Remind yourself why!

4th July 2015

Be your own sunshine!

Always remember your reasons!  Yep when you're struggling to stay focused and on track, you need to remind yourself of why you walked through the doors of a Weight Watcher meeting.  There is no right or wrong answer either, it can simply be because you wanted your clothes to fit you again, you wanted to look super hot in your jeans, or because your doctor told you too!  Any reason that brings you into your first meeting is a good enough one, because it was the day you decided you mattered, you were important enough to take care of!

We all have a reason or more than one, I asked my members this question on Facebook yesterday and it's insightful to read the responses, health scares send a lot of people heading for a meeting, there are just so many reasons and it's not surprising as we're all so different aren't we.

Sometimes we get blasé, we forget why we've joined, we have stresses pop up or celebrations and it distracts us, we may have a bad week or more and we think that means we've failed - we haven't, it's called life, we all slip up, no one can be perfect all the time - why would you want to be, it's way too much pressure putting yourself on that pedestal, being that obsessed with it all.

It's not easy to change old ingrained habits that we've learn from a very young age.  Food is a reward, it's a way of showing affection, these patterns become ingrained in us over time, so they'll take a long time to change.  So give yourself a break, when those negative "I can't do this" thoughts come (and they will), ignore them, like you'd ignore someone trying to sell you something at your front door you didn't want!   Use that time to check back in with yourself to make sure you stay focused on your goals, focus on what you want rather than what you don't want.   Focus on the positive changes you've made and how they've made you feel! 

Research shows that you can change habits at any age you choose, it may not be easy but it's do-able!

So the next time you find yourself comfort eating, using food as a way to cope with those negative emotions, remind yourself it was hunger that caused that pain, that made you feel the way you are feeling, so eating won't ever take those feelings away?

So how about we start being more mindful of our behaviours and moods, if you notice your triggers, you can prepare for when it's likely to happen!  When you feel an emotional eating session coming on, think  about what would happen instead, if you decided not to try and suppress those emotions with food and felt them instead.  Feeling sadness, anxiety and a low mood instead of eating, try it, see how quickly they come and go, they'll pass and eating won't honestly make them pass any quicker.

Boredom is the bitch of emotional eating!  Find something to do, eating is not a hobby!

On that note, I'm off to put a slow chicken (bought it reduced yesterday) in the slow cooker so mom can have a nice chicken salad sandwich later on and we'll use the rest tomorrow as I'm off out for lunch with two of my besties that I haven't seen for a while.  We're all so busy, I don't do 'night time' socialising really these days, so they compromise and we go for lunch, I need to find my eat out guide as we're off to Nandos, I do love me some chicken wings, 5 are 8pp and then maybe a large corn on the cob for 5pp.  But mostly I'm looking forward to catching up with two amazing ladies, one of which I haven't seen for months. 

Have a great day, stay focused on your goals - you know it's worth it when you step on those scales on weigh day.