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You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!
 Posted by Michelle Butler Apr 3 2011, 9:45 pm in eating healthy, Emotional Eating, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, motivation, stress, weight loss In the past 3 weeks, my Weight Watchers weigh in results have been +2, +1 and +.4. That adds up to a gain of 3.4 pounds, exactly one half of the 6.8 pounds I’d lost in the prior 5 weeks, so I’ve really taken 2 steps forward, 1 step back in the past 2 months. Surprisingly, I’m not very upset about that. At this exact moment, I’m totally at peace with it. Why? In the past couple of years, I’ve learned a lot, particularly about my food and weight issues. Whenever I struggle, I eventually can get out of my own way, often with some help from the world, and remember these lessons. Even in the first week of this stretch of weight gain, I could recognize that stress, my struggle to accept what I could not change immediately, fatigue and opportunity were powering my overeating. This awareness did help me slow down on the eating and even make wiser food choices at times. Please notice that the gains decreased each week. I just couldn’t stop it entirely yet. I’m getting there though. I also know that my entire weight loss pattern is one of alternating losses and gains but the former is greater than the latter overall. I will admit; however, I was particularly nervous before my last weigh in on Tuesday. That was the end of a week that had really alternated between very good days in terms of food choices and indulgent days. At the beginning of the month, I originally had thought I would gain that week because of a big party scheduled two Saturdays ago. It was a very fun, annual event, and I didn’t plan to count points that day. I might have shown a little more self-control due to my 3-pound gain, but I still didn’t count points. The arguments for why I would gain that week were much stronger than the ones for why I would lose. I’d basically accepted that I would gain even before I went to my Weight Watchers meeting and had already started to work on the reasons why I should give it my all to do better the next week. The benefits of this journey are so much more than just what I look like, but I did spend some time Tuesday reminding myself how much better I do look now than 40+ pounds ago. I took a lot of photos on Saturday, and some of the ones of me were very flattering. I even received several compliments for them. I spent some time looking at those photos, rereading the compliments I received on Facebook and via email and comparing the pictures to some photos from two years ago. I do look much better now. I also fell back on the power of clothes. I wore a size 10, A-line skirt Tuesday. I also went to check out the Ann Taylor sale and tried on several outfits that I would not have been able to even get on for many years. I ended up buying 3 spring dresses for the price of one and look forward to wearing them when it gets warm. I walked into my Tuesday night meeting and weigh in totally expecting a big gain and with the proper frame of mind to just keep on keeping on, so I was really pleased to have only gained .4 of a pound. After the meeting, which was about the power of two: how a friend can help you succeed at weight loss, I went to dinner with my favorite Weight Watchers buddy. Over portion-controlled pizza, we talked some about our journeys. He said that the best thing about it all was that there was no shame in eating anymore. If he wanted to have a burrito for lunch, he had a burrito for lunch and made the appropriate adjustments later on. That was such a great reminder of how wonderful it was to have eliminated that nasty, negative self-talk habit and developed, for the most part, a healthy relationship with food now. Yes, I had eaten too much the past few weeks, but I was aware of what was happening, knew why I was struggling and was working hard to get back into a healthier eating pattern. Furthermore, I was not heaping tons of vitriol and shame on myself for my food choices and for the minor weight gain. All that energy that could go into beating myself up was instead focused on helping me get back to where I know I need and want to be. And, I’m getting there. I’m cautiously optimistic for my weigh in Tuesday night. If I do gain again, I’ll look at it as feedback and make adjustments next week. I’m confident I’ll just keep on keeping on and eventually will start another stretch of weight loss. This journey never ends, and I am committed to making a success of it. Do you take the time to remind yourself that you’ve come a long way especially when you’ve been struggling a little bit? What else helps you keep on keeping on?
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9 Responses to “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!”Leave a Reply |
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You’ve hit on two very important keys in this journey — awareness and no negative self-talk. I think those are just as important to making this a long-term healthy lifestyle change as diet and exercise.
Awareness and no negative self-talk are both so important to success. The latter really is such a gift. It’s amazing how much you can beat yourself up. Why do you want to make yourself miserable?
The awareness is a gift too, but there are moments when I don’t appreciate it.
I do ask myself then do I want to be numbed out to my own life. You’re only given one to make of it what you will.
Hi Michelle! I loved your friend’s comment (that there’s no shame in eating anymore). And I love that you didn’t slip into vitriol this month–that you stayed positive and worked on figuring out what you want to do next. Yay, you!
Thanks, Elise! His comment was helpful and thought-provoking.
Great post, Michelle. I think the key for me is to have recognition and reward. There’s nothing than a contest final and some bling to remind you that the long struggle to get published isn’t all negatives and rejections, and that you’ve come a long way!
Equally, with healthy eating and fitness, recognition and reward helps – whether it’s a medal for a 5k or fitting into a new skirt.
Forcing yourself to recognize and acknowledge the progress you’ve made is really important. Outside affirmation always helps, but you can’t always get that – and you certainly can’t control it. Learning to give yourself affirmation on a regular basis is really helpful.
Hi Michelle,
I’m sitting here this morning looking backward at the previous two weeks (it all started with Chinese takeout one Saturday night, and a misplaced tracker), alternately thinking “I NEED to go to a WW meeting even if I don’t get on the scale” and “I’m wasting money, I should give up the ‘loss’ idea for now and work on maintaining”. Your post has reminded me of the boost to be found just sitting in the meeting. I’m going to go. And pick up extra trackers.
Thanks, Emily! Most of the time I really get a lot out of the meetings. If nothing else, it forces me to stay aware of what is going on eating-wise.
Just this past meeting, a “lifetime” woman who I think also works for WW returned to meetings. She said she’d been struggling for awhile and knew meetings was what would get her back on track but still had to get over some resistance before she returned. She also said that just one meal could get her off track – and she is really struggling with/dislikes the new program.
Anyway, I guess the truth is that we all struggle at times, and perseverance is just the key to it all.
[...] the peace I was feeling about my recent 3.4 pound gain and determination to see the next weigh in as feedback seemed to disappear when I was told I had [...]