The “screw-its” are when you say “screw it” it something you claim you’re committed to doing, and go off the rails in some way.

It might be with your eating plan.

It might be with an exercise plan.

It might be with a project around the house, or even something you’re working on to grow a business.

The “screw its” usually happen as a result of hopelessness (as in you don’t see the point in keeping your commitment, because you don’t think it’s going to work out); frustration (due to things not happening how or when you want them to); or even a rebellious feeling, as if someone is “making” you do something, and you’re going to stick it to ’em by saying screw it and doing whatever the heck you feel like.

What’s crazy about the screw-its is that they create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Since is this is a nutrition and lifestyle blog post you’re reading, let’s use healthy eating as our example.

You’re eating the way you’re supposed to be, but the scale’s not moving. (Food isn’t the ONLY factor in whether your weight comes off, but to keep this simple, I’ll stick with the food example.)

You get so fed up that when your partner brings home a huge deep dish pizza, that hopelessness, or frustration, or resentful rebellion rise up (maybe even all three!). You figure this weight’s never gonna come off no matter what you do, so you help yourself to half the pizza.

Not surprisingly, your weight is up the next morning…but only because YOU took actions that made it go up.

Put another way, you made your own worst case scenario of “the weight won’t come off no matter what I do” come true.

And there-in lies the danger of the screw-its.

You think you’re sticking it to someone, but what you’re really doing is eroding your own self-trust.

You think you’re “accepting reality” by caving into the hopelessness, when really, you’re the one giving yourself reasons to feel hopeless.

And you think you’re justified in eating what you want because what you want (the weight to come off) isn’t happening, but you’re the one causing your weight to go up.

When the screw-its hit, here’s what you can do to stop them from setting you back.

First, just acknowledge how you feel, and accept that it’s okay to not be okay.

Suppressing how you feel, or making it wrong, won’t help you. So just acknowledge how you feel, without judging it. A lot of times, that will be enough to stop you from setting yourself back.

Second, once you’ve acknowledged how you feel, ask yourself: “Tomorrow when I get up, will I be glad I ate this, or will I wish I hadn’t?”

Probably, you’ll wish you hadn’t.

Third, tell yourself that you’re going to wait 10 minutes before eating whatever it is you’re thinking of eating.

Set a timer and everything, and go do something else. Buy yourself a few minutes to let that case of the “screw its” ease up.

Once those 10 minutes are up, check in with yourself and see how you feel.

Are the “screw its” manageable enough to where you’ll stay out of the food? In most cases, they will be, but if they’re not, set another 10-minute timer.

Not getting the results you want, as fast as you want, can be frustrating, but here’s the thing.

When you succumb to the screw it mindset, it’s gonna take even longer.

So stick with the program, put measures in place to set yourself up for success, and use the tips I’ve shared here to buy yourself some space between feeling like saying “screw it” and actually going off the rails!

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