Everyone says I am so good at holding back and exerting will power! But it’s not true. I got it together after a two week break after Thanksgiving and then took a break again at Christmas, just three days! You see I am really just as human as the next person!
What I’ve come to realize is that each time I fall off, someone offers me something. This time it was eggnog. Whether it happens at the time of the offering or not is irrelevant. Just the kind heartedness of the offering gets me straight in the heart and makes me buckle in the knees! It’s my weakness. I have to develop a plan or strategy for handling these situations again in the moment and later after the moment has passed. I think I need to try to say something like, “Thank-you that is so kind, but I am after something bigger than pumpkin pie [cheese cake or eggnog or whatever]!” This way, I have acknowledged their true kindness and thoughtfulness directed toward me, but have firmly stated my position and desire for something far more dear to me than any temporary experience that any food could render in my mouth. Then later, I can restate, to myself, the importance of staying the course and not diverting for a momentary experience, which in the end will leave me flat, or better yet deflated, as I will then be off course from my true objective, which is feeling better, looking better, and having a more lively life, with less illness.
What concerns me about my current Christmas lapse is that I will have another break, when I have my total knee replacement, at Euclid Hospital with Peter Brooks, MD of the Cleveland Clinic. Obviously, while in the hospital they aren’t going to stick to my regimen and afterward I will be reliant on others to procure my food for me, so it’s going to be rough for awhile. The hospital stay is 2 – 4 days and it’s between 1 week and 6 weeks, before I will be driving again. I swear it’s going to be on the short side for me! It has to be. I’ve got grocery shopping, physical therapy, and boys to take to and from school, not to mention to after school activities! So I want to get back on Mark Hyman’s detox diet, as soon as possible. I need to lose as much as possible in the next month, before my surgery. Maybe if I put my nose to the grind stone, I can lose as much as 15 pounds. That would be great for my weight loss plan and good for healing and recovery after my surgery, as I will be in a state of anti inflammation, as opposed to an inflammatory state, which slows healing. Not to mention the fact that another 15 pounds off the old body frame would be a great relief to my back and my knees as well!
My walking regimen will be severely disrupted too. However, in the long run, the total knee replacement should make it easier to get around. So it will be awhile until I can put everything together and get back to walking 5 times a week and dieting the way I have in the past and want to in the future. I guess I need to see how much I can take off in the next month. It’s really time to hit it!
Anybody else struggle with lapses and relapses? What techniques do you use to avoid them? Have you developed a plan? Do you know what your triggers are? Why not take a minute right now and write out what your triggers are and how you might handle them better next time.
If it helps to work these things out with a coach, send an email or make a phone call today to hire a health coach to help you succeed in situations, in which you have tried and failed in the past. Health coaches can help you to WOOP it!
Whooping it refers to 1) considering your wish (W) perhaps weighing your ideal weight, 2) determining the best outcome (O) of reaching your wish, such as leading a vibrant life and interacting more fully with your kids or grandkids, 3) generating a list of possible obstacles (O) to attaining your wish, such as going out to eat with friends, sitting down to a family feast, attending a wedding, going on a cruise, and 4) developing a plan (P) to overcome any obstacle, such as carrying an alternate meal, carrying appropriate salad dressing, developing a polite way to say “No!” to those, who encourage you to stray from your intended purpose.
You can try the WOOP it technique on your own, with a friend or significant other, or you can hire a health coach to do it with you! WOOPing it is one method of trying to beat lapses and relapses, before they bite you in the butt!
Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC, BCC
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
The Wellness Coach at Building Better Bodies Rocks
Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in My Little Brick in University Heights, Ohio
Leap into Action!