Wednesday 24 April 2013

I can resist everything, except temptation! Oscar Wilde


Is this how you look when eating your treats? Me neither!  What motivates us?

I need to talk about motivation.  A lot of people ask me how I stayed motivated, especially on weeks such as this whereby life is not giving you a chance to prepare or plan your meals properly.  Or when it's just easier to eat anything else.

The motivation to say no.  It's really difficult.  When I first started WeightWatchers I told nobody that I was doing it.  Therefore when I went out for a meal or anywhere that food was, saying no was a huge problem and was quite awkward.

If you have friends that never had an actual weight problem and they say no to food, watch, people just accept it, there is no "ah go on, you know you want it" why is that?  Even now, having lost weight, people watch to see what I eat, not at home because they know I love my food and usually only refuse it if I'm really ill but in other situations, people will say "do you really not want it"  no actually I would love to but I have learned that if I eat everything that I want to eat all of the time I will be 19 stone 4 again.

I am not cured of my Weight problem.  I have not been healed by the food god.  My will power is human.  I still have those times whereby I eat without thought and realise that I have eaten my daily allowance while looking in the fridge to see what I will make for dinner.

So where does my motivation come from? Well, in honesty it's hard work.  Planning has been crucial.  Learning where and what I find most difficult.  Was it alcohol, takeaways or definitely for me, letting myself go hungry and then going shopping, especially in Superquinn walking past all of the cakes.

TV ads nearly broke me.  There used to be an ad on tv for Marks & Spencers.  The music was seductive Santana, and in the middle of it there was a scene where the fork broke the crisp chocolate outer layer to expose chocolate lava oozing from the shell in slow motion.  I'm not trying to be rude but it was food porn.

However I kept this in mind. When you see an advert say for a chocolate bar, there is usually a woman, wafer thin, wearing a silk chocolate gown, with the largest bar of chocolate you could ever find, making the girl look like she is in dire need of a bar of chocolate.  Then in slow motion, she breaks off a square, you can feel the snap, she closes her eyes and you can anticipate the chocolate melting on your tongue.




Have they ever showed, say, the beautiful Dawn French doing the same ad in the same fashion?  Yes and it was a joke, to make us laugh.




Why a joke? apparently it would not have the desired effect if it wasn't?  And the woman on the add probably does eat chocolate like she does in the ad because it really would be a treat for her.




Now imagine yourself and a bar of your favorite chocolate, now, how do you eat yours? Is it more of a gobble than melting moment.  A gobble that will not be as significant as the melting moment and probably forgotten 10 minutes later.

In all of these ads, the woman are usually in a peaceful state of mind, on a luxurious sofa or a bath, relaxing, soft music playing and the idea is that eat the chocolate and you will feel like this.  Have you ever eaten a flake in a bath? seriously.  Maybe it's just me but the crumbles in my bath soggy and being edible would not be a pleasant experience for me.  I would have to fish them out for the bin.

In my extensive research of chocolate eating, I don't remember a time where I felt like that after a bar of chocolate, ever.

When you see the ad in the middle of your favourite tv program and you feel the urge to get a piece of chocolate think, will you look like the lady in the ad?  When out and about and you have the dreaded moment where you have the Mrs Doyle food pushing, if you say yes to humor them will you feel like your having that melting moment.

My point is, food is there to be enjoyed and savoured, don't eat for the sake of someone else or for no reason what so ever.  Treats on WeightWatchers is what keeps me at an even keel.  Therefore I want there to be a melting moment rather than the gobble.

Motivation is not a vigilant state of militant tracking.  It's a thought process and understanding of what is your triggers and how to combat them.  However it is also allowing yourself to have the treat, but making it a treat, so that you feel that you have really enjoyed your food.

To stay motivated, think about what you do and apply it to those situations, see what the scales reflect and use it to motivate you to realise that this is not a diet.  This is your lifestyle, a healthy one with a healthy relationship with food even chocolate.

Think of all the situations you have over come in your life, I mean, death. loss, money trouble, children, work.  Are you going to beaten by a piece of food?

So in answer to the question "what keeps me motivated"? I know that WeightWatchers works.  The only obstacle is myself.

I don't know if any of you will find this helpful but it was this that made me think that being slim and healthy is hard work and I just needed to do it. 


Enjoy the Niptuck way, so you don't have to!

9 comments:

  1. As someone who has been struggling with as you say, meal plans going out the window, grabbing items from the fridge which would be fine on their own, but all together blow the points for the day, I found this post really helpful. Was gonna skip my weigh-in this evening, now I will be going & posting the results no matter what they are. Thanks again, thrilled I found this blog, at this time.
    Fireflys22

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    1. Thanks firefly I'm so glad you liked the post, how did your weigh in go?

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  2. Great to see you back!!!! Having become slightly addicted to your blog was getting a bit worried when we didn't see anything from you all week (not that your not allowed a life of your own!!) Anyway, love todays post! Just finishing first week back at WW and going for weigh in also this evening - not bad week finding it hard to stick to 26 points a day but using weekly points throughout the week helps a bit (cos I'm not one who needs full 49 for weekend - social life very quiet at moment!) Do find Sats and Sun harder as routine of weekdays goes out window and having my daughter home from college at weekends usually qualifies for a treat in her books!! Again this was a brilliant post and something to have on hand when feeling low - would be a good way of getting back on track!! By way made your rice pudding for first time - gorgeous! (even think I could leave sugar out nex time! vanilla gives it lovely sweet flavour!) Thanks again for all the tips and MOTIVATION!!! Anita

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  3. I can totally identify with this blog post. I find my motivation goes through peaks and troughs - right now I'm on a motivation upper after two weeks of a downer.

    I find my motivation peaks closer to a goal/deadline - so I have created many mini-goals for myself not just based on Silver 7s. e.g. Weigh Under 14st, BMI < 30, Under 200lbs etc. This means I have 3 or 4 mini-goals in between each Silver 7.

    At class yesterday I was up half a pound - I thought I'd be down 1lb bringing me to my next Silver 7. I am determined to be down 1.5lbs this week to get that Silver 7 :)

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    1. That's what I used to do, mini goals, then it felt like less of a wait in between goals. I measured myself on the weeks where the scales was not reflecting the hard work or on the weeks where reflecting the eating work. This helped remind me of how far I had come and 1 bad week would not undone all of my good work. Mini goals gave me perspective. I'm glad you liked the post

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  4. Had first weigh in last nite! Very happy with results - 4 pound down!!! I feel I am actually in more control this time round and with the help of the tips, recipies and food finds from the blog I have more variety and it doesn't seem at all like a diet!! thanks again x Anita

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  5. Anita that is amazing well done, aren't you glad you went now. It is hard but now do you feel that it's worth it? I'm so about the delay this week. Life has been mental busy. It was so busy that when I put the kids to bed last night I fell asleep first, before them lol. I'm working on quick meals for next week. However I am climbing the mountain on Saturday, by the way your all more than welcome to join us, we're all novice climbers as in my only othe climbing was the hell fire and partners are welcome. Keep up the great work :-)

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  6. Great post, can totally identify with people watching you! I'm about half way through my weight loss journey and am finding this quite offputting. Last week I turned down dessert and was met with an "Are you serious?!?" by a friend. But have to remember that I'm doing this for me and nobody else! Thanks!
    Becky

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  7. Thank you so much for this blog and your honesty about your weight loss journey. I have been a yo yo dieter for almost ten years and believe now is the time I can do it and do it for life. You are so inspiring and makes me feel, even after all the times I have failed on my diet, that I can do it. Keep up the amazing work, you are keeping me going!

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