So, how did I do it in the past?
That’s what I was trying to remember yesterday.
I’ve been successful at weight loss a few times before. I’ve never had quite so much to lose as I do now, except maybe post-pregnancy. But I’ve taken off significant amounts of weight on a few different occasions, and certainly it was difficult then, too.
I think it probably seems harder now because of different life circumstances. My biggest mental blocks are cooking for my family and not getting to eat out with them. Right now, locking myself into a “food prison” of Lean Cuisines (my homemade Jenny Craig program) is really the only thing that will help me gain enough momentum to keep going. I know myself, and if I start thinking that I can just eat whatever the rest of the family eats, I will never be motivated enough to cut back enough to produce real results. And without real results, I will never be motivated enough to keep going.
So, “food prison” it is.
I was thinking about the mind tricks that used to help me. One of them was to just focus on getting through today. Like an alcoholic on the wagon, I can use the old AA slogan, “One day at a time.” If you plod through enough days, soon you’ll have a week, and in a week there might be some noticeable results. Get enough weeks together, and you’re down a whole clothing size.
Then there’s the trick of telling myself that I already know what a particular food tastes like, so it won’t hurt me to give it up once. I was that way about Chipotle burritos, once upon a time. I grew able to go to Chipotle, order food for my entire family, and come home and have a Jenny Craig entree, because I already knew what a chicken burrito tasted like. Same thing with a Quarter Pounder or a Whopper or even my beloved Chick-Fil-A. Nothing new there. So why obsess over it? I can have those foods someday.
I know that my critics will tell me that I’m taking a short-term mentality, not looking ahead to maintaining my weight loss. I already know that I won’t always be able to keep myself in food prison. Who’d want to?
BUT, I do know from past experience that food prison does work. And after a few weeks, food prison becomes less restrictive and feels more like a game. It gets to be a challenge to find the healthiest options at restaurants. As the weight comes off, I feel so much better that I don’t WANT to go back to my old ways. I also find that my appetite naturally grows smaller, so that when I do go back to eating the same foods I fix for my family, it’s not so difficult to exercise self-control. I start to think like a thin person.
Also, exercise definitely helps maintain weight. Once I reach a point where I’m really working out vigorously, I will be able to bump out the bars of my food prison.
These are just a few mind games for today. Now I’m going to go put my workout clothes on. One step at a time - I have to get the clothes on before I’ll go work out. Once I’m wearing those clothes, I probably will at least walk down to the basement and climb on one of my machines. And once I’m on the treadmill or elliptical machine, I probably won’t stop till I’ve done at least 25 minutes. So it’s all about baby steps.