It's about discipline, smart decisions and dedication, not deprivation!

Last night stayed at work late to keep a coworker company while she waited for an outside referral to get his butt to the hospital. Normally I wouldn't have stayed the entire extra 45 minutes but she and I were having a really great conversation and it was nice to do some bonding. Our main topic of conversation was losing weight. Obviously this is something that is an active part of my life right now and she is trying to lose her pregnancy weight. It is the first time that I've really opened up to anybody here about my efforts and it was a really great feeling. While we were discussing our strategies, struggles and successes, the same thoughts kept rolling through my mind and it is the cornerstone of this blog entry. Successful weight loss is about discipline, smart decisions and dedication...not deprivation! I want to discuss the 3D's with you because I think it will offer a little more insight into what we're doing here; after all, isn't that what this blog is about anyway?!?!?

Discipline. For me, this has been the hardest aspect of our lifestyle change so far. Logically it should be the easiest. This is the one area of life that we have total control over. Nobody but me decides what I do and when I do it...well, you know what I mean. I decided what to eat, drink, do, wear etc. Regardless of this fact, discipline is what was lacking in all of my other, failed weight loss attempts and it's the hardest part to maintain now. Because I'm (well we're all actually) in the initial stage of this change, every affirmative or negative decision made requires a great deal of personal discipline. Every time I come home and think, it's late, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I should just eat and watch old Gilmore Girls episodes, I have to have the discipline to tell myself NO!!! Stay away from the couch, don't even go into the kitchen, instead go directly to your room, change and do your exercise. Now don't get me wrong, there are still nights when I have a hard time convincing myself to change into exercise clothes and get my ass moving (and nights when I say oh, take the night off) but I'm becoming more disciplined each day. It's hard for me to accept but I'm not going to be perfect every night but I'm making progress and that's good enough for now.

Smart Decisions. Behind discipline, I feel like this has been the biggest factor in the results I have had so far in this journey. In the past when I thought of weight loss I would always think that there was 1 big thing that I wasn't doing right and that's why I couldn't lose weight. God was I wrong! I've probably said this before, but I really feel like success is going to come not from one thing that we do but a myriad of smart decisions that we make. I think about this a lot when it comes to my food selections and habits. I know that everybody does this a little differently, but I don't want to eat cardboard food. I want food that is nutritious and delicious. You don't get to be 321 pounds without liking food. Besides that fact that I like food, I also have a fairly good grasp on physiology and I know that, in order to work properly, the body needs a variety of fuels including carbs, proteins and fats. If we take away one of these energy sources completely, the body does not function the way it's intended too. Maybe this is just scientific justification for the fact that I want to eat carbs, however, fact is fact! Now, while I do want to eat what I want, I also know that I need to be smarter about these things. If I want a burger, I'm going to have a burger. If I want something sweet I'm going to have something sweet. I can still eat the things I love and lose weight (I'm doing just that right now). Just because I want a burger doesn't mean that I need to have a half pound burger, a ton of fries and lots of terrible things. I can, however, have a guilt-free burger (of proper portion and lean beef) with cheese and lots of veggies on top, hell I can even have fries as long as I stick to a single serving and bake them. I still get what I want and I don't over indulge on calories. Same with sweets. Although I have not been craving sweets so much since I'm not really drinking pop anymore I still have the occasional sweet tooth. Sometimes I'll have a 60 calorie pudding cup or some dark chocolate squares. I even have single serving Ben and Jerry's cups in the freezer for when I want ice cream. I know that these things are not the best for me but there is nothing wrong with an indulgence when I'm hungry and wanting something sweet. By eating smaller servings, or lower calorie sweets (like the pudding which I love), I can still lose weight and have the things I like.

Dedication. Being disciplined and making good choices are the cornerstones to weight loss (in my humble opinion). However, dedication is the glue that binds everything. It's great to be disciplined and make smart decisions about exercise and eating for a day. It's even better for a week. If we truly dedicate ourselves to this lifestyle change, this journey we will be successful. In the beginning, we tend to see results rather quickly. It's another well know physiological fact that when you have more improvement to make you will see results more quickly. The less room for improvement, the slower things progress. As we move on and hit that first plateau of weight loss, it is going to be difficult the carry on, it always is. But we must remain dedicated to our goal. I think I'm reaching that first plateau. It's about time to be honest. I don't want to say that the first 25 pounds off were easy but it was fairly quick. I've noticed, even with my improved discipline since the new year that I'm still reducing, just not as quickly. At first it made me nervous, but now, I feel good. I'm going to keep on moving forward and continue on my way. I will need to be extra disciplined in my eating and exercising but I'm up for the challenge!

Deprivation (aka...The DEVIL). The last thing I want to touch on today is deprivation. I've been reading a lot lately about weight loss and fitness. I've also been talking to a lot of people who have had success and failures in their personal weight loss attempts. Although everybody is different and has found success with different techniques (even here, we're all doing things our own way) there is 1, consistent failure inducing diet. Deprivation. When we take away all of the things we love, whether it be carbs, protein, sweets, chips, pop etc. we are setting ourselves up for failure. As soon as we say we can't have something, we want it even more and it's only a matter of time before we crack and binge on our forbidden food(s). Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that you can eat all junk food all the time and lose weight and be healthy. What I'm saying is, if you like Cheetos (sorry, we were discussing them at work yesterday) you have to allow yourself, on occasion to have them. Now, even on occasion, it's probably not ideal to sit down and eat an entire bag, but measure out a serving and enjoy them. If you don't want to keep a big bag in the house, buy a snack size bag, eat one serving and toss the rest (you're only out about 45 cents then and you get to treat yourself). In moments of weakness we turn to these foods, usually high in carbs and fats and use them to make us feel better, it's why they're called comfort foods. If we don't deprive ourselves of them for months/years on end, we won't be so tempted to over indulge when we're around them.

OK, like I said, these ideas were just floating around my head yesterday and I wanted to share them with you. I hope that they help offer a bit more insight into what we're doing here. I hope you ladies have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the big game tomorrow! It should be a good game (a great offensive weapon like Fitzgerald against one of the best defenses in the NFL...yeeeeaaahh!!!)