Sometimes I don’t eat for my goals and I need to hit the reset button. We all have times that we just seem to slip off track and are at the decision making point of whether we slide all the way into the pint of ice cream or we get back on track. What do I do when I’m faced with such decisions? Enough self talk to make you think I’m cray.
The first thing I gotta do is figure out what’s really going on. Am I actually hungry? Am I bored? What do I need to do to fill what I really need? When it’s food orientated I sometimes talk to the food I want as if it were a bestie. “So I know I’m not hungry because I’m actually just stressed and need someone to recognize how hard I’m working.” That usually takes the panicked need for sugar out of my mind, deescalates the craving and my instinct to soothe my stress with M&Ms.
There are meals that I totally blow sometimes and no amount of self talk or hearts to hearts with the food works. Blow=cookies instead of meal for example. In the post eating walk of shame I take to my food log, a different set of issues can occur. Typically led by my inner critic . I mostly am able to keep that a-hole off the stage but a post sugar binge can be just the distraction it needs to step up to the mic. So I have to engage a different strategy: I remind myself that a meal is just one meal; it’s not a day or a week’s worth of off-goal eating, it’s one meal. I then set myself up for success for my next meal. Find a new healthy recipe to try and look forward to or make sure I’m getting enough water. I may out myself to my partner and ask for her help to not go off track anymore that day. Or let myself talk it out with a friend. Mostly, I want to be gentle on myself and not create another cycle of poor eating.
What do you to keep yourself ON track or get yourself BACK on track? Let me know!
Source: Decatur – Food
