Learning to create lifestyle changes
I thought I’d share a little about how I came to reach this level of commitment in my weight loss journey.
Losing weight has been a goal for about two and a half years now. I tried at first to go all out - cut all sugars, processed foods, absolutely no excess calories, etc, AND pushed myself to an hour+ of aerobic exercise daily, and strength training three or four times a week.
I couldn't keep it up. I'd start to burn out, "fail" in one area and then feel so discouraged and worthless that I'd throw in the towel completely for a day or two.
Even so, I managed to lose a little weight and keep it off for a while. However, I was entering my senior year, working, and all the habits I had developed through my college career were based around using food to handle stress. I was a little more thoughtful than I had been before, and I visited the gym on a fairly regular basis, but I still hadn’t really made a change.
Sometime during my final semester / post-graduation, I decided that the only way I was going to be able to correct this long-term, was to address these bad habits one at a time. So, I began with retraining my ways of thinking and reacting to food.
For several years, I had rewarded myself with food - specifically junk food and snacks. - “Oh man, I have this huge test to study for, and two papers to write, I’m going to be up all night. - Well, that’s okay, I’ll get some ice cream, and after I finish a page, I’ll go get a bowl.” - It was very hard to face a stressful situation, or come out of one, and not have the comfort of a food award waiting. I’ll confess, I wasn’t too particular about sticking with it, either. I mostly focused on making over all better choices.
I also pretty much gave up on going to the gym. But I did start balancing my sleep schedule out - at least at first.
Well, around the turn of the year I started a renewed focus on doing the right things. Then this spring, - April 4, to be exact - I got on the scales for the first time in many months, to find that I was heavier than I had ever been before. I was horrified.
I broke down to my mom - not yet able to tell her what I actually weighed. She comforted me, as best she could. I spent that evening in “escape mode.” But the next day I sat down and planned out a “new year” calendar. I set myself one year to drastically correct my physical condition.
As terrible as it was, that moment was the catalyst that firmly established my commitment to change. They say “nothing tastes as good as thin feels” - but the problem with that, is a lot of heavy people can’t remember what thin feels like. In addition, heavier people have conditioned themselves to respond to instant gratification. (At least that was true in my case) The statement should really be reversed - “nothing tastes good enough to make up for how I feel being heavy.”
That’s really the way I look at it now. Yeah, that would taste good/I really want it. But I know how much time and effort goes into burning x-number of calories, and is that really SO good, that I’m willing to put myself that much further back from my goal? I can skip it, or hold off, or substitute something else.
On the other hand, I’m not a fanatic about it. I make sure I give myself lots of enjoyable options so that this doesn’t feel like an ongoing punishment. And if I chose to go ahead and indulge, then I just make sure to limit the extent of it, and don’t let myself view it as a failure or a relapse.
So, that’s most of it. Turned out longer than I thought. You don’t have to read any of it, but I know a lot of people in this loop are working on losing weight/getting fit and I’ve even seen my name referenced once or twice. While it is an honor - and an encouragement to me as well - that whatever I’m doing might encourage somebody else, I just wanted to make it clear that by no means did I just flip a switch and decide to do this. It’s been a long, difficult process, and it’s nowhere near over.
Losing weight has been a goal for about two and a half years now. I tried at first to go all out - cut all sugars, processed foods, absolutely no excess calories, etc, AND pushed myself to an hour+ of aerobic exercise daily, and strength training three or four times a week.
I couldn't keep it up. I'd start to burn out, "fail" in one area and then feel so discouraged and worthless that I'd throw in the towel completely for a day or two.
Even so, I managed to lose a little weight and keep it off for a while. However, I was entering my senior year, working, and all the habits I had developed through my college career were based around using food to handle stress. I was a little more thoughtful than I had been before, and I visited the gym on a fairly regular basis, but I still hadn’t really made a change.
Sometime during my final semester / post-graduation, I decided that the only way I was going to be able to correct this long-term, was to address these bad habits one at a time. So, I began with retraining my ways of thinking and reacting to food.
For several years, I had rewarded myself with food - specifically junk food and snacks. - “Oh man, I have this huge test to study for, and two papers to write, I’m going to be up all night. - Well, that’s okay, I’ll get some ice cream, and after I finish a page, I’ll go get a bowl.” - It was very hard to face a stressful situation, or come out of one, and not have the comfort of a food award waiting. I’ll confess, I wasn’t too particular about sticking with it, either. I mostly focused on making over all better choices.
I also pretty much gave up on going to the gym. But I did start balancing my sleep schedule out - at least at first.
Well, around the turn of the year I started a renewed focus on doing the right things. Then this spring, - April 4, to be exact - I got on the scales for the first time in many months, to find that I was heavier than I had ever been before. I was horrified.
I broke down to my mom - not yet able to tell her what I actually weighed. She comforted me, as best she could. I spent that evening in “escape mode.” But the next day I sat down and planned out a “new year” calendar. I set myself one year to drastically correct my physical condition.
As terrible as it was, that moment was the catalyst that firmly established my commitment to change. They say “nothing tastes as good as thin feels” - but the problem with that, is a lot of heavy people can’t remember what thin feels like. In addition, heavier people have conditioned themselves to respond to instant gratification. (At least that was true in my case) The statement should really be reversed - “nothing tastes good enough to make up for how I feel being heavy.”
That’s really the way I look at it now. Yeah, that would taste good/I really want it. But I know how much time and effort goes into burning x-number of calories, and is that really SO good, that I’m willing to put myself that much further back from my goal? I can skip it, or hold off, or substitute something else.
On the other hand, I’m not a fanatic about it. I make sure I give myself lots of enjoyable options so that this doesn’t feel like an ongoing punishment. And if I chose to go ahead and indulge, then I just make sure to limit the extent of it, and don’t let myself view it as a failure or a relapse.
So, that’s most of it. Turned out longer than I thought. You don’t have to read any of it, but I know a lot of people in this loop are working on losing weight/getting fit and I’ve even seen my name referenced once or twice. While it is an honor - and an encouragement to me as well - that whatever I’m doing might encourage somebody else, I just wanted to make it clear that by no means did I just flip a switch and decide to do this. It’s been a long, difficult process, and it’s nowhere near over.