3 Self-affirmations to break free from yo-yo dieting
This week I want to share with you three self-affirmations to help you break free from the cycle of yo-yo dieting forever.
Watch the video I made on self-affirmations to break free from dieting here.
Why am I talking about self-affirmations?
First of all, it’s so easy to slip into a pattern of negative self talk, where you say horrible things to yourself that leave you feeling rubbish. Or you say unhelpful things to yourself. Maybe you think you have to do things perfectly or you think that you can’t change. You think that you can’t do what you need to do, to get where you want to be. Whether your goal is to eat better, to get fitter or to lose weight. Whatever you goal is, you know that you’ve got to make some changes. You know that you’ve got to build habits, but what you saying to yourself is getting in the way of that.
Interrupt the unhelpful self-talk with self-affirmations.
It’s really easy to slip into this negative cycle where you just end up feeling rubbish and you think you can’t change. Self-affirmations are a really good way of interrupting that pattern. A self-affirmation is kind of like a mantra. If you imagine something you say to yourself; something that’s positive and constructive or self affirming. You say it to yourself and you repeat it over and over again to really ingrain this more helpful way of thinking. There’s no need to say it out loud, although that can help and you don’t have to believe it straight away. But the more that you say it to yourself, the more you’re going to start to believe it. It’s about interrupting that unhelpful negative pattern of what you’re saying to yourself that doesn’t help you.
Here are my 3 self-affirmations to help you break free from yo-yo dieting forever:
Self-affirmation #1 – “I can eat what I like coz all food is good”
This whole ‘good food’ and ‘bad food’ mentality doesn’t help you – it’s dieting mentality! Food can’t be split into good or bad – nutrition isn’t as simple as that. When people say that food is ‘good’ they often think of it as ‘unlimited’. They think, “this is healthy food I can eat as much as I like” and then they end up overeating. If you do that, you’re not exploring why you’re eating. You’re not questioning whether you’re actually hungry or not, so that’s not helpful to you.
Likewise if you’re labelling food as ‘bad’, you’re probably saying to yourself that food is banned and you’re not allowed to have it. And let’s face it, it’s often the things that you love like cake and chocolate, biscuits and crisps. If you’re telling yourself you’re not allowed the things you love, I don’t know about you, but I want them more! You’re more likely to have cravings. Then when you have those foods you feel guilty coz you think you’ve blown it. “I’ve failed, I might as well give up and carry on eating!” You eat more to feel better because you don’t like that feeling of guilt. Then before you know it you get stuck in this guilt binge cycle which is just rubbish.
This good/bad food mentality doesn’t help you. All food is good, healthy eating is about the overall balance of everything that you eat and drink. It’s not about the individual foods. Instead let’s say “I can eat what I like coz all food is good”.
Self-affirmation #2 – “I’m a good person no matter what I eat”
You might be trying to make some changes and making changes is hard isn’t it?! Whether you’re trying to make some changes to your eating habits or your exercising habits. Building new habits doesn’t happen overnight. I often hear people saying “I’ve been really good”, because they’ve been doing things the way they think they should be. Or they say “I’ve been really bad”. They refer to themselves as good or bad depending on what they’ve been doing and this isn’t helpful either way.
Why do we have to attach morals to the way that we eat?!
It doesn’t help you, even if you’ve been sat on the sofa eating doughnuts all day, you’re not a bad person! It’s hardly burning down an orphanage is it?! Obviously you know that trying to eat better, like aiming to get your 5 fruit and veg a day and trying to go out for that run, is going to be good for your body. But looking after yourself doesn’t make you a better person than somebody who sat on the sofa eating doughnuts! Unless maybe you’re going for a run because you’re raising funds for charity. Or that person that’s eating doughnuts stole them off a child…
What you eat and how you exercise doesn’t give an indication of whether you’re good or bad person. This way of labelling ourselves as good or bad, is more likely to lead to guilt, overeating and feeling rubbish about yourself. You’re not naughty or cheating just because you fancy a second slice of cake one day. Forget this idea of being a good or bad person depending on what you’ve eaten. We need to stop attaching morals to the way that we eat and instead say “I’m a good person no matter what I eat”
Self-affirmation #3 – “I am good enough right now”
Losing weight won’t suddenly make you like yourself better. Whatever your goal is, when you get to your target you’re not going to suddenly find that you’re a better or different person. Loving yourself and seeing your own self worth and self value, is a decision that you have to make. You need to make that decision to recognise your own strengths and accept your so-called ‘flaws’. OK I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s about making a decision that you’re going to try and accept yourself as you are.
Dieting just doesn’t teach you to be kind to yourself does it? Going on a diet isn’t going to make you feel better about yourself. In fact if anything I’d say it will make you feel worse, especially if it’s about restricting your eating and trying to eat perfectly. Trying to get to the ‘perfect weight’ or the ‘perfect size’ won’t help you to feel better about yourself.
You need to love yourself first.
The more that you can be kind to yourself the more likely you are to actually do the things that will keep you healthy. Things like eating better and trying to include at least five portions of fruit and veg a day. Or trying to get up off the sofa and do a dance or go for a run. You’re more likely to do those things if you’re being kind to yourself and you think that you’re worth looking after. If you care for yourself and you want to feel better about yourself, forget going on that diet and thinking that’s going to make you better. It’s time to love yourself first so again repeat that affirmation to yourself “I’m good enough right now”.
You might not believe it to start with, but the more that you say them the more you integrate a more helpful way of thinking. Then the better you’ll feel. Try repeating them all to yourself now and see how they make you feel:
- “I can eat what I like coz all food is good”
- “I’m a good person no matter what I eat”
- “I’m good enough right now”
Which one do you like best?
Remember you absolutely ARE good enough right now.
It’s time to ditch dieting forever because you deserve better.
Need help to ditch dieting forever?
Want to eat normally again AND lose weight healthily? While still enjoying the cake & chocolate? Hell yes!
I will help you ditch dieting forever, either with my 1-2-1 support. Or if you prefer to work independently, you will learn all the skills I teach my 1-2-1 clients, on my ‘No More Diets’ online course.
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My Weekly Round-up! AKA; what I’ve been up to recently…
- Tea of the week has been the old faithful Earl Grey. I also found the last of a pack of fancy leaf tea. It was called ‘Citrus Grey’… I didn’t quite get as far as using a teapot for it though!
- The last few weeks or so, I’ve been sorting out my YouTube channel. The plan is to make a video for the majority of my weekly blogs. I know some of you prefer to watch/listen! If you like videos please go and subscribe to my channel to see them first. And of course if you know someone who would find them useful please share to spread the message.
- We got another hill walk done at the weekend. Earl’s Hill in Pontesford was our 11th hill in our little family challenge ’22 Hills in 2022′. It was STEEP and my calves were burning before we’d got half way up. Lovely views at the top although we didn’t stay long as it was so windy!
- I managed to read another new book to add to my ’22 new books in 2022′ reading challenge. ‘The Time Traveller’ by HG Wells was quite a short story, but an interesting idea about how the future of humans might look! I don’t think I’ve read any of HG Wells’ other work, so I’m planning to read the rest of the novels in the collection that my husband Sam has. They’re all in one book, which is very heavy! Makes reading while lying down in bed pretty risky, but so far I haven’t dropped it on my face…
- I’ve kept up my daily walks along the brook, including going a little further out at least one day. Also managed to squeeze in another punchbag work-out and a little hula-hooping and skipping. I’m trying to mix things up to stop me getting bored.
- Had fun at the weekend visiting Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery. I love the building, it reminds me of running around there as a kid when it was the old music hall. My parents were part of a local amateur dramatics group who regularly performed plays there. On rehearsal days we’d get to play with the other kids in the warren of corridors back stage. It’s very different now though!
- Speaking of amateur dramatics… we also went to the theatre to see my niece perform. We were all in tears as she played the lead in Cinderella and sang so beautifully on stage – I’m welling up just thinking about how well she did.
- Bird Nerd Report: Still feeling very lucky to see kingfishers most days down by the brook. Soooo many long-tailed tits – they always fly in groups. Also saw a nuthatch for the first time in a few weeks too. When we were walking back around the bottom of Earl’s Hill I saw a green woodpecker. Only the second time I’ve seen one of those so that was exciting!
