No, I'm not going traveling again... but my weight loss journey is continually starting again and again. Hopefully this time, it's a permanent life change, instead of a temporary here-and-then-gone thing as it's been every time before...
Over the past few weeks I've been making several small changes which I'm hoping will transform and overhaul my life in the long run. It's been a difficult road, and I'm quite certain this is only the beginning of the challenges awaiting me.
I'm determined that this time I'll make the changes stick instead of bending to slip-ups and throwing all of my hard work out of the proverbial window. I read something online one day - a metaphor if you will - about how a weight-loss journey is much like pushing a car up a steep hill by yourself. If you slip up, you don't just let the car slide all the way down the hill while you stand by. You might slip up a little and slide down the hill, but you have to make sure to keep pushing the car so you'll eventually get to the top and the set back will be minor.
In lieu of this revelation, I decided that making small changes in my life were the best way to make a lasting overall change in my life.
My first change was in my water consumption (still not perfect, but I'm getting there...). Before, I drank like 2 cups of water a day, if I was lucky. Now I'm drinking upwards of 6 to 8 cups a day, and I'm feeling better than ever.
My second change was ditching the crap food in our house. And that doesn't mean getting rid of absolutely all of the fun food in our house - it just means that there's a lot less processed foods coming through the door, and even fewer of those products passing through my lips. I've told myself that I can't be trusted with certain foods: granola bars with chocolate in them, brownies, ice cream, and chips, for example.
My third change was increasing the number of fruits and vegetables that are in our house - which, subsequently, means that I'm consuming more fruits and vegetables per day as there's nothing else in the house to eat anyways...
I've been attempting to spread my meals out more throughout the day - taking morning and afternoon snack breaks, and eating less for breakfast, lunch, and supper.
As of right now, I haven't really incorporated any exercise into my day-to-day life, and I know that if I was, I would see a lot more success.
Right now I'm down approximately 10 lbs, which is amazing and such a fantastic goal to achieve! I still have another 90-100 lbs to go (ideally), but I know it's not going to be a cake walk. Right now I'm revelling in life's little joys, like when I do up my belt and it's on the third notch in instead of the last notch, like it was a few weeks ago. Or when I want to eat a fruit instead of a cookie. Or when my food decisions take longer than a split second. Or when I figure out what foods cause me more irritation and trouble than good, and I can cut them out of my diet entirely.
There are so many ups to this lifestyle change I'm embarking on. It's hard work, and there are definitely days when I want to give in and go back to my days of eating whatever the heck I wanted and consuming a half of a pizza to myself on Friday nights, but then I see how far I've come, and how much I have to look forward to, and I can't help but choose this lifestyle over my previous life.
There are more changes that I have to make, for sure; but I am finding more meaningful successes in making iddy biddy changes that are manageable and attainable. I have a higher rate of accomplishment every week, just based on this system of making small changes at a rate that's reasonable for me. Eventually all of those little successes stack up...
Anyways, I thought that posting about my journey would be helpful for both me, and anyone who's reading out there. It's not easy making a big change such as this one, but I know I'm not alone. It certainly helps writing about my achievements, and makes me more conscious of the areas in which I need to improve.
Let me know if you've overcome a weight loss barrier, or if you're starting your journey just like me - I'd love to hear about it!
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