Why Sabotage Yourself?

Why Sabotage Yourself?

When you go to bed, do you tell yourself that you’re going to get up in the morning, watch what you eat and make plans to partake in exercise? Do you dream of your success of wearing smaller, stylish clothes and feeling wonderful being the belle of the ball? Do you imagine yourself as slim, sleek and healthy and long for the day you will realize success? These are all good things to do and will help assure your success.

This is perhaps a more important question. Do you wake up in the morning and decide not to exercise? How many excuses have you made? Let me list a few for you. I’m too tired. I’m too busy. I’ll do it tomorrow. Sound familiar? READ MORE...

Do you start out the day thinking you will “be good” and then before lunch give in and eat the burger and fries rather than choosing the salad with low fat dressing and a grilled chicken breast? Do you go on to have a private conversation in which you talk yourself into blowing the entire day and then vow to start again tomorrow or, worse yet, give up entirely?

Well, you’re not alone. I did this for many years before I realized I was my own worst enemy. The question finally came to me, “Why are you sabotaging yourself?” It was one I had to ponder. Why was a piece of cake more important to me than being healthy? Why was fried chicken more important than a size smaller? Why were those chips more important than being able to be fit and play with my grandchildren? Was this food more important when compared to those? Heck no! So, what was going on?

My relationship with food was an emotional one. Somehow I had equated the comfortable satiated feeling after eating with being filled up inside. The food made me feel contented, but it was a false contentment. In doing so, it was my hopes and dreams that I was denying.

When I realized this, it allowed me to address the underlying emotional issues and make a plan to change my behavior. Please, take the time to ask yourself the question … Why Are You Sabotaging Yourself?

You, alone, have the power to change your future. You have an amazing brain to think and question and to forge new avenues of behavior. In addition, we offer you a place for friendship, to exchange knowledge and to come for support and motivation. YOU Can make better choices and YOU Can win this battle. YOU Can learn to be kind to yourself and make yourself a priority.

These are the simple steps I took and that you can implement:

- Before eating, read the Cherokee poem and ask yourself, “Which wolf are you going to feed?”

- When the horrible urge to eat everything in the house comes raging through you, stopped and looked at what the “real” problem is and identify the emotion.

- Take time to appreciate the emotion for what it is and realize that feeling that emotion does not have to harm you in your weight loss efforts. It hurts your feelings and you can survive that. Better days are ahead. Don’t think so? Look back over the past and see how life has had its ups and downs and remember a previous time when you thought things were horrible only to find out they got better and, in hindsight, either weren’t as bad as you had imagined or you survived and grew in strength and perseverance.

- Make a rescue plan of what steps to implement when a certain emotion begins to thwart your efforts. Sadness – Pull out your list of things that make you happy and indulge in those activities. Loneliness – Go to your Internet support community and reach out, invite some friends over or go to the library or science center and meet some new ones.

- Make a choice to be an active participant in gathering all the good things in life and bringing them to you. Be healthy, happy and set your sights on turning those new goals into reality. Don’t be the stumbling blocks to your future; be the stepping-stones to your success!!!