I fell to temptation :-(! 2 ways to prevent this from happening to you!
I finally broke down and bought Cable TV. This is something I’ve been avoiding for a long, long, time. What happened that made me stop resisting?
Falling to temptation can start with persuasive words.
For example, Spectrum in all its wisdom wrote me a letter and explained that my internet rate was going to increase…A LOT! But…it just so happens that if I add Cable TV it’s only $10 more. Hmmm…that sounds like a good deal.
Now let’s connect this to the weight loss world. Remember beware of persuasive words and where to we see tons of fancy marketing words? At the grocery store! It seems like everything is fat-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, Zero-carb, extra protein, etc.
Marketers know the chances of you buying a product that appears “health-conscious” goes up exponentially. However, most of the time if looked at the back of the food item and read the ingredient list you’d see that it’s a far cry from “weight loss” friendly.
Point in case, just the other day I had a client send me a picture of a “high protein” food that happened to marketed as “fruit.” Here’s the thing, fruit generally doesn’t have a lot of protein. So I had her send me a picture of the ingredient list and sure enough, it was basically a fruit roll up laced with sugar and some whey protein. I’m sure it tastes delicious, but it’s far cry from a “great” weight loss option. Once again beware of persuasive words.
Second, beware of foolish thoughts and actions with it comes to temptations. Thoughts, especially those that are foolish, lead to actions which 9 times out of 10. If you want to stop the foolish action, you need to stop the foolish thoughts.
Returning to my Cable story, when I feel into temptation ;-). I saw the persuasive words and “deal.” I started to think about what having Cable would be like…ESPN, ESPN 2, AMC, etc…and those foolish thoughts lead me to action. If I had stopped the thought and changed my thought process I would have avoided falling into the $10.00 trap ;-).
Returning to the grocery store. You are doing great and then all of the sudden you see a box of Little Debbies, the words “Gluten free” and “Fat Free” screams at your eyes. You then begin to think, they are only 200 calories each, plus they are fat free and gluten free. What can it hurt? I will just have one and give the rest to the kids. So you take action and buy them. Then once you open the package you see that a serving has two, so what the heck, you eat both. And the slippery slope continues and you “forget” to log those calories because you feel kind of hopeless and guilty.
Lastly, temptation revolves around instant gratification. Think about that next time you see persuasive words and “thinking.” The temptations will make you content and happy for a pin prick in time. Maybe, 5, 10, at best 30 minutes later you will become dissatisfied disillusioned and upset. And at that point there is nothing you can do about it but learn from the experience grow and try to overcome next time. But the best option is to develop habits so that you don’t succumb to temptation. Think long-term on what you truly want and desire for yourself.
Go be awesome!
Kellen Lake – But I did get to watch some new shows lol.
PS – Thanks goes to Mandy for inspiring this story. She has lost almost 30 pounds in two months, congrats!
