Yesterday I was asked what I did in the beginning of my journey to get
motivated to lose weight…I had to think because really I hadn’t thought too
much about it. I remember being very
scared that once again I wouldn’t succeed.
I also remember thinking I cannot do this by myself. I prayed to God that He would help me find
something that would work, keep my food cravings away, and that He would reveal
what I need to work on to not only have successful weight loss but to keep the
weight off for the rest of my life.
In the beginning, I truly
believed that I just loved food. I didn’t
have any issues with food except that it all tasted so good I couldn’t avoid
it. I LOVED pasta, bread, cheese (melted
on anything), Mexican food, Italian food, and of course CHOCOLATE!!
I asked my husband to please
join me and to clear EVERYTHING that wasn’t healthy out of the house. I also asked him to please not bring anything
into the house that might be a temptation; if he had to have something then eat
it at work or on the way home and don’t bring it in the house.
I started writing down what I was feeling and
what I was doing when I was hungry (or thought I needed food). I had a little nagging voice inside my head
that would whisper doubts to me about my ability to be successful…you’ve been
overweight your entire life, you’re
never going to be thin, you aren’t strong enough to succeed with weight loss,
why bother you’ll just gain it back…
What I did do was to start telling that little voice it was wrong.
I stopped watching television
too because many things, including commercials, had food that would make me
hungry.
I started reading A LOT so
that I could keep my mind occupied and not think about food. I was not a reader before but I have become
one now. I read anytime I didn’t have
anything else to do.
I also started writing down
what I was feeling when I wanted to eat.
What I found was that I wasn’t hungry…I was bored, frustrated, unhappy,
or mad. I didn’t see it right away but
only after going back and reading over what I had written. With a few days between writing it down and
reading what I had written I could see what was happening and gradually began
to notice that when I wanted to eat or found myself at the refrigerator or
pantry door there was an emotional reason!
This was huge for me because I truly thought I just loved food!!
I also planned my eating the
day before and thought about where I would be and what I would need to fuel my
body so I was prepared. I went on trips,
attended seminars for work, meetings, went out to eat with friends; but I
ALWAYS planned ahead so I could be successful.
I even packed a little cooler with water bottles, fruit, etc. if I wasn’t
near a refrigerator. I learned that
almost EVERY restaurant has a nutritional guide menu if you ask. I also have found that many items that we
think are good for us when you look at the nutritional guide menu really aren’t
good for us at all. For example, my husband and I went to a very popular Italian
food restaurant after church one Sunday with friends and they decided to get
salmon because it was healthy. As I was
looking over the nutritional guide menu I found that the salmon meal was over
1100 calories and 97 carbs!! I looked at
the lasagna, which is my absolute favorite and of course knew I couldn’t get it
but just for fun wanted to see how it compared to the salmon…guess what? The
lasagna was only 640 calories and 27 carbs!!! Guess what I had? Yes, that’s correct and if I hadn’t read the
nutritional guide menu I would have blown my meal plan without even knowing
it!!
I was very determined to
succeed this time and so I took the steps to do what needed to be done. I DIDN’T beat myself up. I accepted where I was and then took daily
steps to change what needed to be changed. I don’t like to hear people say “I cheated
today” because that is negative. You
didn’t cheat you made a choice. At your
next meal you will make another choice.
If you make more choices to eat healthy than not, you will move forward
in a positive direction. DON’T BEAT
YOURSELF UP!! That is not productive and you will not have the results you
desire. Be kind to yourself, tell
yourself you can do it, post sticky notes around the house where you can see
them and quotes or words of encouragement for your journey. If you want something eat it but try to make
it healthier than the old version you would have eaten. If you are going to completely get off your
plan try to do it all in one day and then eat healthy for the rest of the
week. There are many ways to be
successful but the most important thing is to take it one day, one meal at a
time and keep making healthier choices…you will accomplish your goals one
positive step at a time.
Please leave comments to
help others on their journey and feel free to contact me if you have any
questions. www.getoffthescale.com
Nena
No comments:
Post a Comment