My Midlife Weight Loss: Dos over Don'ts
It's a new week and I'm still on this journey. I posted something on Instagram this weekend about clothes and your physique. After I posted it, I thought it may offend some people. It made me think about this journey and the motivations. I'll share more on that in the next post. Today, I had already decided to document a key success factor in the early stages of this weight loss, which is at about 15 pounds at this point.
Why am I sharing this in these posts? I really don't' know... There are a few reasons, I think. First of all, anytime you are excited about something, it is fun to talk about. Another big reason is that I want to remember what I'm learning and feeling along the way. Journeys like this evolve constantly and I don't want to forget a strategy, reason, resource or motivation as I pass though the stages. I will certainly need to call on those again if I plan to maintain my hard work. Everything will be right here. Then, maybe there are others who may be on this journey - or thinking about it. I want to share who I am learning from, what I'm trying, what is not working and what is working. Everyone is different, but, truthfully, we're also pretty similar.
I will be posting these small reminders to myself in snippets, because they each deserve their own moment.
Today is one that really got me going the first few days of the actual journey. If I'm trying to NOT do something - like creamer in my coffee, eat breakfast, etc - a don't felt so empty. So, it I'm not eating breakfast because I wanted to try intermittent fasting, what do I do instead. I'm a doer by nature. I like to be doing things so NOT DOING felt so weird. What am I supposed to do with this new free time. Instead of a list of "don'ts", I made a list of "dos". I also love to-do lists so I made a list of all the things I could do instead of eat breakfast - drink 24 oz of water, write down my meal plan for the day, read by Bible chapter, light a candle, 10 min of yoga. I didnt' have to do all those things, but having a list of positive things to do made me focus on moving forward instead of just standing there deprived. I got to start each day with wins instead of just something I didn't do. This simple move was a game-changer to get me started. It's now a habit and I rewrite the list each morning anew (well, about 5 mornings a week). I have wins by 6am each day and, I find, that is so powerful in the success of this journey.
And, not to mention, my jeans are fitting better. LOL
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