Motivation Archives - I Create My Life Today

Are you having trouble with motivation? Is the Sugar Plum Fairy wrestling you for control of your eating habits?

If your scale had a voice, would it be asking, “Is that you Santa?”

Well…I do weigh more… but this year it’s only 2 lbs more instead of the usual 10 lbs that I add during the holiday season. And, I weigh 25 lbs less than last year at this time.

I have been calling the period starting on Thanksgiving Day and ending New Year’s Day the eating season.

I do seem to accept the fact that I lose motivation during that time period.

It starts innocently enough. I had control over my eating for several months. I wasn’t losing weight at a fast rate…but I also wasn’t gaining weight either.

The goodies started arriving fast and furious and I reasoned…what the heck, I’ll just have a taste.

Initially, I was successful with that approach. However, the next day, the same occurrence… I thought I’d just try what I considered to be the BEST treat.

Then the Sugar Monster, that had been dormant, reared its sweet head and came back to life. It kept asking for more sugar.

My brain started to rationalize (telling me ‘rational-lies’) that I can eat some more and then I can just get back on my diet after the holidays.

Ugh! My addiction, my obsession, with food and thinking about food became a constant companion.

No surprise, my old way of thinking about dieting started to surface. The feelings of helpless, hopeless and being overwhelmed that usually accompany dieting were back. I’m so thankful I recognized what was happening!!

I thought about all I had learned when I successfully dieted. How I had made the conscious decision to make dieting easy. I began telling myself that I had not fallen off the wagon! that I AM THE WAGON…sure, stuck in the mud at the moment…but I will absolutely find my motivation and take control of this situation!

So, here it is the week after New Year’s Day and I’ve finally been able to get the motivation to string two days together without any sugar. It feels so good!

I’m feeling the control coming back. No longer do I cave into the call of chocolate chips and peanut butter (eaten directly from the spoon) and I’ve tossed out the remainder of the holiday snacks.

If you’re struggling to find your motivation start thinking about what triggers your overeating or binges. Is it sweets that get your Sugar Monster going? Or are you more of the Salty Monster? Whatever it is, remove the problem foods or snacks from your house. That will be the first step in winning your first couple of days back – after that, it gets easier!

2019 was a very good year from my health perspective and I plan on making 2020 even better.

So, if you’re still struggling with the Sugar Monster…

Time to get PO’d at the Sugar Monster and say, “Enough is enough!!” Find your motivation, pick a diet plan that you’ve previously had success with and get started!

You can do it! I know you can! So, here’s to weighing less on February 1, 2020, than you do today…Cheers!

Peace & Love

Janna Lynn

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Put the pieces in place to create a life

filled with Health, Wealth, Wisdom & Fun.

P.S. The following is a workbook that I’ve published. It is soon to be the subject of my very first course that I’ll be offering 🙂

The Fear Workbook – How to Stop Procrastination, Self-Sabotage, and Fear from Stealing Your Dream Goals

Self Sabotage Motivation — The Fear Workbook shows you how to recognize your inner critic’s voice, your personal dream stealers, and how to tame the inner critic so you finally can achieve your dream goals

Self-Sabotage comes in many different forms.

Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco. All of these are known to be addictive and can cause self-sabotage in even some of the most dedicated of people. And in my opinion… food can be as addictive as any of the Big Three.

Ponder this: Up until the holiday season started (for some people that start on Halloween and for some Thanksgiving) you had been able to stick with your diets with some struggle. However, when your ‘trigger date’ arrived, you went into the day with the best of intentions, only to find that by noon or for sure by early evening you had eaten more food than you had in the previous week. Self-sabotage had reared it’s ugly head – yet again!

Vowing to get it together starting the following day…you went to bed with a stomach bloated with food and your head full of remorse.

The following day you woke with a gnawing hunger and wonder how that could be because you had eaten so much yesterday you should still be full. You’re determined to get back on track.

You step into the kitchen and see the remainder of the goodies on the serving plate…and unbelievably, you swear you can hear them calling your name!

With very little resistance you take 1/2 a cookie, piece of the pie, or one small candy. Then, almost without thought, the rest of the cookies, pie, or candy is consumed. Once again, remorse and regret step in to keep you company. You ask yourself, “How am I ever going to get back on track?”

Self-sabotage strikes again!!

What has happened here is a clear picture of how addicting sugar and refined carbs can be. They constantly are playing with your body’s digestive system and its chemistry. Sugar is known to increase the naturally occurring ‘feel good’ drug, dopamine, in the brain.

This starts off a very simple vicious circle. Sugar is ingested – dopamine (and blood sugar) goes up (hyperglycemia). As your body produces more insulin than is necessary to process the sugar your body creates a low blood sugar -low dopamine- (hypoglycemia) condition in your brain. Your brain says…MORE SUGAR! Unless you realize that this chemical reaction is taking place in your brain and body and recognize the cycle that has started, you reach for your next sweet.

A large percentage of doctors and researchers feel that sugar and refined carbs aren’t addictive. I beg to disagree. With only the knowledge that I have read about how the body reacts when sugar is ingested, and analyzing how my own body reacts when I eat sugar and refined carbs, I know they are addicting. Once I start eating sweets I can’t seem to stop until the plate is empty!

The not-so-easy solution to avoid the addicting tendencies of sugar and refined carbs is to avoid foods that contain them. This will stop your blood sugar (glucose) from swinging from high to low which results in cravings.

However, if you do decide to eat them, research has shown that if they are consumed along with higher fiber-containing food, digestion slows, resulting in a steadier blood sugar level.

Awareness is needed to stop the cycle once it has started. It is necessary to be conscious of what is taking place in your brain and body. With awareness, you will be able to step away, regroup your thoughts, and break the sugar-induced cycle of behavior. Putting an end to self-sabotage.

Join us on the FB page where we discuss how to stop self-sabotaging your life. https://www.facebook.com/iCreateMyLifeToday/

Start each morning with that realization that I Create My Life Today. Make a plan ~ decide what you are going to do before self-sabotage comes knocking.