This is taking a long time

I am now in the midst of my tenth week. I have never committed to weight loss for this long. What is different? I have not restricted myself too much. I an not rushing to get there. I am not making my regimen so hard and restrictive that I will quickly abandon it. I hate to use the tortoise and the hare analogy but it is the best to describe this journey.

I have always tried to be the hare. I want results NOW! I think that is human nature. I want to instantly see how all of this hard work is making a difference. I would drastically restrict my diet. I would do this for a few weeks. I would lose a couple pounds. My clothes would still fit the same. No one would notice. I would want cake, wine and a bag of potato chips. All at the same time. I would cave and binge. I would then feel like a failure and throw in the towel. It’s too much work for not a lot of results. Or so I thought.

I am now the tortoise. Like I said before, I am in my tenth week. I have lost 12.5 pounds. It has not been instantaneous. It is a journey with ups and downs. This time around I am not fully restricting myself. I have had nights out with friends. I have had a glass of wine, pumpkin cheesecake, and Mexican food. I also have learned that the scale may go up slightly when I make a choice like that and it is not failure. It is a part of life. If I choose to treat myself, I have also learned that I have to make different choices around that. I need to eat less calories the meal surrounding that treat or work out a little more.

There are days that far I surpass the amount of calories I should eat. In the past, I would have seen that as failure. I would have aborted my plan and went back to my unhealthy habits. In that moment, the cake would seem so much more gratifying. It would give me such positive emotions. But those emotions would be short lived. Negative emotions would then creep in. This would start a vicious cycle of my eating to feel those positive feelings, which would then make me feel like I failed. I would then abandon my weight loss attempt.

I have learned this will take time. I have learned that I will slip. I have learned that some days my motivation will suck. But the good news is I know that I can get past it. I have learned that I do not need to rush to get there. I have learned that slow and steady is what I need to be to win.