Friday Night Sabotage Brain

Are you in my brain? Sounds like my conversations with myself sometimes. I am just starting up again and having a planned "cheat meal" tonight that hopefully will stop at that and not continue. Because my "cheat meals" can continue for months if I have that all or nothing thinking.

I used to have problems similar to these.

For me it was more about reasons why I didn't need to workout and then that lead to I didn't work out, so I might as well just have ______ whatever food I used to make myself feel better. Then, inevitably that food would actually make me feel worse and then I'd eat more, and the wicked cycle would continue.

I put a stop to it when I put a stop to feeding my feelings with food. I started instead doing things I liked, such as going for a walk, reading, shooting, whatever the need bring myself back up again. Also, I stopped giving myself excuses to not workout. I just do it now.

Slowly, I overcame those feelings of needing to feed my emotions with food. Now I pay more attention to what I'm feeling, why I'm feeling it and how I can fix it or change it.

Just keep in mind that this is not all or nothing. It should be a change in your life, so if you want pizza simply because you like pizza, then have pizza. You shouldn't give up the foods you love to be healthier, you should just be fitting them into your life and your new goals.

I think by posting all of your "extreme food ideas" online to get feedback is one way to the out of the "Friday Night Sabotage Brain". Because then you will re-read the post, have yourself a laugh and say Oprah's tag line: "When you know better, you do better." Then, after work, you will pack your gym bag for tomorrow morning and hit the gym with lots of self confidence.

Best of luck. :happy:

I like that you're being totally honest here. I think about food all the time and I'm constantly thinking of what I'm going to eat next! Today is pizza Friday, so I went on a 20 and a 40 minute walk today during my breaks to make up for the pizza I'm going to eat tonight. I also made sure to plan out healthy meals today because of the pizza, so I had greek yogurt and a cutie for breakfast and minestrone soup for lunch. It's all about planning- if you know that you're going out and going to eat bad food, try eating healthy during the day and exercising to make up for it. Good luck!!!

Can you make healthier versions of junk food? As in buy a wholemeal pizza base and add your own sauce, veg and low fat cheese. Or bake other foods rather than having the deep fried version. Have one cookie and then give the rest away.

For example, I baked chocolate cupcakes on Wednesday night and left them at my boyfriend's house. I had two within 24 hours and then left. He had four within 24 hours, then two the next day. Being away from temptation helps!

Can you bring sandwiches to work? I know that when I was a waitress, the smell of greasy food actually put me off eating. I just became so sick of looking at massive portions all day.

This happened to me for almost six months.

I'd lost over 70 pounds I did good cant think of times I ever really binged or anything.

But we were about to go tO the beach, my roommate decided to buy some junk food, not a lot but enough where I bunged. Like crazy. Within 3 days I gained 5 pounds. Luckily only gained 4 pounds at the beach. Came back home and got it off, back tI where I'd been before the beach and before the binge. But… I kept binging… not continuously, some days I did, some days I didn't.

I always obsessed over losing weight, I still ran and even started playing basketball. But I'd stopped seriously counting calories and working out.

From July to January I went between 191 and 186, and why? Because I couldn't stop binging. I'd have the intent to, but then my friend would give me a candy bar… diet done. I'd be at school and think about the peach cobbler my Mom made… and right then, my diet would be over, my plans were to go home and eat cobbler.

I was frustrated. I felt I was too mentally weak to lose weight, food had a powerful grip over me. It still does.

But I got tO looking back at precious weigh ins. During summer (well, before July), I lost about 30 lbs., it looked like I was losing 10 lbs. in about 4 weeks. So i made myself a deal; if I could stay within calories and workout for 28 - 31 days, 10 pounds would be gone.

Now you can't actually guarantee something like that, but it got me going.

Now keep in mind, although I'm trying to eat healthier, I still eat what I want, for me, the key's been proportion, have what you want just moderate it, also, space it out, don't use all your calories up at 2 pm.

And when you're tempted to binge thing about that weight you wanna see on the scale, how great you'll look and be thin, the clothes you can wear, also, I know I can eat like crazy and maintain my weight (as long as I eat what I want one day, watch my calories the next, pretty much), so once I'm at the weight I like, I won't have to deprive myself of calories.

One more thing: apparently your goal caloric intake's 1200, make sure that's not too few calories, don't deprive yourself.

That was long, sorry, but I hope I helped.

I try to think of another way to "spoil" myself after a long week. Special tea in a fancy glass, buying a magazine, a glass of good wine, getting my nails done. Or, I'll force myself to workout BEFORE I eat the bad food and then find that I really stopped craving it after my workout and don't end up eating bad after all.