Forest. Trees.
I guess I had lost sight of my own advice — rather than feeling overwhelmed by the big, humongous, ultimate 170-pound goal, it’s vital for me to set my sights on the little bitty goals. Honestly, I get pretty pumped each time I lose another 5 pounds, and my WW leader has her own way of celebrating those little victories. Even though I don’t necessarily follow the WW plan, I pay for and attend the meetings because she is so spectacularly good and because her cheesy little rewards have come to really mean something to me.
So, I just had to refocus. I had to remind myself of all the cliches — the “slow and steady” and “inch by inch, mile by mile” cliches — and about how these 5-pound goals are truly adding up to big-time results. Lose 5 pounds 12 times, and you’ve lost 60 pounds.
I had to just go back to taking it meal by meal and talking myself through it: eat vegetables every chance you can, take it easy on the refined carbs, dodge the sugar, drink more water…
Don’t forget, I had bloat and a few other things working against me last week, which resulted in a gain. So, while it may look like I lost 7 pounds this week, I’ve really lost about 2. I’m just right back on track. Trending down. Re-focusing my thinking. In it for the long haul. Leaving the 300-pound mark in my wake and never looking back. On to the next 5 pounds!
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:50 am
YEAH!!!!
love to read this stuff – baby steps are my kind of thinking – I identify with them totally.
I thought about IT 10 pounds at a time – all the way down – and each new decade felt like a whole new, fresh thing – each time. Like the cares and the worries of the last 10 pounds were said and done – and that the new 10 pounds was a fresh page. New beginnings.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 am
And I think that your 5 pound thinking is perfect – lots of new pages!!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:28 am
You accept the 7 pounds. Because you surely had to accept the gain the previous week, even if it was from bloating and other issues. You can’t accept the gain but not celebrate the next week!!!!!! No trying to talk us out of being tickled for you!!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
See, MF, for me I try to downplay both the frustrations and the excitements — mostly just to keep myself from freaking out too much one way or another. I live in constant fear of giving up — which the OLD Mal would have already done long ago. I guess I’ve pretty well conquered most of those demons, but I carry the memory of their monumental victories.