Self sabotage...help!

HeatherD · July 2008

I'm a smart person, I know what I have to do to lose the weight and gain fitness. I could teach a course on how to lose weight and feel great. The problem? I am at least 95 pounds overweight and I can't seem to break the cycle of binge eating.

Nearly every day I start out with the best of intentions for eating well and exercising, but often - like most days - I find myself sabotaging my own progress. I will eat cleanly and healthily all morning or all day even, but then something happens, the kids and husband have gone to bed and I start "giving myself just a little treat"....or six! I am my own worst enemy! What is with that?!!

How do I stop sabotaging my own progress? I need to get out of my own way!!

HELP!!
Heather

PS Happy 4th of July to those in the US!

HeatherD · July 2008

I'm a smart person, I know what I have to do to lose the weight and gain fitness. I could teach a course on how to lose weight and feel great. The problem? I am at least 95 pounds overweight and I can't seem to break the cycle of binge eating.

Nearly every day I start out with the best of intentions for eating well and exercising, but often - like most days - I find myself sabotaging my own progress. I will eat cleanly and healthily all morning or all day even, but then something happens, the kids and husband have gone to bed and I start "giving myself just a little treat"....or six! I am my own worst enemy! What is with that?!!

How do I stop sabotaging my own progress? I need to get out of my own way!!

HELP!!
Heather

PS Happy 4th of July to those in the US!

Carrie6o6 · July 2008

My pastor told me to take it ONE DAY at a time.. I tell myself "just this ONE day, if I can make it just this ONE day" and I make it. Then the next day I start over! Soon enough its been a week!! At first it is hard to control yourself, but after the first few days it does get easier. I hope that helps

skittles20 · July 2008

Drink lots of water. It really helps me keep my cravings at bay. Also, try to keep some healthy food around the house (fruits or veggies, whatever you like) so that if you really need to have something to eat late at night and can't really control it all that well than you have something healthy to much on instead.
But I agree with Carrie...take it one day at a time.
And I also find it really helpful to keep a bathing suit that I want to wear (or some other type of clothing that you want to be able to fit into) nearby so you can just remind yourself of what you're working toward if you're hit with a craving.
Hope this helps!

Carrie6o6 · July 2008

Yes fruits and veggies!! They are so low in cals!! Thats what I use. I make sure to add them in, and if i MUST snack thats what I snack on haha That really helps!

HeatherD · July 2008

Thank you for the tips..

I really need to somehow get the idea out of my head that food is a REWARD for having had a tough or busy day, or that food (bad food or too much food) is something I DESERVE because of some kind of celebration - even if it is just a private one. I need to get the idea that EATING IS PART OF RELAXING out of my head (not that it is a conscious thought...it just seems to be what i believe on some deep level)

I must break this cycle of thinking! but how???
Heather

BYEBYEBELLY · July 2008

There was a series on "the learning channel" called "I can make you thin, by Paul McKenna" I'm not sure if this is available online or on DVD somewhere. He had a whole episode on emotional eating and binge eating and he had great tips to get past it.

lotusfromthemud · July 2008

Thank you for the tips..

I really need to somehow get the idea out of my head that food is a REWARD for having had a tough or busy day, or that food (bad food or too much food) is something I DESERVE because of some kind of celebration - even if it is just a private one. I need to get the idea that EATING IS PART OF RELAXING out of my head (not that it is a conscious thought...it just seems to be what i believe on some deep level)

I must break this cycle of thinking! but how???
Heather

Here's a tough question. . .what else are you/can you do to reward yourself? Can you get a manicure? Take a bubble bath? Get a massage? Go for a nice relaxing walk by yourself? Read a book? When I started this, I was using food as a reward/relaxation technique. . .because I wasn't treating myself well in any other way. Recognizing that this is a pattern for you is the first step! The other trick I learned is to journal when you feel like eating, particularly emotional binge eating. Often, we're overweight because we don't want to feel/express our emotions (at least this was true for me). Getting in touch with the feelings that were driving me to self-medicate with food was major. I just journal 2-3 pages of anything (just whatever pops in to mind). I don't even read it afterward. Almost always, the urge to binge disappears.:flowerforyou:

flachix · July 2008

I have so been there!! do you find yourself waiting until they go to bed so you can give yourself a treat? are you thinking about it all day? or even part of the day? could be signs of addiction. sad but true. consider tossing out all unhealthy foods in your home. your kids and hubby don't need them either. so don't use them for an excuse for buying them. add the treat to the days calories if that is what your counting. prep what ever your treat is into single portions or buy them in single portions. freeze the rest. switch your idea of what a reward or treat is. yogurt, fruit, or if you like empty calories (and who doesn't) maybe some low cal pudding, or icecream. keep it under a hundred calories. may is a new rule, you can't eat after a certain time. that's a hard one for me, I like to eat some yogurt or a sugar free icee in the evenings just before bedtime. you see the problem, you want to fix the problem. now, try several ways to adjust your behavior or the items. maybe you can 'earn' the treat be burning that many calories through out the day. If I know I am going out or having a few drinks (my treat :drinker: ) I burn 5 beers worth of calories extra to compensate. believe me, that beer seems less and less important. laugh. now I look at the old food I was eating and shudder. and knowing I have to burn 500 more calories today because its a holiday, makes turning down snacks a lot easier. keep searching. you will find your path.

natalie1 · July 2008

Try to get all your snacks in 100 cal bags (either buy them like that or repackage them yourself as soon as you bring them home). This way you'll grab one or two bags that not going to kill your efforts.
Good ones to stack on: Quacker rice cakes (chocolate chips) are my favorite. They are only 60 cals. So even when I am craving them bad enough to eat not 1 but 2- it sets me back 120 cals. Another one of my favorites is "Laughing cow" chocolate fudgicles. They are 50 cals each. They taste great. By the time you'll be done with one, you'll have a chance to talk yourself from the other one. If that didn't work first time and you'll give in, second ice-cream would definitely feel like you prized yourself good enough.- and you still not bad on your cals :bigsmile: .
Refusing yourself treat all together- doesn't work for me at all:flowerforyou:

Self sabotage...help!

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