Positive attitude tips
We are our own worst enemy. We beat ourselves up over the littlest things. If someone else vented the same anger on us that we direct toward ourselves, we’d never put up with it. So here are some short articles in the common theme of how to maintain a positive attitude toward weight loss.
No more “all or nothing”
In the past, going on a binge, large or small, would have been enough to make me give up. I was “all or nothing” when it came to weight loss and health. I’d say, “If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right, and exercise an hour a day and eat only X number of calories, etc.” Then when I did something that didn’t fit my plan (or failed to do something I should have), I felt my program was totally destroyed, so why try.
Well, that’s stupid, quite frankly. I am human. I will make mistakes. I will eat food with two “Z”s in it. I will sometimes not exercise. And when I’m sick, those things are even more likely to happen. I need to accept that and move on.
So that’s how I look at it now. So what if I took a small detour? I’m back on the road to being fitter and healthier. Staying on the detour will never get me to my goal. I may not get to my goal as fast as if I never got sidetracked, but hey, sometimes there’s construction and what’re you gonna do about it?
The view from my elliptical (viewpoint, that is)
As I hit 30 minutes on my elliptical recently (for the first time in I-don’t-know-how-long), it occurred to me that the world looks very different from up there. I’m not talking about the room I work out in, although the extra height that the machine affords does reveal what desperately needs to be dusted. I’m talking about my perspective on the future, my future.
Exercising gives me a whole new view of myself. I feel strong, capable, successful. I picture myself thin, wearing the type of clothes that I’ve always wanted to wear. I see myself with more energy and a more upbeat attitude. This occurs even when I’m nearing the end of my workout and my legs are about to give out, because it’s a feeling from within. And that’s the kind of positive mental energy that feeds on itself and grows.
If I go too long without working out, that picture blurs and the old negative thoughts come to the fore again. I tend to start thinking more about how much I dislike this part and that part of my body and how I sometimes think I’ll never get where I want to be.
So my goal is to keep exercising at least five days a week and not miss more than one day in a row. It’s addictive. That doesn’t mean I necessarily feel like doing it until it’s actually under way, but I like seeing my future in that light.
How to enjoy the weight loss process
Another thing that has changed for me is that I’ve learned to enjoy the process of losing weight and getting fitter. Due to my former “all or nothing” attitude, I used to think “I’ll feel good when I reach my goal.” I mean, goals are important, but I was too focused on the future and not enough on the present, so when the future didn’t come soon enough for me, I would give up.
Now I’ve realized that there are lots of things to be happy about on the way. Until I started participating in weight-loss forums on the Internet, for instance, I had never heard the term SV or NSV (scale victory and non-scale victory). Scale victory is self-explanatory; NSVs can be anything from refraining from buying soda at the store and drinking water instead to exercising 5 minutes longer than the day before. There are lots of things that happen to us on our weight-loss journey that are reasons for celebration. Maybe we fit into a pair of jeans we haven’t worn in a while. Or someone says to us, “You look like you’ve lost some weight.” Or we simply feel more energetic and get more accomplished during the day.
There’s no reason we can’t make note of and be proud of all these little victories. If you’re having a hard time and are feeling blue about the fact that it’s going to take you many months or even a year or more to reach your goal, try to focus on the now just a little more. Keep the finish line in mind, but try to enjoy the scenery along the way. If you look hard enough, you’ll find things about yourself that are changing for the better, even though it may be slow going.
I like looking back at the calendar at the growing amount of time I’ve been working at this. It’s satisfying to know I haven’t been wasting time wishing I were thinner; I’ve been working toward that goal. The more time that goes by, the closer I’m getting, and the more I enjoy being in this body. It’s like giving my body a figurative pat on the back and saying, “Hey, I know I’ve been hard on you in the past, but I can see you’re really putting effort into this. Good job. Remember those mean things I said about you? I take them back. You’re kind of a cool chick after all.”
Remember, those little successes build on each other and result in larger ones.
A sign that my approach to weight loss is changing
The other day, I polished off a bag of chips. It wasn’t even the lesser-of-two-evils baked kind. It was the greasy, cheesy, two-bags-for-the-price-of-one-that-my-husband-can-never-resist-buying kind. I’ve begged him not to bring that stuff into the house, but really, I know I need to learn to exercise control over what I eat, and I can’t blame the guy for wanting a treat once in a while.
Well, I had a moment. I’m not sure why I broke, but I opened the bag, saw there were only a couple inches (measly little inches—in fact, it may have been mere centimeters) of chips left. I cut off the top half of the bag for easy access and went to town.
Yes, I felt bad afterwards. Berated myself. But then something amazing happened. I stopped the negative thinking, hopped on my elliptical, and burned at least a few of those bad boys off.
Why does this simple thing merit its own article on this site? Because it’s a sign that my approach to losing weight is changing, in a good way. In the past, I would have allowed my self-directed anger to last all day, if not all weekend. I would have reasoned, Well, I blew it. That’s it. Might as well have some Oreos and a Coke. And there certainly is no sense exercising now. I’ll start over tomorrow.
But I put the kibosh to the negativity party, and I’m proud of myself. So it was a momentary lapse. I should have had a couple chips to satisfy the craving and then stopped, but I didn’t. So … you know what? Chips happen. I am still figuring out my relationship with food and why I turn to it like … like a … well, like an unsupervised forty-something woman to a bag of Lay’s. It’s complicated.
It’s only reasonable to expect I’m going to make bad choices from time to time and have mini-binges. Maybe even maxi-binges. But I have to get over it quickly and move on. I’m realizing that writing off a whole day, week, or month because of a wrong turn is completely counterproductive. I mean, I knew that before, in my head—of course it’s counterproductive—and it seems silly that any of us reason otherwise. But humans are silly sometimes. We don’t get it.
After I exercised, I felt better and didn’t backslide for the rest of the day. I even felt thin the next day, and my jeans felt like they were riding a little lower. I can guarantee that if I’d allowed my old thinking to dictate my actions, the next few days would have been extremely discouraging. Instead, I got to feel good about myself in spite of my temporary insanity.
Which is a very good thing.