More on refeeds, mental strategies for dieting

[SteelWeaver]

Thanks to all the people who slammed some sense into me on my refeed thread. NOW, the lessons learned from that, and some other mental stuff I've been thinking about:

1) Never stand naked in front of a mirror the day after a refeed, or preferably for several days if possible, unless your refeed was more of a "controlled carb up", in which case, strip!
2) Never take "progress" pics the day after an out of control refeed/binge.
3) No matter how bad you thought it was, by Wednesday it will all be better.
4) Everything is adjustable.
5) Just because something is adjustable doesn't mean you have to adjust it.
6) If you're not sticking to your plan, maybe it's because you don't have a plan.
7) HAVE a plan.
8) No matter how hard you think you're working, you can always work harder.
9) Dieting is hard.
10) There are HARDER things.
11) You CAN wait.
12) Just one more day.
13) One tiny chocolate will NOT wreck your diet.
14) Salsa has calories.

Oh, the list goes on and on ... Wanna add to it?

 

[diami03]

Sex is NOT cardio..

 

[Millie]

i can't remember where i heard this one, but i thought it was kinda cute:

"should i eat this snickers bar or should i just rub it in my thighs".

also, here are 2 of my biggest motivational ones:

giving in to a craving now will make me feel good for about 15 minutes. resisting the craving will make me feel 10 times better the next day.

think about how you will look/feel in the morning if you did cheat or did not cheat the previous day.

 

[diami03]

Check the terminiology "sticky" but no mention of refeed......what does it mean exactly?

 

[SteelWeaver]

Try some of these:

http://boards.elitefitness.com/foru...d=700515&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

Also, go to

http://www.mindandmuscle.net/main.html

and read the magazine articles there on "leptin".

In a nutshell, a refeed is a very high carb controlled "binge" which is designed to upregulate leptin levels/sensitivity and thus your metabolism during prolonged dieting and when bf levels have fallen very low. Refeeds help to prevent dieting induced catabolism, and help to ward of the dreaded dieting "plateau" that is inevitable whenever calories go hypo for prolonged periods.

 

[MS]

15) If you lose control, you can always just call it a refeed. Sometimes this is a good strategy to alleviate feelings of guilt!

16) if #15 happens the day before your scheduled refeed, this does NOT mean that you carry on as if nothing happened and still have your scheduled refeed the next day.

17) If you change your mind-set and dim the lights, you can convince yourself that "bloat" just looks like nice full muscles. NOTE: Men do this quite naturally. Women need to work hard at this visualization exercise. It helps if you find a mirror that will add to the distortion.

18)You can quit dieting ANYTIME you want. You can quit for 1 meal, for a day, for a week, or even forever. Just because you 'quit' today doesn't mean you're not allowed to change your mind tomorrow and get right back up on that horse.

 

[princess]

just a little saying that i tell myself whenever i feel like i'm ready to cave...

"nothing tastes as good as looking good feels"

 

[NorwayFitness]

I have a good one...

Just stop dieting and start bulking...

NF

 

[SteelWeaver]

Haa haa ha haa ha - there are some funnies here! "dim the lights" - yeah, I do this one a lot - it works even better if you take your glasses off

And the snickers? WTF!!??? that is hilarious - I'm not sure why, but I almost fell off my seat when I read that.

NF - just watch next year - I'm going on an extended bulking phase - dieting's for the birds, man!

Here's something else I realised: almost 99.9% of the time, when you have an uncontrollable pig out - your period will turn up within a few days. Damn baby-making paraphernalia Why couldn't whoever planned that have arranged a simple stork delivery or something?

And something I thank my lucky stars for every single day of my life: it is actually a voluntary CHOICE for me to go hypocaloric - an untold luxury that for the large majority of this world's population is unimaginable. It sure makes plain egg whites taste really good.

 

[Ceebs]

Here's something else I realised: almost 99.9% of the time, when you have an uncontrollable pig out - your period will turn up within a few days.

No shiznat, Sherlock!

Low levels of serotonin pre-period would increase the likelihood of losing control of a refeed. You could counteract this by taking supplemental 5-HTP during the luteal phase of your cycle. I began taking it a few months ago for its antidepressive benefits, and noticed that my PMS cravings/moodiness were reduced down to one day, where I'd have previously been an uber-hungry uber-bitch for a whole WEEK before my period. Then I read up on serotonin, discovered that levels are low during the luteal phase, and !

Worth looking into.

Edited because I cannot spell worth a damn.