excuses/mental games you used to use before starting MFP?

deanne525
deanne525 Posts: 69 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I started MFP about 9 months ago, I have lost about 35lbs so far! I have about 20 more to go.

For me I think that losing weight/exercising is mostly a mental game you play with yourself. I feel like once you can get your head in it, things start to click! If you aren't mentally in it...its like fighting a losing battle every step of the way.

Before starting I would play so many head games with myself. For instance...if I ate something during the day that wasn't good for me Id tell myself "why bother exercising today since I already blew it" quick and easy excuse to get myself out of exercising!

If I had a bad couple of days I would say "why bother doing good the rest of the week...ill just start fresh on Monday"....and that would pretty much give me the excuse to go crazy the rest of the week.

If we had say cookies or brownies in the house ...Id break off a little piece thinking I was just having a taste.....but then go back and break off 10 more pieces until it was gone!

Since starting 9 months ago...I have cut out the excuses. If I have a bad couple of days...that's all it is, is a bad couple of days. I get right back into it...no more waiting till Monday!

If I eat more then I should during the day now...all the better reason to get a good workout in.

What are some of excuses/games you have played in your head before starting?? Interested to see how many we've all done!

Replies

  • deanne525
    deanne525 Posts: 69 Member
    I am sorry to hear your daughter struggled with an ed, but so glad to hear she is recovered! Kudos to you for getting yourself and your family healthy!!

  • jprewitt1
    jprewitt1 Posts: 264 Member
    I still struggle with the day to day stresses of life. Things get to me personally, and I've never been able to positively cope with those stressors. So I eat. I eat my feelings and then I eat my feelings even more because I feel bad for having bad feelings. It's a vicious cycle. I've recently been telling myself that the only way I can be happy is by being happy with me. It's easy to say, but hard to do. I was at my lowest weight in 10 years about two weeks ago, but I jumped up a lot in that short time. I'm slowly getting myself back on track, and I know I can do. I deserve to be happy and healthy.
  • deanne525
    deanne525 Posts: 69 Member
    I REALLY like this!!!
    jessicarobinson00 wrote: »
    Once I was able to change my mindset from "I deserve this" to "I earned this" it helped...I can eat ANYTHING I want, but I do need to earn the calories for it.

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    The excuse for not making an effort to lose weight was, for me, that this was a lifestyle choice that I was not willing to make. One day, I became willing to make the change and it has been easy.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    I used to blame my SO - that I couldn't cook food he liked and lose weight eating it. Also, we used to split a pizza which was silly - he's a foot taller than me and needs more calories. I increased activity and decreased calories and voilà, weight loss while still eating together!
  • khhregister
    khhregister Posts: 229 Member
    edited October 2016
    I'd say to myself that I was portioning appropriately because my plate had ~ 2/3 as much as my husband's. Turns out both our plates were too big. I never ever weighed my food before joining MFP. It's been a real eye-opener.

    I'd eat as if I were still living a very active lifestyle, although I now have a sedentary job. I'd think - but this is how I've always eaten!

    I'd go for a 1-2 mile walk and then eat an extra meal or an ice cream cone, thinking I had earned those calories. Really, I still don't know for sure how many calories I'm burning when I exercise, so I no longer use exercise as an excuse to eat extra goodies. I'm exercising now to stay strong and limber, not to overeat.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    "Too hard", "Too tired", "I don't feel like it", "Too sore", "I don't deserve it", "I'm not that fat", "I can't", "I don't have time", "I'm too poor to afford 'diet' food", "my meds make me tired"....
  • NancyYale
    NancyYale Posts: 171 Member
    The "all or nothing" game. If you have to be motivated and perfect at this diet thing, you will end up with nothing. Because NO ONE is always perfectly on plan.
  • jo_nz
    jo_nz Posts: 548 Member
    Mine was basically denial that I needed to change anything.
    As a young adult I was pretty slim/skinny (at the bottom or just below normal BMI range), and then once i started working a desk job, I began a slow creep up on the scales, and then babies & body changes from that... but it was very gradual, and easy to ignore!

    I think I only got the motivation to take control after an injury last year - it really made me appreciate the privilege of having a healthy body and I want to look after it!
  • deanne525
    deanne525 Posts: 69 Member
    oh I used to do this too....id do some kind of exercise and then think I could eat extra because I "worked out"
    khh1138 wrote: »
    I'd say to myself that I was portioning appropriately because my plate had ~ 2/3 as much as my husband's. Turns out both our plates were too big. I never ever weighed my food before joining MFP. It's been a real eye-opener.

    I'd eat as if I were still living a very active lifestyle, although I now have a sedentary job. I'd think - but this is how I've always eaten!

    I'd go for a 1-2 mile walk and then eat an extra meal or an ice cream cone, thinking I had earned those calories. Really, I still don't know for sure how many calories I'm burning when I exercise, so I no longer use exercise as an excuse to eat extra goodies. I'm exercising now to stay strong and limber, not to overeat.

  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    deanne525 wrote: »
    I am sorry to hear your daughter struggled with an ed, but so glad to hear she is recovered! Kudos to you for getting yourself and your family healthy!!

    Thank you! It was a rough and dark time for our family, but we all came out stronger on the other side. I started MFP the day after my daughter moved back to college, and I see her in 5 weeks when she comes home for Thanksgiving. She will be VERY proud of me and I have no worries that my managed eating will trigger any ED behaviors in her.
  • KyleGrace8
    KyleGrace8 Posts: 2,205 Member
    I feel like I've used all the excuses stated so far. At one point I had convinced myself that it was just the way my body was made and there was nothing I could do about it.
  • kschwab0203
    kschwab0203 Posts: 610 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I used to blame my SO - that I couldn't cook food he liked and lose weight eating it.

    I used this excuse for the longest time!!! There was no way my very rugged and very Italian man was going to go for grilled chicken and brown rice for dinner. I finally realized that this was my issue and I had to control it and that didn't necessarily mean that he had to eat what I wanted.

    I still cook for my family as I always have, but I either opt out and choose something else for myself or substitute things like white rice for brown rice or have a hot dog without a bun, etc.
  • cross2bear
    cross2bear Posts: 1,106 Member
    For me too, it was the all or nothing mentality - if I couldnt be perfect, what was the point in even trying? And feeling deprived - because I did restrictive diets previously, where I COULDNT have stuff, and I would end up resenting that and then go ahead and binge on it - I'll show YOU!!! Sad.

    So my relationship with food really had to change and I am much more "comfortable" I guess would be the best word, around food after having realized the two of us can coexist peacefully!!
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    my true excuse: three words "there's always tomorrow"...

    tomorrow always came but I did not per se.. as I thought life was a given right, not a gift.. and yeah.. the gift of time was always gonna be on my side.. not really, now I am closer to 50.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    my true excuse: three words "there's always tomorrow"...

    tomorrow always came but I did not per se.. as I thought life was a given right, not a gift.. and yeah.. the gift of time was always gonna be on my side.. not really, now I am closer to 50.

    Me too. I just always saw it as something 'future me' would do.
    51 now, but I am now feeling like 'future me.' :)
  • BrunetteRunner87
    BrunetteRunner87 Posts: 591 Member
    All of those excuses, plus half the days I feel too tired to get up to go to my crossfit class in the morning. That's something I'm still working on.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
    Hmmmm good question and topic. Oddly enough, I never had any excuses... I never even gave it a second thought. I felt good, I looked good (knew how to carry myself with the extra weight), I was pretty active and I ate what I want, when I want. It was that moment when I realized a food item I was eating was terribly bad for me, and I thought it was the healthiest thing on the planet. I was so shocked at my own ignorance I made it my mission to change everything about the way that I ate.

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