What's Your Secret Sabotage Behavior?
By Diana Chaloux
Alright it’s confession time. How many of you have a secret sabotage behavior that is holding you back from reaching your fitness goals? If I had to take a guess, I would say there are a lot of hands going up right now. I say “secret” because a lot of times we don’t do these things when other people are watching. Perhaps that is because we know these behaviors are detrimental to our fitness success but don’t want to admit it. Well I think it’s high time to get these confessions out in the open so we can stop the sabotage! Here are a few of the classic cases of eating habits which can hold you back from achieving your weight loss goals.
Sabotage 1: The “Mindless Snacker”. These people typically snack continually throughout the day. A little taste here, a treat there, a bit of this and a nibble of that can add up to a LOT of extra calories at the end of the day. But since you didn’t eat them seated at the table as a “meal” maybe you didn’t count those calories into your daily total. The “Mindless Snacker” may not even realize that they are eating all throughout the day. One of the best tools for making a “Mindless Snacker” more accountable is an eating journal, if you struggle with this snacking behavior write down everything that you eat throughout the day. When you can see it down on paper it’s not such a secret anymore.
Sabotage 2: The “Evening Eater”. Now this one I know many of you can relate to. Maybe you are one of millions who succumb to boredom eating in the evenings. It’s very possible that you make healthy choices all day long, but when you are lounging on the couch unwinding in the evenings the urge to start munching gets the best of you. You may be consuming more calories during these late evening binges than you do all day. The “Evening Eater” usually isn’t hungry there is just the urge to have….something… while relaxing at the end of the day. You may not only be consuming excessive calories, but since your metabolism slows down towards the end of the day you won’t be able to use all of those calories for energy. So, you guessed it, they will be stored as fat. My tips for the “Evening Eater” are to eat plenty of veggies at your evening meal so that you will feel full. As soon as you finish your last meal of the day, brush your teeth or pop in a piece of sugar free gum so that you will be less tempted to eat again. If you feel that you must have something, drink some tea or flavored water, drinking low calorie or no calorie drinks such as these will help to fill you up and decrease your urge to eat more.
Sabotage 3: The “Starve and Stuff”. These people typically don’t eat breakfast. They don’t eat much of anything for as long as they possibly can. But then it happens, around early afternoon they are so hungry that they can’t stand it any longer. At this point their chance of making a healthy food choice is pretty much out the window. We’ve all been there before, those times when you’re so hungry you can hardly even think, so you just fill yourself with whatever you can find. Usually this leads to overeating since it takes 15-20 minutes for your body to let you know it’s full, and this little binge could result in hundreds, even thousands of calories in a very short period of time. If you eat this way, you will be on an energy roller coaster, your resting metabolism rate will decrease, your body will probably think you are starving and when you eat mass amounts of calories it will hold onto them as fat. The best thing to do to avoid sabotaging yourself in this way is to eat consistently throughout the day, starting with breakfast. It is so important to eat this first meal in order to fire up your metabolism. Eat small snacks or meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day. When you do this you won’t ever feel like you are starving and you will be less likely to stuff yourself.
If you are struggling with a secret sabotage behavior the first thing to do is recognize it! No matter how much you are exercising, if you are sabotaging your nutrition with these unhealthy eating habits you will never see the results that you desire. Take charge of those secret behaviors today and stop holding yourself back from fitness success!
For information on Diana’s online training and nutrition programs or one on one personal training at Hitch Fit Gym in Kansas City please visit www.dianachaloux.net
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