty and your humorous way of writng about weight loss could really attract a large audience. It could be your next book! (If you posted more, made it funny (as usual), and really took us on your journey, whether you are losing every week or not.) After all, EVERYODY is on a diet it seems. I understand if you are too busy though; I'd rather have you here sporadically than not at all.
Sheila
I did actually prepare a post for last Thursday after I weighed in, but stuff was going on here at home for a few days and I just forgot to post it! Sometimes, you just have to live your life and do the best you can. :)
DeleteAnd time off is important, too, to stay healthy.