How do you sabotage yourself?
My guess that for most of the people struggling with a lot of weight loss, something in their lifestyle or daily habits make it more difficult to get the weight off and keep it off.
How do you self-sabotage yourself? Maybe there are things we are unaware off individually. Looking at others self-sabotage might make it easier to find our own "blind spots." What are yours?
Example:
Tasting: Hey, I can taste a whole serving of a meal before I ever sit down. LOL... but, it really isn't funny.
My solution: Dip the end of my little finger in sauces to check the flavor or just don't taste - trust my cooking.
Eating out: After I have eaten right up to the limit of my calories for the day, my DH says, "Let's go have a drink." We live near the drinking and restaurant district which is so much a part of Japan. And, so fun, too. So, what to do...
My Solution: Drink tea and munch on cucumbers and veggie type foods. Have my DH order beer (I don't like), and just have a few sips from my glass.
Not exercising: Sometimes I don't "feel" like doing it, or I am tired or some other reason. I can think of dozens of reasons not to exercise.
My Solution: Set a timer for 2 minutes and dance. If that doesn't work, set the timer for 2 more minutes and dance. Gradually change to workout routine. // Plan ahead in my journal. // Get involved with a group that makes me get exercise (my hiking group).
Who me? Sabotage??? Ok, well maybe when I made a batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies at 8 PM last night. No one in the family even asked for them but I just 'felt like' baking. Sure, I told myself I wouldn't eat them...
I consistently eat too little! Not often a complaint on here...and I know what the solution is...eat more- it's not that easy though after a lifetime of eating less to lose! ;$
All or nothing mindset: It used to mostly just be food, but that seems to be getting easier. Now it is the booze. "Well, self, you already messed up by eating ____ , you might as well just keep stuffing it in to see if that hole of ugly emptiness will feel better full." but the hole never fills, and I never feel better because of food or drink. Just guilty and sorry I am weak. I can start by saying "only 2 shots" and end up with 10. It like talks to me from the fridge.
solution???? Keep only the healthy foods in the house, so that even if I pig out, I do not ever feel super terrible. Avoid having alcohol in the house (oh wait, the bf likes it too), so this one is very hard. Yes, I should just have will power over the bottle, but I don;t.
BOREDOM: I have summers off, which is great, but also incredibly boring. I manage to occupy my say with working out, cleaning, reading, surfing cc, etc, but when the bf gets home, I want to be entertained. He is good about giving me a half hour and then it is off to the land of WOW and smoking cigarettes with the door closed (HATE smoking now that I don;t). This means instead of having out and not being bored, all of a sudden, I feel let down, uninteresting, sort of worthless, and of course, BORED again = me eating, drinking, etc.
solution???? Haven;t figured this one out. Many times, I work out again, keep reading or surfing cc, but it gets pretty old.
OCD workouts: I love working out. It feels good. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel strong and powerful and generally just makes my mood better. BUT when I get going with the exercise and the strict calorie counting, sometimes I get TOO controlling --- not eating enough to balance all the exercise.
solution??? easy to know, harder to do sometimes.
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You know? just saying all that out loud made me feel better.... Like these issues are all surmountable. That's good.
Chris, when I do that. I try to give the stuff away to friends and acquaintances (I'm an English teacher with my own business in Japan - students are great recipients) as soon as possible. When I have too much food that I really, really want to eat in restaurants, I decide how much I am going to eat and then douse the remaining with too much salt to eat. If I can't do that, I eat what I should, and then, I cover the remaining with a paper napkin or tissue. I'm usually out with others when I eat, and I've never had the nerve to eat more of something good left under a napkin.
Irishmum, I do the same thing - eat too little. I am always so worried something will come up later that requires calorie intake... It's tricky to eat enough. I especially worry about filling out the remaining calories with junk food. I try to keep healthy food that can pick up the slack...
Olivia, I don't have much of an all or nothing mindset, but I sure have trouble with the DH... Tonight after work finished at 9 pm, he suddenly wanted to go out for "a drink." In Japanese bars, that means something to eat. I only had 250 calories left for a night time snack, so I had a glass of wine and a little square of tofu Korean style. Luckily, I had iron willpower tonight. Mainly I didn't feel good, or like eating or drinking either, so I got through the time somehow or other. I think my husband does a lot of things that "sabotage" me. But, in the end, I know I am the one putting the things in my mouth.
I don't have any problem with drinking as I hate overdrinking due to alcoholics on both sides of my family. But, I can suck down a couple of glasses of wine faster than you can believe. What works for me is to plan ahead to pace myself...
Thanks to all for sharing.
I am a social eater... Left to my own devices I would be at my goal by now, but I am VERY easily persuaded to eat what I shouldn't, especially when I go out...
Solution:? don't eat out? yeah right. Sometimes I do really well, and sometimes I don't... what are you going to do?
wine. love mah wines. I eat my perfect 800 calories at work every day, go to the gym and do 30 min cardio and 30 min heavy lifting then go home, have a glass of wine that ends up being 5-6 then zzzzzzz.
Solution: when I know in advance, my other meals and snacks that day are healthy and small. When I don't know in advance, I try to sneak in a run within the next 24 hours.
Self-sabotage:
1. Desserts. I feel that I work so hard at eating well, that eating a half-dozen of chris1208's cookies is justified. I'll say "I ran today, so my metabolism is up and I can handle it," even if I'm over my cals already.
2. Lack of sleep. No sleep means no energy and my body compensates by craving sugar.
i have two main forms of self-sabotage:
booze and not eating.
I have a really hard time forcing myself to eat my full 1500 calories. It's not specifically that I feel guilty if I eat 1500 calories, I just still have that ED mindset that if 1500 calories is good, then 1200 is great and 900 is amazing. I feel like I'll be a lot more successful if I eat 900 a day than if I eat 1500 a day. It just makes sense in my head for some stupid reason. I KNOW that's not right (obviously) but it's a battle I struggle with every single day.
The other way I sabotage myself is booze. I'll do really well all week, eating somewhere between 1200 and 1500 calories, and then the weekend comes and Friday AND Saturday I eat/drink (mostly drink) around 3500-4000 calories.
My solutions? Make myself eat (obvs) and try to cut back on the drinking. It's a lot easier if I don't go out. But the problem is hanging out with my friends = going to the bar. It's just damn hard work.
Eating Out
If I find myself in front of a huge menu of unhealthy foods, and hungry, I always choose the biggest portion (or more than one), and then eat it as it's no tomorrow. When this happens I already know that it would make no sense to even log anything that day, because I would be so over the limit 
. So this is really sabotaging myself by being too hungry and not being able to resist to all that tasty food.
Solution
Don't ever leave the house hungry. Eat something that will fill you up for more hours (like a big green salad with tuna, or anything with plenty of fiber). As long as you are not forced to eat huge servings (like by your relatives or friends, they sometimes tend to do so 'because you're about to getting sick with all this calorie stuff of yours'), you will be able to choose the healthy items from the menu 
. Also, have some water, this will fill you up too.
I don't eat lunch. I hate eating in the middle of the day (makes me sleepy and irritable). I hate carrying food in my bag because of the extra weight (so I say). I work about 4-6 hours a day and tend not to take breaks because of the short shift. I also have an issue with my jaw that makes it difficult to eat crunchy or chewy things - granola bars, apples, carrots, and lots of other easy-to-carry snack stuff. This sets me up to eat everything in sight when I get home, and when this happens I eat too much, I'm sleepy, and I'm "too full" to exercise.
Solution: Lately I have been trying to bring fruit (grapes, cherries, raspberries) to work with me to snack on, and this helps. It's not perfect, but it's an improvement.
Man i think i do it lots of ways.
The one i notice the most isn't very cryptic! i'll think of something i want to eat, and then this little voice pops up calling from my tastebuds "Go on, you know you want it... you're not going to be thin anyway. Eat it today and tomorrow you can do better. Who cares if you eat it or not?" and it goes on and on until i eat it basically.
Lol damn if only i could stop listening to my tastebuds!!
I call it my "tastebuds" because i'm never actually hungry when i over eat or eat something i'm not supposed to, it's purely for pleasure, so i can't say it's my stomachs fault or my appetite.
ooooh, restless_girl, you KNOW!!!! those rotten little "tastebuds" (love it!) nag at me all the time - and i usually give in sooner because i know i will give in sooner or later, so why fight it?!?! i read somewhere that if you crave a food then your body needs something in that food, and you will continue to crave it till the craving is satisfied. perfect justification to give in, eh? erg.
Saucynoodles - lol yeah! perfect reson to just give in!
Too bad my body is craving for me to be fat since all the food i crave is unhealthy high calorie stuff.
Ususally packed with fat and salt or sugar!
So i either resist the items for as long as possible or i go on week long binges.
Hmmmmmm no healthy balance for this chickie!
I'm a total social eater. I do it to myself, I'm good all day/week, then when I meet people to go out I choose bad options and drink loads, I just don't want to be seen as the one on the diet, especially since I'm smaller than my best friend, so she does the 'If I'm not dieting why should you', i can hardly be 'because I'm overweight, as are you m'dear', very tricky. Plus since I do lots of sport I can PUT IT AWAY, like a whole pizza express pizza, half a bottle of wine and a dessert without blinking. I look at the menu and order the lowest cal pizza but I don't have the nerve to order salad with dressing on the side, people would comment.
I just can't bear the thought of people saying 'are you on a diet', me confirming and then them thinking: but why isn't she losing any weight, or yup thought she needed one.
I'm so easily influenced it's really sad =(
Original Post by itsbutters:With me it's a similar story but with beer. I try to stick to light beer but I always end up having a couple when I'm at a show or rehearsal or just hanging out with friends. Fortunately I'm medicated so that limits how much it takes me to get drunk but still...none of those beers even list their calories so I don't know how much damage I'm doing.wine. love mah wines. I eat my perfect 800 calories at work every day, go to the gym and do 30 min cardio and 30 min heavy lifting then go home, have a glass of wine that ends up being 5-6 then zzzzzzz.
Original Post by yourfavoriteblonde:
I have a really hard time forcing myself to eat my full 1500 calories. It's not specifically that I feel guilty if I eat 1500 calories, I just still have that ED mindset that if 1500 calories is good, then 1200 is great and 900 is amazing. I feel like I'll be a lot more successful if I eat 900 a day than if I eat 1500 a day. It just makes sense in my head for some stupid reason. I KNOW that's not right (obviously) but it's a battle I struggle with every single day.
I hear you. My daily goal is 1500, but I've never gone over 1400 and even though I try not to admit it, I secretly feel a little victorious on the days I stay below 1100. Especially my post-workout meal is tricky, tricky, tricky. I'll actually bring the food with me to the gym and have it all planned and rationed out beforehand, just to decide in the last minute I didn't work hard enough to have "earned it".
It royally messes up my eating schedule to skip that one perfectly healthy and necessary meal and by the time it's 8 pm, I'm 500 calories short once again and too afraid to eat anything before bed.
Social eating is definitely my problem, too. I can be fine with controlling my portions and my food when I'm alone, but there's just too much temptation in social settings T_T.
