Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 1238 of 3212

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Hi Valerie,

Sorry to hear about your triple slip up last night.
Just shake it off and keep going. Don't beat yourself
up about it. It's not great, but self revenge, giving
yourself extra deprivations, is far worse, it'll just
lead to a binge. You don't want to get into a blood
feud with your appetite.

http://www.nosdiet.com/#screwup

And you can learn from this experience:

1) You've seen the flash of the enemies fire. You know
where he is and can better and more specifically
prepare for him going forward. Maybe you want to
preemptively give yourself larger meals on especially
stressful days, at least until you've galvanized your
habits.

2) By not taking self revenge, you teach your powers
of self discipline that they have to excuse to let
down their guard, that their is no second line of
defense to pick up their slack.

3) If you slip up again, try to catch yourself before
going on a rampage and violating "all three" esses. 
As I mentioned in an older post:

http://nosdiet.com/group/640

"...give yourself a little
protocol for how to deal with 3 AM cravings. Drink a
glass of water. Wait a minute. Wait another minute.
Still awake? If necessary, fruit is better than debbie
cakes. 1 debbie cake is better than 2, etc. Practice
damage control. Catching yourself in mid failure and
preventing it from becoming a total disaster is hugely
difficult, a great, but (and this is the kicker)
completely unsatisfying accomplishment. You have to
rely on your intellect, that notoriously unworthy
ally, to remind you how important it is. I think the
only way to pull this off is to brace yourself in
advance. "

Don't start worrying about "is this going to be
another failed self improvement attempt like all those
others?" Stay focused on the mundane task of getting
through the next day. It may take a while to reach
your ideal weight, but your slip up last night
notwithstanding, it's only a few weeks a new
life-altering habit. If it takes a false start or two,
so be it. This isn't the SATs. It's the end result
that counts.

Don't hesitate to bug us if you run into trouble.

Reinhard