Have you been struggling with your eating?
If you have, you are not alone. Many people have found the added stress in these past months have triggered old eating habits and resulted in weight gain.
I have also faced challenges to my eating through the spring. Today I’m sharing an inside look into my personal habits. What tripped me up? What lessons have I learned about myself?
And most importantly, how can you apply these lessons to your own weight loss?
What happened?
Be sure to listen to the full podcast for all the details. Back at the beginning of the year, I set a new weight loss goal for myself. I’ve been maintaining a weight loss of 55 pounds for years now and decided I wanted to lose a little bit more. I was working away on that and then… Enter COVID plus significant back pain (to hear about my tips for managing eating related to chronic pain, check out this episode).
All the sudden I found myself isolated and also unable to sleep or sit down without significant pain. All the routines went out the window and more carbohydrates started to make an appearance in my eating.
Over the months, my habits would fluctuate. I would get back on track and then would find myself slipping again. The slips usually corresponded with sleep deprivation from the back issues. It was just so hard to care about weight goals when I hadn’t slept in days.
Stepping Out of the Cycle
Through all of that, the important piece is that I never lost the trust that I would get back to my normal and continue on the way to my goal. This is important because it wouldn’t have always been the case. Years ago, I would have used what appeared to be a failure and just give up, assuming there was something wrong with me.
I kept trying and kept working on separating my sleep from my eating. I wasn’t sure if the pain would go away and felt I needed to figure out how to get myself eating consistently regardless of what happened with the sleep or the pain.
I’m happy to tell you that I am back to my normal where eating choices just feel simple and non-dramatic again. It took work and patience but I got there.
My Tips
- Keep Trying
There is no pass/fail. Just keep going.
- Get Help
Having someone else to help you understand where your thoughts are tripping you up is the most efficient route to success. I hired a coach and it’s amazing how much she helped me so far.
- Find a Mantra that Calms your Brain Around Food
If you are struggling, your brain is likely spending a lot of time thinking about food. Find a thought that helps calm it down and practice it. Listen to the podcast here to learn my favourite one.
- Develop Commitment
In those moments of eating, food can seem more important than your goals. You need to work on why your goal is important to you. Why is it more important than food in the moment? How can you think about it that makes it feel easier to not eat?
- Don’t Engage in Your Brain’s Drama
When you are struggling with overeating, your brain often creates extra drama such as overwhelm, confusion, and dis-empowering thoughts. Work on noticing these, label them as brain drama and choose not to engage. Continue on with your thoughts of commitment.
Find simplicity in your weight loss journey: https://weightsolutionsforphysicians.ca/sos
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