Aside from all my other neuroses, I have some sort of weird deprivation complex. I am always a little bit afraid that I might be hungry. I have a thing where I have to finish everything on the plate. If someone offers me food, I never really say no. I hate quitting things, in case I miss them or need them down the line. I HATE the feeling of being deprived of something and if I am, I obsess over it. Scumbag Brain is my brain, all the fucking time. And I know a lot of people have to work hard to overcome Scumbag Brain in order to lose weight or maintain any kind of fitness regime. So I thought I'd do a post about how to kill off Scumbag Brain who is trying to sabotage you.
So in my weight loss and fitness journey, I have had to trick my brain into believing that I am not depriving myself of anything in order to make myself believe that everything is ok and its not a famine (I did the same when I was smoking and tapered off so gradually, Scumbag Brain didnt even notice). Back many moons ago when I was in college, I had a horrible relationship with food, and lets just say I plain old stopped eating for a while. I wont go into the details, but it was a very hard couple of years. By my third year I managed to sort myself out and began eating properly and taking care of myself, but I really screwed up my metabolism. I also developed a fear of being hungry from having a long time when I was, literally, starving. So in January, when I decided I needed to change my eating habits and start exercising, I had to do some mental acrobatics and confuse my little reptilian brain into not being scared off by the process, and not to be sabotaging me all over the place as per ususal.
The first mentality I had to get into was 'I am not depriving myself of anything'. This really, really helps to keep me on the straight and narrow. I can eat like a bird for a week but then I fall off the wagon and have a pizza, and Scumbag Brain will tell me Ive failed and there's no point in trying anymore.
The second thing I did was give myself permission to quit quitting things, so Scumbag Brain wouldn't notice anything was the matter. I decided I would get to losing weight by adding things to my life, and not quitting anything. Nothing was out of bounds.
I thought I'd share some of the things Ive 'added' to my life instead of quitting. This means that when it comes to the time of day where you'd crave chocolate, youve just had a banana smoothie and a huge lunch, and you dont really want the chocolate. Or youve just worked out for an hour and you look at a glass of wine thinking - I am choosing not to have this as it will undo all my hard work. My new motto is - no quitting - and that just adding good stuff to any diet and lifestyle will lead to ultimately making much better choices.
A list of things I've added to my life in order to quit quitting and usurp Scumbag Brain
1. Eat little and often between, then eat three good sized meals with plenty of protein and veg, and fewer carbs than normal (but compensating with extra protein and veg)
2. Add loads of vegetables to every meal. Silly amounts. Have a normal portion of your stir fry, chilli or whatever, then roast a load of sweet potato or peppers or broccoli and eat that alongside it until you're stupidly stuffed. Scumbag Brain doesnt really know the difference if youre binging on pizza or on vegetables...
3. Add exercise - even as little as 15-30 mins per day - and you'll find yourself not wanting to undo your hard work and taking more care of eating clean.
4. Add water - drink shit tons of water all day, you'll feel way fuller and it'll help keep your metabolism on track.
5. If you have a sweet tooth, use maple syrup or agave. Maple syrup is gorgeous and full of B vitamins, its much healthier than those artificial sweeteners which are poisonous if you ask me...
6. Drink green smoothies. If you don't have a high speed blender, you mightn't like to blend your own smoothies with spinach or kale, so add a green powder like spirulina, green barley, blue-green algae etc to some orange juice, bananas and berries. Greens will alkalize your body, give you a fantastic protein kick, and fill you up. They're a great way of shoe-horning in your 5-a-day if you don't like eating fruit and veg. Also, if you're doing strength training, replace your water in your protein shake with a green drink and get way more nutrition into your body.
7. Eat nuts. Nuts are filling, packed with protein and an amazing pre or post workout snack. If you dont like eating whole nuts, have nut butter. Eating nuts and nut butters before and after working out mean you wont have a massive sugar crash when you're done, and the protein helps with muscle recovery too.
8. Never leave the house without a banana. Because bananas are amazing and incredibly filling and perfect for making Scumbag Brain think youve just had something sugary.
9. Ive waxed lyrical about them on the blog before, but any time I feel even the slightest hunger pang, once I know I'm hydrated I eat an oat cake with hummus, salsa, almond butter or any other spread/dip.
And finally...
10. Ok I lied. I have given something up. I have given up listening to Scumbag Brain. Every time I hear a Scumbag Brain internal voice, I call it a scumbag and move on. This means no more beating myself up about being fat. No more feeling weak or telling myself I can't do it. I've also given up monitoring my weight loss so closely, instead giving myself kudos and a pat on the back every day for showing up to work out and for eating well. I'm starting to notice my body change, but more importantly, I have been noticing my mind change much more quickly... I'm happier. And at the end of the day, who gives a shit what you look like when you are healthy, strong and happy. And my brain isn't *quite* as much of a scumbag these days.
The first mentality I had to get into was 'I am not depriving myself of anything'. This really, really helps to keep me on the straight and narrow. I can eat like a bird for a week but then I fall off the wagon and have a pizza, and Scumbag Brain will tell me Ive failed and there's no point in trying anymore.
The second thing I did was give myself permission to quit quitting things, so Scumbag Brain wouldn't notice anything was the matter. I decided I would get to losing weight by adding things to my life, and not quitting anything. Nothing was out of bounds.
I thought I'd share some of the things Ive 'added' to my life instead of quitting. This means that when it comes to the time of day where you'd crave chocolate, youve just had a banana smoothie and a huge lunch, and you dont really want the chocolate. Or youve just worked out for an hour and you look at a glass of wine thinking - I am choosing not to have this as it will undo all my hard work. My new motto is - no quitting - and that just adding good stuff to any diet and lifestyle will lead to ultimately making much better choices.
A list of things I've added to my life in order to quit quitting and usurp Scumbag Brain
1. Eat little and often between, then eat three good sized meals with plenty of protein and veg, and fewer carbs than normal (but compensating with extra protein and veg)
2. Add loads of vegetables to every meal. Silly amounts. Have a normal portion of your stir fry, chilli or whatever, then roast a load of sweet potato or peppers or broccoli and eat that alongside it until you're stupidly stuffed. Scumbag Brain doesnt really know the difference if youre binging on pizza or on vegetables...
3. Add exercise - even as little as 15-30 mins per day - and you'll find yourself not wanting to undo your hard work and taking more care of eating clean.
4. Add water - drink shit tons of water all day, you'll feel way fuller and it'll help keep your metabolism on track.
5. If you have a sweet tooth, use maple syrup or agave. Maple syrup is gorgeous and full of B vitamins, its much healthier than those artificial sweeteners which are poisonous if you ask me...
6. Drink green smoothies. If you don't have a high speed blender, you mightn't like to blend your own smoothies with spinach or kale, so add a green powder like spirulina, green barley, blue-green algae etc to some orange juice, bananas and berries. Greens will alkalize your body, give you a fantastic protein kick, and fill you up. They're a great way of shoe-horning in your 5-a-day if you don't like eating fruit and veg. Also, if you're doing strength training, replace your water in your protein shake with a green drink and get way more nutrition into your body.
7. Eat nuts. Nuts are filling, packed with protein and an amazing pre or post workout snack. If you dont like eating whole nuts, have nut butter. Eating nuts and nut butters before and after working out mean you wont have a massive sugar crash when you're done, and the protein helps with muscle recovery too.
8. Never leave the house without a banana. Because bananas are amazing and incredibly filling and perfect for making Scumbag Brain think youve just had something sugary.
9. Ive waxed lyrical about them on the blog before, but any time I feel even the slightest hunger pang, once I know I'm hydrated I eat an oat cake with hummus, salsa, almond butter or any other spread/dip.
And finally...
10. Ok I lied. I have given something up. I have given up listening to Scumbag Brain. Every time I hear a Scumbag Brain internal voice, I call it a scumbag and move on. This means no more beating myself up about being fat. No more feeling weak or telling myself I can't do it. I've also given up monitoring my weight loss so closely, instead giving myself kudos and a pat on the back every day for showing up to work out and for eating well. I'm starting to notice my body change, but more importantly, I have been noticing my mind change much more quickly... I'm happier. And at the end of the day, who gives a shit what you look like when you are healthy, strong and happy. And my brain isn't *quite* as much of a scumbag these days.
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