Why do we self-sabotage?

In last week's video, I briefly covered self-sabotaging. I mentioned that as long as you don't actively self-sabotage during times of stress, you can continue progressing towards your dream physique, even during the busiest and most chaotic times, and in today's article, I want to go through this in more detail.

Prefer to watch than read? Then please check out the video below:

The most common form of self-sabotaging

Self-sabotaging is a complex topic, and there are many reasons why one might self-sabotage, so to keep things simple, I'm going to go through the most common form of self-sabotaging I see. 

Now, let me be clear – no one gets to a point during their weight loss journey where they think that regaining all the weight they've lost is a brilliant idea – it's much more subtle than that. During times of stress, difficulty or depleted motivation, we inevitably accept the weight gain by telling ourselves that the regain will ignite the motivation we need to get back on track. Usually, this is nothing major – maybe a few kg's regain before we get right back on it. We're only human – we have moments of weakness – it's no biggy. Though, with the same mentality, many take this much further. We remember how motivated we were at the start of our journey and actively self-sabotage in the pursuit of regaining that heavily sought after motivation. This mentality is one of the main reasons people yo-yo diet. There will likely be a point you reach where you just can't get past – a point where you've not quite reached your ideal physique but are content enough to see motivation dwindle.

Self-awareness

With the aforementioned self-sabotaging mentality, you will never reach your goal unless you become more self-aware. Aim to understand why you may self-sabotage, what might you obtain from self-sabotaging, and at what cost? Let yourself feel the emotions that might drive you to self-sabotage, then work through them. You'll get to a point where you'll realise that self-sabotaging is not the way – you might even realise that it's something you've already started, and this could be the wake up call you need.

Focus on moving forwards

As I mentioned in last week's educational video – you don't need to be 100% on top of your training and nutrition to achieve the results you seek. If you're stressed, overworked, under-recovered and unmotivated, you don't need to regress in order to induce motivation. You just need to do the bare minimum to continue to progress; control your intake, eat a protein-rich diet and keep active. Continued progression, especially through difficult times, will motivate you much more than regressing. Plus, motivation is not even something your need – it's overrated and a finite resource – you just need to cultivate good habits.

Cultivating good habits and solidifying them is the key to long-term success!