Forgive YOURSELF: How to Move On from Food Guilt
by
Beth Warren
October 2, 2020
Taking a note from the theme of this season's Jewish holidays, whether you observe or not, let's chat FORGIVENESS.
Aside from forgiving others, specifically forgiveness for YOURSELF.
It's been rough, from a food standpoint too. Just when we think we are getting our footing, another rug gets pulled from underneath us. Whether for good things like celebrating holidays and family time, to more difficult situations like quarantine, whatever happened with your eating choices and habits IT'S TIME TO LET THAT GO! 
By ruminating on the past mistakes or experiences, you're preventing yourself from moving forward and actually meeting your weight and healthy goals. BECAUSE YOU STILL CAN AND YOU WILL!
We are blessed with such amazing bodies that are resilient and ever-changing. You're never so defeated that there's no way of bouncing back.
Here's How to Move On and Forgive YOURSELF:
1. Explore more about why you feel this way and what you did. This isn't a time to judge, it's to understand. Was it your mom's favorite cake? Was it because you kept telling yourself you can't have it? Was it because you were stressed about hosting? Learning more about what prompted you to do what you now feel guilty about will help bring awareness now and next time.
2. Repeat positive mantras. Right now, write down 5 mantras that you can repeat to help refocus you and stop the negative thoughts. Try this, "I can control this minute, I can't change the past or predict the future," or "this too shall pass."
3. Do something that makes you feel good, without the food. Try a self-massage, bath bubbles that are sitting in your bathroom cabinet or body scrub. Try some self-care that just makes you feel good, it works wonders on your mind too.
4. Set small attainable goals. Once you hit ANY type of goal, you'll feel motivated to move onwards. It's never "nothing", it's always "something" when it comes to taking steps forward.
5. DON'T Go on the Scale! Perhaps my most important tips of all, DO NOT GO ON THE SCALE. When a client sits in front of me, we ALWAYS chat first. Sometimes we never even go on the scale. Why? Because it ultimately doesn't matter. How you ate, what you ate, what you lived through that week, your mood, your hormonal cycle, your work life, family life etc have WAY more impact and clarification on where the number of the scale is or goes, than the actual number itself in that snapshot moment. If you feel you didn't eat as optimally than you wouldn't like, already feel bad for it, and have a feeling the scale number went up, then WHY WOULD YOU PUNISH YOURSELF MORE BY ACTUALLY SEEING THE NUMBER RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU? It's not telling you anything more than you already know intuitively (where it really matters) other than making you feel worse. The scale, if anything, should be a check in point. But if it's used to dig a knife you're already feeling, deeper, SKIP IT! Personally, I don't even own a scale! Trust yourself, and you'll be able to forgive and move on quicker.
