Life's Changes Instigate 'Automatic' Reflex
Last week I was attending a huge BBQ convention called the HPBA Expo where there were grills galore to see up close and personal (I've even got one I will be giving away in April). I brought my wife Christine along with me and this trip and she tried to get me to eat a muffin while we were on the plane ride there! What's up with that?! LOL!
Christine said she was nervous and fell back into her familiar routine somehow forgetting I am on the low-carb lifestyle now. Sound preposterous? Try this one for size. When we were in the hotel room last week, I had to access the Internet using a brand new laptop and an unfamiliar WiFi service to be online.
So here I am in new surroundings (albeit for just a few short days) in a hotel room I'm not normally in typing on a computer I've never used. Guess what happened--I fell into some of my old habits from several years back when I first started surfing the Internet in the 1990s! For example, my old e-mail address which I changed two years ago to livinlowcarbman@charter.net was musicbuyer@aol.com. I had this as my e-mail address for over ten years (I used to work as a Music Buyer for a chain of Christian bookstores in Virginia).
Guess what happened when I tried to look up my e-mail account while in Reno--I caught myself typing m-u-s-i-c-b...before I realized I was putting in my old e-mail address to access my e-mails. Why in the world did I do that? It was as if with all the unfamiliar surroundings I had slid into some sort of "automatic" mode to cope with the stress of the situation at hand. Sure, I was having lots of fun and wearing myself out in the process, but it was out of the ordinary for me.
How does this relate to the subject of diet and weight loss? I wonder how many of us, no matter how long we have been on our low-carb lifestyle, sometimes kick into "automatic" mode with our diet. Do you catch yourself doing some of those old habits that made you obese before even now? Man, I sure do from time to time.
Click here to read more about this subject, including an example of this very thing happening to me earlier this year and how I am attempting to prevent it from happening again so it doesn't sabotage my weight loss.
Christine said she was nervous and fell back into her familiar routine somehow forgetting I am on the low-carb lifestyle now. Sound preposterous? Try this one for size. When we were in the hotel room last week, I had to access the Internet using a brand new laptop and an unfamiliar WiFi service to be online.
So here I am in new surroundings (albeit for just a few short days) in a hotel room I'm not normally in typing on a computer I've never used. Guess what happened--I fell into some of my old habits from several years back when I first started surfing the Internet in the 1990s! For example, my old e-mail address which I changed two years ago to livinlowcarbman@charter.net was musicbuyer@aol.com. I had this as my e-mail address for over ten years (I used to work as a Music Buyer for a chain of Christian bookstores in Virginia).
Guess what happened when I tried to look up my e-mail account while in Reno--I caught myself typing m-u-s-i-c-b...before I realized I was putting in my old e-mail address to access my e-mails. Why in the world did I do that? It was as if with all the unfamiliar surroundings I had slid into some sort of "automatic" mode to cope with the stress of the situation at hand. Sure, I was having lots of fun and wearing myself out in the process, but it was out of the ordinary for me.
How does this relate to the subject of diet and weight loss? I wonder how many of us, no matter how long we have been on our low-carb lifestyle, sometimes kick into "automatic" mode with our diet. Do you catch yourself doing some of those old habits that made you obese before even now? Man, I sure do from time to time.
Click here to read more about this subject, including an example of this very thing happening to me earlier this year and how I am attempting to prevent it from happening again so it doesn't sabotage my weight loss.
Labels: 30-in-30, automatic, diet, habit, low-carb, weight loss
posted by Jimmy Moore at
3/20/2007 07:21:00 PM
4 Comments:
This topic must rerally be making the rounds today---Sparky's girl did a post about emotional eating--and essentially that is what you experienced. I left a pretty lengthy comment over there so I'll give you the short version---
what works for me in times of stressful or emotional eating is to actually eat---but make the rights choices of what to eat.
Just the simple fact that I'm acknowledgeing that it is head hunger and not real hunger is enough for me right now...
One very stressful day at work I picked up the ringing phone and said, "Thank you for calling Avemco." Problem was, Avemco was my very first job when I was just out of high school, some years back. I couldn't believe what had just come out of my mouth. It was that kind of day.
I wonder how many of us, no matter how long we have been on our low-carb lifestyle, sometimes kick into "automatic" mode with our diet. Do you catch yourself doing some of those old habits that made you obese before even now?
Yes, this has happened to me a few times since I started Atkins last year. When under extreme stress the "automatic" mode seems to take over.
I've done that, too, Ahavah bat Sarah. Also, when I worked in radio in the 1990s, I was at two different stations with different call letters--WODC and WPMH. I can remember answering the phone at WPMH and saying, "This is Jimmy from WODC." As soon as I said it I realized what I had done. The caller said to me, "Long day, huh?" LOL! Yep, long indeed.
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