Resisting Temptation

Hey everyone!

Today I’m talking about temptation!  You’ve all been there before… You are at an event, business meeting, or a night out with friends.  Temptation is everywhere!  Most recently, for me, I was tested while out bowling.  There were about 20 people; all very hungry and "in need" of beer and snacks.  Being the event coordinator, I had to take care of it!  I knew that my almonds wouldn’t make everyone happy so I went to the snack bar and ordered up 5 pizzas, 2 platters, and 6 orders of chicken tenders for everyone to share.  Then I saw them… Mozza Sticks.  In that moment they called to me, they said “come on… just ONE bite!”.  I thought FOR SURE this was it, all hell was going to break loose over these Mozza Sticks.  I brought the food over to the table and made sure I sat away from it.  Somehow, it ended up right under my nose.  People moved things around and the gooey cheese was right in front of me.  I pushed it away and decided to reflect on the past 2 months and how far I have come.  I thought to myself, “Kayla, you have worked so hard to lose just over 50 lbs… WHY would you ruin that now?”.  It was really hard to say no, especially when everyone around me was eating without worrying about what went in their mouths.  But I did it and I felt SO strong and SO proud of myself after.  Once I gave my head a shake I realized that I didn’t even WANT those Mozza Sticks.  They aren’t good for anyone and they certainly aren’t what I need.  I was able to then sit back, enjoy my almonds and cheer for everyone that was bowling. 

I believe that temptation is everywhere, all of the time; it is only during our weaker moments that we notice it.  That day I had just been to the chiropractor for my ribs (I popped one out of place and it felt awful!) and as soon as I sat in my car after the adjustment, I popped it back out.  So I was in pain all night while everyone was stuffing their faces and having fun bowling.  I can admit it, I was having a little pity party for myself and that’s when I noticed the Mozza Sticks.  It took a lot to say no but I did and I am so glad I did.  I was able to shake off my bad mood and focus on the positive of the night; temptation did not get the best of me.  I was STRONGER!

The moral of the story here is, you are in control of today.  You control how the day ends; it can end with guilt or it can end with celebration!  Cravings and temptations are strong feelings but you are STRONGER!  I love this quote...

The satisfaction of giving in to temptation is very, very short lived.  But the satisfaction you get for saying no to temptation is incredible.  Always keep your goals in sight and make the right decisions today, so you can celebrate all of your tomorrows!

 Kayla

Relationship with Food and Those Pesky Cravings!

Believe it or not, food cravings can be just as powerful as a drug users craving for their drug of choice.  Coming from someone who had a very unhealthy relationship with food, take it from me. 

Food wasn’t a source of nutrition, energy, or fuel for me; food was something I went to when I needed to feel better if I was sad, to celebrate when I was happy, and to make things OK in my life when I was too stressed to actually deal with them.  On the other hand, I also didn’t eat very much or very often (except for those times listed above) because I felt like I didn’t deserve to eat.  I felt awful in my body and to me eating felt like I was just going to make myself bigger and take me further from my goals.  Little did I know that withholding food and only eating at night would not help me lose any weight, it would actually make me gain weight.  Your body goes into a SURVIVAL mode and it says “Hold on to everything that just came in because we have no idea when we are going to be fed again!”  Your body realizes that it needs to hold on to whatever you DO feed it, good or bad, and store it so it won’t starve.  Eventually, not eating will result in anorexia and your body WILL begin to starve and it will start feeding off its “Emergency Storage” and then eventually, itself. 

Now that I know I need to feed my body in order for it to function and give me the results I want, my body and I are much better friends.  Now, I’m not saying you can eat whatever you want and expect your body to do what you want it to do.  Chocolate cake (a personal fave LOL) will not get my body ready for an intense workout.  However, an oat and egg white pancake will!  The pancake is filled with things my body needs in order to perform.  Sugar and bleached flour and icing will not do the trick.  Now, if we have our day to day meal plan all sorted out, you might find yourself craving certain things throughout the day/week/month/etc.  This can seem impossible to overcome but I promise you, you can do it. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I used food to comfort myself and when you have a craving for something after a bad day, or just because, it can be hard to tell yourself NO!  The other day I was struggling with cravings and I really just treated it like it was a drug, not food.  Humour me a moment and look at this with me…

If you are an alcoholic or drug addict and you are going to AA or NA, you are told to contact your sponsor if you feel like using again and that person is supposed to talk you down from the intense feelings and remind you that once you get over the hump, you will be so glad you said no.  The outcome is a beautiful thing. 

So, I decided to write it on Facebook.  I said I was craving and reminded myself that I am stronger than my cravings.  This made me accountable to each and every person who saw, “liked”, or commented on my post.  They all knew I was craving something (fruit, actually) and I knew that if I gave it I would be letting all of them down and most importantly, I’d be letting myself down.  Yes fruit is good for you, but right now I am not allowed to eat it.  So it really doesn’t matter if it was a piece of fruit or a big bowl of ice cream; either way, I wasn’t allowed to have it and if I did, I’d be cheating. 

Now, that was part one…  Part two was actually doing something about the craving.  I needed to get my mind off of what I wanted but I was just going in circles.  I was trying to talk myself out of it but I only got frustrated with myself.  So I decided to get a big glass of icy cold water and chug it.  Then I had a piece of gum (I chose a sugar free bubble-gum flavour) so this way I felt like I was eating something sweet!  Eventually I just really got into the show I was watching and the cravings passed.  When I realized it, I was so proud of myself!  It was the first really big craving I’d had since I started training with Craig and I wasn’t about to start slipping up now!  I do dream about eating fruit all the time and send him “Mind Messages” throughout my entire workout… “Let me eat fruitttttttttt” it hasn’t started working yet… I will keep you posted ha ha ha :)

Another great way of keeping yourself from giving into your cravings is painting your nails!  Sheryl taught me this and it has worked fabulously!  If you paint your nails, you can’t very well eat anything!  Wet nails + eating = disaster!  Let me just say, I have become a pro at painting nails LOL!

Another thing you can do is make a list of all the reasons you DON’T want to give into the craving.  Keep it somewhere accessible, maybe stuck to the fridge, and you can read those things before you decide to open the fridge.  Some of the things you could write are:

-        I don’t want to give into this craving because I have already come so far and giving in to this craving will only set me back

-        I don’t want to give into this craving because I know the feeling is only temporary, but the consequences of giving in are real and will require a lot of work at the gym to burn them off.

-        I don’t want to give into this craving because I am WORTH the healthy body I am on my way to having!

If you have any other tips or tricks for fighting off your cravings, please feel free to share!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I will talk to you all very soon!

K