• I Am
  • Inspiration
    • Summer 2012 Playlist
    • Summer 2011 Playlist
  • Motivation
  • Wild Spirituality
  • Eating Clean

What's Eating You?

~ A Health & Wellness Blog

What's Eating You?

Tag Archives: fell of the wagon

How I survived a slip up…

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by Kim in Feeling, Have Faith, Questioning, Thinking, What's Eating You?

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

fail, fell of the wagon, health, how to move on, lifestyle, mental-health, self-compassion, self-forgiveness, slip up, willpower

I knew it was coming. It always does. Whenever I’ve tried to make a change in my life – there comes a time when I slip up and revert to the very habits I’ve been trying to forget. Those neural pathways have been so well traveled that as soon as I stop paying attention, I find myself barreling head long down that road often traveled.

It started the very day I hit 170. Had more wine than I should have…you know, to celebrate. Then on Sunday, even though I intended not to have wine with dinner…there was an open bottle and it’s good wine!!!…so easy for that voice to re-surface…as if she had never even left me. What a smooth talker — oh you deserve this!! You’ve worked so hard, one day won’t hurt.

But I forgot about the guilt. I forgot how it works on me. And I forgot about the fact that I’m actually addicted to that fantastic combination of sugar and fat that makes a delicious cookie.

So I fell off the wagon so hard yesterday that I actually made myself sick. I’m not used to eating a lot of sugar now. I had the worst case of indigestion (complete with gas and bloating – TMI, sorry!) and nausea – I was up most of the night. 

I got out of bed this morning, determined to put the slip up behind me. I gave myself a pep talk – “everyone slips – those who reach their goals just get up, brush themselves off, and start down that path again.” I am drinking lots of water today because I think I am dehydrated. And I got on the scale to see what the toll would be. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

There’s a book I’m reading called, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More Of It, by Kelly McGonigal. It’s fascinating to me. I love reading about how our minds work. Why do we do what we do???

That guilt I alluded to before…it’s says vicious things and I often buy right into them. You may be familiar with that voice of guilt – but mainly it made me ask, “What the hell is wrong with me??? Why can’t I be focused and disciplined? I must not want this enough. I’m broken and will never be fixed…”

But McGonigal says this about that voice: “The What”-the-hell Effect: Why Guilt Doesn’t Work”

“Welcome to one of the biggest threats to willpower worldwide: the “what-the-hell effect.”…describes a cycle of indulgence, regret, and greater indulgence. These researchers noticed that many dieters would feel so bad about any lapse – a piece of pizza, a bite of cake – that they felt as if their whole diet was blown. Instead of minimizing the harm by not taking another bite, they would say, “What the hell, I already blew my diet. I might as well eat the whole thing.”

Crucially, it’s not the first giving-in that guarantees the bigger relapse. It’s the feelings of shame, guilt, loss of control, and loss of hope that follow the first relapse. Once you’re stuck in the cycle, it can seem like there is no way out except to keep going. This leads to even bigger willpower failures and more misery as you then berate yourself (again) for giving in (again). But the thing you’re turning to for comfort can’t stop the cycle, because it only generates more feelings of guilt.”

She goes on to say that self-forgiveness is the antidote. And I would say that I agree. Because I’ve tried the self-criticism route and it doesn’t work. McGonegal says,

“Study after study shows that self-criticism is consistently associated with less motivation and worse self-control. It is also one of the single biggest predictors of depression, which drains both “I will” power and “I want” power. In contrast, self-compassion-being supportive and kind to yourself, especially in the face of stress and failure-is associated with more motivation and better self-control.”

So today, I am releasing the guilt because, afterall, slip ups happen. I was bound to have one at some point and will probably have more but the difference is that I won’t let a slip up spiral into a month, 6 months, 6 years, etc. I will show some self-compassion and forgive myself for the slip. I’m moving on…

 

Advertisements

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 33 other followers

Archives

Pages

  • Eating Clean
  • I Am
  • Inspiration
    • Summer 2011 Playlist
    • Summer 2012 Playlist
  • Motivation
  • Wild Spirituality

Feeling Have Faith Meditation Optimal Health Questioning Recipe Box Thinking Weight Loss What's Eating You? Wild Spirituality Yoga

Twitter Updates

  • I just finished a 2.41 mi run with a pace of 14'49"/mi with Nike+ Running. go.nike.com/062fc4fc #nikeplus 5 years ago
  • Good I just finished a 1.87 mi run with a pace of 15'21"/mi with Nike+ Running. go.nike.com/07e5ov0u #nikeplus 5 years ago
  • I just finished a 1.86 mi run with a pace of 15'22"/mi with Nike+ Running. go.nike.com/7tg1hpi #nikeplus 5 years ago
  • That wasn't too bad! I just finished a 1.89 mi run with a pace of 16'00"/mi with Nike+ Running. go.nike.com/027ikifh #nikeplus 5 years ago
  • I just finished a 0.18 mi run with a pace of 68'01"/mi with Nike+ Running. go.nike.com/04rg4u2j #nikeplus 5 years ago

Flickr Photos

iPhone photos from 2011iPhone photos from 2011iPhone photos from 2011
More Photos

My progress

MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Blogs I Follow

  • Color of Woman School
  • Perspective on the Modern age
  • Moolta
  • curlyhairedchica.wordpress.com/
  • Bella on the Beach
  • CultFit
  • Jon Waters
  • The Truth Warrior
  • Photo Nature Blog
  • Shores of Avalon
  • Shelly's Cookery
  • Simple Speedy Snacks
Advertisements

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Color of Woman School

Perspective on the Modern age

We live in a new dawn, a new time, a new era. I'm going to write about

Moolta

The official Moolta Blog

curlyhairedchica.wordpress.com/

Bella on the Beach

My journey to lose 160 pounds and to finally be able to wear a bathing suit (and look good!) on the beach.

CultFit

Form, Flow and Grace

Jon Waters

Aspiring Author/Blogger

The Truth Warrior

Empowering and Inspiring people to be fully authentic, loving, happy, peaceful and joyful in their lives.

Photo Nature Blog

Nature Photography by Jeffrey Foltice

Shores of Avalon

Journey to a simpler, more self-reliant life

Shelly's Cookery

Cooking / Health Coaching/ Reiki / Life

Simple Speedy Snacks

Recipes and stories about snacking

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: