Personal Choices
We go through various emotional stages on our road to weight loss. It's important to understand where you are and how you can move on. For example, what would happen if you expected to lose 100 pounds in one year and you ‘only' lost 30? What would happen if you had been working on changing your mental attitude to one of positive expectations and optimism? Would you now be frustrated, angry or depressed? The path towards successful weight loss and then weight maintenance is extremely bumpy, so it's important to anticipate the nature of these bumps and learn how to cope with them so that you can remain expectantly hopeful, or positive that you will indeed reach your goal.
Initially you are likely to be very enthusiastic and pay close attention to your eating habits, and try hard to eat the right kind of things and avoid those unhealthy snacks. You will be seeing results on the scale and you will feel proud of your efforts.
Later, things may become a bit tedious. Life situations now are tugging at you and you are having a tougher time focusing on food preparation. You come to the office and no weight loss has occurred. This is the frustrating stage, and it's normal. Everything seems now so hard, and you wonder why it seems that other people seem to be thin ‘without any effort' (actually, most people we see as thin actually do pay close attention to their portions and snacking and are getting regular activity. Because it has become part of their daily life, they don't really think of it and it seems effortless). If you are in the frustration phase and wondering why nothing is happening, you must examine both external and internal factors. Are outside influences such as your work or family causing you stress, and can you do anything about them? If you just seem to be ‘off track' this is the most important time to monitor everything you are eating by writing it down. A lot of times, we think we are eating well only to find out many more calories are passing our lips without great awareness. Don't give up at this stage, just regroup, get back to basics and try to get the "I can do it” attitude once again.
Later, you will get to the stage where you accept your eating patterns and develop a sense of certainty that you will reach your goal even if it is going to take longer than you had secretly planned. However, you will still have to assert yourself effectively in restaurants and other social situations regarding food. You cannot become careless. Successful weight controllers monitor their food and exercise carefully.
Whether you are at the beginning and seeing ‘quick' results, feeling frustrated, or now have moved on to a sense of control over food and exercise, its important to maintain a positive mindset. It's easy to be pessimistic and accept failure, but it's just as easy to be optimistic and accept success. Just don't stay in the failure mindset too long, as your mind will really begin to believe this false reality.
Every one of us has a personal choice of what we eat, how much we eat, and how much time we will make for exercise. If developing long term health is your goal, then pursue with passion a personal choice of small portions, healthy snacks and regular exercise.
You can do it. Keep on trying, and don't ever give up!
Dr. Doug