Getting 're' started

Hi Katrina,

You're singing exactly the same song I was singing about a month ago. Very similar story... Just over a year ago, I had lost 20lbs (half of my goal). Then I hit a busy time at work, stopped logging and started gaining back. Yup... 20+. I was feeling down and kept wondering why wasn't my dislike of what I see in the mirror enough to spur me back into my good habits.

I reluctantly joined a '21 day detox' run by a trainer at my gym (the one I hardly ever went to). This wasn't a juice detox or water only detox. It was more of an elimination diet. One of the goals was to see if you had any food addictions, intolerances or allergies. So lots of foods were out: wheat, cow dairy, sugar (including most fruits), almost all salt, meats (poultry was ok), shellfish (most other fish was ok)... I stuck to this very well. A few cheats of course. But after any slip-up or allowance, I was right back at it. I lost 8lbs in 3 weeks. Result! But even better than that was the thought-provoking discussions I had with the trainer. I asked her the mirror question above. She asked me what my internal conversation was when I looked in the mirror. I had to confess, it was very negative. I called myself names, thought of myself as a failure, reminded myself of all the times I failed before, berated myself for not doing better and being better. I was mean. No wonder all I wanted to do was grab a bag of chips and park myself on the couch! I realised I need to change the conversation. I'm now congratulating myself on my not-so-insignificant achievement and encouraging myself to continue. Another point the trainer made was that most of our decisions are based on fear - fear drives our actions. So she asked me what I was afraid of about being at my goal weight. I have to confess, I'm not convinced that this is really true for me. Looking back at when I stopped trying a year ago, it feels more like it was laziness than fear. But I'm willing to give this idea a chance. I've completed the detox, but I'm still logging my food and exercise (I started back doing this on day 1 of the detox). I could never maintain the strictness of that eating plan, my 'diet' has to be sustainable'. But I'm making better choices again. I'm taking it one day a time. And when I get the urge to stop, or feel I'm losing the desire to keep going with the good habits, I'm going to ask myself why and listen to the response. Will it be fear? No clue. But whatever the reason, it better be a good one and one that will make it worth undoing all the hard work that I've done so far. Otherwise, I will very politely but sternly let myself know that that's not good enough, and then keep going.

So what will you do to get your mojo back? Give yourself a target date (tomorrow, Monday, now!) and start logging again? You know that being aware of how much you eat is a good way to cut it back to a reasonable amount because it worked for you before. How about asking yourself what you're afraid of that's stopping you from starting again? Listen attentively for the response and don't let yourself speak to you in a way you wouldn't put up with from anyone else. What motivated you before? What about making one small change - skip dessert or just have half of that snack - and see how that makes you feel. Think of your reasons for wanting to lose the weight. Think of the reasons for not losing the weight. Which ones make more sense. Consider which reasons should be driving your actions. You're right, it is you who has to take the first step, and the next, and the next. So what's stopping you? Push that barrier out of the way and forge ahead. You can do this. You've already shown you can. So go ahead. If being accountable to someone beyond yourself will help, let me know what decision you come to and how you're getting on.

All the best,

Kathy

Ditto

Been there, done that. Lost 44 lbs, gained back 34 of it and am back to my losing ways. You are not the first and will not be the last to do this. Don't let it get you down. The good news is, you know how to lose weight. Now go do it!