Monday to Friday you stick to your plan, your intentions and actions align with your goals…Friday evening rolls around and you lose inhibition…you have that second or third glass of wine when you were only going to have one. Have a second piece of dessert or 5 cookies, not 2. Take a detour on the way home through a drive through even though you know you have a nutritious meal at home?
What causes us to make decisions we feel uncomfortable in the moment making?
***Our DEEP rooted desire for survival***
→ TWO components help us stay alive
- Seeking pleasure
- Avoiding Danger/discomfort
So how does this relate to our cravings? Food gives us pleasure and positive reinforcement. We create our own feedback loop.
Example: The week was stressful, you are exhausted and you are short on time. Maybe feeling a little less than OPTIMAL.
- What’s a quick way you can get a boost of energy and positive feelings? FOOD. In fact highly palatable food (HIGH sugar, fat and calories)
- What happens when you overindulge? There is usually feelings of guilt or some negative self-concept after we make this decision (THERE shouldn’t BE!!!).
- Looking for survival and we are feeling blue after our snack attack, we reach for the food again….the cycle continues. You have trained yourself the quick snack, beverage or food gives you a feeling of pleasure…so you repeat it!
HOW do you overcome this?
- CHANGE your mindset about these events
- KNOW you are human and on a Friday or any day of the week, if you make a snack attack decision that everything will BE OKAY. Pat yourself on the back, and think man I am going to have a killer workout tomorrow with some extra calories. Talk to yourself like you would talk to a friend, your spouse or child!
2. Find out what is causing you the stress? Can we plan for that stress and find a solution outside of food/alcohol for comfort?
- Do you actually know what causes you stress in the day?
- Do you have good stress management techniques in place?
- Are you worrying about things that haven’t happened yet or could happen?
- Do you take time to breath, be creative and be gratitude for the moment?
- Are you seeing sunshine or getting some form of body movement?
If you want to break the chain of sticking to your goals during the week, and breaking your streak, ask a coach for some tools to use to replace the emotional eating.
THE more you successfully do it, you build CONFIDENCE in your ability to make a NEW decision/behavior. Teach your body to crave a glass of water, extra sleep, a few minutes of meditation, reading a book, or maybe chatting to a friend for a moment of pleasure in replace of food xo
