Damage Control

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by James Newman

Now that I think about it, a thread on Damage Control Strategies might be fun. We have posted some ideas to help prevent tough situations and a few ideas about what to do when we find ourselves in difficult eating/training situations....but I know this group is a gold mine in this area...

Newman

First, I want everyone posting in here to know how touched and inspired I am from some of your posts. You may not think so, as my past few years have been spent trying to "fine tune" myself and actually put on some good weight, but I'm constantly challenged.

I lost most of my weight several years ago, but I'm still not satisfied. I'm happy with myself, and happy that I lost the fat, but when you get complacent... Well, just don't get complacent, okay?

In the "how much have you lost?" thread, Newman suggested starting another thread on damage control. So, here we go! (I get to be first, so there!)

Obviously, the best way to control damage is to avoid the situation, but that's a cop out. We all get in a dietary pickle, periodically. How do we drag our sorry butts out of it? This is my number one tip.

Every meal stands alone

You just blew it at breakfast. The rest of the day is not ruined unless you choose to ruin it. So don't throw in the towel and plan to start fresh tomorrow. Start fresh now and three hours or so later, eat your normal meal or snack, as scheduled.

Then, don't look back except to tell yourself that you don't want to blow it again. Remember that overcompensating by starving yourself can lead to a binge, as starving yourself will just result in more intense feelings of hunger. It's too risky.

Now, if you're truly not hungry enough for a full meal or snack, by all means postpone it a little bit or tailor it down. But, it's important to get back onto your schedule.

You might be thinking that this little mantra of "each meal stands alone" is just words, but it's not. What's magical about keeping under your 2000 calorie limit in a 24 hour period? Nothing. 24 hours is an arbitrary amount of time as far as your diet is concerned. We segment our lives into hours and 24 hour days, but as far as your food and fat loss goes, it's arbitrary.

At any given period of time, you are in a caloric surplus or deficit. If you eat too much, after 5 or 6 hours, that food is basically done. Your body is onto the next meal. Your job is to keep your metabolism stoked by giving it just enough steady calories to keep steadily losing fat. Starving your body punishes your mind and teaches your nothing. It makes you hungrier than you need to be and slows your metabolism (exactly what you don't want when you're trying to get back into the swing of things).

Realizing that "every meal stands alone" has helped me many times after a binge, or even after one of those "free lunches" that you just couldn't turn down. The key is to remember the tip.

[RacerBill]

That's awesome.

I admit this is one of the biggest things I struggle with. I can keep up the clean eating for a while, but once I take that cookie, it's incredibly tough to get back into proper eating again. For some reason I find it easier to blow off an entire day -- maybe it's just the psychological break of waking up and having a new day as your clean slate, where the next meal seems more abstract. I don't know.

I liked that 24 hours as an arbitrary amount of time. Hadn't thought of it that way before.

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by RacerBill

maybe it's just the psychological break of waking up and having a new day as your clean slate, where the next meal seems more abstract. I don't know.

Try to find something else to use to clean your slate. A quick workout. A walk. A nap. Brush your teeth. Call someone and tell them that you just blew it, but now you're stopping. Post it here, in your log. Leave the scene of the crime (and the extra food).

The workout works best for me, but it's not always an option.

[Lisa~]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

Every meal stands alone

This is so good. It makes me think of an analogy I like.

Blowing one meal is like having a flat tire. You wouldn't get out of the car, look at the flat and say, "Oh hell, I'm ruined, I might as well slash the other three and forget about driving at all." No, you'd fix the tire, get back in the car and drive on. You'd be late, but you'd still get there. So don't "slash your other tires." Just make the next meal be exactly what it was supposed to be. Continue on.

[Sign]

I am definately guilty of slashing the rest of my tires. Or similarly if I miss a meal or something comes up and I am unprepared, meal wise, so I haven't eaten in a while I will eat something dirty to "make up the calories". Neither option is very smart and thinking of each meal individually should help combat that.

[RobLL]

One great advantage of the Atkins plan (I am closer to Adam's) is that if you eat what you shouldn't, the appropriate step is to go back to induction: steak, eggs, bacon, other proteins and fats, and 20 grams of carb from veggies. I like my veggies, and it is usually enough for me to curb my appetite for inappropriate carbs.

[FreeAtefeh]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

Try to find something else to use to clean your slate. A quick workout. A walk. A nap. Brush your teeth. Call someone and tell them that you just blew it, but now you're stopping. Post it here, in your log. Leave the scene of the crime (and the extra food).

The workout works best for me, but it's not always an option.

In this positive vein, I'm going to post a recent botch up: Just got back from dinner with an old friend. Did very well at dinner (small garden salad w/chicken - no dressing) but watching her plow through a gorgeous looking quiche combined with the fact I have been on an unforgiving excerise rountine (which included a 70 minute interval run today) was a little much. Needless to say, I ate 7 tootsie rolls on the way home. Greater tragedies in the world, I know, but I've finally lost most of the weight I wanted to and was feeling really confident about trimming a few lose ends and this incident was discouraging.
But it's out there now, so with any luck, it won't weight me down too much tonight.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Great Post LD. Sticky-worthy IMHO.

[Sign]

Just as one bad meal doesn't trash a day or week, one bad meal or missed workout doesn't wreck the week. I know many people that miss a workout and say, "Oh well the week is ruined I will start again Monday." Then they will just throw all rules out the window for the week. Another senario is having a bad day of eating and deciding since you ate bad you should just skip the workout which leads to the above.

So just as each meal stands alone so should each workout. If you miss a day or don't feel like doing the full thing at least do something, get in some HIIT if nothing else it will only take 20mins or so. Regroup and pick it up again the next day. Even if you do a MWF split it won't hurt to switch it to T,TH,S sometimes if need be.

[ambar]

For months now I felt like I've really had nothing to say (on the topic of fitness, or anything else, really). And I don't have anything to add to what's been said here, either, except I'm really glad I read this thread. It helps.

[Lisa~]

Here's another "resist the urge to binge" tip that works for me.

If I feel an urge to eat and I'm not really hungry, I remember H.A.L.T.

Four emotions account for a majority of emotional overeating:

Hurt,
Angry,
Lonely or
Tired.

If you are feeling anything other than hunger, food won't fix it. Ask yourself what will really make you feel better and then do that.

[RacerBill]

Originally Posted by Lisa~

Here's another "resist the urge to binge" tip that works for me.

If I feel an urge to eat and I'm not really hungry, I remember H.A.L.T.

Four emotions account for a majority of emotional overeating:

Hurt,
Angry,
Lonely or
Tired.

If you are feeling anything other than hunger, food won't fix it. Ask yourself what will really make you feel better and then do that.

That's really great. We should all have a little craft project to make a H.A.L.T. magnet for the fridge!

[RacerBill]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

Try to find something else to use to clean your slate. A quick workout. A walk. A nap. Brush your teeth. Call someone and tell them that you just blew it, but now you're stopping. Post it here, in your log. Leave the scene of the crime (and the extra food).

The workout works best for me, but it's not always an option.

Great idea. I'd forgotten about brushing teeth -- I used that some months ago, before things went blooey over the holidays.

That reminds me, I need to get some gum for my desk at work. That can help fight off cravings for sweets.

[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...

[ParanoidAndroid]

Another great post. It's organized enough, the message comes through pretty clearly.

[Lost Dog]

Good. I ramble...

[ParanoidAndroid]

btw nice blog post..."foodborne illness"