Do you ever have days where you wonder why you ever started a diet in the first place? Maybe the scale isn’t moving as fast as you’d like it to (or maybe it’s not moving at all); maybe you want to scream if you have to eat another vegetable . . . and you’re starting to think that being fat and happy for the rest of your life might not be such a bad thing?
Anyone who has tried to lose weight has probably experienced at least one day like this, and some of us have days like this almost every day.
Why do these days happen? Most often it’s because you become too focused on the end result you are trying to achieve, and you are trying to hurry up and get there.
In other words, impatience.
Here’s a good way to handle these annoying “bad diet days”:
First, slow down!
Remind yourself that you don’t have to rush to the finish line. And even when you do reach your goal weight, you’ll still have to eat right and exercise for the rest of your life, so there’s no reason to rush. By rushing, you are believing that you’ll finally be “done” with the process of losing weight, but looking at it that way only sets you up for disappointment because you’ll never truly be “done” with a healthy lifestyle.
Next, evaluate where you are and why it’s bothering you. Is it really so bad to be where you are? Are there any good things about your current status? Try to find a few things you can feel good about where you are, OR at least acknowledge how far you’ve come. Sometimes just looking back at where you started makes you realize that things aren’t so bad right now.
Finally, keep reminding yourself that “this too shall pass”. It’s just a bad day; it doesn’t mean your entire weight loss journey will be bad too.
When you think about it, a bad day dieting is the same as a bad day not dieting – with the exception that you can’t reach for food to muffle uncomfortable emotions when you’re dieting. So, find other ways to release the feelings of frustration. Work them off physically or express them creatively. Anything is better than letting them build up inside and make you miserable.
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