Diet Self-Sabotage: Beware of These Behaviors

Dieting is never easy. It becomes even more difficult when you unconsciously sabotage your own efforts at losing weight. You may think you never do this, but do any of the following scenarios sound familiar?

-You don't want to make your family suffer by depriving them of favorite foods. Therefore you don't hesitate to make their favorite foods (which just so happen to also be your favorite foods). Unfortunately, these foods consist of sugary, high fat foods laden with calories. Deep down you tell yourself that you can resist the urge to eat what you are making for your family, but the end result proves how wrong you are. I remember making brownies for my kids all of the time when I was trying to lose weight. The brownies would quickly disappear, but guess who ate most of them? Me. The truth is, my kids don't even like brownies that much.

-You love cookies, chips, and ice cream but have decided to start buying the 100 calorie snacks, which usually come individually wrapped. This is a great idea in theory, but if you were able to stop at one serving of chips, cookies or ice cream you would not be in the shape you are now. Therefore, what makes you think you are going to be able to stop yourself at one single 100 calorie serving? The truth is, you probably can't. Yes, it may look like you're trying hard to stay on your diet by buying these low calorie snack packs, but the truth is you are setting yourself up to fail.

-You have decided that you are going to give up all of the foods you love while you are dieting. Your plan is to eat a lot of salad and lean meat. You are going to totally cut out all of your favorite foods while you are on the diet. This is not the thing to do. First of all, you are soon going to feel deprived. Feelings of deprivation lead to binging. Remind yourself that it is perfectly fine to treat yourself to your favorite foods from time to time. This way you will not feel deprived, making it much less likely that you will be tempted to binge.

-You make sure you are sticking with your diet plan. The only time you eat anything that is not on your plan is when you are tasting the food you fix for your family to eat. You do this standing over the stove. After all, you need to see if a dish needs more or less of a certain ingredient. You aren't really "eating" the food. You are only tasting it. Well, guess what? Tasting food puts calories into you the same way that sitting down to a meal does. Not only that, but a taste here and a taste there can add up very quickly. Therefore calories that you do not even count in your daily total may be the very calories that are keeping you from losing the weight you desire.

Being mindful is a very important part of weight loss. Be aware of the ways you sabotage your own weight loss efforts and you will be on the path to a healthier you.