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.
(Source)
