BREAKING THE CYCLE

Cycle 1 - You eat unhealthy choices, you feel guilty/annoyed/self loathing, you eat more for comfort.

Cycle 2 - You diet, you crave chocolate or cake, you give in, you end the diet, you feel a failure.  You start again another week, another Monday.

Cycle 3 - You diet again, you have an unpleasant day, your feelings are taking over, you push your feelings down with a binge, cycle 1 kicks in.

Write your cycle down.  Look at it.  Ask yourself 'how could I break this cycle of self destructive behaviour?'

Acknowledging your cycle is the first step.  Being aware of how you function, rather than allowing yourself to function on 'automatic' can help you break the cycle.  Each of the above samples have seperate stages to the cycle which you can stop at any point or you can do something different.  Remember the saying : 'if you do what you always did, you get what you always got'.

Changing just one element of your cycle will change your actions and eventually your mindset.  By trying different ways of coping with an unpleasant day you will find that food is NOT the only answer, it is NOT the only way to self-soothe.  (see Treats and Comforters Blog for ideas)

Fear is the No. 1 feeling that everyone hates.  It is alarming, it is paralising, it is scary and uncomfortable.  It can make us act crazily.  Fear is a feeling, it is NOT always a reality.  For example, "I'm afraid of thunder and lightening because I think I'm going to be struck dead".  Break that sentence down and you have multiple fears/unhelpful thoughts - "I don't like the bangs/noise/flashes/cracking sound because I think something terrible is going to happen.  I'm afraid of dying". 

Thoughts and feelings can be deceptive.  It is not always true that something terrible is going to happen or that you are going to die in a thunderstorm.  How many thunderstorms have you lived through as proof.  So taming the tiger in our head can help break any cycle and acting opposite or differently to your learnt pattern of behaviour is another way.

Take cycle 2 above.  When the cravings comes there are options/choices:
1.  Give into the cravings and then continue with the diet plan.
2.  Have something else instead, the craving may go away.
3.  Allow yourself a smaller portion of cake or chocolate without feeling a failure - just add the calories/points/syns to your total for the day (it will still be less than if you had had a full blown binge).
4.  Give up dieting, feel a failure/unhappy and do what you always do.
5.  Deny yourself the craved food, stick with the craving feeling until it passes.
6.  Drink water, tea, coffee, hot chocolate.
7.  Go for a walk, read a book, focus on a hobby.
8.  The list of distracting thoughts/feelings/tactics can be endless - find something that is right for you and BE PROUD of mastering this ONE TIGER.

This could be you.
Are you a pussy cat or a lion?
Is the cat in you afraid of the lion within, is the lion real or your perception of a problem?
You may think you are a cat but really you are a lion.
YOU CAN DO THIS.
 You CAN change your thoughts, change your actions.