Eating an elephant

fitrookster

Most of my weight loss efforts were disappointments after disappointments. Losing weight was half the battle, maintaining that weight loss was much harder. Being physically active is a quarter of the battle, but remaining mentally healthy and making good food choices is much more difficult...at least in my case.

I've always been the fat girl, still am. Gained the 40lbs I lost a year ago all back. Now I'm bigger than my last highest weight....around 249 at a 5'7 large frame. The reason for my weight gain, and for the failures is because I did not make realistic goals. However now I got the hang of this thing, and will have better results.

After six years, I figured out why I wasn't succeeding. I wasn't succeeding because I was trying to eat a whole elephant in one bite. You know the question "How do you eat an elephant?". This question changed my whole life around. Turns out that you can't eat a whole elephant in one bite, however you can eat it one bite AT A TIME.

The elephant that I am referring to is my weight loss goal. My whole life centered around it. Instead of focusing on small manageable goals to look forward to, I solely focused on this one big goal of to lose weight and be skinny. By focusing on this one big goal, I noticed over and over that my goal still hasn't been achieved, and I wasn't sure what to do about it. Every time I got on the scale, I noticed that I haven't achieved my goal yet, and so I continually reinforced failure in my mind....and the negative subconscious thoughts took me back to my first starting point.

If I had small goals from the start, I would've been happier and much more successful. I would've had something concrete to focus on, instead of being overwhelmed by such a huge goal. Now that I actually have small goals, my life satisfaction is a lot higher because I view my life and my weight loss goals as a series of many small milestones, instead of one huge one that I may or may not achieve. Not saying that we should discount big goals!! Instead have that big goal, but have small ones to focus on that lead up to the grand goal.


Here's a great book to read; http://www.howtoeatanelephant.com/from-the-introduction/

simplyeva2

I think that's an excellent way to look at things! Meeting small goals will lead to big changes. I love to decorate and re-decorate my spaces at home. I find I am most successful when I sit back and figure out what I am shooting for then start by simply moving one picture or lamp or a small table and before you know it it all comes together. My point is that we approach most things in life this way, why not food and healthier living? I'm doing this by slowly eliminating things that aren't great for me like soda and chips. I don't want to say that I will never have them again but having them way less often is manageable for me right now. Small steps will get me to my ultimate goal but so will not giving up.

SingRunTing

Yup.

The only day that you can control is today. Try to succeed at your goals today and they will add up over time.