How you do anything, is how you do every thing. This popular statement holds true because the direction of any habit is tied to your deeper beliefs, which affects all that you do. That brings us to self-sabotage, or more specifically, sabotaging your weight loss efforts.
Identifying and taking responsibility for your habits is the first step to changing them. In your life, can you identify where you may be practicing some of the habits or thoughts below that don’t serve you and are sabotaging your weight loss?
Here are the main ways you might be sabotaging your weight loss:
1. Instant Gratification
I don’t feeling like cooking; I’ll just go to the drive-thru!
The instant gratification habit can permeate many areas of your life; I want it and I want it now! It can affect not just your weight, but your relationships, your finances, and your health. We hate to wait for our rewards, whether it is a dress, shoes, a cookie, even our coffee. However, as any farmer knows, a great harvest doesn’t come without work. Have patience and faith.
2. I Deserve It
I’ve been sacrificing all week, I deserve a treat. Boy, what a hard week, I deserve an extra glass of wine.
Just because you put in extra hours or worked especially hard, does not mean you deserve a big piece of cake or an extra glass of wine. Puppies get rewarded with food, not people. However, when you incorporate simple luxuries (that are not food related) into your life on a regular basis, you won’t feel deprived and that will help you challenge this habit, which is oh-so deeply rooted in your self-worth.
3. The Dieter’s Way of Thinking
I want to lose 15lbs in a month.
Unrealistic expectations and a restrictive mindset will sabotage your weight loss efforts every time. “I can’t eat that, I shouldn’t eat that, I’m not supposed to eat that.” If you restrict or deprive yourself to weight loss it will backfire. Lasting weight loss is about changing your mindset not depriving yourself of what you love until you can’t take it anymore.
4. Constant Self-Doubt
How can I make this happen faster? When will I ever lose this weight?
If you constantly question ‘how’ and ‘when’, it breeds doubt. Where there is doubt, there is lack of trust. When you don’t trust the process, it doesn’t work. But when you begin to practice having faith in the natural order of life, you will begin to see permanent weight loss.
5. Everything Happens to You, Not For You
Oh poor me, I always get the hardest projects. My boss doesn’t like me. Everyone has it easier than me.
Sometimes we become so addicted to negative mental and emotional states of being that it becomes difficult to see it any other way. There’s always a silver lining. Find it. Focus on it and be grateful for it.
6. Blame Game
If I wasn’t so busy I could exercise more. If my job weren’t so stressful right now I wouldn’t feel like eating so much chocolate.
Personal responsibility is a practice that says you are responsible for your life, your relationship, your weight, your obsessive thoughts and shame emotions. Taking personal responsibility is also a new habit you can adopt.
7. Worrying What Others Think
Will I be judged by others on my food choices?
Obsessing about what other people think will breed other obsessive thoughts, probably about food. We all know where that leads. Once you become aware of such thought patterns, you can choose to replace the obsessions with more positive thoughts. Then you can make a conscious, consistent practice of healthier thoughts that won’t sabotage your weight loss.
8. Living in Denial
I don’t weigh myself because I won’t like the number I see. I’ll be so depressed I’ll probably go eat a dozen cookies.
Take some time to figure out what you are not wanting to face or hide from. If you avoid the scale for long periods of time it doesn’t mean it is not going up. It means you are pretending that it doesn’t matter when you know in your heart that it does. The real question is why are you lying to yourself that it doesn’t? One of the most important steps to stop sabotaging your weight loss is simply being honest with yourself.
I understand that the story you have created from years of yesterday’s habits may not feel good right now…but old stories and habits won’t get you where you want to be. You can change it, and it’s never too late to re-write your story. New habits starting today will yield new, better stories for tomorrow.
If you’re ready to step sabotaging your weight loss goals and rewrite your story, schedule your free call with me now.
