Self-Sabotage. We’ve all been there. And it’s been happening to me.
It started with my birthday. Why just have one birthday cake? I totally deserve two (to be fair they were small, like 4 servings max, but nevertheless, two).
And then came the Halo Top reviews. What first started out as an innocent curiosity turned into a risky attempt at being entertaining and compromising my progress in the process.
And don’t get me started on the most recent offense: the discounted Easter eggs. While I paired this with two health magazines (my attempt at trying to be funny and clever) didn’t really mesh with the feelings of regret I felt after this indulgence.
Look, I’m all about being gentle and kind to yourself. Mistakes do happen and we need to forgive ourselves and move on. We don’t have to be all or nothing but the truth is all of these “little oops” are going to lead to a bigger problem if I don’t put a stop to them. I’ve been making choices that have been hurting instead of helping me. The thing is, every time I get close to meeting my weight loss goals, I sabotage myself. After doing some reflection, here’s why I think this is happening.
- I stopped tracking my food intake. I get overly confident and think that I am untouchable from relapses. Guess again. The new Weight Watchers Freestyle Program came out at a time when I was feeling great and on top of my routine and habits. The new program, however, caused my daily points to drop significantly. The old rules I set for myself no longer applied and instead of bothering to try and work the program, I stopped being accountable (aka tracking my daily food intake).
- Complacency. The true evil. The new Freestyle program, my new job, holidays, birthdays. While these excuses are convincing, at a certain point, they run out. Not only were old habits creeping back in, my commitment and motivation was beginning to slide backwards.
- Trigger Foods. While foods like protein bars and low calorie ice cream have their purpose on this journey, they don’t work for everyone. While I love blogging and sharing new food discoveries on social media, at the end of the day, these foods are my triggers. Whether artificially sweetened or low fat, my trigger is sugar.
So now that I identified the source of the problems, where do I go from here?
I don’t have all the answers but heres my plan:
- Tonight, I’m revisiting my why and posting this entry to keep myself accountable.
- Tomorrow, I’m going to walk everywhere, even if it snows again (seriously, you guys, I’m so over winter).
- On Friday, I’m going to workout in the morning with my bestie, and then go to my weight watchers meeting.
I’m breaking it down in to smaller goals and I’ll report back on Friday to let you know how it all went down. Thank you all so much for the continued support. Please join the conversation and share the blog.
See you Friday!
xo
Jen
Thanks for sharing so openly Jen. I’m with you about complacency… why I think that I can take my eye off the ball EVER, still amazes me. I just need to keep on, keeping on. You have a great plan in place and I’ll see ya Friday. As always, whatever I can do to help.. you know I’m here for you. xx
I will definitely be there Friday. xo
Hey sweets, I’m so glad you put this out there. And that you have done your reflection and your plan — all at the same time. Great job.
And this weeks topic of Optimism vs Realism is perfectly timed. Its almost like you read the weekly already.
Glad you’re getting to the Friday meeting, cause we both know meetings make a lot of difference.
Just and fyi though, we all sure miss you on Saturdays. And talk about you often.
xoxoxox
I haven’t read the weekly yet as I go to meetings on Friday. Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Love your honesty and your courage to face what is really inside you. Sugar is also one of my triggers…I have been trying to eating mostly paleo to get things back on track because even with WW and tracking I was having too much sugar. Concert this Saturday with an after party….feeling a little nervous to tell you the truth…
xx
It wasn’t easy to write about this but sometimes we have to talk about the uncomfortable things in order to be able to get over the hump. Keep moving forward. I know you’re going to slay at your concert. xo