I've learned many things about myself over the years of trying to lose weight. Some of the hardest lessons are that I cannot manage extremes. In fact, they rarely offer any good payoff at all. If I am extremely "good" with a restrictive diet and/or rigorous exercise program, I can maintain that for a set amount of time. The time varies on my mental state. Is it a 14 day trial? 21 days? 3 day cleanse? I've also learned I give up on the last day or two... I'm tired. But even if and when I lose those 5 pounds, it's too much for me emotionally to be that strict and I fall apart. Maybe not all in one day- but over the next two weeks I will undo every one of those pounds.
I've done this several times. It makes me sad and dissapointed in myself.
So I've learned that I need to establish healthy habits. I can push myself into better habits, but not extremes where everything is either on plan or not. Good or bad. I need a slow and steady weight loss.
I've also learned that if I do things the healthy way- those pounds will stay off. I might put one or two back on... but I will develope a "new avaerage" for my weight. That is my goal with this dietbet. And I really only have 2 or 3 strategies to do this.
1. Go to fruit when I'm hungry between meals.
This can be hard. I don't prefer fruit. I like it, I just don't want it. But if I have an apple and some PB... or a peach and some yogurt... something I can find appetizing... it really fills me up. I find when I lose weight for good, I was eating more fruit during that time. (Thank you myfitnesspal for keeping records!) It's definitely a choice though.
2. Eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. This can be hard for several reasons. Some new reasons I'm adapting to is that fruit fills me up more than I realize... and now I'm not hungry at lunch time. Or, I have alot of nice healthy veggies still on my plate at dinner, shouldn't I eat them?? But when I stuff myself- even with healthy food, I wonder why I did that??! Save those good veggies and eat them with eggs in the morning.
3. Keep going. You can't give up because you did something wrong or less than perfect. Just keep making healthy choices and coming back to the journey. Consistency really is where you see results. Sure, perfection in consistency would be great- but even the most perfect of weightloss stories have thier ups and downs. But if you give up because you fell- when will you ever reach any of your goals? I've grown alot in this and I think it's important to recognize your weak points and try new things to help get through them. The first plan may not work realisticly. So try another plan. Don't just assume your doomed to never lose weight because you like sweets, or you have no control on the weekend... wake up and find your way.
That's it for now.