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Post by surfgirl on Jul 24, 2020 1:18:10 GMT
TODAY’S MANTRA: Once I focus only on what I have to do today, dieting will be easier.
As the song goes, ‘You can’t always get whatcha want…bum bum buh dum…But you can try sometimes, to get whatcha need…..oh yeah…” There’s powerful truth in them words, who knew?! Discouragement is probably the most powerful reason that people fall off program and never get back on that horse, do dealing with discouragement is key in keeping us on plan for the long haul.
Beck talks about how the initial excitement of a diet is enough to keep us motivated, but once real life hits – be it with work shit, life shit, or general bullshit – we start allowing that shit to weigh us down, and suck the motivation out of us. We tell ourselves it’s too hard and we won’t be able to keep this up for the rest of our lives. I remember thinking the first time I lost on WW, once I lost I started eating the way I did before I lost. I figured once I’d lost the weight I could just ‘eat like other normal people’ and I would be able to monitor what I ate so I didn’t gain weight again. How’d that turn out for me? Well, I’m still here in losing mode so you do the math!
Beck suggests finding self-encouragement by reviewing our ARCs, perhaps adding to them new advantages, and/or adding up the actual hours that we’ve felt stressed out and discouraged with staying OP over the last week.
Sabotaging Thought: I feel overwhelmed. This program is way too involved. I can’t do it! A thin person re-affirms their commitment and just keeps going.Helpful Response: This book will help me, step-by-step. I don’t have to learn everything in one day. I can reread and practice. I can ask my diet coach to help me. A thin person doesn’t give up and asks for help when she needs it!
Sabotaging Thought: These tasks are too hard. I don’t want to keep on doing these things. A thin person does what needs doing to get the job done!Helpful Response: I’m just feeling overwhelmed at the moment. It doesn’t always seem this hard. Later on today or tomorrow, it’ll probably feel easier again. A thin person brushes off feelings like this and keeps going forward.
I am attaching another version of the Stages of Change model today, because this one shows how much circling around one stage, and how much ‘two steps forward, one step backward’ circling back is normal when moving through stages of change. It isn’t a one-time linear process but for some reason we assume it is! You can circle around one stage for a while until you’re ready to move to the next stage. And you can be at one stage, and circle back to a previous stage. It’s all a normal part of the change process, and very few people just move through each stage and never look back! TODAY’S REFLECTION: What stage(s) do you keep circling back to, and why do you think that you keep revisiting that stage? How does reflecting on this model make you feel? |
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Post by surfgirl on Jul 24, 2020 1:24:44 GMT
I am firmly in the action stage right now. I fell back into contemplation and dabbled with action, but I'm firmly circling action right now and hope to stay there until I reach goal weight. I think I kept bouncing back and forth between contemplation and action because I just wasn't fully committed, it's as simple as that. And I was using situations like COVID to tell myself I somehow deserve to bake cakes once a week, which makes no sense at all! When I look at this graphic it gives me a clear picture of my past actions, and I can see myself circling round and round between contemplation and action, and I see how easy it is to get all the way to maintenance and still be able to easily slip all the way back to contemplation if I get complacent!
Whenever I start feeling discouraged about falling off plan I think of this model above, and I ask myself, where am I right now on the behavior change continuum? Then I ask myself how I got there - what happened that made me allow myself to go off plan and throw all my hard work away? That's usually enough to get me to realize what I need to do to right my ship STAT. I don't feel disappointment that often with weight loss because I know I only have myself to blame for success or slipping backwards. But I can always move to the next behavior stage if I really want to do it. |
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lizlor
Transcendent Member
Posts: 1,159
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Post by lizlor on Jul 24, 2020 5:53:21 GMT
I’m firmly in the action stage and am trying to settle in because I need to be here for quite some time. Prior to this was quitemplation because I tend to have all or nothing thinking when not OP. Tonight I had some good No Choice success. My husband set up beer and chips for a socially distanced evening outside and I only ate 2 cups of the popcorn. I’m committed to action- prep, planning, participation and I hope I sticks this time around.
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Post by cathygeha on Jul 24, 2020 8:24:11 GMT
I  the visual! It really hit home!
What came to mind was that saying...losing weight is hard, being fat is hard -> choose your hard And when I looked it up I found
Anyway...
I am in Action Phase and doing well. I have circled around two programs on the iTrackBites app and am still not sure which is best BUT I have not, so far, has a "throw in the towel" moment.
I am focused and willing and looking for healthy meal ideas and checking in for support and giving support and looking at life changes rather than only looking at reaching a specific goal weight.
I feel better and know I am doing better. Perhaps doing this review so many times has helped a bit and perhaps it is something else BUT for now I am glad that it is working!
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Post by lani on Jul 24, 2020 15:31:52 GMT
cathygeha, I love that one. Choose your hard.
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Post by bbbearsmom on Jul 24, 2020 17:02:01 GMT
surfgirl, Again, love your sabotaging thought examples. I've never been discouraged while doing this. This is my third time and I'm doing this for health reasons. When I started this time I knew it wouldn't always go smoothly but I knew if I followed the plan I would get to goal. Also I knew this time I had to do this the rest of my life because of my health problems and the laws of the physical world weren't going to change so I could be overweight/obese and healthy. I just have to figure it out and keep going. Usually I'm in the maintenance stage but I do circle the contemplation stage when I start to gain weight. I go into contemplation until I accept that I'm gaining weight because I'm eating too much and I have to cut back, then I go to preparation to figure out where I can cut back and then action and move on to maintenance again. cathygeha, I like your illustration. It is so true.
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Post by luvvinlife on Jul 24, 2020 21:23:12 GMT
I’m in Action mode. At times I can’t believe I’m focused enough to get this far. Maintenance is knocking at the door..... I’m not ready to cross that threshold.
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Post by surfgirl on Jul 24, 2020 21:25:21 GMT
surfgirl, Again, love your sabotaging thought examples. I always try to summon Carol Ann / ladymajky's Thin Person and ask myself, what would a thin person do/say? It works every time! And yes, I always think of it in green because Carol Ann always made it green if I remember correctly! |
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ladymajky
Transcendent Member
220/169/150
Posts: 871 
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Post by ladymajky on Jul 25, 2020 0:42:35 GMT
One day I was standing in line at the Great American Cookie Company at the mall. (Remember the olden days when we used to go to the mall and do things surrounded closely by other people?) Suddenly I realized that the other people standing in line at the Great American Cookie Company needed to be standing in line at WW. The thin persons at the mall were not standing in line at a cookie place. They were walking around, talking and shopping. Suddenly it came home to me that people standing in line for cookies behave one way, and thin persons behave a different way. Thin persons could go to the mall and NOT EAT. surfgirl, is doing a marvelous job in exploring the ways that thin persons behave, and how that is different from the way that people who stand in line for cookies behave. So, do I want to behave like a person standing in line for cookies, or do I want to behave like a thin person? |
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Post by surfgirl on Jul 25, 2020 2:46:17 GMT
One day I was standing in line at the Great American Cookie Company at the mall. (Remember the olden days when we used to go to the mall and do things surrounded closely by other people?) Suddenly I realized that the other people standing in line at the Great American Cookie Company needed to be standing in line at WW. The thin persons at the mall were not standing in line at a cookie place. They were walking around, talking and shopping. Suddenly it came home to me that people standing in line for cookies behave one way, and thin persons behave a different way. Thin persons could go to the mall and NOT EAT. surfgirl , is doing a marvelous job in exploring the ways that thin persons behave, and how that is different from the way that people who stand in line for cookies behave. So, do I want to behave like a person standing in line for cookies, or do I want to behave like a thin person? Bravo, exactly Carol Ann! I have told this story here before but it's apropos for this conversation. I used to have a friend locally whom I would go to lunch with a few times a year, she was extremely fit - worked out at the gym religiously - and had a great figure. We would go to a place called Islands, they have burgers and salads, and we'd both always order the big salad. My friend was a thin person, and she would always order her salad with lo-cal/FF dressing on the side, and no cheese and extra beans instead. I once said to her, "Hey, why don't you splurge and get the cheese once in a while, it's not very much and you're in amazing shape!" And her reply was always, "I look like this because I do this every time I go out." A thin person can stick to an eating plan that makes healthier choices when they go out. At the time I didn't know what ' a thin person' was but looking back, she was a thin person and had very different habits than I do. |
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Post by bbbearsmom on Jul 25, 2020 16:32:56 GMT
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the visual! It really hit home! 
