SABOTAGE!!!!!!!!!!!

Sabotage: to deliberately damage, destroy, or obstruct something. -Websters Dictionary

Confession: I am an infomercial junky. Yes there you have it. I think they're amazing, I'm instantly captivated by the enthusiastic host and I have my credit card in hand. Thankfully... I've grown up some :) BUT not until I've purchased an electric belly fat blaster belt that sends jolts through your body in just 15 minutes a day that blasts the fat instantly!, drinks and shakes that guarantee weight loss in just 30 days or your money back guaranteed!, videos by chiseled personal trainers that guarantee to lose 14 pounds in 1 week or your money back guaranteed!!!!!!!!
~Diets: Low carb, no carb, grapefruit, mustard diet, HCG diet, Ketosis, clear liquid, cleansers, diet pills, diet shakes, fasting. KNOW WHAT EACH OF THESE HAVE IN COMMON???? SABOTAGE!!!!!

REALity: It's bogus!!! All bogus!!! And for this at-one-time naive girl it was the answer to my prayers. Until it failed.

LESSON:
1.) Mentality: You prep, you plan, you cook, you pinterest recipes, you pre-portion, you pack, you set out your gym clothes, your ear buds are ready, your workout playlist is added. You have everything in place. You tell yourself, "Ok, tomorrow morning I am going to do this, I am going to workout 6 days this week for at least an hour. Yes an hour, anything less isn't worth my time. I'm going to eat all healthy food. Clean food, yes clean food is in, that's what I will do. I will take my vitamin, yes vitamins what the doctor says are good. I am going to eat no white bread, yes white bread is SO bad. I am going to cut out soda, yes soda is the absolute worst food product on this planet. Oh, I'm going to track all of my calories, yes that's what I need to do. When you journal you have better success. Yes this day is planned. I am ready for success!!!"
~ Every single thing in this sentence is correct. This person is prepared, has done all the right things, has planned, has researched. They are ready to conquer the World. And day 4, they are burrying their face in a tub of ice cream, hating themselves and saying Ok, I can't do this. Why????? Because we SABOTAGE ourselves.
~ This plan is great. HOWEVER, NOT all at once. Most can not take years of poor lifestyle choices and change everything all in one day, sustain this change, reach their goal, and sustain this goal for years to come. Our minds just do not work this way. We go into overload mode, survival mode, and to think we can successfully handle this intense change is as self-destructive as eating ourselves into nausea.
~REMEDY: Start with one or two changes. I am just not the most organized person. So my first decision was to join the gym. I knew I was going no matter what. I also knew I needed to log my food. But ONLY log it. I didn't necessarily pay attention to calories or "what" I was eating, I just logged it. I also worked out each day I was off. That was my goal, showing up each day I was off (which was 4 days). Week two, I bought a 64 oz water bottle (the recommended daily intake) and my goal was to finish one per day, in addition to logging and working out. I started feeling good...hey I like this water thing, hey my gym time is pretty valuable. I need to disect my nutrition and see what changes I can make. So I experimented with vegetables, recipes, spices, whole grains, fresh foods. And continued with water, continued with exercise. The next week, I added another day to the gym. Made healthy food choices, logged what I ate, drank water every day. And guess what???? The scale began to move! Give yourself, your mind time to catch up to your goals. You won't fail.

2.) ATTITUDE: There's no way I'm going to the gym with all those perfect people. There's no way I can do a push up. There's no way I can cut out white sugar. There's no way I can walk/run a mile. There's no I can do deadlifts. There's no way I'd like free weights. I can't do a triathlon. With this mentality, we limit ourselves to things that just aren't realistic. Yes, you absolutely can do each and every one of these things. We however have told ourselves these same things or something similar in the past.
~REMEDY: LOSE THE ATTITUDE!! That's right. Lose it. You can absolutely do a push up, you just have to try and try and try again. You can absolutely lift free weights, get a trainer to teach you, watch youtube, learn it. You can absolutely cut out white sugar, maybe not forever but maybe two days a week (if that's your goal). You can absolutely join and love a gym, maybe not today, but maybe when you feel more confident and want to add to your athletic training.

My point, you can absolutely do anything you want to do. Unless you have a medical condition that the doctor has specifically defined limits, then give yourself NONE! Just the attempt is rejuvenating! The result is life changing. Hang in there and give yourself time. You will and you CAN get there!

Replies

  • kacarter1017
    kacarter1017 Posts: 651 Member
    Fantastic post! Thanks for taking the time to do this- I think you're going to help lots of people today.
  • well said
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Nice post. Lots of humor.
  • twopaulines
    twopaulines Posts: 55 Member
    Thank you for your sweet feedback! Helping each other is what it's all about, I love it.

    I wished I'd read a post like this a year ago. From many trials and errors and now successes, I have learned this very hard lesson. And I'm all the better for it. I posted this to my group Too Legit TO Quit (it's a motivation group I started a couple weeks ago) and I just learned to post to message boards ha!