Weight loss isn't a race.

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suzesvelte
suzesvelte Posts: 134 Member
edited February 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
I am as guilty as anyone of getting a bit glum if the scales dont steadily go down week-on-week. It is easy to get put-off and lose sight of the big picture and I am really working on my own psychology around that this time.

Part of it is really getting acceptance around the constant level of vigilance required to stay at a healthy weight. I have been there several times before and I eat really "well" because I have been following an anti-cancer strategies for many years. This has kept me fit and well but even then my weight keeps on creeping up. "Healthy" eating is not enough. I have got to watch every meal out and every drop of oil added to a meal and stay much more careful "for ever". Frankly it IS always going to be hard for me, I really am one of this ppl who regains ridiculously easily - genetics / metabolism or what ever so I need to keep my eye on the ball at all times. I don't go to terrible eating patterns cos I ditched them years ago - but I still gain weight over time. Longer time, but still gain.. SO, I am reading threads about successful maintainers to see what they do.

Reading about successful maintainers in here I can see one big difference between them and me. Most of them never stop weighing themselves regularly / tracking their food and nipping any weight gain in the bud when it is only a few pounds and not putting their headsin the sand until the gain is up a couple of stones! I will need to do what they do! There is no "goal" at which point this stops being the way I have to monitor what I am doing.

With this in mind I think the ideas in this article are very relevant, this blogger/trainer uses MFP so he has probably posted this himself, somewhere, but I think it is a useful mental shift to be less "goal" orientated - there is no finite point - and more "forever" orientated. Sustainable changes to little details are what matters. Thinking like this means the weekly fluctiations are not important. Overall trends and patterns are everything.

deansomerset.com/weight-loss-isnt-race/

I thought he summed it up pretty well, and models the method well too.

How are you shifting your psychology around weight-loss?

Replies

  • jbeth30
    jbeth30 Posts: 42 Member
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    I am trying to change my way of thinking too! Thanks for posting this.
  • hotel4dogs
    hotel4dogs Posts: 72 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I'm in the same boat. Someone here on MFP's community posted a while ago (sorry, can't credit the source, don't remember who it was) something that changed my whole way of thinking.
    Another member was complaining about having to always weight, track, measure, and so on to maintain their weight.
    This member posted that it's better to do it to stay healthy, than to have to do it because you have developed diabetes from being overweight and out of shape.
    A real eye opener!

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