Going Mental

So, if I blogged every thought I had about food/exercise/fitness/diet/weight loss, you would think I'm a head case.  That's because I am a head case.  I am so Jekyll and Hyde with my thoughts!  Here is a sample of what you may hear me saying to myself if you could hear my thoughts in, say, a thirty-second time span:

Today is the day!  I will get back on track today!  I totally sucked in my workout this morning.  What a wimp.  Hmmm...I'll feel better if I can find one person in the room fatter than me.  I really do like my legs!  Yay for muscly legs!   What the hell are those ugly lumps of fat above my butt?  Is there a medical term?  Bonus butt?  And what about that low gut pouch?  Front butt?  I'm going to train for a marathon!  I really want to lose 30 pounds, but I'll never be able to do it.  I have come so far already!  I am strong.  Forget it, I'll never lose the weight anyway...where's the cereal?  Or the chips?  Or both?  My kids make healthy choices most of the time, so I must be doing something right.  I'm soooooooooo fat!!!!!!!!

Poor Asa...he often has to put up with me actually saying these things out loud.  So, what is getting in my way?  I work my tail off at the gym and out on the trails, but I obviously lack self-control when it comes to food.  I can't tell you the number of times I've resolved to start over with calorie counting and weight loss.  After all the hard work I put into exercise, why am I a self-saboteur when it comes to food?  Why can't I either avoid unhealthy foods or just be satisfied having one small serving? 

I've decided the best thing to do is to resume publishing my weekly food and exercise journal every Monday.  That's selfish, I know - it's really just to keep me on track; I know it's not riveting reading for anyone else. 

On Tuesday, I went out to eat with some friends from work.  It was the first day back to school with students, and I was feeling celebratory.  We went to Crow's Nest, which has so many delicious options.  I had begun the morning with a Body Attack class and followed that with logging my breakfast into My Fitness Pal.  I didn't want to ruin my healthy-so-far day, but the sweet potato fries were tempting me, as were the hash browns and bacon.  I talked myself into ordering an egg white scramble with green peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and I ordered fruit instead of hash browns.  I also nixed the toast that came with it (I shouldn't be eating that anyway since gluten makes me sick!).  It was a yummy meal, and I was glad I resisted temptation.  I stayed on track the rest of that day - first time in a long time!!

When I checked my work email right after lunch at Crow's Nest, there was a message with our monthly "Wellness Tip" for teachers.  It affirmed the thought process I went through when ordering lunch.  Here is what it said:


“To weaken the intensity and reduce the frequency of cravings you have to stop giving in to them,” therapist Dr. Judith Beck tells us.  And, each time we respond successfully to temptation we add muscle to our behavior change process.
“Easier said than done,” you might be thinking.  Change is not easy but with techniques and support we can succeed.

Here are some thinking skills you can use to win those daily battles and avoid the negative thinking that keeps you from achieving your health goals:

1. Track the day, time, duration, and intensity of your cravings. Pay particular attention to how they do pass with time and focused resistance.
2. Label and release the message that comes into your head:  “This is just an idea in my mind and I can let it go.”
3. Respond to the temptation with a big NO CHOICE (thinking or verbalizing) versus going into the push and pull thinking that you have done in the past.
4. Imagine the aftermath of giving in to the temptation.
5. Remind yourself why you don’t want to give in to temptation using a personalized list you have created.
6. Distance yourself from temptation.
7. Distract yourself from temptation using a list of things you can do for 5-7 minutes until the craving passes.
8. Relax.
9. Drink water.
10. Always give yourself credit for each time you resist temptation and share your successes with others—every positive action counts!

Adapted from The Beck Diet Solution:  Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person, Judith S. Beck, Ph.D