My name is Steve Saunders. I've been thinking about and applying the psychology of weight loss for years. I'm hoping that I can share some of the things that I have learned.
My official weigh-in day is Sunday morning. Each week, I set a weight loss goal for myself, and Sunday weigh-in is the measure of success If I gain weight on a Wednesday, I still have 3 days to recover. Saturday, however, is sacred. If I have any significant weight gain on a Saturday, there is no recovering, I missed my goal. Saturday is a bad day to tempt the devil.
Saturday of last week, I was no track for great result. I had lost enough weight to meet my goal, and then some. But there were some land mines lurking in the background as well. I had “cheated” the day before, and had not gained anything. I know that the scale can be fickle, and an unexpected result is many times an aberration. Even so, down deep I had developed a false sense of false invincibility that day. Hey, I ate more then planned yesterday, and I still lost. I might be able to do it again. WARNING!
In addition, I was ahead of my Sunday weigh-in target by one pound. In that situation I found it easy to tell myself that I am ahead of my goal, so it will be OK for me to go overboard a little bit. WARNING!
So, that Saturday my eating was right on track up until dinner time. My wife suggested that we do Door Dash. I was a little bit leery, because I know from experience that a large portion of restaurant food, even if healthy, will give me a gain of 1-2 pounds. But I decided to go ahead with it, vowing to only eat half the dish. WARNING!
The meal came, and it was delicious, and I was feeling exhausted. A complete recipe for derailment. After eating half, I just kept on eating, at which point denial was setting in … “I’ll be fine” Combine this with my rationalizations and false sense of invincibility, and you can predict what happened. I ate the whole thing. Maybe I’ll be OK? WARNING!
After I continued with unhealthy eating patterns (too much yogurt and almond butter, and even some chips and salsa). Hey I had already kind of splurged, so I might as well keep going WARNING! (The it’s too late now syndrome).
The next day, Sunday weigh in, I gained 1.6 pounds. Of course. Denial only lasts until you are hit with reality. I was not happy at all, I had blown a whole week’s worth of hard work in one day. Down deep I supposed I expected this result, but at the surface I had been telling myself that I would make my weight. I was wrong.
So, the lesson here, don’t even tempt yourself when you are in a situation that you know puts you at high risk for over eating, especially when the stakes are high (like near your end of week weigh in).
You may tell yourself that you have the will power to only eat half of that dinner. But we are human, and will often yield to that temptation. So, don’t even tempt yourself. Don’t order a Door Dash on those critical nights. Don’t put your favorite beer in the fridge only for “special occasions”. Don’t temp the Devil.
As I am thinking about possible antidotes, these come to mind:
(1) Address the underlying driver that lead to over eating, for me it is almost always exhaustion and stress. Take a nap, watch some TV, read, exercise, moderate your work load, etc. I find that a walk with my dog helps allot.
(2) Find an alternative. In this particular case, I like the idea of preparing a number of healthy dinners that are freezable, and when the situation arises that we don’t want to cook, boom, there it is, a choice that is easy and that will help you meet your goals.
These are strategies that I will try in the future in order to putting dangerous temptations in front of myself.