To
remain motivated, committed and disciplined to train for triathlon or any
bigger-than-life event requires characteristics commonly recognized in Type “A”
personalities. These characteristics are great for completing to-do lists,
setting and attaining goals. When it comes to diet and food decisions, these
characteristics can be helpful or they may create parameters that limit our
chance of success.
Almost all of us, experience a moment in time each day, when a
decision is made to commit or stray from a diet, or eating plan we consider
‘healthy.’ I refer to this as the “Crossroads.” For some of us it’s simple:
Should I eat the slice of banana chocolate chip bread after my long run? I
didn’t work out today, but I’m hungry and couldn’t resist two bowlfuls of
tortilla chips. Is eating two scoops of peanut butter/chocolate frozen yogurt
acceptable if I biked 50 miles?
For others, this moment in time, when a choice to eat a handful
of M&M’s or a piece of fruit, can somersault into a cascade of ‘bad’ food
decisions the rest of the day. The danger in this cascade effect is not the
actual consumption of unhealthy food, but the mental judgement that begins and
becomes difficult to turn off. Making one bad decision, can quickly elicit
feelings of failure, and instead of brushing the instance off, a little voice
in their head, continues the conversation, reminding them of their bad
judgement and daring them to falter again.
Join me in this “day in the life” of a typical person on a typical
day, at the crossroads.
It is Monday morning. You woke up early with your day mentally
planned, and ready to execute. You completed your 75 minute bike trainer
workout, which in itself is cause for a pat on the back and then ate a well
deserved breakfast. You have snacks and lunch packed for work, and plan on
getting in an afternoon swim. As long as things go as planned, the day should
be easy and the world will be bright.
Driving to work you are feeling ready for the day. Workout one
is behind you and now its time to focus on what lies a head. Your plan is to
get to the pool after work for a short swim and then call it a day. You arrive
at work, and it is status quo until lunch. Work crosses your desk but you are
able to manage and re-prioritize it, keeping on schedule to leave work on time.
You ate your lunch and are looking forward to your afternoon snack to fuel your
swim. Your eyes are on the clock. Lap hours are limited at your pool and
getting there after 6:00 pm isn’t enough time for the workout.
It’s 3 pm and you get a call from your supervisor explaining
that one of your clients is unhappy which requires you to schedule a phone call
at 4 pm to discuss. The phone call lasts 45 minutes during which time you
commit to revamping the portfolio for them before tomorrow morning. You hang up
the phone, look at the clock, and sigh. You knew this would happen; regardless
of how much you try to get in your workouts, something always gets in the way.
This is the gray moment; right here and now. You woke up and
exercised, which made you feel good about yourself, motivating you to eat a
healthy breakfast and stick to your planned meals for the day. Then, the curve
ball comes – beyond your control, but it still comes and forces you off your
planned routine for the day. Prevents you from feeling the sense of
accomplishment from completing your plan – completing two workouts for the day.
This is when the cogs in your mind begin to turn and for some
people it is the make or break part of your day. You begin to recalibrate the
day with new outcomes. There are only two options: success and failure. You
enter that place in your mind that you know too well. It’s the place in your
psyche where you aren’t your usual, rational, purposeful self. It’s the place
where you feel irrational, a bit out of control, anxious, and vulnerable.
You
have been here before, so you should have it figured out by now. You should
have a strategy in place, or a plan “B” for these situations. You’re smart and
you know yourself well. Then why can’t you get through these slices of time,
maintaining control; not feeling like you succumbed to your old habits and
defaults? You know if you just got in that second workout you would have been
motivated to eat a healthy dinner instead of the take-out which has become too
frequent. You are at the crossroads.
Scenario
#1: recognize that the situation is beyond your control, and
continue on with your day. You have your emergency stash of somewhat healthy
snacks in your drawer that should hold you until you get home for dinner. You
decide to get a tall decaf latte with whipped cream to feel better. If you have
the energy after dinner, maybe you will do some stretching at home to feel like
you did “something.”
Scenario
#2: recognize the situation is beyond your control, but even
knowing this does not make it any better. You had been eyeing the chocolate
muffins sitting on the table in the employee kitchen all day, but purposefully
did not eat one because you had the confidence and motivation not to. Now, your
day has completely derailed as expected, so you might as well have a chocolate
muffin. At this point, what difference does it make?
The chocolate muffin is tasty and a nice reward for the
aggravation that lies a head. Back at your desk, the taste of chocolate still
on your mind, you begin to feel tired and distracted. The lightbulb in your
mind flashes – you need to wake up and focus to get this project done as
quickly as possible! You might as well get a venti mocha latte with whipped
cream. After the client call, while you work on the project, you snack on a bag
of tortilla chips and without even realizing it, the bag is empty. Seeing the
empty bag on your desk, you are in disbelief and angry with yourself for eating
so mindlessly. You get a diet coke from the vending machine, clear off your
desk and finish the project.
Its 8 pm and you are driving home tired and aggravated. You know
the 7-eleven has Dunkin’ Donuts and you could use a pick-me-up from the sour
mood you are in. You decide that you will buy a dozen, but only eat one and
bring the rest to work tomorrow. At home, you heat up leftover chicken, toss it
in mixed greens, and bake french fries. You eat the chicken and french fries
and push the salad greens around the plate. When you walk into the kitchen, the
donuts catch your eye. You are still hungry, your day went down the tubes, so
why not have another donut? An hour later during a commercial on TV, you walk
into the kitchen for a glass of water, and only see six donuts left. Enraged,
you throw them in the trash, have a glass of wine, and then go to bed.
The two scenarios’ above are very realistic and common for
anyone trying to revamp their diet, or lose weight. The stressors (causes) may
be different, but the consequences/effect (stress, derailment of plan) are the
same. The scenarios themselves are not individually good or bad, and neither of
the subsequent reactions are better than the other. If the reactions to the
situations are labeled generally as success/good or failure/bad, then it makes
it extremely difficult for anyone to move on and start fresh the next day.
However, the person in the scenario itself usually cannot think this way. They
are standing in the middle of the forest within their own mind full of created
realisms and judgement. I as the dietitian have an advantage because I am free
of the judgement, and can place a client’s situation in a different
perspective; instead of being in the forest with them, I am overhead.
The scenarios above target two very strong emotions related to
self-worth: a) sense of accomplishment and control we feel when we exercise
regularly and/or complete workouts as planned, and b) the effect of “A” on our
food choices that day. In this particular example, the focus is on the close
relationship between exercise and our ability to follow through on the second
goal (eating well). For people who experience scenario #2 more often than #1,
having a Plan “B” usually helps. It may not always work or be feasible, but
creating a pre-set mental plan in advance is better than not having one at all.
If you work with a triathlon coach, and trust the workout plan,
simply knowing that the missed workout is not going to ruin your training cycle
can be sufficient reassurance to not feel like your day has ‘gone off the
rails.’ If you don’t feel like your day has ‘gone of the rails’ then you may
not feel compelled to sabotage your diet. If the reassurance from your coach
will not penetrate your own mental rationale, planning a form of exercise that
usually gets skipped due to lack of time (e.g. Bosu ball, Swiss ball, foam
roller) are good alternatives because they work on weaknesses without expending
a lot of energy. If your goal of training is performance, I would not recommend
substituting a workout at the gym at 9 pm to compensate because this would most
likely affect the quality of workout the following day. If your goal is weight
loss I would still not recommend a workout at 9 pm, so that you do not get
overly fatigued the remainder of the week. If you became overly fatigued or
stressed the rest of the week, this could lead to more potential options for
failure if you do not complete a workout. The goal is to prevent a ‘landslide’
effect of one bad day ruining an entire week.
As
much as planning in advance (having healthy foods on hand) and having a plan
“B” ready to mentally switch to, can relieve anxiety there is another reality.
Even though we may not like our choices (eating pattern in #2) and
wholeheartedly want to change, there is comfort in our identity and what we
expect from ourselves. I explain it as a form of subconscious self-fulfilling
prophecy, which is by no means a scientific definition. A person does not
‘want’ to derail their day; they do not want to lose control; they do not want
to eat a box of donuts, and if they do, they will be upset with themselves. BUT
they do like eating chocolate muffins and doughnuts and maybe they deserve to
eat them considering the situation?
As a dietitian, not a psychologist or therapist, part of my job
is to understand where a client has been in their weight loss journey and the
implications of that. The amount of self-awareness varies greatly between
people, and where they lie along the Stages of Change Model, may be different
for mental goals and physical goals. One person may already be at the
‘preparation’ or ‘action’ stage of change, implementing an exercise program
into their normally sedentary lifestyle when I begin to work with them, showing
they are very motivated to become active. However, their readiness to face
mental obstacles that include identity, self-perceptions, judgement and
permission to change, may be at the ‘pre-contemplation’ stage. It is completely
fine to be at different stages of change, and actually may be advantageous so
that a person is not overwhelmed with taking on excessive personal changes at
once. Often, starting with a physical change can provide the self-confidence
—> to fuel the motivation —> to develop healthy coping strategies, needed
to face mental obstacles.
Inner beliefs we may not even be aware of, take time to come to
the surface and from my experience, this happens when the time is right and the
person is ready. The difficulty for a dietitian comes when a person does not
see or is not willing to see obstacles, and become defensive at any suggestion
of such. Respecting where a person is at in their own journey is a priority and
the goal is to provide the support and guidance to help them move forward.
Getting back to the scenario’s above, just like implementing a
new exercise routine takes deliberate focused effort, so does changing our
mental concept of ourselves. Implementing new mental mantra’s and recordings,
to change the same familiar theme we hear when a bad decision is made, is
crucial to getting over the hurdle between success and failure.
Good luck on your food and nutrition journey!
Regina Hammond is the Director of Nutrition at Trismarter Triathlon Coaching and Nutrition (http://www.trismarter.com). When she isn’t running up Pikes Peak Regina is creating custom hydration and fueling plans for triathletes racing in 1/2, & full IM distance races and ultra running events. Her interests include: the female athlete triad, disordered eating & eating disorders, bone mineral density, hormonal imbalances and the physiological effects
of overreaching/overtraining. With a background in competitive swimming, biking and running, she understands what it takes to be a competitive triathlete and works with clients on performance fueling plans, periodized nutrition plans, weight loss, and behavior change. Follow her on twitter (/reginahammondMS), facebook (/trismarter), or email her at regina@trismarter.com
