I am back to the Beck book and have been looking at my sabotaging thoughts about my weight and eating. (Actually, I think they are more like deeply ingrained thought patterns.)

Just wondering what your sabotaging thought are.

Here's a list Beck provides:
(My current "biggie" is that I can't resist_______.)

*Dieting is too hard
*I don't care
*It's OK to eat this
*I'm being punished
*It's not fair
*I'm not going to let anyone tell me what I can and cannot eat
*I deserve to eat this
*I'll just eat these crumbs
*I should be able to do (eat) what I want
*I can't resist
*I really want it.
*I'm really hungry
*I have not willpower
*It's not that fattening
*I'll make up for it later
*It'll go to waste if I don't eat it.
*I should eat it because its' free
*Everyone else is eating
*No one will know
*I'm treating myself
*I'm stressed/tired/sad/bored/excited/happy
It's a special occasion.

quote:

Originally posted by iz:
but one of the things suggested is to ask yourself (before you inhale a plate of french fries) "do I want those fries or do I want to be a skinny bitch?" silly, right? well, i have been toying with this. i crack myself up. i ask myself the same question "do i want to be a skinny bitch or do i want 3 brownies right now?" and then i just start giggling because these are not words that come naturally out of my mouth. the giggling is a nice distraction if nothing else....

I like your approach Iz, it's making me giggle right now

Jill

i think "deeply ingrained thought patterns" is the key for me. It has taken me a long LONG time to slowly re-program those thoughts. why did I feel deprived if I did not treat myself? What was I afraid of? Why do hunger pains send me into a state of high anxiety? all of those things appear to be at the root of my food issues.

i had read Skinny Bitch, which I found useful but I did not care for the tone and the language used. but one of the things suggested is to ask yourself (before you inhale a plate of french fries) "do I want those fries or do I want to be a skinny bitch?" silly, right? well, i have been toying with this. i crack myself up. i ask myself the same question "do i want to be a skinny bitch or do i want 3 brownies right now?" and then i just start giggling because these are not words that come naturally out of my mouth. the giggling is a nice distraction if nothing else....

quote:

*I don't care

My variation is "I don't want to think about it."

It's now Year 5 of maintenance, and as B.B. King puts it, "The thrill is gone..."

i have all of those! so so familiar!

lately, i have been trying to negotiate. "do you want those brownies now, or would you rather save up for a really nice tastey meal later?"

A big one of mine that I've been consciously catching myself on is "I need some ___" (where ___ = some highly caloric and/or high fat food). So now, when I hear the "tape" start on "I NEED THAT!" I say "No, you don't NEED it. You WANT it. There's a difference."

And I might still go ahead and have it...but I make myself conscious that it is a want and not a need before I do.

Mostly a variation of the first two..."I don't care" and "Eating healthy takes too much time/energy/effort" and/or "I just don't want to spend the energy it takes to do it right". All some version of all-or-none thinking. I do care but not enough to do it allllll the time and it does take time/energy/effort but I have some available even if it's not alllll the time and the last one is just bald face perfectionism.

Peg

Right now my worst one is "It's a whole week until weigh-in"

Been using that way to much these last two weeks and it has resulted in maintaining rather than losing

That list just about covers it. Tonight's statement was, "I want it so I'll eat it." And I ate it.

Sometimes I don't know what's worse, having all those excuses/thought patterns or not even caring enough to think of any.

My biggies are still:

"I'll burn it off"
"I deserve it because I got in an extra workout"
"I want to kick back and relax on the weekends and not worry about what I'm eating/drinking"
"I want it so I'm going to eat it!"

Plus almost everything on your list I've done at one time or another.

That list just about covers all of mine!

Thanks for the reminder. I will have to pay more attention the next time that these sentences pop into my head.

A friend just posted something in her blog, the title being something like Eating Healthy Sucks!
My gut response was to be really annoyed with her. It doesn't suck at all. There are all of these great things to eat, fresh fruit and veggies, wholesome grains... Sure I eat my fair share of junk, but I like the way I feel when I eat veggies and fruit and less junk.

I think I will make Eating Healthy is Awesome my new battle cry.