The Beginning
I've wanted for some time to begin a dialogue on the trials and successes of the weight loss and maintenance journey but just never seemed to have time to do so. Surgery has forced me to sit still for a few weeks and it's given me time to do some of the thinking that I've put off, so here we go.
I've titled this blog "Yes you can" because so many of the attempts to lose and/or maintain weight are doomed to failure before they ever begin by the proclivity for negativity. "I can't have that", or "I can't go in that restaurant", or "I'll never do this", or "I'll never get back into that dress", or "I always fail every time I try". This blog is about what you can do, what success you can attain with the help of some supportive input on your journey. I'm living proof that success is possible, having lost 56 pounds and having kept it off for three and a half years. It's immensely difficult. It's sometimes frustrating. It's always present. But it's also gratifying, in a way that nothing else is, to look back and see some small step of success, some measure of accomplishment for which you are solely responsible.
So what's the first step of success? Your outlook. I learned how to fly a long time ago, and after quite a few hours of dual time with my instructor I was still having a great amount of difficulty in landing. My instructor told me that my outlook was wrong. I was fixating on the numbers at the close end of the runway, diving in a straight line as if they were my goal. I needed instead to keep a view of the total runway environment: the numbers on the close end of the runway, my altitude as related to the runway, other traffic in the landing pattern, weather and wind effects, and the indications on the gages in my aircraft. As soon as I learned to keep the whole picture in my focus I began to do good landings. Losing and maintaining weight is a lot like flying. We can't fixate on the numbers, our goal weight. We have to keep the whole picture in our mind: our goal weight, our current weight, our food types and portion sizes, our family members, our health... When we realize that the journey is a long-term one, a lifestyle change and not a one-step trip to goal weight, we will begin to succeed.
I wanted to quit many times in the months it took me to get my pilot's license. I didn't, and this brings me to the most important part of weight loss and maintenance. Keep at it. Don't quit no matter what. And with that, I leave you with my favorite quote:
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." William Feather
I've titled this blog "Yes you can" because so many of the attempts to lose and/or maintain weight are doomed to failure before they ever begin by the proclivity for negativity. "I can't have that", or "I can't go in that restaurant", or "I'll never do this", or "I'll never get back into that dress", or "I always fail every time I try". This blog is about what you can do, what success you can attain with the help of some supportive input on your journey. I'm living proof that success is possible, having lost 56 pounds and having kept it off for three and a half years. It's immensely difficult. It's sometimes frustrating. It's always present. But it's also gratifying, in a way that nothing else is, to look back and see some small step of success, some measure of accomplishment for which you are solely responsible.
So what's the first step of success? Your outlook. I learned how to fly a long time ago, and after quite a few hours of dual time with my instructor I was still having a great amount of difficulty in landing. My instructor told me that my outlook was wrong. I was fixating on the numbers at the close end of the runway, diving in a straight line as if they were my goal. I needed instead to keep a view of the total runway environment: the numbers on the close end of the runway, my altitude as related to the runway, other traffic in the landing pattern, weather and wind effects, and the indications on the gages in my aircraft. As soon as I learned to keep the whole picture in my focus I began to do good landings. Losing and maintaining weight is a lot like flying. We can't fixate on the numbers, our goal weight. We have to keep the whole picture in our mind: our goal weight, our current weight, our food types and portion sizes, our family members, our health... When we realize that the journey is a long-term one, a lifestyle change and not a one-step trip to goal weight, we will begin to succeed.
I wanted to quit many times in the months it took me to get my pilot's license. I didn't, and this brings me to the most important part of weight loss and maintenance. Keep at it. Don't quit no matter what. And with that, I leave you with my favorite quote:
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." William Feather
posted by Deb | 10:07 AM
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