I am struggling with the urge to self-sabotage today. This always happens whenever I try and lose weight, I do the complete opposite of what I am supposed to do, eg I eat loads of bread or sweets or whatever it is I am supposed to be avoiding. I always feel guilty afterwards and give up on the whole process, thinking I am not able to follow the diet and binge-eat even more crap!
Today, the 'evil food slip' was a packet of crisps! (Potato chips)
18:6 Intermittent Fasting is working in my favour today because although I have slipped and have eaten a packet of prawn cocktail crisps this afternoon, I suddenly realised that it was the afternoon and I was still within my times! Granted, crisps have zero nutritional value and I might as well be eating lard, but I have still managed to stick to my eating plan i.e. eating between my specified times.
With IF, they say you can eat whatever you wish as long as it is within the eating time frame. Calorie counting is not a necessity. I have however been really strict with myself from the beginning and have been eating only clean foods so in reality, 1 packet of crisps is no big deal!
Granted, it is an extra 100 calories that I really didn’t need, but it got me over the urge to eat crap and I don't feel guilty about eating them. The temptation to binge due to failure hasn’t taken hold because the eating plan is about timing, not food types!
So what triggered this craving or urge to eat crappy foods? It could be a number of things. Physically I have not felt great today. Earlier, I had a dizzy spell and was sick (these happen regularly for me due to my thyroid disease). I then slept for about 2 hours and have not left the house. It was when I woke up that I had the urge to eat the crisps, so it was possibly a comfort issue.
The other option could be that it is psychological. I weighed myself for the first time in a few weeks today and I have lost 4lbs! I don’t like to weigh myself too often because if I see progress, I tend to lapse back into my old ways (I don’t understand why). Self-sabotage I guess.
So we are at almost a week of 18:6 Intermittent Fasting. I have had a few obstacles to overcome: mid-morning hunger, cutting out sugary snacks and self-sabotage. BUT I have been successful! I am down 4lbs (probably not all lost this week though) and I have stuck to my schedule. It is getting easier to do, I am not thinking about the time now until around 11am when my stomach starts to grumble at me.
All in all, I would say this week has been a great success! I am starting to understand my habbits more and able to stick to a simple, flexible nutrition guideline that can be sustained in the long term, rather than a restrictive diet. I have a good feeling about this!
Week 1 results: 4lbs down!
Thank you for reading, much love @beautifulbullies xx
(Thank you to unsplash.com for the free images)
