Self-sabotage - why am I still doing it?!

I'm not an amateur psychologist but when I do this, it's because I'm scared I will do it and the anxiety I experience from having done it isn't as bad as the "what if I do it?" anxiety. I really need to learn to deal with the "what if I do it?" kind.

Maybe your not eating enough during the week and being pretty strict with yourself?

The weekend comes, and you blow out! Im a little like this I am good Mon - Fri, and Sat & Sun I feel the need to eat crisps, sweets, choc, icecream - Pure crap!!

Its because I am in the house and probably boredom, if I was out and about I wouldn't be passing the fridge all the time

2013sk wrote: »

Maybe your not eating enough during the week and being pretty strict with yourself?

The weekend comes, and you blow out! Im a little like this I am good Mon - Fri, and Sat & Sun I feel the need to eat crisps, sweets, choc, icecream - Pure crap!!

Its because I am in the house and probably boredom, if I was out and about I wouldn't be passing the fridge all the time

Could be your body is craving carbs. Have a carb day once a week, it can actually help.

I do this as well. I agree with almost everything everybody said before. I don't eat enough during the week, and sit in front of the tv too much over the weekend. If I would choose one thing, it's boredom. Time to get busy over the weekends?

For me I just wasn't ready to go that extra step and really commit my all 24-7 till i turned 40, then it was like a switch turned on in my head, sat back, thought, if i can control my diabetes permanently for 3 years, then loosing weight is simple, had 1 cheat day 3 weeks ago then just got over it.

At end of day, we can make and find every excuse possible, but it boils down to how badly you want to do it and most importantly why you want to do it?

The why if powerful enough will make the how badly all that more stronger.

katepig54 wrote: »

its lack of will power. have a strong word with yourself.

This. Harsh but true.
That said, I too find the weekends so much harder to be "good" because I don't have a routine like I do during the week. I've recently started running first thing on a Saturday morning (which in itself is hard because I looooove my weekend lie-ins!) but I'm finding it gets me into a good mindset for the rest of the day (and gives me extra calories to play with!).

You might want to keep track of when the binge urge hits you to help find out why it's happening. Maybe if there is some pattern, you can pinpoint why you feel the need to eat. I struggled with this and just now am coming out of a 7 month torpor. My dad died and I just stopped caring about trying to take care of myself. Depression and grief really wrecked my world and my daily routine. Sometimes, things as simple as stress/boredom/lack of a plan or schedule all combine and can throw you off really badly and for a long time.

It started a little before dad died, but I put on 20 of the 39 lbs I worked my butt off for a year and a half to lose. I know why. It is from letting go of the good habits I trained myself to do. I quit the gym, stopped having a schedule for my day, quit budgeting time to work out, and have not been tracking my food faithfully. I didn't hold myself accountable and told myself I didn't care and it didn't matter. Truth be told, I feel mentally fuzzy, lazy, and guilty, and a bit depressed. I moved to a new city, took a new job.. and everything went to crap! I no longer go for my 20 minute mile and a half walk to work. I no longer do my 3 mile lunch walk or 30 minute workout. I don't go to the gym for 90 minutes 3 or 4 times a week. I no longer make my dog happy by taking her for a 30 minute walk after work.

What I *do* is make excuses and it makes me feel terrible. My pants don't fit and my cellulite has returned in force on the back of my thighs. I have very little self confidence and it is caving me in. It's affecting my relationship. It makes me feel antisocial. It makes me angry that I destroyed the work I spent hours achieving each week. My opinion is that it is so much harder to deal with the fallout of cheating/not following your plan/not working out than to commit yourself to "behaving" and making good choices, which just multiply the good results over time. You see yourself toning up, your clothes fit better, you feel better physically, your brain seems to clear of fog, other people start to notice, compliment you, motivate you, push you to keep on the good path. You find yourself absolutely addicted to all the good feelings. That's the place I want to return to.

I think it might help you to try to do something else productive or active for 15 minutes when you feel the binge urge hit and have a drink of water. Call a friend, start the laundry, take a walk, whatever! If after the 15 minutes, you still want the food, have a little! I find that if I measure something out and put the container away and leave the kitchen, it helps keep me on track. I also made sure I purged any super bad foods from the house or buy small quantities of addictive snacks. Maybe take a look at what you're binging on and look for a healthier alternative. I got hooked on Popcorn Indiana popcorn.. they have a sea salt kind and also a kettle corn that are wonderful snacks to kill a hunger pang and also are pretty good for you. There are lots of threads on here with everyone's go to snacks to give you ideas. My favorite website of the moment is www.skinnytaste.com --omg it is amazing! Such great recipes that are so delicious and easy to make and good for you!

Are you making sure you factor in snacks between meals when budgeting calories for the day? If it means you have to wake up and take a walk so you can enjoy a banana or granola bar between breakfast and lunch, it might be worth it. You'd feel better for the 15 mins of exercise and it is satisfying to get a little snack to hold you over.

I think the best thing I did for myself the first time around was get a real life "lets-both-make-healthy-decisions-buddy" to help me, to both motivate me to log, to make good choices, to poke me when I was feeling lazy and demotivated and make sure I got my daily workout time in. It ended up that I had to eat a lot more to compensate for the amount of exercise I found myself addicted to doing! I want to get back to that happy and healthy place/state of mind. I am doing it! I think you can, too.

Lots of rambling, but the TL;DR version: know that you aren't alone in making the bad decisions, we all do it sometimes. We are here to help you choose to make the good decisions! Everyone struggles at some point and your success will depend on whether you decide to push through and try again and make the good choices. Good luck!!

I do the same and I think people have many different reasons. For me it's comfort eating, boredom eating and low self-esteem. Have you thought about keeping a diary and jotting down the feelings you get every time you self-sabotage?