I need to change the way I feel about this whole shrinking thing. I’ve gotten caught up in the mindset that I’ve “fallen behind” and I need to make up extra weight loss to catch up with where I should be. I have been focusing too much on the fact that if I had done a better job in 2009, I could be skinny right now. I keep thinking that I need to start all over.
While talking to my Wellness Coach Joelle yesterday, I began to see that my negative attitude is the only thing holding me back right now. The truth is, I’m not “starting over.” I’ve lost weight and while I do need to get the ball rolling again, I’m not starting from the same place I did a year ago. I’ve made tons of progress both mentally and physically.
This week’s focus is on doing what I can today instead of trying to make up for yesterday or last year. It’s so easy to pull out a calendar and say “If I lose 12 pounds a week I can be at my goal weight by…” How many times have you done that? The harder choice is to focus simply on today’s behaviors and let the tomorrows take care of themselves.
I spent so much time this winter trying to make up for my lack of weight loss (or down right weight gain) that I began to always think of the weight I was trying to lose as unimportant. What I mean is that if you tell every one that you weigh 225 pounds, but you really weight 250, when the scale drops to 245 you don’t really see it as a success. Does that make sense?
So now that I’ve come clean and am being very honest about how I’m doing, I’ve decides to play pretend. Let’s pretend I took the winter off to maintain my weight loss and now that spring is here, I’m ready to get back to it. Okay, so it sounds a bit childish to pretend the last few months were a purposeful rest period, but beating myself up won’t help me eat better or exercise harder today.
Do you need to forgive yourself for past mistakes? Try playing pretend with me, pretend that your past failure was an intentional strategy to aid you in your next goal.
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
Hi y’all! I’m a deep-fried Southern girl, born and raised in North Carolina. I’ve recently relocated to Boulder, Colorado and I am determined to adopt the healthy lifestyle of the people around me! It’s time for a real shift in my lifestyle – a paradigm shift that will create new habits and result in a thinner, happier, and hopefully better, Sara. A Sara 100 pounds lighter than I was when I started! Hope you decide to come along for the ride.
it ain’t easy, but you got this in the bag. Welcome back to round 2!
I’m also on the whole “I took the winter off to maintain” wagon. Everything you say is spot on. Instead of beating ourselves up and trying to play “catch up” we need to just acknowledge where we are NOW, and focus on moving forward at our own pace. Sounds like you’re doing just that
If weight loss were easy, everyone would be thin. Keep your eyes forward and leave the past in the past. And remember this, if you aren’t failing (or making mistakes, however you wish to view it), you aren’t learning anything – so this winter had a purpose, and here you are, all “learned” up
“If I lose 12 pounds a week I can be at my goal weight by…”
Oh my gosh! I say that (or a version of that) almost every single week! And then I beat myself up because I didn’t lose as much this week as last. Or because I’ve wasted so much of my life being fat.
I completely agree that focusing on one day at a time is the way to go. One of the biggest things that has helped me is making mini-goals and rewards. Because if I look at the big picture, I just think about all the things I’ve done wrong, instead of celebrating all the things I’m DOING right!