Non-food punishments

[Inge Jones]

I have seen threads about non-food rewards. But I have had a strange idea. Most of us stray from our diets from time to time, resulting in various degrees of guilt. The end result can be anything from giving up the diet, thru undereating the next day to try and make up, to just feeling guilty and ashamed.

Has anyone tried actually imposing non-food related punishments upon themselves, such as not watching TV the next evening, or going to bed early, or... having to wear those shoes you hate for a day etc etc? I was thinking of the opposite of the types of rewards people suggest for having been particularly good on your diet.

I wondered if the same psychology might apply as for the non-food rewards, to stop food always being the master.

 

[st.angelo]

Interesting idea. I know with children you are supposed to ignore bad behaviour and reward good behaviour so I'm not sure if a punishing yourself is a good idea.

When we're overweight we often have a lot of negative feelings and I would imagine that punishing ourselves if we stray from losing weight would reinforce a lot of those bad feelings like, 'I'm a fat loser' etc

Therefore in my personal opinion if there are any blips it's better to pull yourself up and start again/keep going with the journey to losing weight.

Rewards make us feel good and those positive feelings should be what spur us on and encourage us to do well.

 

[Neonshock]

Hmm, if I have a splurge, I will really limit myself the next day (or next time I am able) trying to have like 800 cals or so. Which is more calorie cycling than a punishment, but it can be hard! I agree with the poster above in that it might make bad connections in your brain that could negatively effect your relationship with food.

 

[CatCrazy]

I also think beating yourself up in any way over what you've eaten is counter productive. I make nothing off limits and that really does limit cravings etc...not had a bad day really, not gone over calories once, there have been a couple of days where i've had more crud to eat than decent food but still remained within my calories and yes they might have slowed weight loss with higher sodium etc but if it keeps me on the straight and narrow long term I think its worth it.

I know there are some that punish themselves in some way or another and If I see anyone on the other board I use beating themselves up about a slip up I will do my upmost to make them see the bigger picture. I have another friend who vows to make each slip up he has a little less damaging that the previous one...I think thats a pretty good one to work at

As for wearing shoes I hate...If I hated em I wouldn't have them lol.

 

[Inge Jones]

Well that was my point really. If you *can* go off-plan without beating yourself up, then fine. But so many people DO beat themselves up, and do it by dwelling on what they ate, or starving themselves the next day etc - all food-related punishments. I thought if the people who did suffer after overeating could displace their food-related response to a non-foodrelated one, it might further help the emotional distancing from food as a punishment or reward.

 

[Littleone]

That's a really interesting concept and I'm not too sure what I think yet.

I agree that punishing in any form can have not the desired effect. From personal experience I think I would become resentful towards myself and not necessarily improve my eating behaviour if I wore my worst pair of shoes cause I gained weight. I don't like being punished lol, and somehow it feels different coming from only myself.

But, like I think you're saying (correct me if I'm wrong), punishing myself with food makes me feel bad too and only sets up cycles for me. In theory, that distancing does sound like a good thing. Afterall, food can get so tied up in us and create problems.



I think more important than any type of punishment is the ability once I feel I've gone wrong to pick myself up, dust myself off and simply carry on. Maybe that's what we should all be trying to learn to do better than what we can already.

Also, maybe this is a bit off topic, but different people respond in different ways to things. I watched Strictly last night and one guy who did awful last time and got criticised awfully and marked down came back this week and was top of the leaderboard. He obviously responded really well to the criticism. How come? Maybe him as a person and him having that fighting spirit inside him. I'm not sure I'd make it through the week having been crushed.

My point is maybe some people can 'punish' themselves in the way you suggest and it motivate them. Maybe some people can't and that's why rewards come up a lot. Carrot or the stick, eh?

Gosh I have waffled on. Sorry!