It's ok to look like me, cos that's who I was made to be!
Another Monday morning rolls around and although I was weighed by my boss on Friday night, this morning is the day I weigh myself on my 8wk 8lb challenge, today’s the start of week 3, and I have a gut feeling after my 2.5lb loss last Monday, today won’t be so pretty! I’ve found the last week really difficult for a number of reasons, some of which I didn’t realise immediately. Firstly I just didn’t find it as easy to stick within budget as I had the week before and I’m not sure why, secondly I got hungrier as the week went on. Friday night I went for a balti which would have been fine if I’d saved my 49 weekly allowance but I’d used them already! I also went to my friends house Saturday for lunch and she served pizza, garlic bread, salad, Dorritos and dips – followed by scones with chantilly cream and jam! Finally yesterday I was drained and couldn’t be bothered so grazed all day long on stuff. Now a couple of other things I think contributed to my not brill week was firstly I wasn’t having as much to drink (water not wine), I wasn’t eating my fruit and veg like the week before and because I was try to save a few pennies I was finding the choice of my meals limiting.
Despite all this, and whatever the scales say this morning, I’m back on it from this morning and am going to have a much better week! I’m going to have fruit for my breakfast, tuna melt or scrambled eggs for lunch and a square wrap pizza for tea, didn’t have it yesterday too much hassle as it would have meant moving from my chair and not being able to return within the minute!!! Plus I hadn’t got any tomato puree.
Hopefully you handled last week better than me and are ready to start week 3, knowing the scales are going to give you a lose. If you haven’t don’t beat yourself up or criticise your lack of willpower, give yourself a break and acknowledge we’re human. If you’re telling yourself, “I'm a loser. I haven’t lost weight, and I'll never be able to again.” Then this is your inner critic taking over and winning by the sound of it!
Sound familiar? Lots of people are plagued by a harsh Inner critic and if you’re not careful fierce unrelenting self-criticism can bring you down. Your diet will suffer if your constantly fixated on your failures rather than your successes, yes I haven’t had the best week, but I did make some good decisions this week of which I’m proud of.
How Self-Critical are you? Here’s a short questionnaire to help you realise;
For each of the following statements, indicate the number that best describes how you feel most of the time.
1 – Totally disagree; 2 – Disagree very much; 3 – Disagree slightly; 4 – Neutral; 5 – Agree slightly; 6 – Agree very much; 7 – Totally
1. It is difficult to be happy unless one is good-looking, intelligent, rich and creative.
2. People will probably thing less of me if I make a mistake.
3. If I do not do well all the time, people will not respect me.
4. If a person asks for help, it is a sign of weakness.
5. If I do not do as well as other people, it means I am a weak person.
6. If I fail at my work, then I am a failure as a person.
7. If you cannot do something well, there is little point in doing it at all.
8. If someone disagrees with me, it probably indicates he does not like me.
9. If I fail partly, it is as bad as being a complete failure.
10. If other people know what you are really like, they will think less of you.
11. If I don’t set the highest standards for myself, I am likely to end up a second-rate person.
12. If I am to be a worthwhile person, I must be the best in at least one way.
13. People who have good ideas are better than those who do not.
14. I should be upset if I make a mistake.
15. If I ask a question, it makes me look stupid.
A total score of 54 and above indicates a high level of self-criticism and perfectionism, 39 is average and 24 or less represents a low level.
Source: Dysfunctional Attitude Scale by Weissman, A. N. & Beck, A. T., 1978; Imber, et al., 1990
If you think you may have a Inner Critic causing you problems, get yourself a journal and start to monitor your thoughts. Jot down your self-critical judgments -- I'm a loser, I'm stupid, I'm ugly as this is the first step to mastering them: That process alone may decrease the intensity and frequency. Also note the situations in which these feelings occur and see if you can spot patterns. Question your thoughts, are they true, if you think you’re a "bad person," are you a bad person all the time? Are there times when you are good?
When keeping your journal, challenge negative thoughts with hard facts. Keep a list of your achievements and pull it out when your self-criticism threatens to overwhelm you.
Breaking the habit of self-criticism can pay big dividends in mental and physical health. The way you see yourself can be challenged and changed, and as your thinking improves, apparently so does your immune system, your digestion is better, you don't compensate by overeating or drinking, and your anxiety levels go down. You might even find you have mental and emotional energy left over for many other things -- including helping other people feel better about themselves!
So that’s me for today, I’m off to walk Alfie xx
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