I received my January issue of Glamour magazine in the beginning of December. I usually devour new magazines, as I am eager to read something on my long train ride home besides my crap excuse for a newspaper.
But I was too intimidated by the January issue to read it. It had a huge heading on the front that said “Get to your happy weight!” I opened up the magazine and saw that almost 20 pages of the issue were dedicated to “getting a healthy body for life.” (That’s a lot, for a magazine that is probably 50% ads)
I skipped over those articles and choose to read the fluff article on Carrie Underwood instead. Then I put the paper aside. I didn’t reopen it to read “short hair you can wear,” “How to love a crazy job,” or even “America’s best dos & don’ts!” Every time I opened the magazine, it seemed to flip open to those “getting a healthy body for life” pages, and I just wasn’t ready to read them. Who is in December? Who wants to read about what not to eat, and how to portion your meals in the middle of the holidays?
But why am I not reading it now? The truth is, I don’t need to read “Exactly what to eat to lose weight.” I know exactly what to eat to lose weight. I know exactly what to do to lose weight. I have done it successfully before.
And I have gained it all back, successfully before.
What I don’t know, is how to make myself dedicated to a healthy eating lifestyle. Because believe me, I know it’s not a diet. I just don’t know how to say “no” to myself.
Yes you do. What you need to know is why you say yes instead – because it isn’t about the food (you should pop by my fitness site http://www.pinkdumbbells.com – it’s free, so I’m not pitching anything. 😉 They’re all discussing this too.)
The trick to comitting is realizing you have the power to do anything you want, really feeling it. That’s it. The healthy lifestyle is a habit which takes upwards of 6 months to a year to form, but once it’s there – your golden. 😉
It’s hard but if you make some small changes a little at a time, it makes it easier. My big thing was not restricting myself from things cuz then I just wanted them more and more and would totally go overboard.
Good luck!
I think baby steps is key as Lisa said. This isn’t my favorite topic either. I hoping I can bribe myself into losing weight. i.e. vacation somewhere nice and warm if I lose enough weight so not to actually scare other beach goers.
i’d be happy if i could just figure out the maintaining bit. i know about the losing (and the gaining, unfortunately). if you figure it out, blog about it! 🙂
I am pretty much at the same weight plus/minus 10 pounds for 3 years. The problem: I would like to be 30 lbs lighter but everytime I get to the lower end of the spectrum I gain it back and all because I can’t stick to exercise. So if someone has a cure all for adapting an exercise type lifestyle I would love to hear it 🙂 I do love yoga, unfortunatly it is just not enough to keep the pounds off 🙂
I hate all those articles. We have to eat right and exercise? Really? This is totally NEW information. Groundbreaking.
I’m with you. I need to find out how to dedicate myself to this lifestyle. Especially when nobody ever wants to go to lunch and eat healthy. Maybe it’s my co-workers fault…yeah, that’s it!
I’m great at rationalizing all the reasons it would be stupid for me to diet. My whole life is a diet attempt.
i’m so glad i’m not the only one who has this problem!!! 🙂
Kyra – Thanks for the support. I have almost gotten to that point before… but I always fail in the end. I think I am too much of a perfectionist – it is “all or nothing” for me.
Lisa – I think I need to try your idea this time, and not put all the bad foods on a restriction list. Maybe if I don’t restrict them, then I won’t go overboard and eat 10 cookies instead of one!
Gina (Mannyed) – maybe Steven and I should do a joint bribe… it doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me!
Robin – EXACTLY. It is NEVER new info – just a new spin and newer photos in the articles! YUCK!!!
Rachel – Ha ha. I come up with excuses too – “well, I can eat bad for the whole month of December because of the holidays” 😉
CourtneyInControl – there are too many of us with this problem I bet! 😉
sizzle – I will let you know if I EVER figure it out! Hee hee! The thing is, by the time you are able to “maintain,” you are so used to it, it doesn’t feel like work anymore and becomes hard to explain…
Felicia – that is the worst – when you fluctuate up and down. You feel like you are never getting anywhere 🙁