If you’re like most people, you may have slipped up with your nutrition at some point or weekend especially.
It’s normal. It happens.
But if this is a recurring pattern for you, enough that you’re troubled by it, then I’d like to share a short but effective exercise you can try to help get to the bottom of it.
You see, overindulging on the weekend, or any time really doesn’t happen randomly or by accident. There’s always a reason for our behaviour, and there are usually circumstances that lead to it.
There’s also a cycle related to this behaviour, and it goes something like this:
- You’re feeling stressed, anxious or upset.
- You overeat.
- You feel guilty or ashamed for overeating.
- You vow to do better.
- You go all-in with an overly restrictive routine that isn’t sustainable.
You start feeling stressed, anxious or upset again, and the cycle repeats.
So, here’s a little exercise you can do. I call it “Breaking The Cycle.”
The next time you have an episode of overeating (or drinking), follow these steps:
- Write down everything that was happening around you right before the episode happened. Where were you? Who were you with? What were you doing/thinking/feeling?
- Now, go back a few hours and go through the same exercise. Write down as much detail as possible.
- Look for patterns and be curious about them.
If nothing jumps off the page, no worries. It took you a long time to develop this behavior and most likely you’re not going to magically fix it in one day.
Repeat this exercise a few times until you notice some common themes.
“Every time I have a work deadline, I reach for the wine.”
“Every time my mom calls, I go straight for the ice cream.”
“I do great from Monday-Friday, but as soon as Saturday hits, watch out.”
” When I watch my favourite show I tend to eat a bit too many crisps.”
Once you identify your triggers, you can brainstorm some strategies for addressing them.
Don’t be frustrated if it takes some time to identify your triggers and come up with some solutions. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that breaking the overeating cycle is simpler than you think.
Your coach
Michał
B3&FIT