Living The Lifestyle - - Friday, February 10, 2017
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whathapnd
Posts: 1,246 Member
Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.
Monday --88olds (George)
Tuesday --Rachel0778 (Rachel)
Wednesday -- misterhub (Greg)
Thursday --Imastar2 (Derrick)
Friday -- whathapnd (Emmie
Today's Topic: Does "depth" matter?
In a post earlier this week, someone (Gavin, I think) referred to one of their weight loss goals as being "superficial." That got me thinking about my own reasons for wanting to lose weight.
Do you think the "depth" of your weight loss goals/reasons for losing matters in terms of how successful you're likely to be at losing and keeping the weight off? Are you any more or less likely to lose and keep the weight off because you want to look good or prove to the world you can lose than you are if your goal for losing is something like better health and longevity.
Emmie
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I don't think the nature of one's motivation (outside of eating disorders) really matters as to whether they are "superficial" or "deep." What matters is if they are effective. If you want to lose weight so you look good in a thong swimsuit - and it works for you - more power to you. If you want to lose weight because you don't want to take hypertension or cholesterol meds, so you can eat grapefruit again, that's equally as cool.
If your motivation is not providing the kind of effects you want, find a better motivation.
For me, personally, it's a combination of "superficial" and "deep." I H-A-T-E being fat. HATE. OTOH, my parentage provided me with the DNA necessary to induce heart disease. Would love to avoid that. Depends on which day of the week whichever one works the best. Right now, it is mostly the former.
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My answer today, is different than it would have been when I first joined WW in 2011.
I think depth doesn't matter. How you feel physically and about yourself while you're losing and once you get to where you want to be and whether you can maintain an awareness of and desire for those feelings to continue for the long haul is what matters.
I think we get used to our "new normal" and lose the good feeling that the struggle/accomplishment brought. I'm not just talking about compliments from others.
I think it's easy to forget how good the ACCOMPLISHMENT of losing 5-10 lbs and the subtle physical benefits even that amount of weight loss can bring.
So for me, keeping in mind how I feel (physically and mentally) as I lose is probably more important for the long haul than "why" I wanted to lose in the first place.
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At my age of 69 losing weight to please someone other than DW is left far behind. Yes I do want to look good but for me not for someone else. So my weight loss motivation is one of getting healthier. I was told by my Dr last week for my age I'm very healthy but that does not include my weight. So my biggest motivation is to prevent an unhealthy situation such as a stroke or any other health concern that goes along with being overweight. So to that end I shall continue on the path working with my Dr and now Hospital dietitian and a behavioral nutritionists in the next few weeks.
I feel good but there are still physical restrictions due to my weight that still exist. I can work and do pretty much what I want and need to do but I'm looking for more than that. Since I was Since I started out on WW at age 64 my motivation hasn't really ever changed.2 -
Between the large weight swings over the course of my life combined with the natural lose of skin elasticity with aging, I'm never going to have a body that looks even remotely like those women featured in popular magazines. I look much better in clothing than without and even then the loose skin around my middle disrupts how clothing drapes.
My reason for keeping my weight off is to avoid joint pain as well as to be able to do the hiking, biking, and trail running that I enjoy so much.1 -
Read all your posts above and will say thanks for your honesty and sharing.
For me this is the first time there has been any depth to my WL journey.
All previous times in my life when I did WW, tried Atkins, tried on my own to lose a few pounds I was successful BUT only shot lived because I never really changed. I was literally just another GOAD, when I went off the diet/ WW/fad the pounds came back and then there were long periods when I didn't care. And that is how I got to he 376#
THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT.
I have changed my Lifestyle over the past four year period slowly losing a small person (-153#). I know my "reason" this time was very deep, personal and important to me. I made a commitment to my youngest son that I WOULD do something about my weight/health. He called me out at Thanksgiving 2012. He was concerned about me (he was 27 yo and I was 64). It brought back sad memories of how when I was a child my family tried to get my mother to quit drinking, She died at age 54.
I vowed to myself to take better care of myself and realized not only what I was doing to myself but also how it was affecting my entire extended family.
After losing 100# I sorta worked the program but mainly I fought to not gain back what I had lost. I was successful but only lost 16# in 2015. Last year Zi decided to reboot and lost 37#
This year I am bound and determined to get below 200. Now I think about other "shallow" reason like smaller sized clothes, being able to swim more laps, and just plain enjoying walking.
One of the Lessons I learned on GoaD "never give up something that you cannot do without THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!" I
I guess the same goes for reasons to lose weight, pick one that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Temporary reasons or goals like a wedding dress, a HS reunion. target number of pounds or certain GW won't last.
Make the reasons you are doing this worth all the effort.2 -
Phase 1- i thought I was likely to die soon if I didn't make serious changes. I had sleep apnea, high BP, back pain that kept me from walking more than a couple of blocks and what seemed like a permanent cold. Then it occurred to me that a debilitating stroke was probably more likely than just falling down dead. I dropped 285 to about 215-220 and became a gym regular. My health problems were gone, CPAP included.
Phase 2- My neighbor, a couple years older than me, overweight, but very active, sat down on the couch and died. Gone. This reminded me that at 215, i had never closed the weight loss deal.
Life is fragile. We are all going to die. But back in phase 1, it seemed so senseless to cut my time short or make a painful exit just because I couldn't shut my pie hole. Now with the death of my neighbor, it was brought back to me. I don't want to end up in the back of an ambulance wondering if i could have avoided the trip by getting to a healthy weight. Some day something will kill me, it wont be "he's too fat."
Then i got to WW and saw the revolving door nature of the place. Yes. Most of the people that I've seen come and go, and there have been hundreds, have been unserious. Yes, I think life and death is more of a driving force than looking good in your wedding pics.2 -
I come back to the persistence part. I think if my goals / reasons stick with me (hell, even if I change them but they persist and I act accordingly) I can keep the weight off. Like many things, losing or maintaining weight isn't hard...until it is. When it is, I lean on every reminder, motivation, etc. to help me through that period. At that point, I don't know that it matters what goal I'm conjuring up as long as it has more value to me at that moment than my urge to keep eating.
I'm visiting some of my siblings over the weekend. Last night, my sister (who's also lost on WW) roasted a chicken that had wonderful flavor. I had one decent sized piece and one smaller piece. After enjoying those, I realized the smell of the chicken and roast vegetables was so good it was really tempting to keep eating. However, we were eating chicken instead of something else because we both wanted to keep to a plan. With that knowledge, I took a deep breath and just practiced some self-control. I knew I didn't need more food.
It's a fine line for me. I switch 'em up all the time, but whatever goal works at any particular moment is the one that works.2 -
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I certainly wanted to "look good" but that was not what moved me to doing something about it.
The health related aspect that got me to change, was about "future proofing" my health, since I really did not have any weight gain health issues. But I knew in time, as I aged I wanted to stay healthy and active.
When I hit my high weight and saw my blood pressure go higher (but still healthy range) and cholesterol higher (still healthy range) that was a "wake up" call. I was always proud of my physical wellness/fitness. So the health related risk pushed me over the edge to take care of eliminating the extra weight, the "looks" kept me going and helps me maintain.
Since "looking good" is something that you can assess daily...your image in the mirror, the fit of your clothes etc. I think it helps keep me on track. The numbers that represent health wellness or risk become less exciting when they are in the good range over and over again.
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