Seeing Results

I am finally happy to say that I am down 20 lbs. since I started this program in August. In the past, I think I have been in too much of a hurry to see results, and when I didn't see them come fast enough, I would give up. I think it's true what they say: the best way to do it is slowly, a couple of lbs. a week, and I think the best reason that it's good in the long run is because I know from experience that when I lose weight too fast, I don't really put much thought into every lb. I lose, so when I finally reach a goal, I sometimes relax too much. At that point, I will start putting it back on again almost as quickly as I lost it, and I'll think "oh, it's no big deal, it's just 10 lbs., I'll just lose it again." Then, before I know it, I have gained it all back.

Let me explain some of the things I am learning in this program that will (hopefully) help me to not only lose the weight, but keep it off (which has been a nightmare for me in the past):

1. I weigh myself every day. This is something I would never do before, and there is a very good reason for that. I would prefer to do it once every week or two at the most because I didn't want to see how fast I was losing weight; it was never fast enough for me (then there's the fact that my weight fluctuates like crazy!) The way I look at it now (and they explained it this way) is that weighing yourself every day will become a habit, like brushing your teeth, so that when you finally do reach your goal, you will be able to maintain your weight by being aware of it all the time. One of the best things about this program is that we make this stuff part of our daily routine, so that our lifestyle changes, not just our weight.

2. I try to keep my daily routine moving in the right direction. They refer to this as our "east". I first identify my values, or my reasons for wanting to be healthy (mine include seeing my son grow up, gaining back energy which I usually do not have, and feeling better for a better quality of life in general). They say "values are like directions. You can always try to move east. It never ends. In any situation, you can ask yourself 'am I behaving consistent with my values? If I lost 30 lbs., would I not want to be healthy, active and engaged anymore? If I didn't lose weight, would being healthy, active and engaged be a failure?" So if I fall off track, east is always there, and I can always go back in that direction, no matter how bad I think I did.

3. I see cravings and desires as thoughts, and nothing more. We learned that our minds have evolved to try to keep us as comfortable as possible. It is a comfort machine. It tells us "why would you want to exercise? Sitting on the couch and eating potato chips is much for comfortable!" This was a good thing when we were in constant fear of being eaten by wild beasts thousands of years ago, but it's not such a good thing all the time nowadays. We become controlled by our thoughts. So we can identify the fact that we are having these thoughts by saying "I am having the thought that I would rather sit on the couch and eat potato chips." That separates the thought from us; it puts it outside of us, and we are no longer controlled by it. So we can say "I am having the thought that I want to eat ice cream" or whatever you can think of, and just acknowledge that we are simply having a thought.
This helps a great deal if you eat out at restaurants often, like I do (although I seriously need to work harder on limiting this to once a week). One of the things they emphasize is that if you were to eat out every day, it would be virtually impossible to lose weight. They even have a class that is just about how bad restaurants are for people. Naturally, many restaurants offer menus under 500 calories or so, but the main idea in the restaurant business is to make money, so they are going to do whatever it takes to make the food taste good and make you come back for more. But my point is that if you do go out to eat, you can identify your thoughts while you are sitting there looking at the menu. Most people will think "well, my husband gets to order this, so I should be able to!" Or "the food smells so good" or my personal favorite, "a calorie splurge won't kill me". This is when it is good to take a step back and acknowledge these thoughts and still choose a healthier option.

4. I don't try to avoid the thoughts. We did an experiment where the psychologist told us "don't think about chocolate cake". We had to sit for a minute and try to think about anything but chocolate cake. For most of us, that didn't work, and for the others, chances are that over time, it won't work. Depriving ourselves of certain foods will make us put too much energy into trying to avoid those foods, which will usually end with us succumbing to our desire to eat the food.
They teach us that if we are having an unhealthy thought, we can become "stuck". We know we're stuck when we're fighting with the thought, going along with the thought or consumed by the thought. This is when we can say "I'm having the thought that _______" or we can find our "east" / reorient our values.

5. I acknowledge when I am making excuses. We learned that our mind can come up with an excuse for just about anything. We had to come up with two reasons why we have been unsuccessful with weight loss. Then two more reasons. Then two fake reasons. Then two reasons why our spouse or siblings might have been unsuccessful. Then two reasons why we might have been successful. We came up with tons of reasons for everything. Our minds are reason-generating machines (and JUDGMENT machines, "the world's worst motivational speaker"). So basically, they said that if our mind was making excuses not to exercise or not to eat healthy, we need to look at it as "if someone offered me a million dollars, would I still not do this thing?" If the answer is no, then it's a legitimate excuse. If the answer is yes, I would do it, then it's probably not a legitimate excuse.


Well, things have been going really well since I started using these techniques (although, like anything else, it is a learning experience and is not without its snags and difficulties). I am noticing that I am able to let go easily nowadays. My favorite thing about this program is that it is designed to be for life, not just some temporary fix like the Slim Fast diet, and while I am paying attention to the scale, the purpose is more to be a healthier individual than it is to lose weight. The program is changing my perspective on life, which is exactly what I need.

As far as our weight loss method goes, we learned that it is better to count calories rather than just fat, carbs or sugars (or what have you) because all of these things are made up of calories, which is why it's the best thing to focus on. Our eating plan, however, should not provide more than 25% of our calories from fat. Because of my weight, my daily calorie goal is 1,500 and my fat goal is 42 grams. I cook a lot more than I did before, and all of my meals are for the whole family. I go to the library every few weeks or so and check out recipe books for cooking light. My family has loved almost everything so far! Exercise is just as effective if it's divided up into increments of 10 minutes. Right now, we should try to get at least 100 minutes per week. This will eventually go up to 250 minutes per week (which I think will help a lot with that weight loss plateau I always run into when I get down to 200 lbs.)

Anther thing is that when I am losing weight, I never realize that there is actually a change going on, so maybe it would be better for me to take the time to post my progress photos as I'm losing weight. Below on the left is me on February 25, 2013 at 270 lbs. and on the right, me today (09/20/13) at 250 lbs.

 

I will keep posting my results and what I am learning from the program periodically. Thank you for reading!! :)