Lean Bodies Consulting

Often times some of the issues people face are related to certain 
emotional triggers that lead to eating. These slip ups can really
put a damper on a person's motivation. There's just so much self-
torture and guilt that comes with the slip up. A few things I 
want to say about this:

First, it's not that big a deal. Seriously, get over it. The last 
thing you should be doing is trying to compensate for a mistake 
by either cutting out meals or doing more exercise. Don't do it. 
All you're doing is reinforcing bad habits. Simply pick yourself 
back up, get back on the horse, and don't look back. Even once. 
Move on. 

Secondly, caving in and having a cookie isn't the end of the 
world. Sure, it wasn't on your plan, but you slipped up. It's 
one cookie. What happens with some people is that they then say
'Well, I messed up. I might as well go hog wild and make it 
really count'. Next thing you know that one cookie turned into a 
whole bag of cookies. Now you've got a problem. The one cookie? 
No big deal. The whole bag? Yes, that's a big deal. 

And finally, if you're one of these people, there's a pattern 
here that needs to be broken. The whole 'get stressed, get 
angry, get sad, eat' equation needs to be adjusted. This is a 
habit. So you need to recognize what habits you have, and start 
to try to find new, and more beneficial behavioral responses 
to these emotional triggers. 

How do you get rid of a habit? Replace it with another one. Tough 
at first, but eventually this new habit will replace the old one.

Change the habit and the associated habits MUST change too. Read
that again. 

Here's to a week of great progress.
Erik 

Related posts:

1. Negative Thinking - Stop it!
2. Food As a Reward
3. Motivation …

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 11:12 am and is filed under Motivation , Off Topic . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.