A topic that comes up with my clients and one I’ve noticed here on the MM forum boards is the issue of “falling off the wagon.” Of course “to fall off the wagon” is a slang term in reference to take up drinking after having stopped and the wagon is presumed to be the water wagon. The common denominator of falling off the wagon for Miracle-Ville members is to fall back into the pattern of eating too much or choosing the wrong foods off the MM plan. With the upcoming holiday season, I thought this would be a timely subject to address. If you do decide to go off plan during the holidays, take care to have a plan to get right back into your healthy routine.
In this Lynn’s Place article, I am going to discuss the following topics: What are some of the psychosocial reasons that make us go off the wagon? If we do fall, what are feelings we may have about ourselves, and most importantly, what can we do to recommit and resume our healthy MM lifestyle?
PSYCHOSOCIAL
The word psychosocial means factors or issues that are both social and psychological in origin. That said, it is my belief, that if we go off plan, it may not be just in our minds or lack of motivation, but it may also be social situations or social pressures and stresses that lead us astray. Some of these psychosocial reasons we fall off the wagon include: stress, family and peer sabotage, impatience, feeling deprivation and not being able to focus and plan.
Stress
This, of course, is a big one. This can range from heavy duty life stresses to feeling overwhelmed in general. As nice as the Holidays are, they can be stressful No matter what stress we’re feeling; it’s still stress. We may feel like turning to the comfort we have known with food to ally that uncomfortable feeling.
Family and Peer Sabotage
We can feel this kind of pressure anytime; however, around the Holidays, it can be more intense. We are also what I call “rooted in” certain traditions of holiday foods. That is there are a lot of traditional foods that we like, we are used to and we have around the Holidays that do not fit the MM guidelines. Family and friends may be disappointed or hurt if you do not partake in family traditions. For more information on sabotage, please refer back to one of my previous articles here in Lynn’s Place. Here is the link:
https://villeinterviews.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/spin-diet-sabotage-into-diet-support/
Impatience
The scale can be such an enemy. It can really mess up our mindset while on a diet. How many times have I read that people got on the scale before their 8 weeks of Step One was over and freaked out because they didn’t lose weight, weight stayed the same or they thought they should have lost more? Diane tells us to stay off the scale for a real reason. The reason is that getting on the scale can actually psychologically hurt us. Why go through all that disappointment and worry if we don’t need to do so? In this case we may become impatient, frustrated and give up because our expectations of ourselves were not met. Diane has ideas and plans for this: She always says stay off the scale until the time is right to measure your progress, she developed expected fat loss criteria and she describes the way Met B’s loose weight with the “curlicue” factor.
We also live in a world of instant gratification and tend to want immediate results. MM is s fat burning diet/lifestyle that takes time. We all need time to get used to this new lifestyle and way of eating. This requires steady, long term focus and we must give ourselves the gift of patience to stay the course.
Within the framework of patience, another issue is having an all or nothing attitude. Taking on a new lifestyle can be scary. Some of us are adapting to a whole, new lifestyle; some are recommitting to MM and some of us know the drill and continue to live the MM lifestyle. No matter where you are on this path, if you do slip, there are ways to jump right back on plan at any time. You never need to feel it is all or nothing. Slips are going to happen. I have had clients tell me they went off the wagon, screwed up so why not just eat what I want because I’ve messed it up anyway. This is what I mean by getting run over by the wagon you just fell off of.
What about the mindset of not losing weight fast enough? Many of us on our maiden voyage of Step One had a great deal of initial success. We lost the weight, felt good, looked good, had better labs, but the numbers on the scale was not good enough. Because we were not patient with ourselves, frustration set in and we gave up. Our expectation lead to disappointment. The media doesn’t help our mindset either. It is shows like Biggest Loser, for example, which seem to have unrealistic weight loss results, that fuel our frustrations.
Deprivation, Restriction and Resisting Temptation
I don’t care for these words, they are downers; yet, for years, I’ll bet for many of us, these words probably came to mind when we thought about starting another diet…..again. Going on a diet meant focusing on what we cannot have. which for most of us, makes us want those foods even more. The feeling of deprivation can make us cave and choose the food choices we want to avoid. Resisting temptation can be frustrating and stressful and cause us to slip. What I love about MM is that after the initial detox period, and if we are following the plan correctly, we lose the cravings, we don’t feel deprived, nor restricted and instead of resisting temptation, we align with better food choices. Physically, scientifically, this happens to us. Since Diane spelled out how to get our hormones in balance, our mind follows. Our thinking is more clear and we can plan how to align with the best food choices, whether we are at home, out to eat, or dealing with the stress in our lives.
OUR FEELINGS
Many times when someone has fallen off the diet wagon, they tell me they have feelings of disappointment with self, guilt, embarrassment, fear, low self esteem and poor self confidence. We get discouraged with these feelings and fall off the wagon. These negative thoughts about ourselves create inner conflict that sets us up to slip. Any negative thinking about self needs to be turned around and our focus needs to be about getting back on plan. When we slip up, we may have the attitude that all is undone, so we might as well live it up; however, as Met B’s, physically, we go back into the vicious metabolic cycle of overworking our liver and pancreas. When we know we have Metabolism B, getting back to the MM lifestyle is so important. To jump back on the wagon, we need to take that leap of faith, be kinder to ourselves and forgive ourselves for the slip-up. Which ever MM Step you are on and for how long you have been off the wagon, Diane has a plan built in MM to get right back on track.
RECOMMIT
If you find yourself falling off the wagon and feeling badly about yourself, then it’s time to recommit to MM. The following are a few points to consider when taking the leap of faith back into your health and well-being.
Plan
To get back on plan, review MM again, follow Diane’s recommendations to get back on track, plan and think everything out, and organize yourself with the information. This may include, knowing MM, writing a shopping list, organizing your kitchen and pantry to accommodate your re-start.
Don’t Panic
Don’t dwell on past mistakes and try not to be so hard on yourself. Pick yourself up and acknowledge the successes you have achieved. As long as you don’t let things get out of hand, your mistakes need not undo days, weeks or months of working on your weight loss goals.
Live the Lifestyle
Get back into moving more and work out a good exercise plan of action. Whether that be at home, outside or at the gym, be like Nike and Just Do It. Put it in your mindset to drink plenty of water, your green tea and take your vitamins. Rally the troops. Find support from family, friends and this big family of friends in Miracle-Ville. These should all be part of your MM plan.
Positive Reflection
Take time to reflect on all the benefits of recommitting to your plan, staying on track and why you want to follow a healthy lifestyle. Go over the situation rationally. Falling off the diet wagon does not mean you have no willpower or that you are incapable of following through. It just means you’re human. Reflect upon the many physical, emotional and spiritual benefits that eating healthy and staying on plan will give you. Look over and set your goals again. That can be from how much weight you desire to lose, to having a better lab report, to fitting into that outfit for an important event happening in your future plans.
Create A Vision Board
This is fun activity to illustrate your goal. I created a vision board where I pasted on photos, words and images that captured what my new, healthier life would look like. I did this 3 years before the original Metabolism Miracle Book came out. I am excited to report that in the middle of my vision board, I put all my health conscious words and pictures of healthy foods to eat and affirmations of healthy living. Not too long ago, I looked at my vision board and I could see that this positive collage of health related pictures and words indeed came true! A vision board is an amazing way to change your life for the better. I created my vision board because I believe creative visualization can bring change into our lives. Put your passion, emotion and thought into your own vision board and see what happens!!!
As you all know, we all have slip ups from time to time. That is just human nature. But as easily as it is to fall off the wagon, it can be just as easy to recommit to get back on plan. Get into that mindset and you’re there, back on the wagon again.
If you do happen to fall off the diet wagon, how do you set yourself up to get back on track?
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this is very very helpful, thank you! (sometimes I feel like I am not run over by the wagon, but being dragged behind it, desperate to gain control again)
Hi EW,
So glad this article was helpful. I love how Diane has everything all worked out for us. If we do fall, she has taught us how to get right back on track. So, you can always be in control!!!
I loved this article. After the first four weeks of MM, I had a binge and decided to completely start over . The binge was a result of “just having one bite” and that was all she wrote. I ate every sweet thing in the cupboard. I am now 5 weeks into the new step one and am faithful that when I finish, I will have an improvement in my metabolism. Although loosing weight would be great, I want to get off this metobolic syndrome ride. I need to have labs done next week and I am hoping that there will be improvements. One of my motivators are the words one doctor said to me, “Cathy I would expect you to know better. Stop eating the junk!!” So yea, I was embarassrd b/c I was not practicing what I preached. I guess I had a secret life, but I know now why I had all those carb cravings: work and family stress, sickness, no sleep. I am much kinder to myself now and realize it is not about lack of self control. I have also accepted to be happier at a higher weight. My BMI is still normal..
Hi Cathy,
Taking good care of yourself for the recommended 8 weeks on MM will get you off that metabolic merry-go-round…labs do improve and you contunie to lose on step 2 You become healthy from the inside out!! Keep up the great work!!!!
A mini-vision board can be created on the inside of a frequently opened kitchen cabinet door……. :))
I had a slip-up yesterday at an impromptu stop for lunch at a restaurant on my shopping trip. I had my cheesesticks with me for the trip & planned on a drive-thru bunless cheeseburger, but my neighbor decided to go with me at the last minute, which turned into a dine-in lunch while traveling.
It wasn’t really a slip-up…..I did have the hashbrowns replaced with cottage cheese, told the waitress to hold the English muffin…but then told her I’d have it. It was a conscious decision….so I could dip it into my egg yolk, an experience I hadn’t had since starting MM 2 years ago. Today is the MM Plan again, with no exceptions. 🙂
Hi Lotus!
That is a good idea to put the vision board on the inside of a kitchen cabinet door!! I have mine in my office and love to see how things unfold. Love that you had it in your mind to get right back on track. MM is such a livable lifestyle.
Ahhh, falling off the wagon … yep, we’re all human! But it’s interesting to me that since I started MM in 2009 I don’t ever seem to technically “fall off the wagon.” Because Metabolism Miracle has made me feel so good, I just do not want to return to the “old” days where I didn’t feel well most of the time because I was eating things that aren’t meant for my metabolism. Even during the time my mom was on hospice and dying, and it was so very difficult to stick completely to the plan just due to all kinds of circumstances, the basic principles of Metabolism Miracle were never far out of my mind. I always wanted to be on plan, but emotional upheaval was interfering at the time. Then it was more that I couldn’t eat at all than it was eating the wrong things. But there were many times we grabbed fast food because that’s what fit in that day. I didn’t have the energy for “guilt” about it back then. I knew I would return to my plan as soon as I could.
But of course I’m babbling up there in the previous paragraph. THE HOLIDAYS … this will be my third year of “the holidays” since I’ve been on MM. To be honest, I don’t really fall off the wagon at holiday time. I want to feel good and enjoy the holidays, not walk around holding my stomach and wishing I hadn’t eaten such and such. So I do my best to stick with it. Now that’s not to say there might not be an instance of, as my vet calls it when dogs eat stupid stuff, “dietary indiscretion.” But as I’m reaching for something I know I shouldn’t have I’m usually telling myself, okay, just a taste, or just a bite, and 98% of the time I can handle that without reaching for a second taste.
Two things will occur in the weeks ahead that are just a tad difficult to handle. The neighborhood Christmas cookie exchange, where we all bake three kinds of cookies and then share them, a dozen of each kind for each person attending. That’s A LOT of cookies. But last year I made a batch of carb smart cookies (and I can’t even remember what they were) … and that’s what I had while at the cookie exchange itself while we all sat around chatting after filling our baskets with cookies. This year I think I’m going to experiment with the MM chocolate cake, add some extra dark chips to it, maybe some sugar-free caramel syrup, and cut it into very small cookie size squares, and that will be my choice if I want a cookie. When I bring home the many dozens of cookies I will do what I’ve done for the past two years … immediately freeze 3/4 of them. I have often pulled out Christmas cookies in the summer to enjoy as a treat at a barbecue, especially if we have a Christmas in July barbecue to go to.
The other gathering I know of so far is a group of us that always get together at holiday time. Used to be we would each bring an appetizer, an entree, a side dish, and a dessert for two people. Well, over the years that’s gone by the wayside because it’s just toooo much food when there’s three or four couples. So this year we’ve decided it’s dessert only. Already in my head I’m thinking about what can I bring that will be on plan for me. I’ll be fine with it even though there may be other great desserts. Sure, maybe I’ll have a tiny taste of each thing … or maybe not. If I do, I won’t feel guilty about it. I’m on a mission, an MM mission … and that mission is for life … because I want to feel good!!!
Hi Cheryl,
You and I must be kindred spirits! I could say and relate to a lot of the same things you just said!!! I’m on a MM mission too!!! …and it feels good!!!
Just coming back to MM after a few months off the wagon due to some heavy duty stresses (health problems and death in the family) that life threw at me. I was using food to cope and feeling absolutely miserable… both from the stresses in my life and from the additional stress I piled on myself by eating so awfully! I’m on my fourth day of MM again and already feeling so much better. This post was nice encouragement for me today! Thank you for such wonderful words.
I love the idea of the vision board. I did one years ago and was astonished at how a year later, the things I had put on the board had happened. I’ve thought of doing one many times since, but haven’t yet. I think that may be a good project for me to do to start this year off. 🙂 I think it’ll be a blessing this year and would also work wonderful with my word of the year – rebuild.