Let’s get down and dirty with self sabotage

Self sabotage can do a doozy on us when it comes to food & health goals, and thyroid recovery requires a lot of self commitment.

So how can you tackle self sabotage?

I don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t experienced that little voice convincing them to abandon their commitment to their health.

You might find yourself eating the birthday cake at the office party when you’ve committed to not eating gluten for autoimmunity.

Or eating a whole bag of corn chips when all you really needed was a handful.

Maybe you are a chronic Monday-morning-er, forever putting off your own health needs for another day.

Why do we do it to ourselves?

1. Fear of the Unfamiliar
Each one of us have 3 basic needs (once food, water and shelter are taken care of!). They are:

• Love
• Safety
• Belonging.

When our subconscious mind realises that we are making changes, it freaks out and worries that one of these needs will be compromised.

Self-sabotaging behaviours stem from the concern that if you change, one of these needs will no longer be met. It’s the fear of the unfamiliar, which is a very human fear.

2. Food FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
We fear that we’ll never be able to eat the food that tickle our tastebuds ever again.

I think we all know that this simply isn’t true and in many ways this becomes a scapegoat mask with one of the other two base fears above hiding behind it.

When you apply a balanced approach, you can and will enjoy celebratory foods at special occasions without sabotaging your results.

I’ve said it hundreds of times but I’ll say it again, you do not have to be a food nun to get extraordinary results.

This thinking really stems from a deprivation & dieting approach where food is bland and you have to stick to it forever or you reverse your results (thanks weight watchers!).

You also learn to luxuriate in the flavours that nature provides.

One of my incredible clients was telling me recently how the sweet & sour pork that was always her favourite take away is no longer appealing, her palate has changed.

Another client said this about my Metabolic Balance coaching…

“Everything feels balanced so that when you want to have a treat with your kids or with your friends, you can! I’ve been describing it as the easiest, simplest way that I’ve ever lost weight or improved my health since I was probably 25.”
– Rachael

3. Fear of Success
No, that’s not a typo!

Fear of success is another very real (arguably the most common) reason we sabotage our efforts.

What will you have to face or do differently if you finally succeed? Will your relationships change? Will you have to do that thing you’ve been forever afraid of?

When we up level one area of our life & wellbeing we can feel pressure and fear the consequences in other areas too.

For some, poor health has become a subconscious victim badge they are reluctant to part with.

For others, their weight gain is an unconscious protective mechanism against romantic or sexual attention.

So, what can you do about it?

• Awareness. Bring a gentle awareness & curiosity when these thoughts pop up.
• Analyse, what is really going on? With a dose of self awareness you can unmask those fears. Bring them out of the darkness into the light and pull them apart, turn them over, analyse every nook & cranny. Are they really true?
• Rewrite the story. Once you have teased apart the fears and removed their power you can craft an affirmation to combat them next time they rear their ugly heads.
  Self sabotaging thought: ‘If I regain my energy then I’ll have no excuse to not start that business I’ve been talking about for years & make it a wild success. If that happens I’ll be exhausted and too busy to spend time with my family. I’ll finally be able to afford that dream car and then my friends will think I’m a snob and won’t like me anymore.’
  Your affirmation might be: ‘I am committed to eating in a way that reignites my energy so I can be present for my family, fulfil my dreams and have no regrets’.

If you want to get down and dirty with your self-sabotage then the two books I recommend are The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks & The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Hendricks refers to it as the ‘upper limit problem’ and Pressfield as ‘resistance’, but essentially what they are referring to is self sabotage, holding ourselves back from growth.

Self-sabotage is such an issue with my clients that I have a whole step dedicated to it in Food Freedom.

Did you know that all my Thrive Method clients get Food Freedom as a gift to help them create powerful habit change and long term success? It’s important to me that all the incredible women I work with are equipped with strategies so they can finally get the incredible results they desire for good.

You can book a free health chat here if you want to talk more.