Are you a self-sabotaging dieter?
Marni Sumbal, MS, RD
When a behavior interferes with your life or goals, it's considered to be self-sabotaging. Common behaviors include drugs and alcohol, comfort eating, dieting, self-medication and procrastination. While, in the moment, these behaviors may make you feel good, they eventually cause problems.
With so many obstacles in your way as you navigate a stressful, busy and overwhelming life, don't make yourself one of them. As it relates to eating better, losing weight, improving fitness or adopting health promoting habits, a self-sabotager is likely to always be on the search for a new/better style of eating, often jumping from one extreme diet to the next. But eventually, the self-sabotager gives up and resorts back to old habits.
Self-sabotage is when your good intentions don't match your behaviors and when your behaviors don't match your good intentions.
With so many obstacles in your way as you navigate a stressful, busy and overwhelming life, don't make yourself one of them. As it relates to eating better, losing weight, improving fitness or adopting health promoting habits, a self-sabotager is likely to always be on the search for a new/better style of eating, often jumping from one extreme diet to the next. But eventually, the self-sabotager gives up and resorts back to old habits.
Self-sabotage is when your good intentions don't match your behaviors and when your behaviors don't match your good intentions.
Here are some examples why you may be self-sabotaging your diet:
- You are afraid of failing or not following your diet perfectly.
- You lack mindfulness and blame failure on lack of self-control, discipline or willpower.
- Your food related decisions are based on feelings of guilt, anxiety, worry or blame. You eat with judgement.
- You often submit to a trigger that leads to food self-sabotage. For example, you survived the work week so you celebrate with _____ (food or drink). You ate one too many cookies so you consider your diet ruined and you plan to be better tomorrow.
- You believe you are a bad person if you don't stick to your rigid style of eating.
- The inner dialogue in your head is very negative. Remember, your beliefs determine your actions.
- You struggle to be kind to yourself due to low self-esteem.
- There's always an excuse to deviate from your rigid style of eating.
- Your good intentions don't match your plans (or you don't have realistic plans to match your good intentions).
- You use a 30-day program or extreme style of eating to try and fix an underlying issue relating to your emotions, mood, relationship, self-esteem or anxieties.
- You are use to suppressing your feelings/emotions with food that you are scared to make changes.
- Your inner critic makes you believe that once you reach your goal, your life won't be any better. Thus, why bother trying/changing.
Interestingly, those who self-sabotage aren't always aware of the choices they are making, especially when the effects of their behavior are not immediately harmful. For example, many nutrient deficiencies and health issues occur when an athlete seeks out and follows a rigid style of eating to improve health and/or performance. Because counterproductive choices may eventually damage well-being, health or performance, it's important to get to the root of your self-sabotaging choices/behaviors before looking for and trying out the latest diet fads.