One sure fire way to undermine your own efforts with reguards to better nutrition and weight manangement is to wallow in self-defeating, negative thought patterns.
I like to call this habit of negative thinking "stinking thinking" because it will keep you forgiving yourself for slips, and it will also keep you from being happy, as well as making gradual, positive, and permanent changes with reguards to your nutritional status.
There are several ways that stinky thoughts manifest themselves-so if you insist on thinking them- please don't verbalize them around others, because the vapors that come off of stinking thinking are so toxic, they will eat right through a HAZ-MAT suit! LOL!
In my personal opinion, the worst stinky thoughts relate to what I like to call "all or nothing" type thinking. These "all or nothing" stinky thoughts will cause you to eat an entire 10 ounce bag of potato chips because since you decided to have a 1 ounce serving of potato chips, you then figured since you went off your diet and had a one once serving of potato chips, you might as well face the fact you're an undisciplined slob who will never lose weight, or improve their nutritional status, and so why not just just eat the whole bag. A better way to deal with a craving for junk food is to occasionally, and intentionally, plan to have a measured, and calorie counted portion of a junk food snack without exceeding your caloric allowance for that day. Perhaps instead of eating an entire 10 ounce bag of chips, you should call upon your will power and common sense so that instead of over-doing it on chips, you could have a one ounce serving of potato chips [150 calories] with a fat free hotdog wiener [40 calories] on a whole wheat hot dog bun [ 80 calories ] and a side-salad with fat free dressing [2 cups lettuce: 5 calories, 1/2 small chopped tomato 15 calories, 1 small chopped carrot [30 calories ] and 2 tablespoons fat free dressing [30 calories] - which is a total of approximately 350 calories [more if hot dog is topped with a tablespoon of : chili [25 calories], sweet relish [15 calories], low fat mayonnaise [15 calories], catsup [15 calories], etc...]. I can't tell you exactly how often to have junk food, it's best to keep it to a bare minimum, but perhaps once or twice per week it's OK to have a junk food snack so long as you know the caloric content and subtract it from your daily caloric allowance.
Another example of stinking thinking would be reguarding the person who decides to not go to the holiday party, or the birthday party, or the reunion, because of all of the junk food there. This person says to themselves, and perhaps maybe even to others, that since "they" -meaning the people who are hosting the party, should know better than to serve a bunch of fat and sugar- knowing that diabetics and/or people with high cholesterol like themselves may be present, and since such hosts and hostesses are so insiderate - that they will just skip all such social events. What this person could do instead is go to the party anyway and simply tell people that are offering food "no thanks, I ate before I came," and simply enjoy the party. Another strategy this person could employ is to take thier own food-food that they researched and prepared themselves such as finger sandwiches, fruit slices, etc.. to share with everyone.
One more example of stinking thinking relates to the reluctance or refusal to exercise. This person says "I'm not going ot exercise because I got an injury once at a gym from exercising. Those trainers at the gym don't know what they are doing." What this person is overlooking is the fact that they could get alot of benefit from exercising outside of a gym such as walking, swimming, a "total gym", a "bowflex", and "exercise chair", and perhaps even some work out videos. Yes, you might get a blister on your foot from walking, but if you take a change of socks and some baby powder with you, and perhaps even put waterproof band aids around your toes, you may be able to prevent some blistering during walking. Another thing this person is overlooking is the fact they could try a new gym and a new trainer. Perhaps this time, they may want to spend some time chatting with the gym's manager to check the qualifications of the trainer that would be assigned to them. Many exercise facilities strive to maintain a high level of professionalism and consider client safety to be at the top of the priority list. Also, a new injury may be prevented if this person does not allow the trainer to push them beyond thier limits. Professionals can be wrong, if that were not so, no one would ever win malpractice cases against licensed physicians and other health professionals-- so listen to your body at all times.
