We
are all
familiar with the 'headgames' that we can get into on this
program....how our
'fat brain' talks to us (whenever we let ourselves listen...you
CAN shut her
'off' if you keep busy) and tells us stupid things like,
"One won't hurt" OR
"But I'm ON VACATION" OR
"But I'm out to dinner" OR
"But I'm LONELY" OR
"But I'm angry" OR
"But I'm depressed" OR...
blah blah blah...you know the deal. Doesn't take much sometimes to set Fat Brain off. And YES she can truly 'mess with our heads', because she's got all our same intelligence, our same logic, and she knows EXACTLY which arguments to use 'against' us.
We are also quite familiar with the headgames in terms of our obsessive or compulsive behavior...how we can overstress about the scale (and jump on and off it every day to the point where we're driving ourselves - and everyone around us - NUTSO!), how we can overthink the plan, worry about carbs, worry about fats, worry about that 1/2 a tic tac you ate yesterday afternoon (did it have sugar in it? Oh NO did it throw me out of ketosis?! LOL...)
Oh yeah I've been there....
But did you know you can make your own headgames WORK for you?
Sure! You can!
It's surprisingly easy. Just take one of your challenges and turn it on its ear. Play headgames with yourself to get your GOOD habits going.
(NOTE: I find it's much much easier and more productive to work on CULTIVATING good habits than ELIMINATING the bad habits. Not that we want the bad habits to stick around; we don't....BUT....when you 'emphasize the negative' sometimes, it backfires. It's much easier to START doing something than to STOP doing something.
So emphasize the POSITIVE instead, and in the process it will OVERRIDE the corresponding bad behavior and get RID of it!)
"One won't hurt" OR
"But I'm ON VACATION" OR
"But I'm out to dinner" OR
"But I'm LONELY" OR
"But I'm angry" OR
"But I'm depressed" OR...
blah blah blah...you know the deal. Doesn't take much sometimes to set Fat Brain off. And YES she can truly 'mess with our heads', because she's got all our same intelligence, our same logic, and she knows EXACTLY which arguments to use 'against' us.
We are also quite familiar with the headgames in terms of our obsessive or compulsive behavior...how we can overstress about the scale (and jump on and off it every day to the point where we're driving ourselves - and everyone around us - NUTSO!), how we can overthink the plan, worry about carbs, worry about fats, worry about that 1/2 a tic tac you ate yesterday afternoon (did it have sugar in it? Oh NO did it throw me out of ketosis?! LOL...)
Oh yeah I've been there....
But did you know you can make your own headgames WORK for you?
Sure! You can!
It's surprisingly easy. Just take one of your challenges and turn it on its ear. Play headgames with yourself to get your GOOD habits going.
(NOTE: I find it's much much easier and more productive to work on CULTIVATING good habits than ELIMINATING the bad habits. Not that we want the bad habits to stick around; we don't....BUT....when you 'emphasize the negative' sometimes, it backfires. It's much easier to START doing something than to STOP doing something.
So emphasize the POSITIVE instead, and in the process it will OVERRIDE the corresponding bad behavior and get RID of it!)
Here's an example.
If you struggle to get all your water in, for example:
- I made it a 'game' to FINISH all my water before lunchtime. That's all 64 ozs. This did several things for me. First of all, I got it out of the way...so any more water I drank (and I always keep a glass of water handy) is a bonus! .... secondly, I 'reward' myself by telling myself I can ONLY have my Crystal Light margarita mix (my fav) and/or my strawberry kiwi sparkling water IF I finish all my PLAIN water FIRST.
That way it's a challenge, and a 'game' with myself. I force myself NOT to get out the Crystal light or the sparkling water until lunchtime. And I watch that water bottle (it's a clear container, I highly recommend this by the way) level go 'down' all morning.
At lunchtime, provided I've finished my water, I refill the water bottle (and again, whatever I drink is 'extra', so I don't worry about it) AND I get my Crystal light and sparkling water ready. REWARD TIME!
Another headgame: I tell myself if I get to the gym today, OR I get on the treadmill downstairs for at least 30 minutes today, I get to take a bath that evening. A long bubble bath. Door closed. Nice music playing via headphones. Scented candles. Why NOT?
I relax my sore muscles, AND I reward myself.
OR IF I eat all 5 my MF meals plus my full L&G and I don't eat a THING else, no bites, licks, or tastes of ANYTHING off program....I get to give myself a facial and do my nails.
If I don't eat ANYTHING off program: I get a 'gold star' on my calendar for that day.
If my carbs grams comes in at < 100 grams I'll go to bed early with a good book (SLEEP is wonderful....)
If I eat slowly and stay OP through dinner out, I'll 'reward' myself with an MF brownie when I get home.
See what I mean? You can come up with all KINDS of rewards like these...little 'tricks' to keep yourself OP.
WHATEVER WORKS, right? If it works for you, DO IT.
GOALS and REWARDS don't have to be long-term or weekly or monthly...they can be DAILY! You can encourage yourself to do good habits every day, with little tricks like these. USE your OCD behavior to HELP yourself!
Keep on...you know.
