by Mark Schiffman, M.S.
There is a classic Saturday Night Live skit of the Gap girls at the mall where Chris Farley (playing a Gap girl) is stuffing David Spade’s (playing another Gap girl) French fries down his mouth. When David Spade asks him about the fact that he was trying to lose weight, Chris Farley stares him down and in a demonic voice says “Lay off me – I’m Starving!” He then quickly returns to his giggly feminine voice and says “Diet starts Monday!”
While my internal struggles are not as entertaining as Chris Farley, I often feel these two unhelpful tracks of thought in my quest to lose weight. Any time there is a little bolt of inspiration to eat healthier or go jogging, it is often snuffed out by a “Lay off me – I’m starving” thought or a “Leave me alone – I’m exhausted” thought. I then make myself feel a little better by momentarily convincing myself that I will get on track next week, which is comforting until the same cycle continues on Monday.
Often times we have irrational beliefs that keep us from sticking to our goals – “It is too hard to exercise,” and “I can’t resist the hot dog.” While there are many factors involved in eating healthier and doing more exercise, we can go a long way towards reaching our goals if we correct these irrational beliefs – “I could stand the difficulty of exercise in order to help reach my goal” and “I could stand to resist the temptation of the hot dog.” If we focus on the rational thoughts and realize that diet starts right now, not at some point in the future, maybe we could finally lose those extra pounds!
