On A New Years Roll? - Prepare For A Relapse

At my clinic, it is normal to see someone in the early stages of our program who is 'on top of the world' one day, and a 'dieting disaster' the next.

How is it that such minor disturbances such as one bad meal, a missed workout or an unexpected increase on the bathroom scale to send a person into a tailspin.

The reason that such small setbacks can lead to such grave consequences is that they are emotionally charged with years of dieting ups and downs. These emotions conjure up memories of the numerous times that you may have felt like a failure or hopeless with respect to your weight loss plan. This is a gloomy picture but there are strategies that enable you to turn the diet and weight loss corner.

Even if you are on a new year’s resolution roll and have asserted adamantly that ‘this time is different’ one may to make sure this happens is to plan for setbacks.

Start with this simple fact that everyone makes mistakes. Perfection with respect to eating or exercise does not exist and striving for such can lead individuals towards eating or exercise disorders. We will take a two-pronged approach:

1. Prevent lapses from occurring
2. Prevent lapses from turning into relapses

The first approach does not suggest that you won’t make mistakes; it simply requires that you incorporate mistakes into your goal setting and expectations. By setting realistic goals and expectations you can prevent the emotionally charged feelings and memories associated with failure.

The second approach requires rational thinking at a time when you are least likely to think rationally. Picture yourself feeling discouraged, let down or ‘off track’. You might be thinking to yourself ‘I should have known I’d blow it. It was just a matter of time.’ You may not be able to prevent this learned pattern of thinking but you can put a stop to it.

Give this form of thinking a name such as Negative Nelly or the Diet Devil. Now call in their arch rival such as The Little Engine That Could or the Diet Diva. Picture yourself (or one of your positive thinking alter egos) giving yourself a pep talk and presenting a case against dieting negativity.

If you struggle to see yourself winning this battle, imagine what a good friend or what I would say with respect to your overall progress and the current setback.

Remind yourself that the feelings of failure are transient and they too shall pass. Remember, your thoughts are not truths and they are open to errors in judgment particularly when negatively charged emotions are involved.

Finally, the most important message to tell your self is that a lapse does not have to result in an all-out relapse. Construct your relapse plan now before the Diet Devil arrives by writing down a pep talk to yourself and outlining the positive changes that you have made.

Readily acknowledge that you will encounter setbacks, it is just a matter of when. This time indeed will be different, not because you won’t fall but because you have a plan to get back up when you do.

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For preventing a relapse due to weight fluctuations see why Sharon is Hoping Mad at the Bathroom Scale.