It has been awhile since I wrote an entry about my weight loss journey, so I figured on the first real day of my holidays it was a good as any time to sit down and do some writing. I guess the reason I haven’t written about it is because there hasn’t been anything to write about. So now it’s time to fess up, clear the slate and start over back on track.
Like a lot of people I know who want to lose weight or are trying to lose weight I have fallen prey to the excuse monster. You know the monster that creeps up and whispers in your ear things like, ‘you can’t lose weight now you are on holidays’ or ‘you’ll start exercising next week when you can get proper sleep’ or one of the biggest ones for me, ‘you don’t need to try right now you are still dealing with the grief of losing a loved one’. I was creating excuse after excuse for not doing the things I needed to do and I had gotten really lazy when it came to things like tracking my meals. None of this helps if you want to lose weight.
The frustration that this was causing me was incredible. I hate when I know that I’m capable of doing something but am not actually doing it. I know it sounds a little weird maybe because I’m in charge of what I do or don’t do but as frustrated as I was getting at myself it wasn’t enough for me to actually restart doing the things I needed to continue to take the weight off.
I have been really lucky in that I don’t have any major health issues or knee pain or anything like that but how long will my luck last. The statistics all show the reality is that my weight if I keep it on will catch up to me. So a few weeks ago I just woke up and decided to put all the excuses down, let go of the frustration and forgive myself for having let things slide. I woke up to my very early alarm after a night that was later than I had expected but as tired as I was I still got up and worked out. It was something I hadn’t done in a while and I could tell but it felt great when I was done. I started to remember that amazing feeling you get when you push yourself to make your body move. The endorphins and energy that come and the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing the things you need to do. It was all I needed to remind myself to keep going. I have been working out most days since.
Food tracking was a different story. Getting my restart there has not been as easy. Tracking the way I used to (which when I first started was something I loved doing) with pen, paper, my calculator and food and dining out companion books wasn’t working. I had become far too lazy and lax with paper tracking it was very hard to get motivated. I tried to do the paper tracking again. I bought myself a new three month tracker but it wasn’t working. I would leave it at home or forget to take it out of my purse. I knew I needed to figure a new way to make the tracking work. I decided after a year of having my iPhone maybe it was time to actually try the two week free trial of the Weight Watchers e-Tools. Well low and behold I have now fallen in love with the silly app. I fully plan on keeping it. It has changed the outcome on my weight loss significantly which is why I wanted to talk about it a little. Tracking is no longer a chore I have to do but something I can do with ease. I don’t have to carry my calculator with me or my dining out books. Everything is stored in my phone which I always have with me. Sure there are other ways I could track, cheaper ways I could track but they weren’t working. In the grand scheme of things at just under $18 a month it is more than worth putting my budget.
I know that my story isn’t unique. I know that whether it is a weight loss goal or some other goal we all those moments where it just doesn’t seem like things are working. The advice that I share is to keep trying. Sit down and figure out what for yourself what you need and make it happen. Keeping trying different things until you find the one that clicks but don’t forget that what clicked before might not always be the best fit so don’t be afraid to change your mind and do something different. Perseverance can be a hard thing to master but if you keep trying eventually you are bound to come across something that works for you.
I think the other thing that I sometimes forget is that we don’t always need to make a big change to get big results. A small change can have a bigger impact than we think. It’s the ripple effect. If you drop a small pebble in water it creates waves that roll out from around it. So drop a small pebble in the center of your life and let the waves of change roll. That’s what I’m trying to do and I look forward to sharing the successes that I get from it.
