I'm really starting to think that I have two brains battling it out inside my skull for complete domination of the rest of the body. And these brains have two, VERY different goals in mind. For the sake of becoming familiar with the two of them, let's call them Ivan and Deion - trust me, this will make sense in a moment.Ivan has one goal in mind - Instant Gratification. He wants what he wants, when he wants it. Fast food? NOW! Sleeping in? NOW! A liter of Mountain Dew? NOW! He has no concept of future ramifications and just wants to taste that burger or sleep that extra hour. He's convinced that things can be put off until tomorrow if it means having more fun today. He often tells me, "You can lose the weight in no time! So why not have a huge place of fettucini alfredo tonight? You can just take that off in a couple of days anyway!"
Deion, on the other hand, is quite different. He's all about Delayed Gratification. He's the one that gets me to choose water over soda, chicken over beef and treadmill over my soft, soft pillow. He knows the work that needs to go into losing weight and is willing to take the necessary steps - and use the correct amount of self-control - to get to the end goal of losing 80 pounds. He's the one who helps me lose 5-8 pounds in a week when all is done to perfection. Thankfully it seems he's here today at least!
My problem is that I give them equal attention. And equal attention = treading water.
Maybe it's more of a Jeckyll and Hyde situation where I don't necessarily have two brains, but just two different sides to my weight loss efforts. At night I'll go to sleep planning out my tomorrow with fantastic intentions in mind, only to wake up and not want to do any of what I'd plan a mere 7 hours ago. It's a cruel, cruel cycle I find myself in sometimes.
In your weight loss efforts, how have you put the pedal to the metal and knocked off the pounds? How did you react to minor setbacks and mindset issues?
3 comments:
I think we all suffer from this, whether we are losing weight, training for a marathon, trying to get healthy, etc. I have the same battles every day (sleep in, or go run??) I think the key is to try and stick with the "good side" about 80% of the time. Nobody is perfect. :)
Hey Jordan! I had to check that I wasn't reading my own blog, for a second, there! I have this battle constantly. Here are a mishmash of thoughts about these issues...and other random ramblings.
I've decided to not keep trigger foods in my house for the next few weeks. If it's not here, I won't eat it. Or else I have to go to the corner store for a chocolate bar. And it ends up not feeling like it's worth it, just for that one small item.
Also, cannot say enough about gum! LOL! I'm doing a challenge with my husband where we've chosen 3 foods that we're not good at controlling, and we're CUTTING THEM OUT COMPLETELY until June 23 (it gives me 10 weeks). So, gum is my life-saver. I think that a major issue for me is just that I eat out of boredom or for emotional reasons (happy, sad, anxious, etc.). And I just need something to do - rather than direct my energy into eating food and consuming calories needlessly, I chew gum. Lots of it, lately, especially since I have started adapting to not hanging out with the usual suspects (listed above). I guess I'm just substituting one vice for another, but it's definitely more calorie friendly.
Maybe you need to pick 2 main, attainable, measurable goals that you can work on for the week? Are you trying to bite off more than you can chew (wow, that's a horrible pun - so not intended!), in terms of goal setting? Expecting perfection is a sure recipe (again, I'm not doing this on purpose with the puns!) for failure. Sometimes, I find myself setting goals that are TOO far out of reach, so that I end up not achieving them...and can prove to the negative-thinker within me that, "See? I knew I couldn't do it."
Sometimes, I have to disassociate myself from the decision being made, taking the emotional aspect out of it. Because of course, if I make an emotional decision, I'll choose the thing that comforts me the most, right off the bat. But if I at least attempt to make the decision objectively (as if I am standing outside of the situation, making the choice for someone else), I can at least see the right choice and if I don't give my emotional side a chance to 'speak up', I can work on choosing the right thing and not just the thing that feels good in the moment.
Perhaps, for the next 24 hours, you could test this out? Stand outside yourself, so to speak, and when you need to make a decision that will have an impact on your health and your lifestyle goals, adopt the objective perspective. Choose for you, what you would choose for someone else, looking to you for guidance.
All of these choices are within your control - don't forget that. Don't talk yourself into giving away your power to the vices around you.
Also, I think that you're not entirely battling yourself. You're battling a very real Enemy who wants nothing more than to see you oppressed and stuck in a cycle of self-sabotage. Keeping you prisoner to the issues and the vices that hold you back are his bread and butter.
I often pray for strength, that the Lord would remove or help me to be strong, while facing these obstacles.
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