99% mental
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Philtex
Posts: 962 Member
I don't know if he actually said it or not, but Yogi Berra supposedly said "Baseball is 99% mental. The other half is physical." I find that my efforts at weight management and my running are both way more mental than physical. Same for you?
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Absolutely! Decades ago I took some martial arts classes (might have to think about doing that again). One of the principles I remember from that was to use your enemy's energy against them. To some extent, I try to do the same with weight loss. And part of that is not to have it use more of my energy than necessary; not to make it a battle.
Figuring out my relationship with food has helped me know my triggers and given me new ways to address them. I don't mind that food was and to some extent still is a crutch under those circumstances. I just try to be way more mindful and make better choices now. I've also discovered 'fun with fractions'. Coming from a mindset of finishing everything on my plate, I realize now I don't have to. If it's food I'm making I have learned to make 1/2 or less of what I used to and it's usually completely satisfying.
It took me awhile to realize that re-thinking how I behave around food would be a key piece of getting my weight under control. It was a far cry from the mechanics of weighing and measuring, but together with those tools, it's helped me get where I want to be, so far...
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Oh its so obviously mental that its amazing. Learning to think about what how & when I eat, learning how to slow down my eating, its all part of the being mindful about life. I know that there are times when I am either in a low energy or high energy state of mind, and my diet, exercise and weight reflect on that, and its important to get my self into the proper mental state in order to have success in my life from all perspectives, weight, personal, health, and overall happiness. The challenge for me is to try and remember that its something that I have to conciously do for myself.
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Completely agree!0
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Yup. The fat is in our heads.0
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Mental & Emotional0
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Absolutely. If my head is not in the game with weight loss everything goes downhill. It's pretty exhausting to have to be on my game all the time. Maintenance fatigue is absolutely a thing.0
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Rachel0778 wrote: »Maintenance fatigue is absolutely a thing.
New term for me. I get it.0 -
Maintenance fatigue??? 8 years and no "fatigue" yet. Maybe it is part of the ole "don't do anything while losing that you aren't willing to do for the rest of your life" idea. I added back in the foods and beverages I enjoy within the first 3 weeks while on WW. So yes for the first 3 weeks or so I skipped some foods and beverages while getting use to the program but figured out how to add them back in early on.
Would I like to eat more and party more?? Sure. But I don't feel deprived or "fatigued" with every day living the lifestyle. Somehow have to figure out what works for us personally.
I do agree that it is "all" (99%+) mental. For me staying with the habit trail and not thinking about it too much helps to alleviate mental fatigue. I had no goal weight or time in mind and am happy with where I am.
I am genuinely pained by those who struggle with the whole thing all day every day. Wish there was a magic pill I could pass on for others to get beyond the constant pain.0 -
Yes no question about it as far as I'm concerned.0
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@podkey I'm glad to hear you're rocking 8 years with no fatigue yet! Out of curiosity, do you still track daily?
Maintenance fatigue is definitely common and I think part of why people gain the weight back. It's annoying to constantly have to calculate how many calories, points, etc are in everything so that I can accurately track to stay in maintenance range instead of just eating what I want when I feel like it.
Sadly without tracking, I quickly pile everything back on, so it is something I'm going to have to do for the foreseeable future until it hopefully becomes second nature. I don't restrict types of foods or anything like that, but I don't see any way of reducing the burden of intake mindfulness without quickly piling back on the pounds.0 -
No after 1 year at goal I got away from journaling and tracking. I eat mostly SFT foods and have the plan "memorized". I think of what I do as "memorized" instead of "intuitive". I don't feel like there is anything exactly intuitive about it.
I can see where daily tracking could become a burden for sure. I have tracked when new plans have come out to see how they would work for me. I do feel blessed or whatever you might call it that I have been able to continue on without the tracking. I say that I would do it (track) in a heartbeat but in a sense "talk is cheap" and I get that. I do eat a lot of the same meals and foods so for me tracking is more a click and drag thing when I do it and that helps a bit too. Unlike DW I do OK without as much variety and special foods which I also thinks helps me.
I didn't want to start a plan where I had to count calories which just plays with my brain (big numbers) and did WW because of the small points which I could memorize.
I don't by any means fell "cured" and eat mindfully daily best I can.
I do know that for many folks maintenance can be a real hardship. You work hard, get to a healthy weight, and then low and behold nothing changes. I have had many "failures" on prior plans where I drifted away and am unsure as to why WW and the principles have stuck.
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I learned the term "mindless eating " on GoaD and it really struck with me. The mental part of eating is the key to my success.
I learned how little quantity of food I need per day. The mental part comes in deciding what quality foods I want to consume.
When I see Newbie's " I'm starving" posts on WW Connect I want to say "I doubt if anybody on WW is starving!" It's just the mind saying "You're not shoving food in your mouth... GET BUSY!"
Bad eating is a habit just like healthy eating can be a learned good habit.
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@podkey Thank you for sharing your insights! I can't remember who said it, but being a fat guy in remission rings true to me!
I think I eat similarly to your DW because I do like a lot of variety in my intake, which does mean a lot of recipe calculations. It would be easier to just stick with a few favorites, but I get bored easy and I enjoy cooking up new recipes.
I have oddly found the bigger numbers comforting. It feels like I can eat more (even though realistically I'm eating around the same on both plans). It's fun to hear how each person sees things differently.0 -
My friend's say I'm mental.1
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Regarding the "I'm starving posts", one of the sayings that used to help me when I was new was "No one ever starved to death between lunch and dinner." If I can apply that to the times between dinner and breakfast, I'll be in great shape.
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Rachel0778 wrote: »Maintenance fatigue is definitely common and I think part of why people gain the weight back. It's annoying to constantly have to calculate how many calories, points, etc are in everything so that I can accurately track to stay in maintenance range instead of just eating what I want when I feel like it.
Sadly without tracking, I quickly pile everything back on, so it is something I'm going to have to do for the foreseeable future until it hopefully becomes second nature. I don't restrict types of foods or anything like that, but I don't see any way of reducing the burden of intake mindfulness without quickly piling back on the pounds.
I definitely understand "maintenance fatigue". Just this morning, as I stepped on the scale for my morning weigh-in, I thought to myself, "I am SO tired of being concerned about what I weigh".
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Ditto, Cindy.
Podkey is lucky to not have fatigue. It's not that the actual mechanics are so difficult, it's just that so much of it is NOT second nature to me. A lot is, but there's plenty that isn't.
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