This is Part three of a four-part series focusing on what to do when things go a little pear-shaped on your weight loss or healthier lifestyle journey, told from the perspective of my personal experience. Check out last month's post HERE.
When you’ve found yourself in the middle of a mammoth eating stint, you just need to make the decision to put on the brakes. Are you ready to make that choice and look at how you may be able to manage this?
(PLEASE NOTE: I need to make it clear that I am NOT talking about someone with a diagnosable eating disorder where episodes of 'bingeing' are common E.G. Bulimia or Binge Eating Disorder. This needs specialised Professional Support).
Make the Decision to Stop
During the stressful period of time I mentioned previously where I gained some of my weight back, my eating routine went a bit out of the window. Also, my sugar cravings were out of control because my blood sugar was out of whack, and I was all over the place emotionally.
What Are Your Values?
When I’m in maintenance mode, I always have one decent piece of quality dark chocolate in the evening (yes, I realise it has some level of caffiene, but this amount seems to work just right and I have it at about 7pm). I love it so much, and since I believe so strongly in planned indulgences, it’s okay to have them. During this high-stress period... I sort of stopped looking at my nutrition and ate a lot more chocolate, often of poor quality, made with a tonne of sugar, plus the other indulgences.
We each have our own set of life values that we live by. I wasn’t living in accordance with my values and it felt pretty awful. I felt out of control, and this wasn't like me, but bad eating habits in reality was definitely something that was in my control. Health is a key core value of mine and this way of eating definitely didn't fit in with that!
To turn it around (when I was in the right frame of mind), I literally had to say to myself, “Stop the unhealthy s**t”, tune in to what the value of 'health' meant to me and make a plan. It really was just that simple. I wish I had some other formula, but it’s just not as complicated as we sometimes like to make things, it just takes a bit of effort. When we’re out of alignment with our values, the only thing to do is just change direction.
It was important to remind myself of my values, so I do a values exercise with myself every so often, which also helps me in the grand scheme of life to make sure I'm living in a way that's true to myself. You may think you are, but I've found before that it's easy to end up living in a way that doesn't align.
This is the result of my latest 'Values Self-Assessment' and I ended up with these in my top five (in alphabetical order):
Adventure (having exciting experiences and exploring).
Compassion (feel and act on concern of others).
Dependability (reliable and trustworthy).
Faithfulness (loyal and true).
Health (well and healthy).
My values do not mean I am perfect in all these areas (that’s progress for me as a recovering perfectionist ), but they are things that are important to me. I have others but I feel these encompass my fundamental values.
I also like to use a values exercise with my clients, and it can be really enlightening. Do you know what your values are?
Remember, values can shift with time and circumstances, so they’re not fixed. It’s good to review every now and again, especially when truly contemplating goals.
Of course, there are some people who have diagnosable eating disorders as mentioned at the start of this article. If you recognise yourself to be one of those people, it’s important that you seek help in addressing this with a trained healthcare professional so you can get your health back on track. One resource you can ask for help (UK based) is BEAT. There are other organisations around the world, so consider looking up one that's local to you if you feel you need professional input from an Eating Disorder specialist.
For most of us, however, it’s just a matter of recognising our behaviour and making a shift. What behaviours do you see that are sabotaging your weight maintenance efforts?
Keep your eyes peeled next week for the fourth and final installment of this blog post series.
Please note: This article is intended to be for educational purposes only, and does not constitute medical advice or replace professional assessment or personalised advice.
I do not hold responsibility for the information on any links to external websites within this article and information within these links/websites may change at any time or no longer be accessible. Any website pages/links added are also for education purposes only.