Last year I read an article by the New York Times about former Biggest Loser contestants who gained back most, if not all of the weight they had lost on the popular show. The article paints a pretty dismal picture for those of us who want to lose weight and keep it off. To me, the upshot of the article is that overweight people will always gain it back on account of their defective metabolisms.
That conclusion is unacceptable to me, however. And I have my work cut out for me as a result. At my heaviest I ballooned to 212 pounds. I had gone through some very traumatic times and I dealt with it by eating. I didn't think I deserved the good things I used to have. Not even running. I didn't even think I deserved to run another marathon.
It wasn't until I began the process of truly forgiving myself that I was able to believe I deserved those good things again, and in turn begin to lose weight. Losing weight was a process which took a long time. But losing weight is one thing - banishing it from ever returning is another. Just some things I have found to be true in my own journey:
1) You need to switch up strategies from time to time.
Just keep it healthy. You don't want to turn to crash dieting or anything else that will torpedo your metabolism. Maybe you want to try, say, the South Beach Diet for a while, then switch to just straight calorie-counting. Keep experimenting as you need to. But don't approach any solution expecting it to be the last one you'll ever need, despite the claims of so many diets and plans that theirs is the ONE you can stick to for life. Your weight loss/maintenance strategies are fluid works in progress, ones which will need to be adapted as life happens.
2) Create inspiration for yourself.
Maybe it's a cute little dress you want to wear to the high school reunion in two months. Maybe you need to be inspired by a fitness challenge, like a marathon, triathlon, working up to walking for 30 minutes, or whatever physical accomplishment gets you fired up to just think about. Whatever it is, find inspiration. And if your inspiration is running low, I guarantee you can create more if you put your mind to it.
3) Change your thinking about food and eating.
I highly recommend The Beck Diet Solution by Judith S. Beck, PhD. This was a game changer for me. There were certain things I believed about food all my life, like that if I was hungry I should just eat. It took this book to show me how wrong I had been. Among many other things, this book taught me that no hunger is an emergency, and that I will never starve between snacks and meals. Granted, these lessons are still and will always be a work in progress for me, but this book gradually introduces you to the thin way of thinking, with exercises that will drum them into your mind. There are plenty of other ways you can completely transform the way you think about food. The Fast Metabolism Diet by Haylie Pomroy teaches you to view food not as entertainment or comfort, but as weight loss tackling fuel. Go to the bookstore or online, and immerse yourself in the ideas of others who have turned their relationship with food to their advantage. Maybe you will be the one to create the next groundbreaking set of ideas!
Maybe it's a cute little dress you want to wear to the high school reunion in two months. Maybe you need to be inspired by a fitness challenge, like a marathon, triathlon, working up to walking for 30 minutes, or whatever physical accomplishment gets you fired up to just think about. Whatever it is, find inspiration. And if your inspiration is running low, I guarantee you can create more if you put your mind to it.
3) Change your thinking about food and eating.
I highly recommend The Beck Diet Solution by Judith S. Beck, PhD. This was a game changer for me. There were certain things I believed about food all my life, like that if I was hungry I should just eat. It took this book to show me how wrong I had been. Among many other things, this book taught me that no hunger is an emergency, and that I will never starve between snacks and meals. Granted, these lessons are still and will always be a work in progress for me, but this book gradually introduces you to the thin way of thinking, with exercises that will drum them into your mind. There are plenty of other ways you can completely transform the way you think about food. The Fast Metabolism Diet by Haylie Pomroy teaches you to view food not as entertainment or comfort, but as weight loss tackling fuel. Go to the bookstore or online, and immerse yourself in the ideas of others who have turned their relationship with food to their advantage. Maybe you will be the one to create the next groundbreaking set of ideas!
4) Embrace the unfairness.
As we said in the Army, suck it up and drive on. We all know life isn't fair. We all know people who can just inhale whatever they want and still look fantastic. My husband used to eat whole trays of brownies and baskets of biscuits, yet always remained skinny. Yeah, it's not fair. To keep weight off, you will probably have to work at it for the rest of your life. That fat will always come back knocking at your door again, checking to see if you're ready to throw in the towel and say "I don't care, I'm just gonna eat whatever I want." What's really more unfair anyway - you to pass certain food by, or for you to miss out on the life you deserve? Believe me, I'm preaching to myself just as much as I am to you. It may be unfair, but it's worth it. And as my son loves to say, "Deal with it!" You'll be glad you did.
Don't accept the conclusions that say you're just doomed to regain weight. Some people don't even want to try to take off the weight because of this school of negative thought. Who cares if these so-called experts are betting against you? You, not them, are in charge of your journey. Keep on truckin,' keep looking for innovative solutions and above all, never give up!
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