Mind Training??

Kimjanebrooks
Kimjanebrooks Posts: 253 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How do you retrain your mind to think of food as fuel for your body rather than a "treat"?

I always start off my diet and fitness with such lustre but after a few days I start thinking of nipping to the chip shop to give myself a "treat". I know this is wrong and its not a treat for my poor body but I just wondered if anyone had "cured" themselves of this feeling that food is connected to treats? I try to tell myself that feeling and looking slimmer is a much better feeling than the 10 minutes gorging on disgustingly fat foods but I'm finding it difficult to stop the thoughts coming into my head.

I've just had one of these thoughts and decided to start this thread for some support instead of running next door to the chip shop!!

Replies

  • dusk77
    dusk77 Posts: 16
    This is totally me, when I have done a lot of exercise I treat myself with food and am trying to get out of this habit. I recently started watching Paul McKenna's weight loss DVD and feel it is helping me make better decisions especially as I went to a family party last night and resisted all the cakes and crisps :noway:
  • goonas
    goonas Posts: 205
    I change the "bad something" for a good something (or at least a not so bad one).

    I am staying away from home at the moment, and in the hotel room there is a bag of ready salted peanuts, I was watching the football last night on TV, and was resisting the urge to grab them and scoff the lot, costing me over 390 calories. Instead I reached for my sugar free Polo's and had a few of them...

    Sugar Free Polo's are the answer to everything! They work in suppressing the hunger for me, and I almost feel like I am getting a treat as its a sweet (technically).
  • Joannie30
    Joannie30 Posts: 415 Member
    I think (personally) that it's all in how you use the word "treat". I don't see any reason why you can't still have fish and chips etc as long as it is an occasional thing. The only exception to that would be if you have a genuine addiction to these types of foods (in much the same way as a recovering alcoholic can't ever have an alcoholic drink).

    I still have what I want to eat, when i want to eat it and i'm down 60lbs, 5 dress sizes, 3 ring sizes and 1 shoe size since Jan of this year. Its about being aware of what you are putting in your body and how frequently/infrequently is good for you. If i start telling myself i can never have pizza/fish n chips etc again, the first thing i'd want to eat would be exactly that and i'd go overboard with it. Part of this journey we're on is about educating ourselves on portion sizes and whats really in what we eat and what we want to eat. As long as you keep these things in mind and you don't have an addiction to these foods, then i say allow yourself once in a while.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    I don't think it's necessarily healthy to view food strictly as fuel.
  • Kimjanebrooks
    Kimjanebrooks Posts: 253 Member
    I don't think it's necessarily healthy to view food strictly as fuel.

    But if we did and had the full knowledge of what we should be putting in our bodies, don't you think that noone would be overweight or unhealthy? I'm only asking as I am trying to work out how I "treat" myself to eat and my friend eats to fuel her day.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    I don't think it's necessarily healthy to view food strictly as fuel.

    But if we did and had the full knowledge of what we should be putting in our bodies, don't you think that noone would be overweight or unhealthy? I'm only asking as I am trying to work out how I "treat" myself to eat and my friend eats to fuel her day.

    As one counter example - the French have loved food for thousands of years without serious weight issues as a population until the last 10 or 20 years. It isn't necessary to have a fuel view to eat well, be healthy and love life.

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