Banish ‘guilt’ from your vocabulary
I’ve been reading a lot of other weight loss blogs lately and I’ve noticed a recurring theme… when someone gives in to temptation and eats a whole cake, the dieter feels an overwhelming sense of guilt. This taints their attitude towards food and themselves for days, sometimes weeks after.
Guilt is a burden that delays you achieving your goals
I’m not going to say “Step away from the cheesecake”… I am going to say STOP WORRYING! Today is a new day, we all make mistakes and there is no point in repeatedly torturing yourself over mistakes. If you make a mistake at work, do you lie awake at night and berate yourself and double check every little thing you do from now on? No, you are proactive and put measures in place to prevent further mistakes. If you normally exercise caution then to put enormous pressure on yourself isn’t fair and it could delay you reaching your goal.
Admit your mistake and put plans in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again by writing a shopping list and sticking to it in the supermarket or carrying a snack around in your bag just in case you are caught short.
I used to listen to Paul McKenna’s ‘I can make you thin’, and I still do occasionally because on the CD, Paul encourages you to see yourself in a positive light. He asks you to feel warm and happy when you think of your future body and this really helps on the days when I have not been as strong as I would have liked. When I feel better about myself, I don’t want to eat cake or crisps, I am more focused on my goal and I feel stronger and more able to say no to treats.
By feeling guilt, you lower your self esteem and you begin to view yourself as weak. The next time temptation presents itself, if you view yourself as weak you are more likely to give in and cast aside your diet with reckless abandon because you think you are a screw up.
You are NOT a screw up. You are a human being who will make mistakes and the answer is to put your indiscretion aside and persevere.
Total Chunk Top Tip: Banish guilt from your vocabulary. Mistakes will be made so move on and use them as a reason to focus on what you really want: a slim and healthy body.
