Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Dissatisfaction

I read another article from Judith Beck dealing with eating satisfation. I think it has some good tips that I need to remember more often!

Remind yourself:
• I’m probably just feeling unsatisfied, which is not a reason to overeat.
• Even if this IS true hunger, there’s no emergency here. I’ll be eating again in x hours.
• I deserve a lot of credit for eating only what I planned. (“It’s actually great that I’m stopping now.”)
• Stopping now means I’ll still be able to wear smaller-sized clothes, cross my legs, not feel like people are judging me because of my weight, feel comfortable meeting new people, etc.”
• The more I label and accept dissatisfaction, the easier it will become. The more I struggle against not being able to eat whatever I want, the worse I’ll be in the short-run and long-run.”
• Every instance of accepting dissatisfaction (“Oh, well”) is important and I deserve credit for accepting it.
• There’s nothing wrong with feeling dissatisfied. It’s nothing you need to “fix.”

And you’re not alone. Millions of people feel dissatisfied every time they go shopping because they’d like to buy things that they can’t. Maybe you do, too. They usually adopt an “Oh, well,” attitude. “Oh, well, I’d like to buy that bigger television but I don’t have enough money.” They accept the fact, and move on.

It’s the same with food. “Oh, well. I’d like to eat more but I can’t, not if my goal is permanent weight loss. I might as well accept that fact, and move on.” In the long run, to avoid chronic dissatisfaction, you may need to learn how to appreciate what you do have, especially non-tangible things such as family, friends, work, health, spirituality, fun, and so on. After reminding yourself of these things, immediately get busy doing an activity or task you’ve planned in advance to engage your attention elsewhere.

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