Sometimes I think those of us who are trying to lose weight, live too much in the past and the future, and we don't spend enough time within the "Now". What do I mean? Well, its a very simple idea, based on two simple facts, 'No matter what we do, we cannot change the past' so, why dwell on it? And ' we can't predict the future' so why plan on it? These ideas come into play quite often during the weight loss journey, but its important to apply them correctly.
Many of us have identified why we have a weight problem (i.e. emotional eating, rewarding yourself with food, comforting yourself with food, etc.) and knowing the why is winning half the battle of losing weight. If you know why you have a weight problem, then its obvious that you know how or what to do to overcome the problem. (Does that make sense?) But here's the problem many of us face, what do we do when we screw up? Lets say that we know we're an emotional eater, so we do everything we can to not eat out of emotion. Then something horrible happens in your personal life and you have a weak moment and you reach for a tub of ice cream or an entire pizza. Uh oh! You screwed up. <--HERE is where the ideas come in to play--) So you screwed up...? MOVE ON AND MOVE FORWARD! That screw up is IN THE PAST. What can you do to rectify that split second decision you made to eat the ice cream or pizza? NOTHING! The decision has been made and acted out already! Can you take it back? NO! (not unless you have a time machine in your back pocket) SO MOVE ON. Instead of worrying about that horrible decision that you made and beating yourself up about it, move forward and worry about what you can do RIGHT NOW, in this very moment, to move TOWARDS your weight loss goal.
Secondly, when we live too much in the future, it becomes more like wishing instead of doing. For some people, it helps to set future goals (I know it helps me) and setting these goals is a healthy thing to do. But it becomes unhealthy when all you can do is fantasize about what the future will be like, instead of actively doing the things you need to do to get to your future goals. So, stop cutting out pictures from magazines or buying "goal clothes" and START DOING!
We must work on changing our inner dialogue. What is our inner dialogue? Its the things you say to yourself in your head that nobody else can hear. When you screw up you might say things to yourself like, "I'm such a loser. I can't even control my eating. I'll never make it to goal. I'll never be able to lose any weight, I'm worthless." etc. etc. etc. INSTEAD of saying these things to ourselves, we need to change that inner dialogue to something more proactive. Instead, we should be saying, "Okay, I shouldn't have eaten that pizza, but I can't change the past. What can I do right now to feel better about it? Okay, I'm going for a walk. I'm going to do some sit ups. I'm going to try my best not to give in again." Do you see how that works? We went from beating ourselves up and belittling ourselves, to empowering ourselves and taking matters into our own hands!
It all goes back to a post I wrote a while ago. It all goes back to NOT GIVING UP. You can screw up every single day, and still succeed. Even if you're not losing weight, if you're correcting your state of mind and your way of thinking, then you're growing and learning and that's a success story too. Its like what we learned when we were young: when things don't go the way you want them to, are you gonna just pick up your blocks and run home? Or are you gonna roll with the punches and make the best of it. All the biggest success stories in our world come from those who continue to try, who continue to push the envelope, who continue to challenge themselves.
I guess my point is this: don't let one mistake determine the demise of your journey. Make it a point to keep trying! Consider this: "The only way we can fail, is if we stop trying."
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