Stop trying and start doing
mulderpf
Posts: 209 Member
So I was reflecting earlier on the last few years of my life - I've once before lost weight and got myself down to a healthy weight and then ended up putting it all back on. At the time, I did pretty well, it wasn't a crash diet, it was a proper process of healthy eating and some mild exercise (nothing where I ever broke out in a sweat!!). So I was thinking - if I could do that four years ago and I knew "the secret" of losing weight, what happened?
Well, my first mistake was thinking that healthy eating is a diet. Eating healthily is not a "diet", it's what most people do every day. The day I went for my last weigh-in and I reached my goal weight, my diet was over. I immediately stopped thinking about what I was eating (the plan I was on then, was a simplified healthy eating plan - it was portions of food groups instead of calories, but all works out the same at the end of the day). ** Eating well is for life, it's not a diet. ** (And that's why people on Dukan / Atkins / Cabbage Soup / meal replacements / whatever fad diet can eat my shorts, because once their diet is over, that's exactly what will happen to them).
So over the two or three years that followed, my weight just went straight back to where I started off, plus a few more of course. I had the secret, I had done it before, why couldn't I do it again? I tried over and over and over and it just didn't want to get there. Despite all this trying, the scale just kept going up!!! Had my metabolism slowed down or did I break it? What was wrong?
I now realise it's because I was trying, not doing. Trying is just not good enough - you have to DO. It doesn't mean you have to jump in at the deep end from the get go, but you can't just keep dipping your toe into that pool and think you went for a swim. I definitely did not get in on the deep end, but I'm in that pool now and loving it!! You cannot say, "I am going to do it for 5 days and see if it works" - you have to commit. You have to try it for a month and see if it works.
I started slowly...first, just logged my calories and got used to scanning everything and started getting an idea of what I'm eating (already there, I realised where I was going wrong, so I could make some immediate changes). I got myself a really good digital scale, because the last time I weighed my food, I lost the weight, so why can't it be done again. So I made sure I scanned and weighed EVERYTHING.
The rest followed naturally for me...(some of it I do remember from my "healthy eating" lifestyle change from before and how to balance out meals, so it certainly helped) - I would compromise certain things to have others (I love drinking wine and didn't have to give it up this time - well not too much!!). As long as I was constantly doing rather than trying to, it was fairly easy. I do remember getting to a point where I was like "I cannot wait for the day that I don't have to scan everything I eat". But I'm over that now - I've been scanning/entering EVERYTHING I eat for the 4 or 5 months (except for around 6 days when I was abroad) and now it's like breathing to me. I now control my weight and the last few months really taught me how to stay in control of it (it's easy for me to say now I suppose) - I don't want to lose this control and if it means simply logging every meal for the rest of my life, that's what I'll do.
With losing the weight, I started looking for ways I could start eating more, but not "lose control". I rediscovered my love for walking and started small - now I'm walking distances I never thought I would before on a daily basis (and sometimes I eat back the calories, sometimes I don't).
I've had cheat days, I've probably had an average of 2 to 3 bottles of wine every week, I've had several chocolate bars (albeit much smaller than the ones I used to have), I've had burgers and fries, fish and chips, but, what I can say is that this wasn't a case of "more good days than bad" - because that means I was trying, not doing. I just put my mind to it and did it. Every burger, every chip, every glass of wine is logged though. Whether I went over or not, it is there.
I really think anyone can get there, you just have to stop hiding behind the excuses and put your mind to it. I've got one of the best excuses in the world, because for me, obesity is in the family. Most people would say it's genetic, but I realise that it's just family tradition to eat too much. Most people would say that heart disease is genetic in my family, but I realise that it's just because my family is obese. (I'm not saying genetics mean nothing, but you can't use it as an excuse - our bodies, unless we have a medical condition, all work more or less the same at the end of the day!).
Sorry for the long post - I hope it does give some people a bit of motivation.
Well, my first mistake was thinking that healthy eating is a diet. Eating healthily is not a "diet", it's what most people do every day. The day I went for my last weigh-in and I reached my goal weight, my diet was over. I immediately stopped thinking about what I was eating (the plan I was on then, was a simplified healthy eating plan - it was portions of food groups instead of calories, but all works out the same at the end of the day). ** Eating well is for life, it's not a diet. ** (And that's why people on Dukan / Atkins / Cabbage Soup / meal replacements / whatever fad diet can eat my shorts, because once their diet is over, that's exactly what will happen to them).
So over the two or three years that followed, my weight just went straight back to where I started off, plus a few more of course. I had the secret, I had done it before, why couldn't I do it again? I tried over and over and over and it just didn't want to get there. Despite all this trying, the scale just kept going up!!! Had my metabolism slowed down or did I break it? What was wrong?
I now realise it's because I was trying, not doing. Trying is just not good enough - you have to DO. It doesn't mean you have to jump in at the deep end from the get go, but you can't just keep dipping your toe into that pool and think you went for a swim. I definitely did not get in on the deep end, but I'm in that pool now and loving it!! You cannot say, "I am going to do it for 5 days and see if it works" - you have to commit. You have to try it for a month and see if it works.
I started slowly...first, just logged my calories and got used to scanning everything and started getting an idea of what I'm eating (already there, I realised where I was going wrong, so I could make some immediate changes). I got myself a really good digital scale, because the last time I weighed my food, I lost the weight, so why can't it be done again. So I made sure I scanned and weighed EVERYTHING.
The rest followed naturally for me...(some of it I do remember from my "healthy eating" lifestyle change from before and how to balance out meals, so it certainly helped) - I would compromise certain things to have others (I love drinking wine and didn't have to give it up this time - well not too much!!). As long as I was constantly doing rather than trying to, it was fairly easy. I do remember getting to a point where I was like "I cannot wait for the day that I don't have to scan everything I eat". But I'm over that now - I've been scanning/entering EVERYTHING I eat for the 4 or 5 months (except for around 6 days when I was abroad) and now it's like breathing to me. I now control my weight and the last few months really taught me how to stay in control of it (it's easy for me to say now I suppose) - I don't want to lose this control and if it means simply logging every meal for the rest of my life, that's what I'll do.
With losing the weight, I started looking for ways I could start eating more, but not "lose control". I rediscovered my love for walking and started small - now I'm walking distances I never thought I would before on a daily basis (and sometimes I eat back the calories, sometimes I don't).
I've had cheat days, I've probably had an average of 2 to 3 bottles of wine every week, I've had several chocolate bars (albeit much smaller than the ones I used to have), I've had burgers and fries, fish and chips, but, what I can say is that this wasn't a case of "more good days than bad" - because that means I was trying, not doing. I just put my mind to it and did it. Every burger, every chip, every glass of wine is logged though. Whether I went over or not, it is there.
I really think anyone can get there, you just have to stop hiding behind the excuses and put your mind to it. I've got one of the best excuses in the world, because for me, obesity is in the family. Most people would say it's genetic, but I realise that it's just family tradition to eat too much. Most people would say that heart disease is genetic in my family, but I realise that it's just because my family is obese. (I'm not saying genetics mean nothing, but you can't use it as an excuse - our bodies, unless we have a medical condition, all work more or less the same at the end of the day!).
Sorry for the long post - I hope it does give some people a bit of motivation.
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Replies
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Excellent post. :drinker:
I have this picture laminated and pinned to the ceiling above my weights bench.
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So, so true! Great post!0
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YES SIR, SOMEDAYS I FEEL TO OVERWELMED CAUSE i PUT SO MUCH OF MYSELF AND MY LIMITED ENERGY INTO OTHER THINGS. BUT I NEED TO JUST BITE THE BULLET AND FIND THE ENERGY FOR TAKING CARE OF ME AND MY STUFF TOO!
GREAT MOTIVATIONAL POST!
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Excellent post!0
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Great post! Bumping, so I can reread this whenever I need an extra boost of motivation!!0
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Great post0
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