Have the Urge to Reward Weight-Loss with Food?
Can you relate to this?
“Last week i made a milestone and weighed under 140 for the first time in a few years. Now I am struggling with self sabotage. I am wanting to eat more and eat poorly. How can I fight this?”—Kimberly W.
I can identify SO MUCH with this.
Any time I could fit into my “skinny jeans” or when I would reach some goal weight on the scale, I would IMMEDIATELY want to go out and get an ice cream or something junky to celebrate…
OR I would think I could now start eating more food and slip on my nutritional excellence…
This is completely nonsensical.
WHY WOULD I WANT TO STOP DOING WHAT’S WORKING FOR ME?
But yet EVERY TIME with EVERY goal, this is how my brain worked…
Food rewarding has been deeply ingrained into our culture and psyche.
We were given candy as prizes for getting the right answers…
Cookies and chocolate for cleaning our rooms…
Ice cream and cakes were always part of birthdays, victories, and happy times…
Society created an association of success and achievement with dessert.
I like to remind myself: Is feeding myself things that aren’t good for me, or is maintaining bad habits or food addictions really how I can treat myself well?
REDEFINE “Treating yourself.”
Take the money you would have spent—literally remove it from your wallet and put it into a jar —and save up for a massage, a concert, a mani-pedi, etc.
OR save up for a big-ticket item like designer jeans or a painting for your home—something that’ll be a constant reminder of your success!
A healthy lifestyle doesn’t have a “finish line” (and neither does weight loss).
There’s no, “Yay! Crossed the finish! That’s over now. I don’t have to do that anymore.”
THIS is why “Diets” never work except when you’re on them…
…Because if you stop doing it and if you go back to your old ways, you’ll go back to your old self.
You don’t go on a diet. You have to CHANGE your diet.
But being committed to nutritional excellence doesn’t mean you can’t ever splurge!
Admittedly, I splurge a handful of times during the year, but it is so in incredibly infrequent in my life that when I do, it’s all the more special—the way it should be.
Plan for it and balance it with good, CONSISTENT choices day-to-day.
Set yourself up for success using a meal plan and support-system community.
P.S. If the scale is a trigger for this self-sabotage thinking, perhaps consider using another way to measure your loss, such as using a pair of pants or taking tape measurements.