Last night my partner & I attended a skittles evening. Now I have been to one of these before, and usually it involves lots of drinking (or making merry as we all like to call it), and eating vast quantities from the buffet.
All in all I have had a successful week with regards to my diet, so the last thing I wanted was to throw a spanner in the works and indulge just for the sake of it.
Clever ploy No. 1 - I told my partner if he drove there, I would drive back, therefore he drinks and I don't! Ah but for me, abstaining from alcohol wasn't enough. If I drank soft drinks all night I'd still be drinking a heck of a lot of calories (which I didn't want to do), so all evening I happily stayed on the water.
Clever ploy No. 2 - The buffet actually looked quite 'healthy' for a change, there was lots of salad, baked potato, bread, coleslaw and 2 massive plates of chicken, which to be honest looked a bit greasy, so I told myself I was going vegetarian in the end (very unlike me, I lurrrrve my meat!!) and had a small salad with a slice of bread, which I ate slowly and more than filled me up anyway!
You may think salad and water would mean I didn't enjoy myself as much? Well, no actually, I laughed so much I was crying, I had the highest 'ladies' score of the evening and won a prize, and this morning I feel really fantastic! Not hung over, not bloated, and more importantly no regrets (you know the ones 'oh I shouldn't of had xyz last night).
I'm proud to say that I have faced my first 'night out diet challenge' and have come out the other side victorious!! Huzzah!
Sunday 5 June 2011
Saturday 4 June 2011
Overcoming your inner critic
So you've been at this weight loss thing for a while now, and all of a sudden you feel like no matter what you do, you're simply not moving towards your weight loss goal.
So what do you do? Simple - STOP! I don't mean the diet or the exercising, I mean mentally just stop, take a few deep breaths, take a few moments to collect your thoughts and start to notice all your changes you have made so far.
What do I mean by this? Well, let's begin by actually recognising your weight loss successes so far. For me, last week I lost 7lbs, this week so far I have 'only' lost 4. Seriously! my inner critic has been trying to devalue my successes with the word 'only', consequently making me feel that I not 'good enough'! When comparing last weeks weight loss to this weeks so far, ok, so it's not as high, but when you think that in just under 2 weeks I have lost 11lbs (!!!!!!!!!!), that inner critic can just take a very long walk off a very short pier. Actually, 11lbs is amazing!
But don't just look at the figures, look at yourself- again, I can only speak to you from personal experience, it's up to you to find your own highlights (I promise you the more you look the more there will be!). Personally, already I am finding that clothes are starting to fit and feel a little better, silly things like desk chairs & sun loungers are feeling slightly bigger, and I'm not heading towards the kitchen everytime I have an emotional need to fill.
No matter how small you think it is (or in reality how you think others will think it is), you must recognise (even write down!) all the changes you've noticed since you started your journey. Even if your journey started yesterday - what have you noticed already!
Every time your inner critic pops up, go grab your list of highlights, and really remind yourself of not only the weight you have lost, but all the positive changes in your life so far, and then square up to and challenge that inner critic.
With a list as long as yours, you can't be anything else but super successful. Believe in yourself, believe in your achievements and your ability to achieve even more than you already have done, and really see for yourself that the only thing that inner critic is good for is talking rubbish and wasting valuable thoughts and energy!
xx
So what do you do? Simple - STOP! I don't mean the diet or the exercising, I mean mentally just stop, take a few deep breaths, take a few moments to collect your thoughts and start to notice all your changes you have made so far.
What do I mean by this? Well, let's begin by actually recognising your weight loss successes so far. For me, last week I lost 7lbs, this week so far I have 'only' lost 4. Seriously! my inner critic has been trying to devalue my successes with the word 'only', consequently making me feel that I not 'good enough'! When comparing last weeks weight loss to this weeks so far, ok, so it's not as high, but when you think that in just under 2 weeks I have lost 11lbs (!!!!!!!!!!), that inner critic can just take a very long walk off a very short pier. Actually, 11lbs is amazing!
But don't just look at the figures, look at yourself- again, I can only speak to you from personal experience, it's up to you to find your own highlights (I promise you the more you look the more there will be!). Personally, already I am finding that clothes are starting to fit and feel a little better, silly things like desk chairs & sun loungers are feeling slightly bigger, and I'm not heading towards the kitchen everytime I have an emotional need to fill.
No matter how small you think it is (or in reality how you think others will think it is), you must recognise (even write down!) all the changes you've noticed since you started your journey. Even if your journey started yesterday - what have you noticed already!
Every time your inner critic pops up, go grab your list of highlights, and really remind yourself of not only the weight you have lost, but all the positive changes in your life so far, and then square up to and challenge that inner critic.
With a list as long as yours, you can't be anything else but super successful. Believe in yourself, believe in your achievements and your ability to achieve even more than you already have done, and really see for yourself that the only thing that inner critic is good for is talking rubbish and wasting valuable thoughts and energy!
xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)