What to do When It All Goes Wrong

We’ve all been there. Many times!! You have the very best plans and intentions to make every meal and snack a winner, you think you’ve got it sorted, then suddenly bam! You fall off the wagon, lose the plot, it all goes pear-shaped. You feel disappointed and angry with yourself, discouraged and wonder if it’s all worth the effort. Why not just eat anything, anytime and give up? Here is the first-aid for food lovers that you need. It will help you get back on track and truly enjoy your food again. The fantastic thing about this first-aid for food lovers is that it not only gets you back on track but it helps keep you on track. If you follow this first-aid, you will find things go wrong less and less. Wouldn’t that be great!

It’s often the case after holidays or celebrations that you find yourself stuck in a pattern of overeating. It’s hard to get back to feeling comfortable, enjoying every meal and snack, knowing you’re also finding and keeping your healthy weight. Even though the Food Lovers Dietitian approach is a great way to successfully enjoy holiday eating AND keep a healthy weight, old habits die hard. When there’s lots going on around you, it’s hard to stay focussed and old patterns take over.

The best news is, you don’t need to start a diet! This is what I love about the Food Lovers Dietitian Approach. You are not about to miss out on great food (even if you might feel like you deserve it!). Even just knowing that the next meal will always be delicious helps you to get off the binge-diet cycle that not only fails, it’s depressing!

What to do?

Don’t Panic

It’s not as bad as you think. It seems that the easiest time to rebalance your eating and your weight is right after you’ve been over-eating. You’ve got everything going for you.

Your Appetite Wants Helps You

After a time of over-eating you often feel less like eating. Go with it. Listen to your appetite. Know your hunger and get in touch with your sense of how empty and full you feel. Try to stay around the middle of the hunger gauge. Don’t eat if you’re not hungry.

Your Body Wants Helps You

Your body wants to burn more kilojoules and move you more. You’re in luck! Not only are you more likely to feel like being active, even when you’re not you’re internal furnace is probably all fired up, at least for a time. Can you remember over-eating at night and then having trouble sleeping because you’re so hot?

It Can Actually Be a Good Thing

Finding your heart, your hunger, your hassles, your helps, your own hints and the hacks that work best for you, is a journey. It’s only by going through the hard times that you have the experiences that help you know yourself and the way that you enjoy food most.

When things have gone wrong, the emotions, details and motivation are all fresh. Take this opportunity to think through what happened. What were the triggers, the circumstances, the things that did go well, what you would avoid and what you would you change.

Remember how you felt when food was going well for you. Enjoy that success and the feeling of being comfortable, balanced, true to yourself and your own food loves! The very best way to get motivated to stay on track is to ponder the alternatives. When you’re feeling the most disappointed with your latest choices you are the most motivated to do the thinking and planning it takes to get back where you’d like to be. You’ve been there already. You’ve done it before. You can do it again!

Be Kind to Yourself

A friend once told me, when things had all gone wrong for her, that it felt like a two year old took over. So now I always think of how we guide, protect and cajole two-year olds so they learn the skills they will need as adults. There’s a reason we don’t take two year olds to the supermarket when they are hungry. We don’t talk them down the lolly aisle if we want to avoid a tantrum. And we are kind and reassuring when it all gets too much for them.

First-aid for food lovers means showing ourselves the same compassion and being kind to ourselves, knowing that we are also on a learning journey. And we need to guide and protect ourselves and make it as easy as possible to keep making the choices that suit us best.

Head Back to the 7H’s 

In my article on healthy weight tips I talked about knowing your heart, hunger, handy meal planner, hassles, helps, hints and hacks. First-aid for food lovers is about finding them again.

Know Your Heart

Think back about what, how much and when you were eating and drinking when things went wrong.

What did you enjoy about it? What didn’t you enjoy?

How did you feel and how did this change?

If you are still stuck in an overeating pattern keep a record of a day and look back over it. Take photos of everything you eat crab king and drink or write it down.

Know Your Hunger

What was your sense of hunger and satisfaction doing when things all went wrong?

Had you lost track, lost awareness?

Did you get too hungry?

Did you lose track of how your appetite felt?

Get back in touch with your sense of hunger and satisfaction, Perhaps keep a hunger log for a day.

Practice listening to your appetite now, which is likely to be less. Only eat the amount that keeps you from feeling too empty or too full.

Know Your Hassles

What happened?

Remember from start to finish.

What were the triggers?

What were the circumstances? What else was going on?

What is your kryptonite? Your weaknesses? This may be where you will need to focus most attention.

Know Your Helps

What helped?

What could have helped?

What went well?

What would you avoid if you had to do it all again?

What would you change?

Know Your Hints

You’ll find plenty of hints and tips here at Food Lovers Dietitian or Crab King Cajun Boil And Bar, but the very best ones will be your own.

Know Your Hacks

What are the 3 key hacks that you want to remember for next time?

What are the 3 things you could do to keep you on track?

Know Your Handy Meal Planner

Download and save the Food Lovers Handy Meal Planner on your device.

If you have already, have another look and remind yourself of the serve sizes.

Use digital scales or cup measures to check how big your serves are.

Take photos for a day of what you eat and drink or write it down and then review it with the Meal Planner.

Plan a day’s meals and snacks using the meal planner.

Get encouraged

If you’d like more than first-aid but want my personal support and encouragement on your journey, do consider joining my private coaching group.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and I look forward to sharing more with you.

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