So what's your confession? When people ask you how you are doing, do you say things like "ah, not so good" "I've been better", "OK I guess". When people say, "Wow, you look great" do you reply "No I don't". Do you find yourself grumpy in public expressing your unhappiness that you can't have something. Do you look at yourself in the mirror and say "man, I can't believe that is me" ?? If you consistantly express a bad confession about yourself, your changing lifestyle, your lack of motivation, how you feel, then eventually, not only will everyone around you believe that you can't do it but you will too. Today, watch what you say!! Make it a point to make positive confessions. If you feel tempted to express any negativity, STOP RIGHT THERE!!! Snap out of it and change your confession!! I am doing great!! Thanks, I have been working hard at improving my health and I am glad you noticed. I am proud of myself for choosing a salad with grilled chicken instead of the crispy chicken tenders!!! You will not only believe the things you confess, but you will encourage yourself to continue your good work and wear a smile wherever you go!!!

I woke up to a son yelling about not feeling good, when he doesn't do what the doc tells him to do anyway. AND of course, it's mom's (my) fault. Then I took it out on my husband because 1/2 of that kid is his, I yelled at the dog for wanting to go outside, etc. And so it continued, UNTIL I told myself to shut up and knock it off. So easily my mood got torn apart by my son's negativity, and I passed it on. Reminded me of the creamer commerical on tv.
Sometimes, I think with negative talk to ourselves, we have to just stop ourselves in our tracks and say, "shut up, knock it off" and then resume again with something good about us.

I'm proud that I went to the gym even though I really wanted to wait until after lunch (which might have meant that I never got around to it at all).

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:
I’ve got ingredients for a Breakfast Burrito...

One breakfast quesodilla made and eaten and it was soooooo much better than one bought at a drive thru!!!

EDIT: Made it thru the day with no fast food. Had two slices of low fat cheese... but that is such a HUGE improvement from my past life...!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GoingSkiing,

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy:
I am mostly motivated by how well and I feel when I am on plan and at my goal weight. The feeling is the reward at a deep level.

I saw something like this on some weight loss blog.

List of rewards:
8/4/04 - new pair of shoes.
10/13/04 - lipstick
12/05/04 - BREAKING UNDER 200 THE WEEK AFTER THANKSGIVING!!!!
12/31/04 - new bathroom scale
06/015/05 - M0VING INTO "THE GREEN ZONE" ON THE BMI CHART!!!!!
07/15/05 - new workout shorts

And I've got to agree... there isn't anything material that I want or need that compares with certain weight or health accomplishments.

I know that it was actually harder from me to stay on track when I have beat myself up and called myself names. Very few people in my life have talked to me as mean as I’ve talked to myself. I don’t learn how to stay on track when I call myself names.

Like Bee said, when I have a rational conversation with myself, it is much easier to stay on plan.

At first I thought the homework was going to be a “confession is good for the soul” kind of thing . I confess that my “Toddler within” is throwing major tantrums the past few days! I could VERY happily eat fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner today. I’m thinking things like, “Do I want a McGriddle or a Bacon, egg, and cheese McBiscuit?” Shoot, my Toddler is screaming, “I want BOTH!!! I COULD eat BOTH! NOW!! I could eat 2 McGriddles and 2 McBiscuits!!! And get some hash browns, too!!!” And I’m really not even hungry. And I’m not stressed. I just want what I want…

I’m on track today… I did manage to drive past McD’s today (Yay for me!) I’ve got ingredients for a Breakfast Burrito and I’m going to make one at 10:00am and I know that will be very yummy and make me very happy. I think I might go to the store and get some kind of fish patty and make a fish sandwich for lunch.

There is a side of me that wants to beat myself up because I’m still having fast food cravings 4.5 years after starting to lose weight. But it is actually a much better strategy to forgo the emotional flogging and to make fast food at home… and be happy that the servings are larger and have WAY fewer calories and sat. fat grams.

The fly ladies have also really helped with my neg. self talk. You can come back from a fly session and type, “I cleaned the toilet! Well, actually I got sidetracked and found a magazine in the bathroom and sat on the toilet lid for 10 mins and looked at the magazine. There was a very cool article on scale calibrations, so I took off all my clothes and weighed myself and then got dressed. And that took another 7 mins.

But, then I remembered that I was in there to clean… but I didn’t have time to clean the whole toilet… but I did get the toilet seat cleaned! Yay for me! Next fly… I’ll go back and clean the toilet bowl.”

And nobody thinks that you are crazy for being proud of your teeniest, tiniest baby step of cleaning part of a toilet.

Isn't pride one of the seven deadly sins? It isn’t acceptable to be proud of progress… but it IS fine to call ourselves names and put ourselves down…. Not good.

quote:

Originally posted by RobinBeBe:
This is a huge challenge for me. I tend to do a lot of negative self-talk, especially after I eat too much or the wrong thing. Robin

I can relate to this. Over time I have worked hard to change it, but when I overeat or eat junk, I really bash myself.
It does not seem to work for me to feel good about myself and to overeat at the same time. The two don't seem to go together in me. (I had a counselor once who talked about self esteem going up when we do things that are in line with our value system. Esteem goes down when we do things that are not in line with what we value.) I value a balanced diet and being thin. When I go against that I don't feel good.
For me, I have to act rightly and then the thinking and the attitude will follow. I have to eat on plan in order to want to be on plan. Action is always the motivator for me.

Thanks for you post Robin. I am going away and eating at 2 pizza places this weekend. Major danger for me. I know that I will feel good and motivated my eating well and acting in a way that fits my plan.

This also brings up the idea of rewards... Someone (Bee?) posted about not being good about planning big rewards. I am in that boat too. I can get small things like a silicone spatula- they help me get through a stressful day or meal, but generally don't do well with rewards when I plan far out.
I am mostly motivated by how well and I feel when I am on plan and at my goal weight. The feeling is the reward at a deep level.

This is a huge challenge for me. I tend to do a lot of negative self-talk, especially after I eat too much or the wrong thing. I need to learn to turn that to positive talk. I think this is a good part of the battle!

Robin

My confession is pretty simple - I find that if I tell myself "I'm starving", I will eat more. If I say to myself "you just ate, you aren't really hungry" or something of that nature, I tend to have an easier time staying on plan.

quote:

Originally posted by MaryJo:
You will not only believe the things you confess, but you will encourage yourself to continue your good work and wear a smile wherever you go!!!

I do believe that positive affirmations help us believe that we can achieve. I have been trying to get back to incorporating them as part of my daily routine (with mixed success).

I think the biggest part of my negativity around healthy living for the past year is that my weight loss has stalled (and, in fact, I have gained several pounds). It really helped me (and continues to) when, I think it was this past spring, I could finally see the "silver lining" in this situation...that is that I had been terrified of how I would manage the maintenance phase when I eventually got there and now, after more than a year of not losing weight and maintaining 30 of a 35-pound weight loss, I now have more confidence in my ability to maintain my weight loss.

That experience has colored other negative thoughts and experiences in my life since then. I now tend to start searching for the silver lining in a "bad" situation sooner which translates into less overall negativity.

I am very proud of myself, I just came home from dinner with a girlfriend and I made many healthy confessions. I talked very positively about my struggle and about what I am doing to get there. I am finding tht I get support instead of sympathy when I leave the negative vibes at home.