Reflections of the week

I've made mistakes in the past by rushing through things too fast.  I don't want to do the same this time around, so I am going to take time every week to reflect on previous days' lessons and journal entries.  It might not be necessary for every week, but this first week has been filled with so many things to reflect upon, I feel that I cannot move on yet.  Babs (who often comments here) has started her own blog and she has a very good take on the first day's lesson.  Instead of taking the instructions to fill out: "I used to be this way ____, but now I'm this way ____" she had a different approach.  Instead of looking at failures and putting THOSE into the "I used to be that way" she looked at her past success where she DID lose weight and looked at how she used to be when she was successful.  So, I am redoing my own list (Thank you Babs!):

When I lost weight last time I used to:
(1) Walk religiously - even in blizzards.  One month I went down two dress sizes without even losing weight!
(2) Plan a week's meals, not just go day-by-day.
(3) Drink my water!
(4) Realize that losing weight was an important priority in my life (right behind children, husband and home).
(5) Never missed a weigh-in good or bad.
(6) Didn't weigh myself at home during the week where I was a slave to the number.

So, instead of saying I'm not going to be like I used to be, maybe the point is to be EXACTLY the way I used to be!


Day 2: Interested or committed?  I have to stop giving lip-service to this.  If I was REALLY committed I would be losing weight already!  I think part of the problem is that I have always taken the stance that if I am committed to the program, I don't need goals (other than to be committed to the program).  I have always taken the stance that if I am doing the program, the weight will come off at its own rate and amount.  I still believe this, but now I think that not having goals outside "staying on the program" has contributed to my less-than-enthusiastic feelings toward being on WW - or any program.  I just don't have any exciting goals.  Hopes, yes.  Goals, no.  So I am hereby declaring to the world that I have the goal to lose 6 pounds a month (a mere 1.5 pounds a week) so that when I go shopping in June for a dress for the wedding  I will be 30 pounds less than I am now!  Would that be so terrible? lol  It makes it even more tangible to be committed to a weight goal than just to the program goal.

Day 3: Do it anyway.  Every single day I say I am going to use my bike, do stretches, and drink my water.  And every single day I don't. Making a change in lifestyle is more than eating the right foods.  Eating the right foods is a diet change.  I need a complete overhaul.  But in little bits and increments - that will also get me to where I need to go.  In terms of little steps, I think it would be helpful to identify ONE task each day that I never feel like doing, and then do it anyway.  Doing EVERYTHING anyway has proved to be too overwhelming for me, where I just shut down and don't do anything after a day or two.  Or take one task and do it every day for one week.  THEN add another one.  The most important thing for my recovery right now is to use the bike daily.  I promise to do it - even if I don't feel like it.

You know? This is already almost too much to take in.  I am going to work on these three things:
1) Realize what worked in the past, what didn't work in the past, and what I am going to do in my present.
2) Commit to a weight goal and see how it feels, and if it motivates me and makes me feel good.
3) Ride my bike a minimum of 20 minutes a day, and also do those 5-minute intervals at work a couple of times a day.

I am not going on until I've lived with these three things for a couple of days.  It's better to do things right than just rush through day by day.

So here's to Days 1, 2 and 3 all over again!
Miriam