Another fabulous guest post from my sister. If you really want to push past that place of despair, this post is for you.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
So most of us have had the “I need to lose weight” revelation. We tend to dive head first into it, proclaiming that we’re going to eat right and we’re going to exercise! That’s all well and good and I love it but what about the beginning?
Why did we gain the weight in the first place? Without addressing where it all starts we risk riding on the yo-yo. We lose the weight when we have that initial burst of just not wanting to be fat anymore but when that enthusiasm fades our old habits try to sneak up on us.
So the question is what is it that causes us to harm ourselves by overeating and not exercising? Why do we hurt ourselves in the first place?
I’ve examined this recently so I’ll give you what I came up with about myself. I’m a bored eater, I don’t like to be noticed (self-esteem issues), I just love the taste of bad food.
I’ll go over each and then add a few other common reasons for weight gain.
Problem: Bored Eating. A lot of us sit around, watching TV because we have nothing better to do or we’re avoiding doing other stuff and we help fill the time by snacking on this or that. I never said to myself “I’m bored so let me eat” but I know part of my subconscious is looking for fun things to do and it decided that eating junk is super fun.
Solution 1: Find a Hobby! I like to make jewelry so that’s one thing I can do when I’m bored.
Solution 2: Go for a walk. Anything to get you up and moving instead of being a couch potato.
Solution 3: Work toward your goals. Lately I’ve been very goal oriented so in my spare time I have been working toward my goals. I’ve watched videos of different nursing procedures that I know make me nervous so I can be more familiar with them before I start nursing school. I also plan to start a fit club soon so I have been researching costs and other details I need to get down before starting it.
Problem: You think you aren’t worth it. Way too many of us think we aren’t worth it. We don’t value ourselves nearly as high as what we should and that is damaging. For me it led to excess weight gain. I didn’t think highly enough of myself to think I mattered. So I hid under the fat. No one will notice me that way right? Actually it is kind of right but it’s a very poor strategy if you ever want to make it somewhere in life.
Solution: This one is tough. Self-esteem is difficult to fix at the drop of a hat. It takes time just like this weight loss journey but if you don’t address it you are setting yourself up for some hard times and not just in the weight loss department. So get to the root of why you don’t think highly of yourself. You’re a good person right? So you deserve to think highly of yourself. You deserve health and happiness!
For those of you who don’t think you’re a good person, and I’ve seen many people say this, the fact that you’re beating up on yourself for “not being a good person” is because you care so really you are a good person. Bad people don’t care. We have to love ourselves.
Problem: Bad food is yummy! So you went from eating chips and burgers and fries and all that tasty stuff and you miss it terribly. I understand!
Solution: You don’t have to give up everything you love! I like – no, love – potato chips. You can either go baked or you can make your own.
I slice a potato thinly, put it in the oven for a little bit and sprinkle so salt over it for taste. Another example is every now and then I still have pizza. To make it healthy I make it myself. 2% cheese, thin crust, if I want meat I go with the extra lean ground beef(and if I liked ham that’d be a good option) and you can even add veggies! There are so many ways to make unhealthy foods healthy so when you’re craving the junk you have options! Play around with the ingredients of the dish and most meals you can turn from flab to fab!
Problem: Emotional Eating. Unfortunately food is “comforting” so many people turn to it when they’re upset. This is common and if this sounds like you then you aren’t alone.
Solution 1: Find support. Let someone in your life know of your problem and call them when you feel like you’re upset so you don’t go into the kitchen. Also there are support groups online. If you’re feeling stressed, depressed, etc reach out to them. They understand and want to help!
Solution 2: Get out of the house! This was a solution for bored eating too but go on a walk, go to the park, anything to get away from the food sources you have available at home.
Solution 3: This is a hard one but if you happen to binge after an emotional day track everything you ate and how you felt afterward. I put comforting in quotes up there because for the most part after eating way too much food most of us feel like absolute crap. By tracking and keeping a journal you are giving yourself a wake up call.
Problem: I HAVE to clear my plate. We are very trained to think this and it’s absolutely false.
Solution: It’s simple, stop eating when full. I read a book recently and the author said “We are not garbage disposals.” Usually when we don’t finish eating we put our food down the disposal. If there’s a lot left we might wrap it up and save it for later but otherwise it goes in the trash. So what you are doing when you continue eating after you are full is turning your body into a trash can. There is no need to clear your plate if you’re full and don’t feel guilty about not eating it all. We can’t always gauge how much food it’s going to take us to get full so it’s not like you’re intentionally wasting food. Remember you have to protect yourself and eating past full is not how to do it.
Problem: I hate exercise and I don’t have time to do it!
Solution 1: Just give it a try. I HATED exercising until I started doing it. Now I accidentally exercise on my off day and it feels wrong when I don’t work out. Your body loves the exercise, I promise. Even though we huff and puff and feel exhausted our body is happy. Notice after you work out you have more of a euphoric feeling. Hey that’s a lot better than the guilty and bloated feeling we feel after a binge!
Solution 2: I didn’t think I had the time until I realized that was just another mental obstacle that I had placed for myself to have to get by. I’m an insomniac so working out in the morning usually isn’t an option as lost sleep leads to me being a cranky pants. So I wake up, go to work and don’t get home until 7ish at night. Then I had to make dinner and then eat and do dishes. It was 9pm before I had free time. I throw up mental barriers telling myself that’s way too late to work out. Turns out it’s not and guess what, working out has helped some with the insomnia. There is always time, even if it’s just a short 15-20 minute exercise there is always a slot in the day where you can do it.
So there are some of the biggest reasons we gain weight and get out of shape to start with. It’s important to learn ourselves. Think of how hard it is to give strangers advice on fixing their problems. You don’t know anything about them so it’s hard to help. If you don’t take the time to learn yourself it’s like you’re giving advice to a stranger. So take that time and get fit for good!
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