Weighty Wednesday

It has been about 12 weeks since I started making some lifestyle changes to help me lose weight and to be in better health. This is not the first time I have lost weight or tried to lose weight, but it has never stayed off for more than a few months. Things will be going along good and I hit a road block or find some success and let old habits start to slip back in. This time I really want things to be different and last more than a few months for not only myself, but for my family, too. As a couple we desire to make changes for life for our whole family which include better food choices and daily physical activity.

Here are four concepts I have learned about myself and weight loss so far:

Discipline is key: This word has gotten a bad wrap in our society of excess, but it is key to getting ourselves out of the rut we are in. I personally struggle with this one in HUGE ways. My natural tendency is to just go with the flow and dream big. Since becoming aware of this tendency in the past I am implementing small steps into my day to help me get where I want to be. For example, one discipline I am adding in February is tracking my food in a journal for three consecutive months. Before I eat it, I write it down. If I don’t write it down I don’t get to eat it.

Seek out accountability and support: One of the first things I did when I decided to start this journey was to join Weight Watchers. (We won’t talk about how many times I have joined only to stop two months later.) Too many of us try to walk this road to better health alone. It may work for a while but without accountability and the support of others it is easy to slip back into old habits. One of the habits I want to break is drinking diet pop. It make me feel bloated and it also kicks in the munchy mentality. Give me a diet pop and within a half hour you will find me grazing in the kitchen looking for some sort of carb. I have an accountability parter who will asks me, daily if need be, to keep me on track. Also, going in for the weekly weigh-in keeps me focused on trying to find balance in my week so I have a loss instead of a gain.

Find a plan and stick with it: Here’s where my personality gets me in the most trouble. I am always on the look out for something new and better. In some areas of life this thought process has served me well, but not when it comes to sticking to new life habits. My old pattern: start a program or diet and do it for about a month, get bored with it and start something else. My new pattern: find a tried and true method and commit to it. Not only does this mean I need to stick with it, but it also means I need to let go of other diet plans. I need to keep reminding myself fade diets are not life style changes. I need to do what is best for me and my family.

Get help when you need it: Scott and I have had some heart to heart conversations about life style changes and what we need to do to get our whole family healthy. One of my biggest challenges is going from cooking the foods we grew up with (farm meals – meat, potatoes, bread, dairy) to a less rich diet which incorporates vegetables and whole grains more. I am totally clueless on how to make this transition without flipping from one extreme to the other, so I am going to recruit some outside help with creating a few balance meal plans our family can live with. I have set a goal to start looking for help when I get back at the end of the month and then to have a game plan in place by the 15th.

Question: What life style changes are you making?