No matter how much I slip up, I'm always reminded just how far I've come in changing my lifestyle. I think that's the key to successfully losing weight (and keeping it off). You can't treat it like a diet, you can't treat it as pass/fail. You just have to wake up every morning and know what your goals are. Live for them. Even if you're eating pizza and drinking beer with your family, you enjoy it but know in the back of your mind this means you'll be working even harder next week to reach your goals.
I remember telling a friend of mine, don’t think of it as an on/off switch…think of it more like a dimmer. Sometimes your motivation is a little low, your discipline a little weak, but don’t ever turn off. Accept the mood lighting and move on! Focus on turning up the dial, KEEP GOING.
I will always, always love food. I realized it this weekend when despite having developed incredible self-control, I still managed to go back home and eat the way I did as a kid. It was like I’d never eaten potato chips before, or a brownie…and if I didn’t eat it in that moment, the opportunity would never exist again. I wish I wasn’t so excited about food…It’s the most frustrating addiction or hobby or whatever you want to call it.
But while I shoveled brownies and chips and donuts and brats into my mouth, often “caught” by my boyfriend or little sister who would yell, “Lifestyle Fitness by Lindsay!” I realized it was okay because I am a different person. Because I knew this weekend didn’t define me and wasn’t going to trigger me to fall back into my old ways. Because even though I was kind of hungover from 3 vodka sodas, I got in a pretty decent workout Saturday morning. And even though I was exhausted after a weekend of travel and late nights, I ran 4 miles after work Monday and meal prepped for two hours.
“I’ve got goals to hit” is the mantra of this month. No matter what I did or didn’t do, I’m still here. I’m still plugging away. I’m still on track to winning my dietbet, I’m still on track to transforming my body and I’m still on track to living this way for the rest of my life.