[Lost Dog]

"Damage control" is not just about recovering from one bad meal, day, or week of ________. It's also about identifying the problem that leads to those bad meals, days, or weeks of _______.

For me, an obvious or underlying negative attitude is what leads to the binge. Sure, you can be happy and have a "bad" meal or treat. But, then you stop and continue with the plan. What lets you decide to let your hard work go to pot, even for a little while? For me, it's all about attitude.

Find a way to identify and change a negative attitude.

We've all had periods of great success in the past. Days, weeks, or months when everything went well. You didn't blow it. Maybe you had a planned "cheat" meal and got right back on track with healthy eating. You lost fat pretty steadily. Now, for some reason things aren't going so well. You eat one wrong food and it sets you off binging. You tell yourself that it's just a party. You deserve that cake. Well, you might, but unfortunately, it's the 4th party this week! One downer leads to another and pretty soon your not only NOT losing, you might be gaining! Ouch!

This feeling has got to go. Turn it around. During those periods of success, you were doing the right things because you wanted to do the right things. We all succumb to the chain reactions or vicious circles of negative emotions, but those who stay on track the longest find a way to turn those feelings around.

Chances are, if you have a lot to lose, that you are an emotional eater. I am. Being sad is my downfall. I feel sad, I want to eat. I'm rarely bored, but when I am, I want to eat. Truthfully, when I'm bored, I can usually trace it back to being sad.

In the past, I've gone through happy and sad times. I've learned a lot about segmenting my emotions and not connecting my sadness to food. Food doesn't actually make us happy, but it can make us feel guilty. Then, you get sad and eat some more. Again, vicious circle. I'm dwelling on this point, huh? You probably skipped ahead...

The key here is to both identify AND change this negative attitude. Changing it is the part that we tend to concentrate on, but identifying it is the part that we overlook.

I've overlooked my recent negative attitude for quite some time now. I haven't gotten fat, but I'm not reaching my goals of fat loss.

I used to think that the diet/exercise/weight loss thing was purely a strength of will contest. It is, sorta, but you've got to know what gives you that will. You'll find that when you really have it, you're not really struggling.

Fat and formerly fat people are a tangled mess of emotions, huh?

This post wasn't really as well organized as I'd hoped, either. Ah, well...