The Day I Decided Enough Was Enough. I remember the exact moment. It was not in a doctor office or seeing some frightening figure in the scale. It was the evening on Tuesday, and I was attempting to play with my nephew that was 5 years old at that time in the backyard. In half an hour of running after him I was weighed down to the last gasp, leaning against the fence, and my heart had so thumped that I was afraid of it. That was when I realized that I was missing my own life. Similar to millions of individuals across the planet I started the process of losing weight that day, but not because of the reasons you might believe. It was not about squeezing into skinny denims or being “beach ready.” It was also about the desire to be at the pace of a spirited child who believed that his aunt was the most fun person in the world. That personal why was my North Star and I am advising everyone to find their own before they begin their own journey. What the Scale Fails to Tell You. https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598512199777-c17f2cdf5db9?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1200&q=80 This is what they leave out in most of the weight loss articles: the number on the scale is the least fascinating part of the story. It was not the scale that appalled me when I began to perceive progress, but only little things. Similar to the capability to tie my shoes without having to hold my breath. Or climbing the stairs to my third-floor apartment and not feeling that I have to carry around an oxygen tank. Weight loss is easily explained in scientific terms (calories in and calories out), but anything human has to do with it is not. I have now found this out the hard way when I had faithfully adhered to one of the good old fashioned diets I had lost… not a pound. Sarah, my friend, who was trying the very same plan, lost eight. It turns out that our bodies too possess their own recalcitrant ideas regarding the way they wish to lose weight. That Mindset Change That Changed The World. So, a total change in my mind is what finally helped me and it was not another diet. I began with I will walk on 20 minutes a day instead of saying I need to lose 50 pounds (which seemed as possible as climbing Everest in flip-flops). Just 20 minutes. I went out on some days grumbling dragging myself out the door. The following is what I learned about establishing the correct mindset towards losing weight: Quit reviewing your chapter 2 against another person chapter 20: This was the trap that I always fell into and I kept on watching videos about transformation, watching those who had already achieved their dreams as I only started. Comparison indeed is the robber of pleasure–and of improvement. Congratulate the little wins: I made a jar where I would put notes about little wins: “Wore an old pair of jeans today,” “Eat a salad instead of pizza at lunch at work,” “left me with energy to clean the entire apartment. I would take out some notes on bad days. Game changer. Pardon the bad days: Thanksgiving last year I took so much pie I could not keep it down. The former me would have said, I have blown it! and abandoned everything. The new me accepted the fact that it was just a single meal and not life sentence and was back on track the following day. Nutrition: It is not all about Broccoli and Chicken Breast. https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1490818387583-1baba5e638af?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1200&q=80 Honesty time- to eat chicken grilled and broccoli on a daily basis is sustainable, just to an extent of three days then you would feel like throwing the food out of the window. I found out the hard way (and did cry a few tears of disappointment) that weight loss nutrition is not about restriction but re-invention. My real-life nutrition plans: The 80/20 Rule: I would eat healthy foods 80 percent of the time and the remaining 20 percent? That applies to the foods that I really love. This balance made me not to feel deprived which was always my failure in the past. The concept of batch cooking helped make me sane: Each Sunday, I take 90 minutes to cook simple foods: grilled chicken, roasted vegetables, quinoa, hard-boiled eggs. I switch and alternate throughout the week. It is no longer necessary to look into the fridge at 7 PM and order pizza because they are desperate. I do not quit my favorites- I recreated them: I am a Chicago-born and deep dish pizza is in my blood. I did not make it outright, rather, I improvised how to come up with a lighter version myself. It is not it, but it will quench the desire without throwing me off the track. Water, water, water: I purchased a 32-ounce water bottle that was marked in time. It is preposterous, but I find that I drink even when I am not thirsty when I see that the bottle says 2 PM. This on its own cut my snacking behavior in half. Locating Movement You Don’t Hate. https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1534367507877-0edd93bd013b?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1200&q=80 My thinking about exercise before was that it had to be painful to be effective. I would make myself walk on a treadmill, looking at a wall, and counting all pain-filled minutes. It is not surprising that I did not stick with it. Then I found out a few things that were revolutionary; movement can be fun. I used to do it all, once: Yoga, swimming, rock climbing, Zumba, hiking, kickboxing. Others I liked (hiking!), others I despised (Zumba made me feel uncoordinated) but I retained what worked. I added activity to my life: I began taking walks on the phone with mom (who talks a lot- bonus steps!). I took the stairs at work. I parked further in the grocery store. All these slight differences amounted to an additional 2-3 miles of walking without exercise. I have discovered my movement soulmate: In my case, it is hiking. Something about the nature itself makes the effort nothing. My friend Jen discovered hers in spin classes where there are no bright lights and loud music. The point is to continue trying until you discover what does not make you feel like being punished. Otherworldly Journey: The Emotional Journey Nobody Talks about. This is the naked reality nobody trained me in: weight loss evokes a great number of emotions that you might not be ready to experience. I got compliments, which were not comfortable when I started losing my weight. “You look so great!” people would say and all I could think was, Did I look bad before? I found that I used my weight as an armor. In its absence I was weak in a manner that I hadn’t anticipated. It is at this point that I began to journal, a simple notebook where I could work these feelings without judgment. Emotional strategies that worked with me: There was no such thing as therapy: I went through a wall when I had lost 30 pounds and I was emotionally in need of help. Probably the most positive choice I have ever made in my life. I have developed my support team: No, not only cheerleaders, but trusted friends who would tell me that I was being too self-blaming or excuse-making. I taught myself to sit not comfortable: I would not eat when I was stressed but I would put on a timer to 10 minutes and just breathe. Usually, the urge would pass. Otherwise I would have a small and deliberate snack rather than mindlessly eat. The Maintenance Mindset: The Work Properly Starts. https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1544367567-0f2fcb009e0b?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1200&q=80 The truth of the matter is quite simple; it was not easy to lose the weight but it has been a different experience maintaining the weight. I have been keeping my weight loss to 60 pounds steady over the past three years, and this is what this looks like in the real world: I continue to weigh myself weekly, but it is information, and not opinion. The scale enables me to pick tiny things before they grow to be huge. I also possess a red flag wardrobe: Two perfect fitting jeans at my ideal weight. When they begin to get tight I know I have to examine my habits. I no longer refer to it as a diet: It is merely the way I in currently eat. Life is no cheat day, it is life. It can be birthday cake and sometimes it can be grilled fish and vegetables. I am gentler with my body: when I am 45 years old, I do not have the metabolism that I had when I was 25 and that is fine. I modify my expectations and plans. Where You Are Your Journey Begins. And there is one thing that I want you to remember about my story and that is that your weight loss process does not have to resemble anyone. Not mine or your or the one featured on the Instagram feed. Begin with a single change–the change that you can most conveniently make. In my case, this was replacing soda with sparkling water. What it could be to you is a 10 minute walk after dinner or having one more vegetable in each meal. The journey to healthy weight loss is a journey of unperfect steps, which sometimes go in the wrong direction, but a lot of self-forgiveness. It is not a question of perfection it is the ability to make better decisions most of the time. Two years following the same day in the backyard with my nephew I finished my first 5K. At the finish line he was there jumping in the air. “Auntie! You won!” he screamed, and yet I was in solidly in the midst of the pack. I did indeed have, in his, and more in mine, I really had.
The Weight Loss Journey: My Path to Finding Myself
