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Today I want to talk about the little things I'm doing to sabotage myself. This one is difficult. It's so easy to say, "It's just two chips, it doesn't matter." It might not really matter in terms of calorie counts, but it does matter because I'm willingly sabotaging myself.
When I'm counting out wheat thins or chips or whatever, I don't count the broken chips as a chip. When they broke, all the calories must have fallen out. Right. The truth is that I just want as much to eat as I can get.
I have a history of being lazy. I take the elevator much more than I should at work. I should take the stairs every time.
I'm really bad at monitoring my intake in general. I'll leave things off my counting. Not on purpose, but because I haven't been writing things down that day and I don't have that good of a memory.
I stay up past my bed time nearly every night. I do so well when I get a good night's sleep. I'm just setting myself back.
I have a hard time getting back on the horse when I fall off. It just takes a while for me to find the will to eat right and exercise every time I fail to do so for a day or two.
I'm terrible about making excuses. I try to keep a "no excuses" mantra, but it's really tough. I'll write a post specifically about excuses some time in the future.
What little things do you do to self-sabotage?
Before I go, I have a few other orders of business.
Please throw in a few bucks to help me out with the Polar Bear Plunge. You can donate here!
I'm going to start my second exercise pledge tomorrow. I had a bad week last week and I need to get rid of some extra calories. If you don't remember how it works, you can see last month's pledge here. It will be pretty similar.
I'd also like to start publishing guest posts. You can gain a little extra visibility for your blog (if you have one. In fact, I'd like to see some guest posts from people who don't have blogs) and give my readers another perspective. Please let me know if you're interested.
'when they broke, all the calories must have fallen out'.
ReplyDeleteI literally loled a LOT about that.
My biggest salf-sabatoge is the whole
'I've been working out a lot, I deserve an entire candy bar when I'm not hungry'. this of course... doesn't help at all in terms of lifestyle changes. Just because you burn the calories doesn't mean you can eat junk. No good people. I'm also definitely a 'just one' type of person too which is also, no good.
In terms of going to bed, sometimes I just decide I'm going to turn the tv off or get off the computer or whatever and then go read or at least be in my bedroom and in bed. I'm always surprised at how easily I fall asleep. You should try it. It was also hard when I was with Colin because he could stay up forever so I would just stay up with him. I don't know if you and Claire do that too but if you do,Get Claire to sit in bed with you and read or do laptop things or something. Then you're together but more likely to be asleep.
When most of us have setbacks, it's usually a bunch of small leaks instead of one big one big one. Way to recognize your weak spots and start doing something about it.
ReplyDeleteI ALMOST sabotaged myself tonight! I was coming home from coaching and it was 8pm. I so badly wanted to go home and hang out with Andy, I was so close! Instead I decided that if I did I would probably just eat food I don't want, or go to the bar and drink alcohol I don't want. So I made it to the gym and did a short, but sweaty, session. I'm so glad I pushed through!
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy that you mention guest posts; I was going to ask you to blog about what you do when you struggle to push yourself at the gym, and then I thought, maybe thats something I could write about..Just because I have to force myself to go at least once a week and half the time I'm at the gym, I don't want to push myself (tonight is a great example)..so yea...
Back to self-sabotaging: I've recently turned into a 'just one' kind of person. But I do track all those 'just one' items..even though some days it makes me cringe. :)
I think of it this way; Working out and wanting to do the best for my body is like living life to the fullest, I could sleep in bed all day because i don't have anything to do, or I could get up and find something. Or you could think of it as savings; Everyone should do it, but not enough do. You need to pay yourself first! Even if that includes a sweaty hard-working session at the gym instead of eating a giant bowl of popcorn at home :)
Hey. I totally understand about the "just two chips". Self-Control is hard. One thing that has helped me is that I pre-portion my meals the day before so that what I have in front of me is pre-calculated and intentional. It works great....
ReplyDeleteAlso -- come check out my giveaway that I am having to celebrate me reaching my 100th mile marker for the year so far (walking, jogging,running). It's free for you and I do all the hard work! :)
You hit the nail on the head. I find myself wanting to eat as much as I can get, too. When I measure a cup of anything, it's usually overflowing, so there's no doubt I got enough.
ReplyDeleteSomething else that I find myself doing is putting too much priority on food. If someone brings in food at work, it's like wow, cool...free food...I should have some. It doesn't even have to be spectacular food. It's just there...it's free, so I have to battle with myself to not eat it.
I liked that fact that you call out the things that are NOT helping you lose. We always concentrate on what we ARE doing to lose. I think it can really show maybe why progress is slow if one out weighs the other. Also give me some details on the Polar Bear Swim. I would mind coming out and meeting you and showing some support. Plus I can take some video or pics too. Let me know.
ReplyDeleteTom
www.ihategreenapples.com
GREAT post! I love this! Actually yesterday, I spoke about doing the little things to succeed. And someone asked me to list them out. So I'm going to do that tonight. But this concept is awesome, and I'm totally going to add the little things I do to sabotage myself (don't worry, though, I'll totally give you the credit).
ReplyDeleteIt's good to recognize the things you're doing wrong, but it isn't worth much unless you do something about it. This post is long on excuses but short on solutions. You've been posting for weeks about how you're going to start planning meals in advanced. When is that going to happen? Why hasn't it happened yet? What are you waiting for?
ReplyDeleteI think you're being too hard on yourself. You're doing a GREAT job. Yes, there are some areas you can improve upon, but as the previous comments have shown, so does everyone. I want to you look more at the positive than the negative aspects of your journey, babe.
ReplyDeleteHehehe, oh, the excuses...
ReplyDeleteWith food, I tell myself, "Well, it's only once in a while," or, "I ran today, and put in a few minutes of extra effort," (which, while it's sometimes true, isn't nearly as much as I like to think), or "A few won't hurt."
Exercising is worse, I think. I'm an after-work runner/worker-out, and sometimes I get home and I feel so mentally tired, that I take it as physically tired, so I just sit on my couch and poke myself: "You should really go running." Yeah, I know, but I'm tired. "Yes, but are you really tired, or just lazy?" Well, I think I feel tired. So I must be. "You know that's just being mentally tired, right?" Isn't it the same thing? "No, it really isn't." Well, it's too late, I'm hungry and I won't have energy to run, so I should just make dinner, and then I'll be too full to exercise later. "Agh, you're hopeless!" I'll just do it tomorrow.
And that is pretty much my thought-process of excuses that I go through. I really am trying to make it an automatic reaction.
So here's what I do in the "it's only one chip" situations:
ReplyDeleteI take a serving of chips (or ) and then I take a serving of something healthy (carrots, grape tomatoes, yogurt) and 10/10 times there are more in the healthy option.
Hmmm, let me see here 2 oreo cookies or for 160 calories and that nice chocolate sheen on my tooth or I could eat the equivalent options:
50 baby carrots
3 kiwi
yoplait yogurt
27 bitesize pretzels
72 grape tomatoes
Bag of microwave popcorn (lite butter of course!)
We spent our entire lives getting fat and self sabotaging. It's going to take some time to build new thought processes. DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!