Self-praise

lauren3101

I don’t normally post things like this, but a few recent conversations (some with myself) have made me want to say something.

Being the beginning of February a lot of work colleagues/friends have now given up on their post Christmas health kicks and are now depressed with their results.

I was talking to two women this morning. My work college is currently miserable because rather than lose the intended 14 pounds in January (a stone here in England), she ‘only’ lost 12.
My friend who joined here in January, is also upset because she had a blow-out weekend and has subsequently gained 5lb (of water weight) and has now ‘only’ lost a total of 6lb.

The other day, I had a Burger King for lunch, and then ensued a 20 minute conversation with myself about how useless I am and how I will never do it, and ‘why did you have to eat an XL bacon double cheeseburger, chips, onion rings, and 10 chilli cheese bites and why couldn't you have just had a little burger like normal skinny people you greedy fat cow’.

We need to stop berating ourselves. My work colleague has not hit her target of 14lb, but she is still 12lb lighter than she was last year, and feeling a lot better for it. My friend had a binge. The majority of us do it; the hardest thing about it is forgiving yourself and getting straight back on it. I surrendered to the power of the Burger King, but I’ve still lost 34lb, and last year I would have had the Burger King AND had a kebab and half a chocolate cake for dinner.

A quote I particularly love from LorinaLynn:

The scale is a lying, cheating *kitten* who kicks puppies and takes candy from babies. Don't give it any power over you.

This, this and this. Don't base all your success on the scale. If you are on here, logging as often as you can, and taking even those small steps to make positive changes to your lifestyle, you deserve a round of applause, in my opinion. Take the time out to praise yourself. It’s worth it.

stephdeeable

You tell 'em!

jbbannister7

Well said.....

MB_Positif

Great post

RhonndaJ

Wonderfully said. More times than not the biggest roadblock we have to overcome is our thought process.

mabelbabel1

Spot on Lauren.....we are just human after all.....we will always have good days/bad days, good weeks/bad weeks.....regardless of these up's and downs, the world will still turn and our bodies will carry on doing what they do......a few blips here and there won't change any of that.

I've had a pretty rubbish month in January....but I still lost 7lbs despite myself! Lol!! :laugh:

It's easy to beat ourselves up, think we're rubbish, think we need to starve and suffer to get the results we want.....but that's just not true. Food is not the enemy, food is great and should still be a pleasure, not a guilt ridden secret. :noway:

Be sensible, be real and be kind to yourself and you will succeed.

We're all fab!!!!

lauren3101

we will always have good days/bad days, good weeks/bad weeks.....regardless of these up's and downs, the world will still turn and our bodies will carry on doing what they do......a few blips here and there won't change any of that.

This is so true. A common thought among serial yo-yo dieters is that a small slip off the wagon is complete failure. It's not. Pick yourself up and carry on.

BernadetteChurch

Great post Lauren, and something we probably all need to be reminded to do.

It's pretty easy to lose sight of the big picture because we're so busy focussing on the exact number of calories in an apple, how much we burn doing the dishes, and making sure we wee and pluck our eyebrows before we jump on the scales, etc. We beat ourselves up over a take away meal yet can't see that a year ago, like you said, we might have eaten twice the amount, not thought twice about it and then gone looking for chocolate.

I know I'm always going to have days like your Burger King days. And if I'm really honest I don't want to banish them forever because I love most food and know there's a place for all of it in my diet with a bit of balance and planning and maybe some extra exercise.

We wouldn't be human if we didn't fall/jump off the wagon every now and then. The important thing is learning how to jump straight back on.

I started this year weighing 27.2 lbs less than I did at the start of 2012. I've dropped a clothes size, my knees and feet aren't troubling me nearly as much as they used to, and I've learned a hell of a lot about my body and how it works. I'm still on track for 1 lb a week loss despite all my blips. I'm quite happy to praise myself for all of that. Even if I am only half way to goal!

mazdauk

Great post! One month on I finally put on a bikini (last summers purchase) and took photos in the mirror. Thought all evening about how fat and horrible I look.

BUT I'm 1/2 a stone lighter than I was at Christmas and people do notice there is a change. So once I reach my target I can get a new bikini at least a size smaller and not look like a whale. We can't do it all in a day!

lauren3101

Great post Lauren, and something we probably all need to be reminded to do.

It's pretty easy to lose sight of the big picture because we're so busy focussing on the exact number of calories in an apple, how much we burn doing the dishes, and making sure we wee and pluck our eyebrows before we jump on the scales, etc. We beat ourselves up over a take away meal yet can't see that a year ago, like you said, we might have eaten twice the amount, not thought twice about it and then gone looking for chocolate.

I know I'm always going to have days like your Burger King days. And if I'm really honest I don't want to banish them forever because I love most food and know there's a place for all of it in my diet with a bit of balance and planning and maybe some extra exercise.

We wouldn't be human if we didn't fall/jump off the wagon every now and then. The important thing is learning how to jump straight back on.

I started this year weighing 27.2 lbs less than I did at the start of 2012. I've dropped a clothes size, my knees and feet aren't troubling me nearly as much as they used to, and I've learned a hell of a lot about my body and how it works. I'm still on track for 1 lb a week loss despite all my blips. I'm quite happy to praise myself for all of that. Even if I am only half way to goal!

There's no 'only' about being halfway to goal - well done.

suzchad

Well said :-) x

BernadetteChurch

There's no 'only' about being halfway to goal - well done.

You are absolutely correct!

Goal is really a fairly meaningless number for me at the moment anyway. Really I'm just trying to focus on learning portion control and nutrition, and getting the right sort of exercise.

blc1971

I don't normally post on these forums but I just had to jump on here. Why is it that we talk to ourselves so much worse than we would ever talk to another person? I would never call someone else a "fat cow!!" but I have those thoughts about myself from time to time. Why is that???? It's ridiculous that we treat others with love and respect (hopfully...at least I try to!) but we treat ourselves like crap? It's hard to do sometimes, but we really need to be more gentle with ourselves and treat ourselves with respect. Self-love is as important (or more) as loving others.

lauren3101

I don't normally post on these forums but I just had to jump on here. Why is it that we talk to ourselves so much worse than we would ever talk to another person? I would never call someone else a "fat cow!!" but I have those thoughts about myself from time to time. Why is that???? It's ridiculous that we treat others with love and respect (hopfully...at least I try to!) but we treat ourselves like crap? It's hard to do sometimes, but we really need to be more gentle with ourselves and treat ourselves with respect. Self-love is as important (or more) as loving others.

We are our own worst critics, as they say. Sad, but true. I would never call anyone else a fat cow either, but if I slip up I call myself it over and over. No more!