Behavior Modification 101: How to Beat Your Rationalizations at Their Own Game
By: Dean Anderson,
SparkPeople Blogger
8/19/2008 2:48 PM : 83 comments
Out of all the creatures on this planet, only one has the ability to talk itself out of doing what it knows it needs to do. That would be you: homo sapiens.
Although this capacity shows up everywhere in human affairs, it is nowhere more extreme or self-defeating than when it is employed by your average dieter. It’s as if, when you go on a diet, something happens to your brain that makes you thoroughly incapable of recognizing even the most flagrant rationalization for what it is. Here’s a classic example, familiar to dieters everywhere:
It’s mid-afternoon, and you’ve done well all day at sticking to your diet. But something has come up, and you’ve broken into your secret candy stash for a quick dose of chocolate, your favorite comfort food. Next thing you know, you’re telling yourself: “Well, I’ve already blown my diet for today, so I might as well finish off that candy and start over tomorrow.” Then, it’s off to the local fast food joint for dinner.
Obviously, this is a rationalization that makes no real sense. In fact, it’s a pretty flagrant rationalization. You're not merely allowing yourself to overdo it a little with the chocolate, you’re giving yourself permission to make things much worse. Once things have gotten to this stage, there’s very little chance that simple rationality will assert itself and persuade you to get back on plan before serious damage is done. That bus has already pulled out.
So, what’s a person to do when this happens? Simple. You have to fight fire with fire.
You've probably heard of "aversion" therapy--that's where you take some behavior you're trying to stop and pair it with an immediate negative experience (like an electric shock) so that your brain starts associating that behavior with the negative experience. Alcoholics, for example, sometimes take a drug called Antabuse, which literally makes you sick if you take a drink.
This is a little trickier to do when the behavior you want to stop is a mental behavior, like rationalizing your way into doing something dumb, but sometimes using a little imagination and a powerful visual image can do the trick. The first step, though, is to identify the real problem.
In our example, the real problem is not that you’re using a rationalization. The real problem, of course, is that you want to keep eating, and that's the thing you need to change. Once you do that, the rationalizations and excuses will disappear on their own.
Unfortunately, just telling yourself that your rationalization doesn't really make sense isn't usually enough to change the desire to keep eating into something else. For that, you need to connect the desire itself to some kind of undersirable experience or image, so that your brain will be eager to go somewhere else when it pops up.
You could do something like hit yourself in the head whenever the urge to keep eating comes up, but that would be pretty inconsistent with creating a healthy lifestyle–brain damage is rarely healthy. This is where you need to use a little imagination to get the job done. Instead of fighting the urge to keep eating, or telling yourself how dumb it is, try taking it to the extreme, in your mind. Imagine, for a minute, what it would be like to eat continuously, without stopping, and see how that makes you feel. Is that really what you want for yourself? What would the world look like if everyone did that?
For those of you who have trouble imagining something like this, here's a link to a video you can use to get your creative juices flowing:
Wearable Feedbags
Whether this particular image works for you, or you need to create one of your own, you get the idea. Find some image or thought that makes you feel uncomfortable, and bring it to mind whenever you have that urge to keep eating more than you need. It won’t be long until your brain decides it’s not worth it to play this game anymore.
Although this capacity shows up everywhere in human affairs, it is nowhere more extreme or self-defeating than when it is employed by your average dieter. It’s as if, when you go on a diet, something happens to your brain that makes you thoroughly incapable of recognizing even the most flagrant rationalization for what it is. Here’s a classic example, familiar to dieters everywhere:
It’s mid-afternoon, and you’ve done well all day at sticking to your diet. But something has come up, and you’ve broken into your secret candy stash for a quick dose of chocolate, your favorite comfort food. Next thing you know, you’re telling yourself: “Well, I’ve already blown my diet for today, so I might as well finish off that candy and start over tomorrow.” Then, it’s off to the local fast food joint for dinner.
Obviously, this is a rationalization that makes no real sense. In fact, it’s a pretty flagrant rationalization. You're not merely allowing yourself to overdo it a little with the chocolate, you’re giving yourself permission to make things much worse. Once things have gotten to this stage, there’s very little chance that simple rationality will assert itself and persuade you to get back on plan before serious damage is done. That bus has already pulled out.
So, what’s a person to do when this happens? Simple. You have to fight fire with fire.
You've probably heard of "aversion" therapy--that's where you take some behavior you're trying to stop and pair it with an immediate negative experience (like an electric shock) so that your brain starts associating that behavior with the negative experience. Alcoholics, for example, sometimes take a drug called Antabuse, which literally makes you sick if you take a drink.
This is a little trickier to do when the behavior you want to stop is a mental behavior, like rationalizing your way into doing something dumb, but sometimes using a little imagination and a powerful visual image can do the trick. The first step, though, is to identify the real problem.
In our example, the real problem is not that you’re using a rationalization. The real problem, of course, is that you want to keep eating, and that's the thing you need to change. Once you do that, the rationalizations and excuses will disappear on their own.
Unfortunately, just telling yourself that your rationalization doesn't really make sense isn't usually enough to change the desire to keep eating into something else. For that, you need to connect the desire itself to some kind of undersirable experience or image, so that your brain will be eager to go somewhere else when it pops up.
You could do something like hit yourself in the head whenever the urge to keep eating comes up, but that would be pretty inconsistent with creating a healthy lifestyle–brain damage is rarely healthy. This is where you need to use a little imagination to get the job done. Instead of fighting the urge to keep eating, or telling yourself how dumb it is, try taking it to the extreme, in your mind. Imagine, for a minute, what it would be like to eat continuously, without stopping, and see how that makes you feel. Is that really what you want for yourself? What would the world look like if everyone did that?
For those of you who have trouble imagining something like this, here's a link to a video you can use to get your creative juices flowing:
Wearable Feedbags
Whether this particular image works for you, or you need to create one of your own, you get the idea. Find some image or thought that makes you feel uncomfortable, and bring it to mind whenever you have that urge to keep eating more than you need. It won’t be long until your brain decides it’s not worth it to play this game anymore.
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Comments
Friday evening on my way home I had to stop and get cat food.....well of course I had to buy something for me too.....so the silly me bought a can of mixed nuts - and so I went home pleased with my purchase even though I knew it was not a good purchase. And to make matters worse I ate almost the whole can that nite.....that was supper....omg....my stomach was in knots - the cramping and dibilitation went on till the next afternoon - hopefully now I will associate indulging on something like an entire can of nuts as painful ......not to mention the ton of fat and salt that I ate too.
With any luck the next time I look at a can of mixed nuts I will remember the pain and avoid it all together.
So my experience although not as horrible as eating non stop would be....it sure taught me a lesson.....hopefully one that will stay in my head for a long long time..
- 1/25/2009 5:32:11 PM
- 10/14/2008 12:09:17 PM
Amazing article on the rationalization, that totally is it for me, one bite of "naughty" stuff and I wanna stop at the next fast food place and make sure i've blown the day, followed by many days afterwards of the same behavior..TOTALLY drives me nuts - 9/24/2008 11:56:26 AM
Coach Dean Anderson, I know I'm going to sound like a huge dork, but I don't care. You are the best!!! - 9/7/2008 8:27:17 AM
That mental picture oughta do it! - 9/6/2008 9:23:06 PM
HOLCOL, I'm glad you said what you did. I have allowed myself to think that molly-codlling is the way to go and therefore when I indulge, I don't make myself feel so bad.
You conjured up quite the visual with saturated animal fat and a few choice chemicals. Not only did I feel my stomach lurch, but as I said, it conjured up a visual.
It's good to know I am not the only person who does better with the verbal slap up the head. - 8/26/2008 3:01:41 PM
http://www.theonion.com/content/vid
eo/dominos_scientists_test_limits_o
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It's all definitely "food for thought". - 8/23/2008 3:58:03 AM
As to the video's proposed function, I can see both sides of the argument, but it all boils down to understanding what makes you tick personally. Some people need constant encouragement and reassurance that their mistakes don't matter in the grand scheme of things. I work differently: I sometimes need a good talking to, a "verbal slap" if you like, to stop me being so self-indulgent when I make mistakes. Aversion therapy is the fancy name for this dose of harsh reality, but it works for me. Nothing puts me off eating that bit of greasy rubbish more than reminding myself that it's just a lump of saturated animal fat mixed with a few choice chemicals. Sometimes the positive image of myself 20lbs lighter seems too far off to be effective, so I look for some tough love, something to scare me into good behaviour instead! - 8/22/2008 10:21:48 AM
I think the video is a good idea of something to think of when eating to get yourself to slow down rather than just inhaling the food, IF you can stomach the thought of those images. Thanks for sharing the video. - 8/20/2008 2:33:08 PM
Aversion therapy is very affective at times...I still consider placing a picture of myself only in my underwear, on my refrigerator. That would be truly revolting to me, but I just can't work up the nerve. The feedbag idea has made an impression! - 8/20/2008 10:49:55 AM
I think mental imagery works the same way... Whatever works for you. Ultimately, you have to decide what do you really want? And if you want to get to your goal, then you have to be willing to tell those cravings and desires NO. Brushing your teeth helps too! LOL It seems to short circuit some of those cravings. ;)
Great post! - 8/20/2008 10:22:07 AM
I already practice an aversion technique I came up with myself. I just envison the unheallthy food I'm about to eat as it's component parts. Once I have an image in my mind of a donut being a glob of fat rolled in flour and sugar and fried in more fat, it becomes immediately less appealing.
Gross, maybe, but effective. - 8/20/2008 7:02:37 AM
I think it is healthier to allow 100 calories a day in your plan for either a sweet treat or a salty treat. By doing this the desire to "sneak" candy really diminishes.
I was expecting you to suggest a positive image of looking great with the weight loss as a motivation to stick to the plan.
We have enough people calling us fat pigs and other animals without getting it from sparkspeople. I think you should remove this blog entry or rewrite it so that it affirms us instead of treating us this way.
REally! A feedbag! We are not animals! - 8/20/2008 12:12:24 AM
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