- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 42,064
Happy new week all!
Today I wanted to bring up a trap I have fallen into many a time over the years - the all or nothing attitude. So many times I have eaten too many cookies and thought " thats it - I have blown it once again * as usual*
" then proceeded to eat the rest of the packet! I notice that I tended to follow a pattern with this,
strict diet and go overboard with physical and self denial,
a massive sweet craving,
battling having even one cookie,
give in and eat a few,
feel angry and worthless,
eat everything in sight,
feel terrible and disgusted with myself,
fall off wagon for indeterminate amount of time,
wait until I felt a bit better,
strict diet and go overboard with physical and self denial,
another massive sweet craving,
battling having even one cookie....
And so on. It was a vicious cycle and one it took me many years to break. By nature I am a perfectionist and I would feel such a failure if I couldn't stick to these ridiculous diets I used to embark on. Other people could exist on 900 cals a day, what was wrong with me that I couldn't??? Then of course the self defeating negative thoughts would begin as I couldn't stand feeling so hungry all the time, the cravings and battles would ensue and off we would go again.
I knew that there had to be a better way than this ridiculous silly strict diet/ fail/ eat everything in sight way of living. It took a long time for the penny to drop that I didn't have to be hungry and could have some of the foods I liked in moderation - but the most important thing I learned was forgiveness and allowing myself to ' fail.' So what if I ate a few cookies??? I didn't have to let that defeat me, I was human with weaknesses as well as strengths. It really was simple, all I had to do was to put it behind me and get right back on track. One major factor in my success was not letting myself get too hungry and make sure I was eating enough, as this was a big trigger factor in my craving sweet foods and not being able to resist.
And it is almost 4 years now since my day of reckoning when that light bulb went on in my mind. In that time I have not only lost weight and kept it off but quit smoking too. Amazing what you can do with patience, persistance and perseverence along with allowing yourself to finally not be perfect!
Have a great week
Today I wanted to bring up a trap I have fallen into many a time over the years - the all or nothing attitude. So many times I have eaten too many cookies and thought " thats it - I have blown it once again * as usual*
strict diet and go overboard with physical and self denial,
a massive sweet craving,
battling having even one cookie,
give in and eat a few,
feel angry and worthless,
eat everything in sight,
feel terrible and disgusted with myself,
fall off wagon for indeterminate amount of time,
wait until I felt a bit better,
strict diet and go overboard with physical and self denial,
another massive sweet craving,
battling having even one cookie....
And so on. It was a vicious cycle and one it took me many years to break. By nature I am a perfectionist and I would feel such a failure if I couldn't stick to these ridiculous diets I used to embark on. Other people could exist on 900 cals a day, what was wrong with me that I couldn't??? Then of course the self defeating negative thoughts would begin as I couldn't stand feeling so hungry all the time, the cravings and battles would ensue and off we would go again.
I knew that there had to be a better way than this ridiculous silly strict diet/ fail/ eat everything in sight way of living. It took a long time for the penny to drop that I didn't have to be hungry and could have some of the foods I liked in moderation - but the most important thing I learned was forgiveness and allowing myself to ' fail.' So what if I ate a few cookies??? I didn't have to let that defeat me, I was human with weaknesses as well as strengths. It really was simple, all I had to do was to put it behind me and get right back on track. One major factor in my success was not letting myself get too hungry and make sure I was eating enough, as this was a big trigger factor in my craving sweet foods and not being able to resist.
And it is almost 4 years now since my day of reckoning when that light bulb went on in my mind. In that time I have not only lost weight and kept it off but quit smoking too. Amazing what you can do with patience, persistance and perseverence along with allowing yourself to finally not be perfect!
Have a great week
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