Counterattack your own brain with these eating mantras.

Weight loss.  Buh.

That "buh" isn't because I'm not losing weight--I'm doing really well, with 8 more pounds to go for me to hit my weight loss goal of 20 total pounds lost.  In fact, I have to remind myself I'm doing REALLY well compared to 15 years ago.

The picture on the left is when I was 29; the right, present (age 44).  Not too bad for an old broad who used to look even older 15 years ago due to an unhealthy lifestyle of copious smoking and eating and running was only something that was done if a child in her science classroom was about to set themselves on fire when bunsen burners were in use.  (And wtf is up with those gross highlights??  Double buh to those hideous things.)

But even though I have to give myself credit where credit is due, I also recognize that I am my own worst enemy when it comes to losing weight, doing stupid things to sabotage my goals.  For some reason when I'm doing really super duper good at losing the pounds my brain starts justifying the resumption of eating crap food.  It uses a variety of tactics against me, but I have developed some nice mental mantras (counterattacks, really) over the years that work...that is, if I remember to use them. 

Mental Mantra #1: Eating <insert name of tasty yet woefully unhealthy snack here> won't get you where you want to be.

Thinking this helps me refocus on my goal and what it really takes to get there.  I not only want to lose weight, but I want to completely rock my marathon too--which means I also have to work in the next mantra.


Mental Mantra #2: Food is fuel. 

Saying this (not out loud...all the time) targets the "what" of what I'm really eating when I want to eat 20 Hershey's miniatures in under 60 seconds flat.  Will what I'm eating contribute to fueling my body so I can smash my next 12 mile workout before work?  If the answer is "no" (and it usually is), then I have an easier time backing away from the delicious calorie-bombs full of nothing but empty calories.  But I may cry just a little while backing away.  Just sayin.


Mental Mantra #3: But you're not even hungry.  Stupid.  Now put it down.

Hey, I never said these were kind, fluffy, soft unicorn-filled mantras.  Anyway, this one is usually particularly effective when I remember to think it, because it points out to me that I'm just eating to mindlessly eat...or I'm stress eating and need to find a different way to cope other than stuff my face.


Mental Mantra #4: You have to run a calorie deficit to lose weight.

Thinking this one stops me every single time because it reminds me that the goodies I want to shove down my gullet are "extra" calories not on my diet plan, and therefore will never, EVER help me lose weight no matter how many miles I've run that day.  Speaking of running...


Mental Mantra #5: Running is not an excuse to overeat.

This is one I had to practice getting into the habit of saying, mainly because it is the antithesis of my usual justification to pile on the craptastic goodies.  But now that it's a mental habit, it's been a useful phrase to make my brain say when it wants to use the fact that I ran that morning to eat horrible and horribly tasty things.

Mental Mantra #6: Live every day like this dog's face.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

What can I say, large dog digs the runs--even the easy 7 milers like we did today.  Not an eating mantra, I know, but this is a mantra for LIFE, people. Go ahead and soak that stuff right up.


Like I mentioned before, these mantras have to become mental habits that replace old ones--old ones that have been in charge for far too long and that allowed crappy eating habits to rear their ugly heads.  And speaking of things rearing their ugly heads, here's the end-of-post learnings right now:

• I have the usual regrets about "why didn't I eat healthy when I was younger" don't you worry about that.
• I've been told my self-talk needs to increase in niceness.  But I'm a tough love kind of mental mantra person.
• The hardest thing I've had to re-learn is not to use my running as an excuse to overeat.  That's been a habit 10 years in the making (I've been running for almost 10 years now).
• But we should all go through life like large dog on a run.  #truth

Tomorrow's workout: 9 miles of tempo--FUN.  And by "fun" I mean BUH.