As I have approximately 4,932 times on sparkpeople.com, I once again encouraged
at least one person today to look not at the big, overwhelming picture, but to
concentrate on one choice at a time.
I said it because I know it works,
and it does....
But I also read a couple of buddies' blogs in which they
posted some very simple, concrete goals and how they were doing at achieving
them.
And then the grumpy lightbulb lit up.
The
lightbulb moment isn't always fun. While usually bringing light to the darkness
is awesome and liberating... sometimes it lets you know that you have
cockroaches lurking in your bathroom at night.
I do not actually have
cockroaches in my bathroom. At least I don't think I do... Oh great, now I'm
paranoid that there are bugs doing all sorts of weird things in my house when
I'm not home, and being a child of the 80's/90's, I of course get immediate
images of Joe's Apartment and have mixed feelings because they might be
HILARIOUS cockroaches, but even in that case are still gross cockroaches.
I don't think I set out to write about bugs... where was I?
Here
is what the lightbulb moment revealed to me today (but that I have probably
known for quite some time and just wanted to ignore)
1) Taking life one
choice at a time so that the big picture isn't overwhelming is awesome, and
something I should stick to, but that doesn't mean I should lose sight of the
big picture ALTOGETHER.
"Oh good for me, we ate out but I ordered a really
healthy option" doesn't really properly put into perspective that we ate out
about 6 times last week. Even if I'm ordering the best option every time, and
the options are actually good, they are not great, and I am wasting money.
2) Goals are awesome, but vague goals aren't particularly helpful.
Wanting to fit into the very last pair of "someday they'll fit again" pants
left in the drawer is a good goal. Do what makes me feel good about myself
instead of just "good" in the moment is an awesome goal...
But how exactly
do you track your progress on those? In the meantime my water intake is dropping
off, my freggies are inconsistent, I'm not sleeping enough, I'm not planning
ANYTHING ahead of time when it comes to food... The seat of my pants is a pretty
dependable flying mechanism lately, after so much practice (and new, smaller
pants), but certainly not as safe as a PLAN.
3) There is something going
on in my brain that I'm avoiding thinking about. So even though now that I'm
making myself face and think about it I don't really have any explanation for
it, I'm going to write it out:
I think I am afraid of ONEderland.
There, I said it.
I do not know why I am afraid. It's a HUGE
goal for me, one that I'm literally ONE TENTH OF A POUND from, and have been for
nearly 2 weeks.
So why that tortilla instead of making myself a burrito
bowl?
Why grab a diet soda when I know I need to be drinking more water?
Why choose an easy workout on Friday when I have the time and energy for a
better one?
I'm not binging, or skipping workouts entirely (well, I had to
miss 2 last week due to a car accident, but I complained about it a lot and got
back in the gym the second I was cleared for exercise)...
I'm just... not
putting in that final push to break through this milestone, even though I'm
perfectly capable of it.
So what the heck is going on with my brain?!?!
Here is my very non-professional theory on the craziness happening
inside me, no matter how much I ignore it:
The last time I lost weight
with SP I made it into ONEderland... barely. I remember replacing too many meals
with slimfast, doing weird, crazy, but inconsistent workouts. I remember getting
hyperfocused on that goal, and super excited when I achieved it.
I also
remember that I pretty much stopped trying after hitting it. I was happy with my
clothing sizes, we were about to go on vacation.... I lost several more pounds,
but in retrospect it was all muscle. I started shopping for vacation clothes
instead of going to my swim class. I stopped working out entirely. I ate more
and more junk. I got down to the 180's BRIEFLY.
And then I gained all
the weight back.
It wasn't instant, and I'd try to recommit myself and lose
5-10lb now and then, I think even 15 or 20 once... but my heart wasn't in it.
So then I gained another 20lb than where I started from, and despite being
back on SP regularly, and wanting it so bad, and trying pretty hard more of the
time than I wasn't, I stayed the same or gained some of those 20lb, and it all
seemed hopeless.
But then the happy ending, right? It clicked in my
brain when I wrote that blog way back around this time last year about making
choices that make me feel good about myself instead of the ones that make me
feel "good". I honestly feel like it was that moment that started my real break
with emotional eating. Things are going awesome. I'm in the best shape I've been
in since highschool, I'm thinner than I've been since 2005 (even if I'm
technically heavier), I feel like there are real changes going on in my head and
my life instead of just my body...
But I'm stuck. And I'm not stuck like
"everybody plateaus" stuck, I'm stuck like I'm caught on some obstruction in the
path and am just ignoring it and spinning my wheels down into a rut instead of
figuring out how to get unstuck.
I'm pretty
sure I'm stuck because I'm afraid.
I'm not really afraid of ONEderland.
I'm afraid of what happened to me the last time I got there.
And
spiders.
And heights.
So I'm confessing it here, semi-publicly. I
can't pretend these feelings aren't going on if I took the time to write them
down where other people can see it!! Well, I could try, but that's pretty silly
even for me.
Friends, and readers who are yet to become friends, I'm
scared.
I've made mistakes in the past when reaching the same milestone that
had devastatingly major consequences.
I know exactly how capable I am of
messing everything up, and it's making it really hard to focus on how equally
capable I am of making everything awesome.
BUT, this isn't a woe-is-me
blog. This is a lightbulb blog, remember?
It just happens to be the
cockroach kind instead of "oh, that's where I put my keys".
Luckily, now
that I wrote it out, I'm pretty sure I see my keys over there under the
cockroaches. It's really going to suck to stick my hand through those creepy
crawlies and get my keys out of there, but I can do it.
I CAN DO IT!!!
The ONLY thing in my way is me, and oh how lucky, that's also the only thing
I have the power to change.
Attitude change and positive action
commence!
Nothing but admiration here from someone who is still stuck at "how do I get started?" Was remembering my first "I must lose weight" foray with WW about five years ago, hitting a goal, gaining it all back, and then some. Ouch. So, what exactly is SP?
ReplyDeleteSparkpeople.com is a GREAT totally FREE website that I use all the time! It's where I got started on weightloss and even where I originally started this blog! It's super easy and fun and supportive and very adaptable to each individual user. My username on there is SHRINKINGLULU, if you decide to join!
ReplyDelete