I have two. One is "The food does not control you" which I say when I feel like I HAVE to eat something. The other one is "You don't want to be the fat girl AGAIN come bathing suit season" which I say when I am trying to find excuses to not work out.
I go through different phases of sayings. It all depends on what obstacle I'm trying to overcome. I suppose it might come across as talking to myself, but so be it. I talk to myself. I'm my own best coach.
Currently I tell myself things like:
"Doing healthy things feels good." - This crosses my mind frequently when I'm taking my walks.
"Are you really hungry?" - I ask myself this if I want to eat, but already know that it's not physical hunger driving the want.
"Yep. This is tough. Are you gonna quit over it?" - Asked in a difficult moment, to which I steadfastly reply to myself "Never".
Similar to what you mentioned as your mantra, I've also had times when I'll reference the future.
"The decisions I make today affect my tomorrow."
I'm a big fan of positive self-talk and helpful mantras. Can't wait to see what others tell themselves.
I know it's really simple, but the one that never fails to motivate me is "Just do it." I have a serious problem with procrastination so I really have to push myself to get up and exercise, or write in a food journal, etc. A close second for my favorite is "A year from now, you'll wish you had done it today." How many times have I started and stopped losing weight? If I had followed through any previous time, I'd already be at my goal weight by now! Hard to think about, but it's a good reminder to just stick with it. I pretty much say both of those things to myself on a daily basis.
I've never thought of making one, but maybe I should...Hmm. You got me thinking about this. Maybe I will start using "You can do this, you can beat this. One baby step at a time". I always think, baby steps, baby steps.
Keep going. No matter what, no matter why... I just have to keep going. That's the hard part after the initial loss, after the TOM woosh, after the new workout woosh... Keeping going day in and day out will get me to my goal, and it will keep me healthy and AT my goal!
Personally I really like the one that's been circulating on this board: "Being fat is hard, losing weight is hard, maintenance is hard; pick your hard."
"It's ok for other people to be disappointed." I'm around someone who gets pissy about me following my diet and not having more than one glass of wine or getting offended I didn't eat everything she ate or whatever... tough.
"What I eat is my choice and that choice does/doesn't get me to my goal". Once I took the power out of the food, it got a whole lot easier.
There are some great ones here! I love having a few more mantras!
Last edited by fyreflie24; 02-21-2012 at 10:02 AM.
I tell myself this all the time. Whatever that food is that I think I just HAVE to have, it's not the food - it's the act of eating. I know myself, I know this. SO many times I've found myself eating stuff and thinking, this doesn't even taste like much of anything! Why am I doing this!