This was a difficult post to write because I had to evaluate my failures. I had to ask myself where I went wrong and answer myself honestly. One goal I have for this blog is to remain transparent in explaining my weight loss journey, so this post does not skimp on the tough stuff. I address the top reasons I struggled losing weight in the past and even some at the beginning of this process.
Letting one day ruin an entire week
This is probably one of the most prominent reasons I failed so many times while trying to better myself physically. I'm sure some of my followers can relate to this, but for those that do not know what I mean, let me explain using an example. I would set a goal to start losing weight or better my health, and I would start out great with a positive attitude. I would eat a well balanced breakfast of eggs and fresh fruit or maybe a protein shake then I would eat a nutritious salad for lunch. I would go for a walk in the afternoon and have some more fruit or cut up veggies with hummus as a snack, but when dinner rolled around, I would crave something fried or greasy. I found myself more often than not going for takeout instead of opting to actually cook and eat the healthier food I bought at the grocery. I would sit and eat an entire pint of lo mein along side my combo meal from China express or a supersized McDonald's meal complete with a large diet Coke and M&M McFlurry. Then the bad eating habits would roll over into the next day and the next and the next. Why? "Because I might as well just start fresh next week." I'm not sure why I couldn't just tell myself that one bad day is all right every now and then, but you need to just do better tomorrow or at the very next meal! I don't know why I let one day ruin my entire week. It was extremely difficult to break, but I found myself at the heaviest I have ever been, and I knew I needed to start with breaking that mindset if I actually wanted to stick with and achieve my goals. Buying groceries at the beginning of the week and planning what I was going to eat each day helped a lot. I also stopped buying binge worthy snacks like chips and cookies. I allowed myself to eat out once a week in the beginning to help break this cycle, but I would look over a menu and plan out what I was going to order before even getting to the restaurant. I had to change my way of thinking about food. It is much easier said than done, but I decided I wanted to feel better health wise, and I knew that those comfort foods would only provide momentary happiness.
Expecting results immediately
Another biggie. Here's the story: I eat healthy for a whole day; the next day is a good one too; I finally make it an entire week; I step on the scale, and I've lost no weight (or worse, I've gained a couple pounds)! It's infuriating not seeing the results of working so hard, so guess what I do. I let it ruin my streak, and I resort back to my same old habits of indulging in comfort foods. Breaking this cycle was completely mental. I just had to come to terms with the fact that I might not see results immediately, but if I kept it up long enough, science says desired results will come. I also tried to limit weighing myself. Since I wasn't necessarily focused on a certain weight as my goal, it helped me find other non-numerical signs of getting healthy (like the decrease in acid reflux or being able to wear an old pair of pants). Once I started seeing the results, I was even more motivated to keep up my healthy lifestyle choices.
Not tracking what I was eating and burning
You do not have to track what you eat and what you burn in order to lose weight, but it certainly helps. Think about it this way, you get a paycheck, and you have bills and monthly obligations. Hopefully you track where your money is going in order to keep your account in the positive. Calorie intake is the same kind of concept. In order to lose weight, you have to burn more than you consume, so it only makes sense that you should know what you are consuming and what you are burning. I never looked up the nutritional value of my favorite takeout meals until I got serious about losing weight and getting healthy. I was shocked when I found out that some of my go-to's contained double, or more, of the daily values for calories or carbs or fat. Let that sink in: one meal containing double what you need for one day! No wonder I failed so many times in the past. I did not want to become an obsessive calorie counter, but I knew I needed to calculate how much I was eating every day in order to avoid failing again. I started by just tracking a normal day on My Fitness Pal for an entire week. I was also tracking my fitness level on a FitBit. At the end of that week, I adjusted my meal plans accordingly and started tracking again. I had to do this a few times to get into a routine of burning more than I ate. I now use an Apple Watch to track my activity levels, and I still use My Fitness Pal to track my macros (which I still haven't mastered). Andy thinks I am an obsessive counter, but I don't think it is in a negative way. I don't feel guilty if I go over or don't meet my goals every day, but I continue to log to stay educated about my personal daily nutrition.
Side note: it is also a good idea to track those cheat meals. Just because you don't track them doesn't mean they didn't happen.
Telling myself I would workout later
The age old phrase, "I'll do it later." We have all said it at some point in our lives, and I'm willing to bet that at one point, whatever we said we would do later never actually happened. I used to be the worst about putting off working out until later in the day. I would talk myself out of a walk or doing a cheesy workout tape by telling myself I had more important things to do. In reality I just wanted to be lazy. I wanted to take a nap or watch the newest episode of my favorite show. Although these can be important, I was just trying to find any excuse to get out of exercising. I would tell myself I would definitely go workout later, but "later" came and went, and I never worked out. As you may have picked up by now, the theme of this post seems to be how difficult it is to break these habits. How did I break this one? Once again it was mostly mental. An object that is in motion stays in motion, right? I tried very hard to keep moving throughout the day and not give in to my big comfy couch when I got home from work. Instead of telling myself I would do a workout later, I would do it immediately after school, and on the weekends, I woke up and got moving immediately to knock it out early. I did this until is became part of my routine. I do have a love fo exercising at this point in my life, but some days it is definitely a love-hate relationship.
Buying clothes with no shape
I shot myself in the foot by buying huge clothes I could hide in and telling myself they were just so comfortable. Now don't get me wrong, I am all about comfort when it comes to dressing, but only wearing leggings and big flowy tops contributed to the lack of awareness when it came to my weight gain. I got into the LuLaRoe leggings craze and thought about how easy it would be to dress in the morning and how comfy I would be all day. However I did not have a true waist band to grow out of, so I did not realize immediately that I was getting bigger. The leggings stretched with my expanding stomach and thighs, and the Piko tops (like the one pictured) I had collected over the prior months were already huge, so I couldn't really grow out of them. It wasn't until I tried on a pair of jeans to wear on a casual Friday that I realized I how much weight I had actually gained. A size 16 pair of jeans could barely be buttoned. I cast them aside and continued wearing and buying clothes that had no shape. When I decided to change my lifestyle, I also decided I would stop wearing my comfort clothes once I could fit into some of my old fitted clothes. I started losing weight and getting back into my size 16 jeans and XL tops. Each time I bumped down a size, I got rid of the clothes that were too big. I did not want them in my closet to be used as an excuse later. If they stayed, I would see them as an option for if I gained weight again, but they shouldn't be an option. As I stated in my initial transformation post, I have never felt better about myself health wise and physically, so I don't want to go back to my old ways. Keep those skinny jeans in your closet as a goal to get into, but donate or sell the clothes that are too big. I was using them as a security blanket for if I failed again, but having that mindset isn't healthy, and it can actually set you up for failure.
I still struggle with cheat meals getting out of hand and not wanting to get in a daily workout. I will never be perfect, and neither will anyone else, but evaluating where you are failing is part of the process. You have to know where you are going wrong in order to change and get it right. I hope that you find my failures relatable and their identification helpful in your own journey. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: I am NOT an expert when it comes to exercise, dieting, nutrition, mental health etc.
However I do try to educate myself using reliable sources in order to be safe and healthy. Just because something works/worked for me does not mean it will work for everyone. The purpose of this blog is to inspire others with a story about continued hard work, dedication, and self love.
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