So often, our goals are centered around weight loss, but really it is so much more than that. It is so true that we are so much more than a number on a scale. How many people do you know who have lost a significant amount of weight, only to gain it all back. And people who start strong on a weight loss journey, only to fall back and gain even more than they lost. One of their biggest faults is that they are focusing on the scale. There is no magical finish line to cross when the weight comes off, and more than just eating habits need to change. You need to get to the root of the problem, where did your disordered eating start?
You need to first love yourself, all however many pounds overweight you are, and love yourself enough to want to better yourself. This isn’t a “I can’t eat cake I’m on a diet” pity party, or a I am going to miss out on the fun night of drinking because I need to wake up and work out time to commiserate. This is about making yourself healthier so that you can live a fuller, longer, healthier life.
I am a huge fan of journaling your thoughts and feelings, which is a great exercise for discovering underlying causes of our weight. Did you turn to food for comfort, be it loneliness, stress, boredom? Have you ever had a healthy relationship with food and/or exercise? If so, that is awesome because you can draw on those experiences and feelings. If you never had healthy habits modeled for you, or encouraged for you, then you need to do some digging. It is in you to have a healthy relationship with food, but you need to create new habits for your bad eating habits.
So, time to pull out a journal and get real honest with yourself. Where do your issues stem from? Can you work through them yourself, or is it time to seek professional help? A couple prompts to start with: What does being healthy look like to you? What will it mean for you to be healthy?
One thing that worked for me, when I lost my weight, was to not focus on the scale. My goal was not I will weigh X by this date. My goal was, for 12 weeks I will follow these guidelines. We’ve been doing a one day clean eating challenge lately. It is so much easier to commit to being perfect for one day. But I’m ready to step it up with everyone. Who can commit to being healthier for 3 months, for 12 months? Regardless of what the scale says, you will be better in the long run. There is no pressure to be perfect or for it to last forever either, just better for 3 months.
So, are you in?