Going the long haul

Last week marked exactly ten months since I made this change to my lifestyle, and it's made me reflect a little on the nature of making a long-term change like this. As I said in an earlier post, I strongly believe that learning to be moderate in a particular behaviour is much more difficult than learning to be extreme - aka, denial is easier for most people than moderate restriction/moderate use of whatever the behaviour is. In other words, it's easier for people to commit to doing something intensely over a short period of time than it is to make a long-term behavioural change, such as crash dieting, or following an intensive work-out routine. But finding something that you can do every day for a long period of time - even forever! - means thinking about it differently. 

Before I started this, I read blogs and stories and case studies about weight loss, and one thing that nearly all of the successful stories mentioned was the importance of getting your head into the right mindset first, and this is something that I've seen again and again. I coach people, in a very much non-professional way, just as a volunteer/peer/friend, and sometimes I can just see that people are thinking too short-term. They're approaching this from the "okay, if I just do this until I'm at my target weight, then I can eat (whatever food) again", or thoughts that go roughly along those lines. And it's these people who reel when I mention that I recently made an exception to my own restrictions. "You ate Thanksgiving dinner?" they'll ask, in horror, and this is where I patiently explain my personal stance that the occasional exception is a mentally healthy thing to do, that because this is a forever lifestyle, it's not going to work if we tell ourselves that we're never, ever going to eat whatever your chosen food indulgence is - ice cream, fries, pasta, etc. This is about making an overall change to our daily habits. It's about making these types of foods an exception rather than a lifestyle. In my case, these exceptions are carefully planned, never a last-minute collapse of will or impulse decision. I often balance them with compensatory fasts and moderate my other eating in reflection of said choice. 

The overall trend idea is also important to remember when it comes to weighing yourself daily. You can do it if, like me, you're just curious to watch the daily fluctuations - and they ARE daily! - but what matters is the overall trend. Is the number, in general, going down? If so, good. And if you find yourself becoming too obsessive about the scale, then weigh yourself less often. Body measurements are also a more accurate reflection of how this process is going, especially for women, whose bodies retain water much more than men's do, and water weight makes a big difference to weight. Time of day matters, how much you've slept, hydrated, what your stress level is, etc etc etc. Being in this for the long haul means that the day-to-day is not what matters: it's the big picture. 

So, where am I at for 10 months? I'm down 114 lbs, have lost a solid 19 inches on my waist, gone down about 5 sizes in clothing, replaced nearly my entire wardrobe several times, including a drastic tailoring to my winter coat. I'm fitter and healthier than I've been since childhood, and very happy about it. 

And I'm about to celebrate American Thanksgiving with an American friend tomorrow night, and I'm going to be moderate about it - and enjoy that fully! If it's Thanksgiving for you this weekend, I encourage you to do the same!