Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Six-Week Frustration

It's been six weeks that I've been following Weight Watchers faithfully about 95% of the time. This is pretty awesome, and I feel great. My clothes fit much better, I have more energy, my skin is somewhat better, I'm not binge eating (and subsequently purging), and I just feel pretty darn good overall.



But this is the "make or break" point for me. This is the part where I usually give up. I start to get tired of eating healthy all the time, and while I don't fall off the wagon per se, I start to sneak off of it. It's a slow downhill slide that is a combination of the following:

  • I stop tracking my food.
  • I stop exercising because I'm tired or my muscles hurt.
  • I start indulging in foods that aren't good for me more often than I should (because I'm not tracking them, so I don't know how detrimental they really are to my eating plan).
  • I get frustrated that I'm not dropping pounds steadily. 
    • This is often compounded by watching The Biggest Loser and feeling like a big loser (pun intended) because I'm not dropping 5+ pounds a week. I'm also not exercising for four hours a day and being told what to eat from a nutritionist. BUT WHATEVER. IF THEY CAN I DO IT, I CAN DO IT, my brain tells me.




So what am I doing to try and keep myself on track?
  • I read /r/loseit and remind myself that I am not alone.
    • I especially try to pay attention to people whose weight loss took 1 year or more, or had a substantial amount of weight to lose like I do (as of this morning, I have 98.11 pounds to go, having lost about 12 already). I need to remember that I didn't put this weight on in a month or two; this weight steadily climbed over the past several years due to myriad reasons. So it's going to take time to take it off and as long as the overall TREND is one that goes down, I am good.
  • I remind myself how good I feel after I exercise, and how I look forward to it.

A big thing that has been sticking in my head lately is this: 

"When you decide what you want out of life, you'll probably be helped in making your decision by envy... There will likely be someone who is the object of your envy, whose life you'd like to lead. Do not scorn or reject that person because of envy. Learn from her. Imitate him."Ben Stein,  How Successful People Win: Using Bunkhouse Logic to Get What You Want in Life

Now, I'm not a Ben Stein fangirl (quite the opposite politically, in fact), but this resonates with me. I have to do more than just look at people and admire their accomplishments. I need to emulate them and put them into practice in my own life. And while I may not be able to, say, run a 5K right now, I can start small and work my way up to it, right?

This entire post is basically just a brain dump for me to stick with this and not get frustrated. I am going in the right direction, and I am better than I was two months ago. 

7 comments:

  1. I struggle with the same stuff. I think I'm doing good, and therefore I've totally got this and don't need to be diligent. And then it all crumbles.

    I'm adviceless (because, I've been off-and-on actively losing weight for four years and still have 30 or so to go), but...hugs!

    And, uh, don't count yourself out on the 5K so quickly. I started training for my first walk/run 5K when I was 275. And I was running 3-4 miles at a time when I was 260ish. If you want to run one, then do it. Screw what the scale says.

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    1. Cassie, you inspire me because you haven't given up. And because you are so beautiful even if you aren't 115 pounds and you celebrate your body and what it is capable of doing. I aspire to do the same!

      As for a 5K... ummmmm yeah, we'll see, lol. There is a local 5K that will benefit my local animal shelter that I am considering signing up for.

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  2. even if losing 12 pounds is only a small percentage of your totally weight loss goal, it's totally significant and something to be proud of! go you!!

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  3. You are doing a great job and I am so proud of you!

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  4. This is really inspirational! I know exactly how you feel. I only have about 15 pounds to loose but having never had to face weight loss before I feel like I'm floundering in the dark. I find it funny that to loose weight you largely have to do nothing. Yes you need to exercise but I find if I'm on the sofa craving something sweet while I'm watching TV, I tell myself I'm too lazy to go get the chocolate/crisps/biscuit. It's the only time in life being lazy will help!

    Good luck on your journey.

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