Today I filled out the survey about maintaining weight loss that the (insert name of study that I can't remember right now here) Study sends me every year. I was proud to report that for the 5th year in a row I maintained my weight loss (within 5 pounds is their mainenance criteria, but I actually didn't deviate at all).
The survey contains hundreds of well thought out questions, about how and how much you eat, exercise, portion sizes, if you are usually hungry all the time, questions to measure your stress and anxiety levels, etc. But what gave me pause this year, like last year, was the question "Are you currently trying to lose weight?" I answered "Yes," since I kinda sorta am. But let's be honest here: I'm actually sabotaging myself daily.
Let's take today for example. I rode my bike to and from the train station (on the San Francisco side) for a total of 5 miles of biking (good). I did not go to the gym, partly because my gym buddy was too busy and partly because I'm lazy and partly because I justified it saying my bike ride was good enough (not even close) (bad). I ate dessert at lunch, even though it wasn't that tasty. I ate a lot of chocolate covered peanuts from the mini-kitche. I drank two cups of coffee. I did not get enough sleep.
This kind of day bears little resemblance to the days that made me lose fourty pounds in the first place. I know what to do in order to low weight, but I'm not doing it. Why not? I don't really know. I wish I knew how to find out.
4 comments:
Maybe just plug away at ideas and solutions until you find one that sticks? It's a brute force approach for sure, but at least you'll be proactively looking for the reason(s).
For me, it's the idea that all of this working out will never amount to having a sculpted body because I don't train vigorously enough and I don't take my diet seriously. I combat it by being content with being toned.
Ideas and solutions to the "how do I get myself to not eat donuts at breakfast" problem? (today's first transgression)
I don't have any ideas, is the problem. Well, aside from the "donuts taste good, eating whatever I want to is nice" one.
Just like you, I am content. The trade off for a little softness is being able to eat whatever I want. That's not so bad. I just wish I could either (1) want to be thinner badly enough to take the necessary steps to be thinner, or (2) be truly satisfied with the status quo and stop frowning in the mirror every other day. :/
Losing weight is hard and stressful. If there are already a lot of stresses in your life, then it is just overwhelming. I did the same thing yesterday. I ate a ton of those choloate peanuts. I don't remember them tasting that good before. It was totally stress eating.
What I found is helpful and less stressful is to focus on one positive thing to do each day (or each week if that is better for you) that helps you toward your goal: sleep 8.5 hours tonight, eat 5 malt balls as my dessert of the day, drink 2 waterbottles of water, run 3 miles, choose fruit when I'm hungry... The key thing is to make it one healthy goal. This way it takes off a lot of the underlying pressure we place on ourselves to be "good". It gives us something specific to focus on so the other goals don't vie for our attention all the time. One goal is much less stress than many goals.
HUGS!
Ideas and solutions for the last paragraph: not doing what you need to in order to lose weight. Or maybe that's not what you were asking?
I used to wonder why I didn't hit the gym frequently despite having a membership (at the beginning I would just use my membership for taking a shower in the morning). I went through various ideas: embarrassment of the low weights I would use; embarrassment of my cycling clothes/ thin appearance; too lazy; too tired/ sleepy; et cetera. In the end it boiled down to the lack of accomplishment: I never gain muscles like body builders, I just get toned. It's not that I wanted to look like that, but having a six pack would be nice. Alas, it's not meant to be.
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