How do you stay positive?

The time will pass regardless of my weight, so I try to make the overall experience as *enjoyable* as possible. I look for things I *like to eat* that fit within my caloric goals. I look into fitness options that are *fun*. I look forward to my day *every day* and just maintain steady movement toward an eventual goal, one good day at a time.

I set small goals. I just focus on 5 lbs at a time.

And I set non-weight related goals. My biggest one was to run a half marathon (which I did in September, yay!) now I’m doing a three week exercise program that has daily workouts. So for three weeks my goal is to not miss a workout. When that finishes I’ll pick a new goal.

I like to give myself lots of little reasons to celebrate and feel proud of myself on my way to my ultimate goal weight.

rumbaimom wrote: »

How do y’all keep your patience and positive attitude up? I often feel frustrated with how slow it is to take off weight vs how darn fast it seems to pile on! 😂 I need an attitude adjustment!

I didn't let weight loss and the scale be the be all and end all. I embraced the process and losing weight was only a singular element of that process. I embraced learning about good nutrition. I embraced creating and maintaining good and healthy habits. I embraced becoming more physically fit with regular exercise, etc. I wasn't focused on one singular thing and had other goals beyond just losing weight...actually, the losing weight part was more of a positive bi-product of changes I was making in the way I lived my life.

Beyond that, the process goes into perpetuity...it doesn't end when you get to some magical number on the scale. Other elements of the weight loss process have to translate to long term maintenance success...so really, there is no finish line.

ETA: from a time standpoint, losing weight was a lot faster than gaining it. It took me 8 months or so to lose 40 Lbs...I put those 40 Lbs on over the course of about 8 years. I think it only seems faster to put on the weight because you aren't thinking about it.

I’ve lost 100+ lbs. it’s unlikely you’d find anyone who took longer to reach their Goal Weight than I did. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is I’m still maintaining at GW.

Here’s a thing about positive thinking- we can’t stop our brains from sending out negative messages. But a couple of things- first we don’t have to act on them. Be aware of negative thinking and do what your plan calls for anyway. Actions are more important than words.

Second- push back with facts. You might be disappointed by a .5 loss for the week when you worked hard at the gym and hit all your numbers. But it’s a fact that a .5 lb loss is hard evidence that your plan is working.

And this- if we can just neutralize the negative thinking we can end up net positive. We don’t have to defeat negativity, just fight it to a draw.