Are you hard on yourself?

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OAS5
OAS5 Posts: 374 Member
edited September 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
Even being down 74 pounds almost I still get hard on myself some days about what I ate for the day. I go over in my head exactly what I ate and kinda scrutinize it. It's kinda a last check of the day in my head.
Some days I get a bit hard on myself too. Does anyone else do this and is it healthy?
Like yesterday I had my usual breakfast and lunch at work. Then when I got home I was a bit hungry so I had 2 bananas with some peanut butter on them. For dinner I had 3 thin crust slices of pizza. I was a bit worried about the peanut butter and was a bit hard myself for having 2 when I got home from work. Anyone that do this and is it normal?

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  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,992 Member
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    it's human nature to be our own worst critics. When I was 70 lbs heavier, I almost never looked in the mirror and I certainly didn't take off my shirt unless I was showering and I live alone! Well now I can look in the mirror and take progress photos without a shirt, but even today I find I'm being very hard on myself. Mostly mad, because I let myself go from lean muscular body to OBESE and see the effects it had with some loose skin. With 30 some lbs to go for my goal, I'm hoping it resolves some of these issues, hoping! Even all that being said, I am NOT quitting and neither should you.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    food is food.

    if it fits in my calories, its fair game. ice cream, pizza, chips, chinese take out, whatever. nothing is 'off limits'. now, do i eat foods like that every day? no. well, maybe ice cream. but i make it fit LOL

    though, i also work out to earn those calories LOL

    if i go over my calories, not a big deal. its not the end of the world. it wont cause me to wake up and be obese.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
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    It feels like you have to be hard on yourself to force yourself to stick to your new healthy habits and give up your old unhealthy habits, except it doesn’t work exactly that way. You should be firm in your resolve, yes, and give careful thought to what the situation was when you went wrong, but negative emotions like guilt and shame are more harmful than helpful.

    As to your specific examples of peanut butter and bananas and thin crust pizza, I would consider whether I still hit my calorie goal, and my approximate fibre and protein goals. I’ve eaten those exact things guilt free in the right circumstances. I’ve also eaten pizza where I let my desire for it override my desire to stick to my calorie goal. In that case, I try my best to brush off the guilt and just strengthen my resolve instead.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
    edited September 2019
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    The hardest... though that's ok.. I think we all have to come to a place. Mine is 90% monk, 10 percent hedonist.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    I'm only 3 months in. I'm really enjoying this experience. I eat delicious foods and am happy with my results so far.

    I'm not hard on myself. I don't see a reason to be. The only purpose that would serve would be to make this a negative experience for me. Who needs that?

  • o0kody0o
    o0kody0o Posts: 642 Member
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    I’m my own worst enemy. Even though I’ve lost around 45lbs in 7 months, I still criticise myself. I tend to see my flaws rather than the progress I’ve made. I hope that’ll change 😊
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,426 Member
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    denjan333 wrote: »
    ... Now I always ask myself “if your best friend told you this (i.e. I ate too much, etc), what would you tell her? That she’s BAD? Or dumb, or never going to lose weight?” Nope. I would tell her I believe in her and that she should just let it go and carry on.

    In this life, we must be our own cheerleader. Don’t wait for anyone else to tell you that you are awesome. Tell yourself every day. Forgive yourself. Be your own best friend. It is very calming and way more helpful than criticizing yourself.

    Wow. I really really like this. I need to retrain my brain to think this way. I am so fortunate to have replaced some negative people in my life with some super positive and encouraging ones. I need to erase that dark part of my upbringing that hammered on the imperfections and not the pretty darned goods.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    I try not to beat myself up. Instead I try to look at it more like "why did I screw up?" on days that I feel like I didn't do a great job with my nutrition and quantities of food. I want to figure out what makes me screw up. Sometimes it's stress, hormones, etc. I work on my responses to stress. More often it's eating too little fat or having a lunch portion that is too small so I set myself up to snack/overeat later in the afternoon or evening. I then try to adjust that.

    I don't see myself as a failure even on those (rare) occasions that I eat 3 creme horns because my relatives got on my nerves. I just want to move on and do better the next time I am in that situation. Sometimes it's even a heads up that I've been too restrictive...for example, normally I can eat a small entree and have 1 beer when I am out with friends. But if I haven't dined out much and haven't had a lot of "treats" and feel kinda deprived, I'm more likely to reach for the chips and get a second or third drink. So I try to achieve balance so those extremes aren't needed.
  • TheChristianSimone
    TheChristianSimone Posts: 156 Member
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    Hmm to outsiders yes but to me most are too soft on themselves and don’t accomplish much because of it. Balance and planning your path has been what is allowing me to move forward. I relish those who are like military and extremely disciplined no matter if they are sick, sad, dog or mom died they do what is needed period. I know most can’t understand that but to master self it takes unabashed honest.

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