Losing Momentum

I have put off writing this post, because I know that there are people out there in blog-reading world who are easily discouraged by anything that does not qualify as uplifting, Rah! Rah!, AlwaysThinkPositive stuff. But this (in my opinion) is one of the most important concepts when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, so here goes…

Last week I wrote about my Turning Point. My life changed on that day, permanently, but I would be remiss if I did not mention that before that day came, I had multiple other times when I THOUGHT I had reached a true turning point, only to discover later that I had not. It is very common among those of us who are striving to become smaller than we are to have mental, emotional, or spiritual “events” which give us motivation and momentum for a little while. Trouble is, the momentum dies off (at which point we typically revert to our old habits). And the more times we ride that merry-go-round, the more discouraged we get, and the less we want to try. (Sidenote: So how do you know the difference between a genuine turning point and one of these temporary will-power feasts? Because the change is in your thinking – not just how you feel, but in your actual thought processes about food, exercise, and weight. The world looks different, because you are looking at it from a different place. I hope that makes some sense! Perhaps I can elaborate more in a later post.)

I spent years thinking that if I could just find the right program, the right group, the right plan, then suddenly all of this would become EASY and that once I found that path I would skip merrily and effortlessly to my ideal weight. This is how the folks on TV get rich, by the way – by convincing you that THEIR program is THE program that will revolutionize your life. They have before/after pictures, testimonials, and the like to help you buy into it (by the way, in a later post I will address why I think each and every one of these programs have people for whom it does work). But back to the point: If you continue to believe that this journey is akin to climbing a mountain, reaching the top, and then sliding down smoothly to your goal, you are in for a one great big hairy disappointment after another. It is much more like a long distance bicycle ride – with uphills and downhills, and lots of pedaling, and lots of sweating. There are nice long downhill stretches, when the wind is at your back and you can rest your legs and just enjoy the ride. And there are grueling uphill bits when you may not even be able to pedal at all, but instead have to get off the bike and push it inch by inch upslope against the wind. And there are lots of miles in between. The thing is, even if you have a genuine turning point, you are going to lose momentum somewhere along the way.

I started my life change on September 27, 2007. That October I lost 15 pounds! Of course, we all know that the first month you tend to dump a lot of water, so I was quite pleased when in November I lost another 9 pounds. In December, I gave in to a lot of Christmas temptations, but still lost 4 pounds. (Most of my friends at thedailyplate.com agree that “not gaining” in December is as big an accomplishment as losing, so I was happy.) In January 2008 and February 2008 I lost 6 pounds per month – a respectable 1.5 a week – but I had to work hard for it, and my weight graphs for both of those months look like a bad EKG.

Then in March I gained 4 pounds. Actually I gained about 8, then lost back some of it, for a net monthly gain of 4 pounds. And I was exercising, so it wasn’t that I was not burning calories. I was just eating too many of them!

So I threw in the towel, decided that none of this was worth the effort, and ate an entire turtle cheesecake followed by 4 large french fries and a bag of Cheetos™. Right?

NO! Of course not! Stop and think a minute about how RIDICULOUS it is to suggest that after losing 40 pounds I would throw everything away because I gained back 4! Yet people just like you and me do this all of the time! We mess up, we backpedal, we lose momentum, and instead of pedaling harder, we just quit.

Oliver Goldsmith, 18th century writer, said “Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.” If you want a more modern version, you can take it from Jon Bon Jovi, who put it this way: “Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.” Personally, I think a more accurate view is this: "Success is falling 998 times and getting up 999!" Look, I know that you don’t want to hear this, but you are going to screw up! You are going to lose momentum, you are going to fall and you are going to have to get back up again. The TV is lying to you, ok? There is no magic pill, or surgery, or food, or exercise, that makes this effortless. This is not a process that comes without pain and it is not a process that succeeds without ups and downs. Even The Biggest Loser™ contestants, who are in a highly controlled environment, sometimes have weeks when they don’t lose any weight. Rather than discourage you, this should encourage you! Because it does not matter how many times you fail, as long as you get your chubby bootie back up again!

I didn’t eat turtle cheesecake. Or french fries (and I dearly love french fries!) As for the Cheetos™ (which were in my pantry, and shouldn’t have been)? I trashed them. Because I am in this for the long haul. I plan to finish this race. I’m gonna pedal. I’m a week into April, and those pesky 4 pounds from March are already gone, so I’m sure glad I didn’t throw in the towel. You shouldn’t either, ok? Get back up!