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Old 12-10-2004, 06:58 PM   #1  
Meg
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Default Do You Have A Mantra Or Special Saying?

I'm a sucker for motivational sayings , having spent mega-years in WW meetings soaking up every corny aphorism they dished out. Let's see, I remember 'I've come too far to take orders from a cookie' and 'nothing tastes as good as thin feels' and 'fake it until you make it'. Then there are ones that are personal to me, like 'whatever works' and 'every day is a new day; every morning is a fresh start' and 'you gotta have faith; you gotta believe' that have evolved from my journey (not profound by ANY means but things I said to myself over and over again as I was losing). Oh yeah, I've spent way too many hours chanting 'no more fat legs' as I do cardio!

Today, for some reason, I keep hearing a *voice* in my head whenever I've been tempted to eat something off-plan ... 'this is too important to mess up'. Don't know where it's coming from, but yeah, this really IS too important for me to mess up. Losing the weight is the BEST thing that's happened to me in a long, long time and I don't want to risk blowing it and gaining it all back. So I'm listening to my voice.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the things we say to ourselves to keep on track. So I'm curious - do any of you have a favorite saying or something that gets you through the tough times? Do you talk to yourself? (I do - all the time ) Anyone want to share? You can't be much cornier than I am!
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Old 12-10-2004, 07:19 PM   #2  
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'I am stronger than that cookie' or whatever food is problematic at the moment.

'I could just apply that directly to my @$$ and be done with it'. Not real positive but it usually works.

'Not as scary as my committee'. Reference to grad school.

'It's like touching the wall.' A swimming reference, swimming laps in a pool you get some feelings of safety and comfort by touching the wall as you turn around, but in open water swimming there is no wall to touch and you can actually go just as far without the help, once you let yourself step out of the comfort zone. Touching the wall is nice, but you really don't NEED to.

I also break almost everything I dislike doing into time steps so I'm more than halfway there. Including steps like halfway to halfway, because the first half is the hardest half, and halfway through that is significant. So I tell myself 'I'm almost done' or 'halfway there' a lot when things are painful or boring or whatever. I know it isn't really true, but it still works.

'I rock!' When I've done something really good. Like finishing a race, or passing up a chocolate cake on a bad work day.

'No wishing!' A reminder that wishing don't make it so, and I actually have to do some work.
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Old 12-10-2004, 09:26 PM   #3  
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How about "I can't be fatter next time I meet Meg?"

Is (fill in the blank with food) worth 60 minutes of cardio?

I have lots of exercise related sayings, like Anne. "Run through the tape", "Think past the finish"....

Finishing a hard lifting set is like a musical phrase- I was always taught to play past the bar line, meaning to mentally extend the phrasing beyond the end so you don't just come to a screeching halt. Using the same approach to lifting often enables me to get 1 more rep than if I'd been thinking "go for 8".

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I also break almost everything I dislike doing into time steps so I'm more than halfway there. Including steps like halfway to halfway, because the first half is the hardest half, and halfway through that is significant. So I tell myself 'I'm almost done' or 'halfway there' a lot when things are painful or boring or whatever. I know it isn't really true, but it still works.
I do that too.

Mostly my mantra now is "I like my clothes".

Mel
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Old 12-11-2004, 09:26 AM   #4  
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I usually just tell myself the truth..."I don't need that."

If that doesn't work, I pig out on lettuce or something to where I'm too full to eat it.

Chocolate being one of my downfalls, I usually get a taste of something too to help with a craving. I get those SlimWhey bars occasionally as a treat.
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Old 12-11-2004, 09:35 AM   #5  
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Mine is my siggy, and I find that it applies to almost anything in my life.

"Never trade what you want at the moment for what you want the most."
It's short and sweet, but oh so powerful.

Beverly
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Old 12-11-2004, 08:45 PM   #6  
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Good thread Meg,

Yes, I talk to myself all the time. What I say changes periodically. Some work, some dont. I also intend to steal some of the ones you all use too, though my own committee wasnt all that scary .

I use 'whatever works' all the time, not so much when I dont want to eat, but when I am doing something more or less that I consider strange that gives me motivation. Should start a thread about 'whatever works'.

There was a lady on tv who had lost weight, and she now keeps her scale on the floor in front of her frig. Whatever works.

My current verbal favorite is: "You can quit this very second if you really want." followed by "But is that what you really want to do?" (I am reminded of Dirty Harry pointing a gun at someone)

I also like something from Dr Phil : "Expect more from yourself."

Jan
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Old 12-11-2004, 09:03 PM   #7  
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Hi all, just putting my oar in, I'm pretty far off maintenance but thought I'd tell you something I learned in Hypnotherapy.... When you use an affirmation or mantra you may be addressing your subconcious mind if you go deep enough. It dosn't recognise the negative, just as a small child - as in, when you say 'Don't put your head through those railings!', your dear little rugrat hears 'head' and 'railings' and goes ahead! So saying 'I don't need that cream cake' just focuses on the cream cake, so with your affirmation/mantra, etc, think positive. Also use first person, present tense if possible. Keep it simple.
P.S. Don't think of elephants


What are you thinking of????
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Old 12-12-2004, 08:53 AM   #8  
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There is a company that sells coffee - can't remember the name of it. Anyway, it sells fancy hot drink mixes and the slogan is:

Do not undo all the good that you have done.

I say that to myself all the time. It's silly, but for me, it's so true. I work so hard to keep my weight down and then in one weekend, I can blow it all. Well, not really, but it FEELS like I've blown it all and when I do slip and binge all weekend or vacation or whenever, it can take me weeks or even months to get back on track. So I just try "not to undo the good that I've done" for myself.

It's NOT worth it. (that's my other famous mantra)

Lessismore (a.k.a. Anne)
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Old 12-12-2004, 11:22 PM   #9  
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I use both affirmations and 'mantras'. To me they are not quite the same thing. To me, an affirmation is saying something to yourself over and over again in order to change or re-inforce a desirable behavior. I use one 'I want to eat less.' to come to the state of consistently wanting to eat less. But this is not what I actually use when I am faced with wanting to eat something this very moment, and am not hungry. For that I use, if I think of it in time, some sort of saying or mantra to spur me to not eat as mentioned by so many above. Another one I thought of last night is: "Do you want to lose weight or not?" Or for maintaining "Do I want to be thin or not?"

I also have a list of what I call 'power words' tacked to the frig for motivation, support, reminders of what it takes, whatever. My current ones are 'effort, commitment, persistence, consistency'.

Jan
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Old 12-13-2004, 10:36 AM   #10  
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Great minds work alike!! As I watched TV this morning, I found myself repeating my mantra aloud at every third commercial because every third commercial was about some Christmas-related goody. I was thinking "I wonder if anybody else does this?"

I listen to a bit of alternative rock, the stuff the college kids are listening to now I guess. One of the current bands getting airtime on my local alternative rock station has an album titled "Fight the Foo". And that has become my most recent mantra - "Fight the Foo". While I'm not real sure what the kids mean by it (it could be an obscene reference for all I know), for me it strengthens me against the pervasive parade of junk thrown at us all day every day. The parade of things like -

"Would you like to make that a combo?"

"Would you like fries with that?"

"Would you like desert tonight?"

"Everything tastes better when it sits on a..."

I also find myself repeating it in "dangerous" situations. I bought chocolate yesterday to go in the Salvation Army kids stockings that we are doing at work this year. As I picked up bags of candy and put them in my shopping basket yesterday, I was glad no one was near enough to hear me murmuring "fight the foo fight the foo fight the foo..." almost under my breath. It kept me from ripping into the bags when I got into the car and I am proud to say that all of the candy I purchased yesterday arrived intact at work this morning. Besides, who wants to steal candy intended for poor children?
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Old 12-13-2004, 12:15 PM   #11  
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I like "One moment on your lips, forever on your hips!" Works for me along with " Is it worth 60 minutes cardio?" Something like that. Often though I can fall into the trap - I can eat it because today I am going to the gym... Well, i figured out that I have to go to the gym first, and it depends on how much I did in the gym!

This Friday my husbands company had a Christmas party - I ran 7km during lunch, I tried every single dish during the party (in moderation, but still it was twice as much as i eat usually) - I danced 2 hours straight on the party, next morning i went for a swim. Scale told me I did not gain any weight two days after. So for me it was - if you want to splurge, burn your calories first (exercise) and than eat your extras...

Sandy.
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Old 12-13-2004, 12:36 PM   #12  
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I found my mantra in the maintainer's forum! (thanks, Mrs Jim!). I ask myself if I'm renting or buying my new body. It's been working for me ever since I read Mrs Jim's post a couple of months ago on this forum.
As a homeowner who has just bought a house on my own for the first time, I really like the analogy. In the past, after losing weight, I always slipped back into my old eating habits and all my weight came back and brought friends. This time, as I drive past the fish and chip shop, I ask myself if I'm renting or buying and so far, I've kept driving and headed home for a healthy meal!
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Old 12-13-2004, 04:22 PM   #13  
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I'm not a maintainer (yet), but I ran across a Dr. Phil saying the other day which I really like: "Behave your way to success." For me it's a reminder to separate my emotions from my actions. Just because I'm having a bad day and want to pig out or watch TV instead of exercise, I don't *have* to. I don't have to feel like it all the time in order to do it.
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Old 12-13-2004, 08:53 PM   #14  
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Until about a month or so ago, I didn't really have a mantra, and as I look back on it, that was a mistake. I've been re-reading the "positive self talk" chapter in Thin for Life, and I notice that most of the masters reply on their own positive reinforcement. And that reminded me that when I quit smoking I joined one of those smoking-cessation classes, and the teacher assigned us the task of coming up with a saying that we could rely on when the going got tough. Mine was, "I'm a puff away from two packs a day." I bet I said that 50 times a day if I said it once. I'd forgotten all about that until this thread surfaced and I stumbled across the chapter.

My mantra comes from a couple of sources. Part one is "Breathe." Here’s what Victoria Moran has to say, in part, about breathing: “Regular practice of controlled breathing, even for just a couple of minutes a day, makes a substantial deposit into your serenity account … Breath control is the ultimate stress manager because it’s free, immediate, and always available. The yogis of Ancient India made a science of studying the breath. They taught that oxygen is our primary food and that proper breathing placates the mind – a conclusion with which contemporary psychology concurs. … Use your breath to help you clear your mind, calm your thoughts, and open yourself to inspiration.”

Part II of my mantra is “Wait.” Again, Victoria Moran: “Emptiness is scary. Ours is a culture that detests and fears emptiness, waiting, being for its own sake. Nevertheless, you’ll have a hard time staying thin for life – or for six months, for that matter – if you don’t learn to wait. … Once you can wait, you can do almost anything.”

Part III of my mantra is almost a cliché: “It all counts.” Too often, I’ve discounted the cookie here, the crackers there, the “just a taste” elsewhere. But it all adds up; it all counts. Interestingly, I’m applying this same mantra to my budget and as a way to put an end to my impulse purchases. Breathing, waiting and then remembering that it all counts should help me maintain not only my hipline, but my bottom line.

So, that’s my mantra: Breathe. Wait. It all counts. I like it so much I’ve made it my signature.
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Old 12-14-2004, 05:22 AM   #15  
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Wow - these are all awesome! LOVE them all! It sounds like we all talk to ourselves - once again, it makes me believe that so much of weight loss and maintenance happens in our heads, not our bodies. The interesting thing is that all these little sayings are all very personal and might not make sense to anyone else ... but they're powerful to us.

I thought of a few more that work for me:
  • there will come a day - from a song by Faith Hill that I listened to over and over again while I was losing, especially when it seemed like I had SO far to go
  • I don't do that anymore - to remind myself that those are old behaviors associated with the old, fat Meg
  • don't take the first bite
  • I can stop if I want to - this actually has short-circuited a binge or two
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