Today I’d like to recommend an article to you that I have had on my wall next to my computer for months (actually it’s over a year now).
It pertains to the self-talk that you may find yourself indulging in after a week, 2 weeks, or a month of consistent healthy eating and exercise.
These are the words you tell yourself when you feel that you “deserve” to indulge at the dinner party, you “deserve” to stop at the store on your way home and get your favorite sweet, or you “deserve” to go out to your favorite restaurant and order everything that you haven’t been eating lately.
When you think these thoughts you are trying to find justification for rewarding yourself with food for all of the hard work that you have been doing. The problem is that rewarding yourself with food isn’t going to help you achieve your goal of a fitter, trim body.
Your thoughts could be rooted in the desire to eat emotionally as well. You attempt to justify your emotional eating with the thought, “I deserve it, look far I’ve come, how hard I’ve worked!”. What I’ve found for myself is that it’s important to recognize these self-sabotaging thoughts of “I deserve it” when they start, because if you don’t catch them early, you can easily set yourself up for a fall. Acting upon these types of thoughts is highly self-sabotaging, because the action runs counter to exactly what you are trying to accomplish.
Furthermore, if you give in and do eat whatever it is you think you deserve, you may find yourself looking back at this time months down the road, still not back on your program. If you have food addictions, once you give in it can be very hard to get back to “clean eating” again.
You can read the full article by Carol Solomon Ph.D. “Weight Loss Sabotage, I Deserve It” here (article no longer available). It’s the same one that I have printed out and hung on my wall. I find that if I read it often, it helps me stay motivated and on track. It prepares you for those times when you try to tell yourself you “deserve” it, and makes it much harder for you to indulge in self-sabotage. It keeps you honest and helps you remember that your thoughts of “deserving” are a way to bring yourself down if you act upon them.
Hi! I have a height 180 cm, and weigth 90 kg. I used to be 97 kg two month ago. Anyway I did some exercise and got a lot of stress recently, so I lost a few pounds, you see. But I am addicted to food, ah…. I have just eaten, with a motto I DESERVE IT! Oh, Goodness! Thank you for the article. It is very practical to my life. Every evening is the same. I can almost eat nothing during the day, but in the evening….
Hi Alex!
Congratulations on your weight loss! Hopefully you aren’t still under a lot of stress. I’ve been there myself and lost weight because of stress, but the stress wasn’t such a good thing. 😉
I can definitely relate to you with food addiction, and also eating great all day and then eating junk and overeating in the evening. Thankfully I’m not doing that now, but I have been there before.
At least you are aware of what you are doing, which is always the first step before you can change.
It sounds like you don’t eat much food during the day? If so, perhaps the reason you are having the problem in the evening is because you’re very hungry? I eat ever 2.5 to 3 hours, although not large meals. I eat when I’m hungry. You could try eating more often during the day and eating healthy, whole foods and see if that helps with your nighttime eating.
If I did understand your situation correctly, let me know if this works for you!
All the best,
JoLynn