Self-Sabotage ?

While cruising the web, I ran into an interesting question on peertrainer. The post was titled "Positive Psychology" and Stopping Weight Loss Self Sabotage. I am making a leap of faith here and please correct me if I am wrong, but I would be willing to bet that most of us do the right things most of the time.

However, sometimes I do things that I know I will regret. I know this before I even do them yet ‘sometimes’ I still do them. Just to continue with the peertrainer thread, sometimes I eat food that I know is bad for me and I know I will feel bad for eating it. I understand that this is not a healthy way to view food (however, that is for another discussion).

Here at work people go out to eat every day. I almost never want to go out to eat. I do not enjoy the experience. I do not see eating out as entertainment. I would much rather go to the gym for my lunch hour. However, sometimes I do go out to eat and since this is southern Mississippi it is almost always to a buffet. There are so many all-you-can-stand restaurants here it is ridicules. Before I even head out of the door I know that I will eat more than I should. I know that I will be lethargic during the afternoon. I know that I will feel guilty for overindulging. This behavior is not that hard to overcome. I might go out to lunch 3 times a year. But I still do it sometimes.

On the other hand, the evenings are almost always a difficult time for me. Although my home is devoid of ‘bad’ food I can create something less than optimum if left to my own devices. I was turned on to something called ‘Nasty snack’ a few years ago. It was originally straight margarine with granular sugar and flour all mixed together. Now I never liked that concoction but I created my own which I call ‘snatch’. Snatch is peanut butter with a couple of heaping tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar. Mixed all together it forms a sugary, fatty paste. This is what I crave when I want something sweet. I will usually feel guilty for having this calorie dense food in the evenings. (3 tbsp peanut butter = ~600 calories + 3 tbsp of confectioners’ sugar = ~100 calories = TOTAL 700 calories).

So, why do I sometimes do these behaviors? On peertrainer the following question was posed:

What has to be true in your life in order for you to sabotage your weight loss efforts?

I think this is an interesting question and I have thought about it for the last day or two. For me, I deviate (sabotage) from the plan when the following are true:

1. I am idle. The plan is empty for the day (or the plan has ended and there is no near term goal in place).

2. I have done some major exercise and I have not eaten properly. I am in a caloric deficit for the day or the week.

3. Following number two, I have a false sense of entitlement. I work hard so I deserve an indulgence.

I am sure that there are other fundamental reasons and these reasons are just on the surface. I might have missed the scope of the article by being so granular but I still found value in investigating my actions. Just identifying these reasons I think that I can be at better curbing the behavior.

For the snatch eating, I need to not be idle. I have plenty of stuff to do and if I am busy then I do not indulge in these behaviors. Also, I need to have something that I am working towards.  If I have worked out hard and not replenished my calories with good, healthy food then I get cravings. And last, I need to always reward myself with positive actions and not self defeating actions.  I need to think of the benefits of not doing the negative action. I need to think of how not doing the negative action brings me close to success.

I think it is an interesting question and it does not only apply to diet. On peertrainer the article continues to explore the question on a more global life scale.