Hi all! Coach Angie here!
Some of you are moving and grooving through both the Healthi September Reset and/ or Coach Lisa's 100 Day Challenge. Some of you aren't. Let me be the first one to tell you- that's okay! I think that "challenges" and "resets" and "streaks" are all great! But sometimes they end up discouraging us more than they encourage us. Considering that both of these two campaigns are winding down, I thought it might be useful for me to encourage you all and talk through that notorious struggle of self sabotage!
We have all had some success with weight loss before, some more than others. Many of us have been in our weight-loss groove and have felt un-stoppable and then the train wreck happens. We start eating things that we aren't supposed to eat... at quantities that we are supposed to eat. You lose your motivation and just can't get back in the groove. You try to figure it out. You know what to eat and how much to eat. In fact, you know so much about diet and exercise that you feel like you could write a book about it. You know it's about staying on track and tracking your BITES, but you just can't seem to make yourself do it. You have lost your drive.
The problem isn't that you don't know enough about the science of weight loss, because let's just admit it.... weight-loss is mostly about staying in a calorie deficit. The truth of the matter is that there is a major difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it.
Excess weight, especially for those with a large amount to lose, did not get put on simply by the love of food. We have to look for the root of the problem. What has caused us to be 40, 50, 100 pounds over weight? (For me it was 150 pounds over weight). Our long-term success boils down to our mindset, and our habits.There is no magic pill, shake, or program... yep I said it.... there is nothing magic about weight-loss. You can have all of the great tools of Healthi at your finger tips and still struggle with weight-loss. You have to first figure out why you gained the weight in the first place. Why is it that you struggle with stressed-induced, mindless eating or binging?
Some people struggle with the fear of failure.... worrying about another failed diet attempt, but honestly, my biggest struggle is the fear of success. That may surprise many... so let me explain. The fear of success is one of the major root causes of self-sabotage. Success brings change, it takes away coping with your problems with food. It takes away the escape of easing your frustration with something sweet or salty. If you succeed then you will have to face those problems without your coping mechanism of mindless snacking. You actually have to address what is upsetting you, stressing you, depressing you and aggravating you without the comfort of food.
Losing weight or reaching goal weight is not a miraculous fix for all of our problems. We need to learn to address our difficulties without running to food for comfort. Try some of these strategies to help end the cycle of self-sabotage.
Boost Your Self-Awareness. Start paying attention to your habits, your triggers. Write those triggers down and make a plan to work through them or avoid them
Set Meaningful Goals & Pair Them With an Action Plan. Don't just say you are going to do something. Set reasonable goals with concrete steps to reach that goal.. be specific.
Love yourself... speak kindly to yourself. Practice positive self-talk.
Practice Mindfulness. Part of the problem of self-sabotage is that is done without thinking. It often can be stopped if we just stop and think about what we are doing.
Good luck everyone and know that you are worth the effort to confront your fears. Happy Tracking!