A few things I wish I could tell the old me...

Allterrain_Lady

Hello everyone,

(I apologize for any spelling/grammar mistakes. Not a native English speaker...)

I started writing this at 30lbs loss. Still almost 40lbs away from Ultimate Goal Weight.
About the moment where I realised that UGW wasn't ultimate at all.
That it wasn't the end of anything. That is was an open door to the next act.
That it's a number and I want to be/achieve many numbers of other things.

Here's some of what I've learned along the way.
Please, keep in mind that I still am learning. Every day. But this is what I would have wanted to read, before starting.

First and foremost: It’s a mind game. Your body follows your head.

It is gonna be a long road. As long as your life.
We didn't get fat overnight, so we won't get thin overnight. The good news is that we don't regain what we’ve lost or ruin all our efforts in one sitting either. Mishaps will happen and that what they will be. Mishaps, not drama.
Maybe, sometimes, huge setbacks will happen. You won't have a choice because life happens. They can be overcome. They will be overcome.

Symbolism is nothing:
You don't have to wait until next Monday or January 1st or your birthday to start a new lifestyle. Any random Thursday at 4.57pm would be perfectly okay. The start is the first conscious healthy decision you make. Regardless of when and why and how bad was your eating previously that day/week/month/lifetime.

Laziness doesn't exist:
It's a symptom of something else. It's your mind telling you where your priorities are at a given moment.
When you're on a path towards a healthier you, your priorities should be working out and healthy food. Sometimes it's not.
Sometimes, the priority is to have a glass of wine to celebrate something.

…. SO....

“Don't trade what you want most for what you want now” Jillian Michaels.
So true. Before making a decision, ask yourself if it gets you closer to your goal or further away.
Sometimes, the “bad” decision, such as a second slice of cheesecake or skipping a workout, is what you really want. When that happen, you won't wake up regretting it the next morning.


Getting back on the wagon is way harder than staying on it.
And you will want to get back on it at some point.
As sure as you will fall off wagon at some point. The first time is priceless, in that regard. It will teach you how easily bad habits come back with a revenge.
Keep that in mind before you allow yourself to have a slip. No matter how small.
Make sure that getting really off of it is the only thing you can do. That you can't deal with whatever is making you fall off any other way at the moment.


“Yesterday, you said tomorrow”
That's how 'today' never happens. That's how “someday” becomes your favorite day. Full of promises about everything you'll do/be. And, when someday never comes, you realize how many “somedays” you've let go useless.
Know how to tell hunger apart from cravings
When you feel you're hungry when you 'shouldn't' be, there's two ways to tell real hunger from cravings. First, have a full glass of water. We're dehydrated way faster than we think. If it doesn't pass after 5-10 minutes, think about what you want to eat.
If anything healthy but tasty bores you out of your mind but anything real sweet, salty, greasy feels like heaven on Earth, that's not hunger. That's your mind wanting food.

We feed our souls, emotions, minds at least as much as we feed our bodies.
Food is never only fuel. There's a social connection to it. And, most definitely, an emotional one.
It's been the first answer to all our tears since we've been born.

…. THEN...

Identify your triggers
Mine is boredom, more than everything else. Emotional pain used to be a huge one too.
Once again, those triggers tell you way more than you'd think. They tell you, you're not in the right place in your life. It has nothing to do with food.

The scale doesn't tell even half of the story.
I'm 2lbs heavier today than I was 6 weeks ago. But I've lost yet another pants size. Among the “dieting people”, this is called a NSV. Stands for Non Scale Victory.
Those are priceless. They tell you how much everything changes beyond your weight. Each and every one of those matters more than any pound lost.
I can spend a full day on very high heels without feeling it in my knees. That's the dream.

Take the dreaded before pictures (and measurements)
Because we are so ashamed of ourselves, we tend to stray away from cameras. When you start your 'journey', take loads of pictures of you from every angle. As naked as possible.
We don't see ourselves change. But, a month later, the new set of pictures will tell everything that happened.
I take new shots every ten lifting workouts. Considering my routine, that's about every three weeks.

A long streak doesn't mean a perfect streak. A short one doesn't scream failure.
My streak is 463 days straight as of this writing. No way in hell those were 463 perfect healty days. Actually, I've spent the last quarter of 2017 burried in chocolate candies for no more reason than I've reached an all-time low, scale wise, and went on sabotaging myself.
But I logged, cheered on friend's successes, gave support. And, finally, started to treat myself as good as I would treat my friends.

Treat yourself with clear-headedness yet kindness.
There's a huge spectrum going from self-loathing to the 'everyone is to blame but me' mindset. We tend to go back and forth on this during the process of claiming back our lives.
The sweet point is where you're able to acknowledge what's happened to you while recognizing the part you had in it. It's freeing.

Educate yourself
Yes, ignorance is bliss. Once upon a time, I didn't know how many calories there is in a slice of cheesecake. And thought I could eat the whole cake because I took the stairs instead of the elevator on a given day.
It was a form a happiness.
But, knowledge is power. When I eat (bake, even) a cheesecake now, it's a choice.

Stay away from anything called “blablabla diet”
There isn't bad (REAL) food. There's bad eating habits.

Life happens
We have friends, family, co-workers. With the best intentions they'll offer you a drink, invite you to dinner.
You'll have bad days, a fight with a loved one, the flu or anything random that pisses you off and food seems the answer.
That's when 'Mind fitness' comes in handy.
That's when your emotions have to not be the driver.

AND FINALLY:
Lose the weight the way you plan on keeping it off. This is endgame.

Love

Vanessa

KeepRunningFatboy

Tremendous post, thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights.

suzurich

So inspiring, so true... thank you so much for saying it.