Living the Lifestyle (LTL) - Wed. 3/22/17

minimyzeme

Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Monday -- 88olds (George)
Tuesday -- spospo1 (Steve)
Wednesday -- minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday -- imastar2 (Derrick)
Friday --Jim376 (Jim)

Today’s topic: Talking to yourself (about weight loss)

OK, this one’s a little out there but do you ever catch yourself talking to yourself about what you need / choose to do to stay consistent with your weight loss goals? (Please tell me I’m not the only one…)

minimyzeme

Ahhh.....yeah! In fact, just yesterday, late-morning, hours after an early, light breakfast, I realized I muttered to myself ‘You better eat something good or you’re going to eat something bad.’ Even though I said it practically under my breath, it sounded louder, like something I really needed to pay attention to. Then of course I realized it was!

To me, this was an act of mindfulness—one of the things that I’ve found to be essential to my weight loss and maintenance. It sounds odd but I rarely remember having any of that for food pre-WW. Even now, it takes some effort for me to move though the numerous choices I make daily with conscious awareness that helps me make good decisions. I really think this is relatively new for me.

I’ve said it before but much of my ‘journey’ has been mental, way more than fighting the food. In a sense, I’ve had to train myself to be more mindful so I’m OK talking to myself if that’s what it takes to really think about making good choices that keep me consistent with my goals.

Whatever it takes, one day at a time, right?

Al_Howard

Yeah! I do a lot of "self-talk" on many subjects, including what I'm eating and/or drinking.
Figure it's better than boring TOL, or having to listen to her tell me what I should do. <G>
It can be effective, often, but.........

88olds

Never stops.

This is what I think about my self talk that got me to goal on WW: I learned to argue with myself and win. First I would monitor what was going on in my head. I would try to characterize my thinking as helpful (that .5lb loss is pretty good. That .5 had to go if you're going to get to goal) or unhelpful (I just love donuts. Love them. Totally.) And I'd push back against the unhelpful stuff. Pushback had to be true and done with conviction. If I couldn't rally conviction, I'd work on that. I called that- belief in the righteousness of my cause. My cause being me, deserving to the life I wanted for myself.

When I got to goal and had been there long enough to figure I was staying there at least for a while I noticed this change. I quit nagging myself about my weigh and more important- my failed WL efforts. Big relief. Nagging was replace by mindfulness about what I was doing. I was still spending a lot of mental energy on maintenance, but the bitter edge was off.

I think this is about 95% mental. That includes the idea that what's going on in your head right now is nonsense so you should just plan a menu or calculate some points or go for a walk or something.

myallforjcbill

Pretty much all the time, on many subjects as Al said.

Rachel0778

I literally had to verbally talk myself into working out after work yesterday. My brain came up with 5+ excuses and I gave myself a pep talk to get it done.

Another common self talk moment is "you do not need the snack, it's only an hour until lunch, an hour after you just had dinner, etc." It helps to ground me on why I am eating.

Jerdtrmndone

I always am talking to my self because my negativity gets in the way and start eating like the old me. I keep asking myself why are you eating this when you have good things around you. It is almost like I totally have two sides of me I am dealing with and the old me side has one out lately guess I need to be more assertive in my thinking and choices ad get te person back I want to be!

podkey

Does cussing at oneself or mentally smacking ones head count?? I have the " what the hėck was that" thought, the emotion and then shrug my shoulders and get right back to my more sensible lifestyle. I have been eating a bit too much lately and too much chocolate as part of that hence some more self talk and perhaps cussing. I don't want to be an "it's ok" and "let slip the dogs of war [diet wise]" guy making excuses. At the same time I don't beat myself up either. A fine line I suppose.

I was tired yesterday and had to talk myself into going for a bike ride but was glad I did.

MurpleCat

Yeah, definitely. I'm an auditory learner, so hearing things said aloud makes them "real" to me. Saying "I don't want a donut" out loud, so I can actually hear it, makes it come true sooner than if I just try to think it. The real sounds drown out the other voices in my head that are clamoring for the donut.

Murple

goldenfrisbee

Yep, just last night I found myself going through the pantry looking for something "fun" to eat. Fortunately we didn't have much that was tempting.

And I got some difficult news at work that is going to make the next couple years very challenging. So I felt like getting a bottle of a whiskey and just zoning out for awhile.

But life is always going to throw you curve balls and I just talked myself out of binging. At least for last night.

gadgetgirlIL

The voices in my head chatter about weight loss/maintenance and many other things most of the day and sometimes in the middle of the night.

My friends don't understand how I can do long hikes and bike rides without music to distract me. They must not have the same internal chatter

Jimb376mfp

After my aqua aerobics and lap swimming I soak in the hot tub for ten minutes. That turns into some deep thoughts and self assessment on how I'm doing. The quiet soak in my swim suit usually leads me to focusing on how much fat/flab/skin is still there.

minimyzeme

Whew, good to know it's not just me! From many of your responses, I see we generally find those thoughts and vocalizations to be good guidance, helping us stay between ditches so to speak.

spospo1

I also self talk about weight loss and many other things. I think it is a great way to focus, evaluate and process things going on in your life. In fact, my wife has observed that I sometimes move my lips as the discussion in my head is happening. Weird. You certainly aren't the only one....

myallforjcbill

minimyzeme wrote: »

Whew, good to know it's not just me! From many of your responses, I see we generally find those thoughts and vocalizations to be good guidance, helping us stay between ditches so to speak.

Either that or we are all a bunch of psychos who live and walk around in a world of self talk

countcurt

I have found that affirmations can be very effective.

When I'm starting to have extreme difficulty making good choices, I go to the mirror and say, *aloud* the following:

"Today, I'm going to track everything I eat."


I might repeat it for emphasis. No judgement, no skepticism. No doubt. For me, tracking is enough to get nearly all of the other bad choice behaviors in check. And there is something about saying it aloud and 'directly' to myself (think good eye contact, and no snide facial posturing) that provides additional reinforcement of the intent during the day.


And, no, I don't add "because you're smart enough, you're good enough, and, gosh darn it, people like you." Although I could.

misterhub

I do, in fact, talk to myself about my weight-loss and lifestyle issues ALL THE TIME.

My maternal grandfather always said, "When I want to talk to SOMEBODY, I talk to myself."

Same here.

Calvin2008Brian

countcurt wrote: »

And, no, I don't add "because you're smart enough, you're good enough, and, gosh darn it, people like you." Although I could.

That sounds a lot like one of my US senators.

I don't talk to myself, at least not literally, but based on the responses above I'm willing to give it a try. ;-)

imastar2

I'm a but believer in affirmations but with weight loss I must admit I haven't been talking to myself much about it lately. I wish I had because I really believe it helps. I don't mean talking to myself but actually just claiming the weight loss is happening in my head because that's where I know it's starts in is my head.

minimyzeme

myallforjcbill wrote: »

minimyzeme wrote: »

Whew, good to know it's not just me! From many of your responses, I see we generally find those thoughts and vocalizations to be good guidance, helping us stay between ditches so to speak.

Either that or we are all a bunch of psychos who live and walk around in a world of self talk

Well yeah, there is that possibility too @myallforjcbill ! (Though I will say, it's not a constant muttering likely to cause others to steer clear of me while walking down the street.)

Interesting discussion; who knew it would carry on like this?

My 'vocalizations' are not so much affirmations as 'stream of conscious' thoughts resulting in a greater mindfulness of how I'm dealing with and around food. I agree with @MurpleCat that there is a certain transformation of awareness by moving from internal thoughts to actually saying out loud what I'm thinking. I can't explain it but it changes the dynamics for me. It's harder to ignore it when I actually say it.

This has become one of my 'retraining' tools. I can guarantee you I never took the time to break an eating situation down into discrete thoughts prior to putting food in my mouth pre-WW. I feel like doing so slows the process just enough to give me one more chance at evaluating whether or not that particular choice is really worth it or consistent with my weight goals.

susan092907

I talk to myself all the time in my mind, and definitely for weight maintenance issues. But like @Calvin2008Brian , I might give it a try, after reading here how it could help.