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CONFESSIONS of an AFTER-DINNER SNACKER Part 5

Self-Sabotage

No one sets out to consciously self-sabotage their weight loss efforts.  Yet, somehow, we manage to do exactly that!  As discussed in part 1 of this series, mindless snacking can be caused by self-sabotage.  Case in point confession:  that damn bag of freshly roasted peanuts from the farmer’s market called my name last night.  I could practically hear it saying “Madelin, I’m here for you.  You know you want to dig into my crunchy goodness.  I’m unsalted, so I’m really good for you.  You deserve a snack.”  Yep, I caved in.  Self-sabotage at its finest right there for me.  You see, I have a vacation coming up shortly to a Caribbean location—translation: I’ll be living in a bathing suit.  You’d think I’d be bringing my A-game and following my meal plan to a T.  Well, my sub-conscious had other plans last night.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar predicament?  You know you shouldn’t, but you indulge anyway.  You self-sabotage but why?

  • FEAR

You’re afraid of how your life might change once you lose the weight.  In essence, you’re fearful of having the body you want.  You wonder if your relationships will change.  You’re scared of the attention a new body might bring.

  • NOT WORTHY

You have convinced yourself that you’re not worthy of having the body you want, so you self-sabotage to keep yourself overweight.  You use the extra pounds and inches that won’t come off as evidence that the fat body is the only one you deserve.

  • COMFORT

That overweight reflection that stares back at you in the mirror is the one that you know intimately.  She has been with you through thick and thin.  She is your buddy and signifies your comfort zone.  It’s freaking hard to step outside of our comfort zone and into the world of the unknown.  Despite desiring to change that reflection in the mirror, the subconscious desire to stay the same/within our comfort zone, is stronger.  Ooooh… is that pepper jack cheese?  Hello snack!  See what I mean?

  • SELF-LOATHING

Deep down, do you just not like yourself?  I’m not referring to your physical appearance.  I’m talking you as a person.  Do you just not like who you are?  Perhaps you grew up in an abusive home and internalized all the negative things that were said to you as a young child.  If this is the case, you may be self-sabotaging as a form of punishment.

  • SELF-PROTECTION

You don’t want to fail, so you protect yourself from failure by sabotaging your efforts at self-improvement from the very beginning.  In doing so, you remain in your protective cocoon where it is safe and stagnant.

As you can see, self-sabotaging behavior can be brought on by a myriad of factors.  Recognizing your deeply-rooted reasons for why you self-sabotage your weight loss efforts with incessant snacking will help you curb the behavior.  When you slip up, ask yourself what happened, be forgiving of yourself, and work on doing better tomorrow.

Now, back to last night and those peanuts.  If I’m to be 100% honest with myself, I self-sabotaged because of self-loathing and feeling unworthy.  You see, I know that there will be some super hard bodies on this trip, and here’s how my subconscious thoughts went: “Why should I even bother to avoid snacking?  I’ll never have that hard body those 20-something girls do. I might as well snack away because I can’t compete.”  Next time I will remind myself that I am enough, I am worthy, and that the only competition I need to concern myself with is the one that stares back at me in the mirror.

 

 

 

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