“I ate it because it was there”- how to remedy the most common sabotage
This is one of the most difficult situations for people who want to lose weight or eat healthy. It’s when you eat something “bad” and the only reason you ate it was because it was there.
You know how it goes… you come to work. There is a box of donuts, pizza, or a birthday cake. Maybe you are preoccupied with something else, and you eat it.
And then you eat another, and before you know it, you ate already too much.
The interesting part about it is that when I’m asking clients: why did you eat it, they are trying hard to connect with the thought and the feeling that lead to it.
And it seems like there is no awareness of the thought, or feeling.
If you have been watching my videos, you are already familiar with the model. You already know: our actions are fueled by feelings.
But what if there is no awareness of the feelings? What if it seems like the cake, the pizza, the ice cream was stronger than your resolution?
It happens before we learn to be deliberate.
When we want to create intentional results, we need to think and feel deliberate. We have to create an intentional model. (we do it in coaching sessions and when self-coaching)
The reason why there was no awareness, was because the action was generated from the survival brain. Your survival brain is amazing. It wants to keep you alive.
You don’t have to think about what it will do. It will want to keep you alive and well. That’s why we have something called Motivational Triad. But when it is around the modern ,unnatural, concentrated substances-the survival brain doesn’t know they are bad for us. When your survival brain “sees” the flour and sugar, (F+S) it is MOTIVATED to convince you to consume it. It knows that food will give you pleasure, instant gratification. It knows (subconsciously) that F+S will faster put fat on your body and that fat will become the energy reserve, allowing you to survive in times of famine.
What’s the solution? Can we outsmart it?
Evolved brain. Exceptions. Processing urges.
Yes. We have an evolved part of our brain.The neocortex. When we put attention to it, when we start planning and thinking ahead, this is when we can override some functions of our survival brain (which is the modern times, surrounded by unnatural food is confused about what is good for us)
1) In other words you create the intentional thinking, intentional model. To achieve desired results, you need to do things on purpose, feel, and think on purpose.
The survival brain is good at instant gratification, keeping you safe, alive, acting fast (by getting away from a running vehicle, grabbing food before someone else does )
The neocortex is good at: planning ahead (food plan, and our actions) thinking about the future (even if only a day or a few weeks from now. (Future feelings and future possibilities or consequences.) It’s good at creating new thoughts on purpose. Hello, new model!
Sticking to your plan doesn’t need to involve deprivation. I wrote about it before.
2) Creating a purposeful eating plan also involves planning EXCEPTIONS. You still eat the food you crave but you delay eating it, and you plan exactly how much you will have so you don’t “go unconscious” but stay present with the pleasure.
3) We also counteract the negative function of the survival brain with processing the URGES. That means we tune in to feel what’s so bad about not having the bad food. We look for what’s so bad….and we look deeper… what’s so bad? Until it doesn’t feel bad. Until it feels better not having it at all.
So the solution to our situation is to involve our prefrontal cortex, our evolved brain. When that’s the case, your survival brain will not be able to do anything without permission from your evolved brain.
Do you want personal attention to help you with weight loss, and so you learn how to empower yourself? Let’s talk
Related Videos:
Deprivation Paradox https://youtu.be/_-6PQRL-5Ps
Related Blogs:
In the middle of feeling deprived https://positivelyrebellious.com/in-the-middle-of-feeling-deprived-weight-loss-wellness/ Dead end thoughts https://positivelyrebellious.com/dead-end-thoughts-i-dont-want-to-feel-deprived/