Hi! I’m Donna Reish, IF teacher, weight loss coach, blogger, and half of “The Minus 220 Pound Pair” as my husband and I have lost over 220 pounds together (160 of that in the past couple of years through the Weight Loss Lifestyle habits and strategies I teach!).
In this episode, I present the final lessons on “self-sabotage”!
In #25, I taught the foundations of self-sabotage from the Think Feel Eat position—our thoughts, our feelings, terminology, and more. (Please start here!)
Last week (TFE 26) I started with several practical tips related to self-sabotage—stress management; purposeful, planned self-care; sleep; ideas for sitting with urges; planning food ahead of time; writing something you want to eat for tomorrow rather than in the moment; creating barriers to hyper-palatable foods; dealing with kids’ foods; and much more.
Today I continue with self-sabotage tips, more practical ways that we can stop ourselves from “knowingly or unknowingly obstructing our progress”!
I start with the “buy healthier foods” theory—the pros and cons of this, including the concept of choosing foods you truly like and will eat for the rest of your life (as opposed to “healthier foods” you don’t like. I recommend that you choose a protocol you can live with (see Pick a Protocol!) and have “your foods” (for 80% of the time) and “not your foods” (for the other, carefully planned 20%). I re-introduced my Helpful Foods List so that you can list the foods you like and will eat to get to your goal. Lots of tips in this section—having real meal foods on hand; using cooking methods that work for you and keep calories lower; utilizing convenience foods that are not super calorie dense; cooking simple foods; keeping grab and go foods on hand; and making your own food rules.
Next I move into reminding yourself daily why you are doing this. Write the same reason every day in a journal. That phrase/goal/wording needs to become a part of who you are. I discuss reasons that really keep you motivated.
I move back into food palatability, but not just Dr. Stephan Guyenet’s Six Seductive Craving Combinations (see eblast on August 10th!)….I move into other aspects of palatability that come into play with our “self-sabotage.” These include, but not are not limited to mouth-feel, texture, temperature, etc. I address the individuality of palatability and giving up—like what makes it hard for YOU to stop?
Finally, I discuss the benefits of simpler foods: not combining the six seductions so much, how to substitute for super palatable foods, the benefits of fewer ingredients and simpler cooking techniques, and more. AND….a new way to evaluate our foods—not looking at food as good and bad but rather as controllable and uncontrollable.
Find all of my episodes, outlines, and articles for my two weekly broadcasts:
(1) Weight Loss Lifestyle broadcast (formerly Donna’s Intermittent Fasting Broadcast)
Sign up for my free webinar: https://intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Think Feel Eat 27 Self-Sabotage III (of III)—More Practical Tips
A. Fill home with healthy/healthier foods you like
1. Use the Helpful Food Lists document to start creating a master “these are my foods” list (See TFE 21!)
2. Don’t buy a bunch of healthy foods you don’t like or would seldom choose—for me, I have sprouted wheat bread, peanut butter, low sugar jelly, apples, watermelon, potatoes of all kinds, sugar free chocolate, Kodiak pancake mix, Halo Top ice cream, great salad ingredients (i.e. good meat and cheese), lower calorie soft tortillas I can use for pizzas or quesadillas—I don’t buy foods I don’t truly like
3. Have real meal foods on hand—cooking (even just microwave and air fryer cooking) is the best way to eat on protocol—buy convenience when you absolutely need it—the best choice of convenience you can find….but plan to bake potatoes in microwave, steam rice, stir fry veggies and meat, air fry grilled cheese…simple, simple, simple but as real as possible)
4. Be sure to have grab and go foods (for me, these are egg cups, cheese, apples, protein muffins I make and freeze, pb sandwich, bananas, lower calorie crackers, baked tortilla chips
5. Make your own food rules
B. Remind yourself daily why you are doing this
1. Write the same reason every day in your journal
2. Tell it to yourself after you have an “obstructive” thought—say it aloud if needed
3. Make sure it is a reason that really keeps you motivated (it’s okay if it is to wear sleeveless dresses—I know of someone who has that reason! Lol)
4. This is my size six life—catch a thought that gets you where you want to go! Forever!
C. Control your food palatability
1. I talked about the 6 Seductive Cravings in Motivating Monday’s eblast on August 10th
2. Research on food palatability
i. Dr. Stephan Guyenet’s The Hungry Brain
ii. One study tracked food intake and palability over seven days
1. People consumed about 44% more food during the more palatable meals than they did on the less palatable ones
3. More hyper-palatability thoughts
i. Energy density (M and M’s vs. apple)
ii. Mouthfeel
iii. Texture
iv. Temperature
v. Six seductions
4. What makes you want to overeat?
i. What makes it hard to stop?
ii. What makes you turn to the “screw it” thoughts?
iii. What sets you into binge mode?
5. Not just making us want to overeat for the enjoyment—hyper palatable foods make us need a lot more of them in order to feel satisfaction
D. Eat simpler foods
1. Not combining six seductions so much
2. Not bringing us back to the days that we ate nachos and sundaes and donuts all the time
3. Substitute something that has less palatability/simpler composition but still takes the place of the old food
4. Fewer ingredients/less extensive cooking methods/single or few ingredient foods (again lessening the chances of the six seductive craving combinations)
5. Bad/good and controllable/uncontrollable
E. Next Steps
1. Intermittent Fasting Course—first Monday of each month; use code SAVE20 to get $20 off—see you in September!
