Attitude...baby

If the last piece of info was gold this is the key! It is attitude. I wish there was a better word and maybe I will think of one as I write but the way you think about the task at hand is a good measurement for your success. When people come and ask me about weight loss I get a good sense of whether they will make it yet or not. If I could wish, pray or dream a gift for you it would be the attitude to get you to your goal.

In years past I would somehow stir up a smidgen of motivation to get healthy. I would make some sort of plan but all the "what ifs" or any other excuses I could foresee were pitfalls waiting to suck me into failure...again. I would worry about when I was having "that time of the month" and didn't feel well. I would wonder how I could ever be happy without warm chocolate chip cookies. I came into the plan with guilt, shame and disappointment already built in. I was pleading to the gods to make me thinner instead of believing in my own ability. Last August, the thing that changed the most was I was no longer afraid of all the "what ifs". I told myself, and truly believed, that I was going to see the results I wanted. I told myself and believed if there was a day I absolutely didn't want to exercise I wouldn't. If there was a day I wanted to blow the food thing I would. I would not let those thoughts hinder what steps I was going to take today!

If I had one piece of advice to give it would be this. Sit down with yourself and list the times in your life you have been the heaviest. Why was that the case? Be real, it can be life changing. Then, make a list of the things you are doing well. We all do somethings we can proud of. Make a list of things we are easily going to change. For some changing to diet soda is not a big deal or regular sour cream to light sour cream, parking at the farthest spot instead of driving around for a closer spot, you get the idea. These things are now concrete changes and are not on the decision list anymore. Then make a list of the foods or situations or times that are going to be tough. At first we may only be aware of these truths but as you are aware you will find ways to work through them. Facing them and acknowledging them is a huge part of this attitude I am talking about.

Here is a huge example of this attitude for me. I started at 158 pounds the night I wrote my pledge. MFP weight started at 155. I just wanted to see below 150 pounds. I had not seen anything below 150 since I started having kids 12 years before. Within a couple of weeks I was bouncing around at 150ish. A little panic started to seep in because I was not breaking that plateau. I thought maybe I needed to cut some more calories or up the exercise. I did, and nothing. Then one day I consciously thought "I know that what I am doing is right". I went back to my original plan and within a week I was below the 150 mark. The little hints of panic have erupted numerous time and my attitude has made the difference. Once I read an article that I should exercise in spurts or 10 minutes hard then 2 minutes slow or something like that. I tried it. But, when I recognized that uncertain feeling or pleading or wishing attitude, I stopped. A couple of months later I decided I needed to change it up a little. I started doing half my cardio, then weights and then the other half of cardio and then the last part of weights. I still love this little change and it hit me that this is really the same concept as before. I lost one more size because my attitude allowed it.

Beware of "shoulds", they never ever ever meet everyone's needs. Stick to what works for you. Maybe you need smaller goals or maybe you know you need to push yourself more. You and only you know!

Like I have said before, forget the weight loss and focus on the attitude. The goal shouldn't be "I want to fit into a size whatever". The goal should be "I want to like making better food choices or I want to want to exercise". We have to be able to make the same choices 20 years from now to really change our lifestyle. You can't follow a plan forever but you can do this!