Sunday, December 8, 2019

Progress is Progress

Because of what I'm doing is so often thought of as weight loss I can see where the outsiders would say that I have not seen much progress.  To the uninitiated, most members of our society would say that is the only way, a diet, and while it is true a "diet plan" will cause you to lose weight but they are not maintainable. If they were, Oprah wouldn't be a billionaire owner in WW and Jenny Craig would've been out of business long ago.  If I may be critical of these two aforementioned systems, they are a business and if you believe for one second they care if you lose weight you are dead wrong.

For many of us, our weight gain (or loss if that's your thing) is the manifestation of other issues in your life.  Anxiety and stress set us off on a cycle of behavior that, in the moment, seem comforting and calming.  In reality this pattern of behavior becomes a mask for, or a distraction for, the pain we are really truly experiencing.  

My weight loss will be the by product of having started down a road of changing behaviors.  Behaviors that have been a part of me for most of my 47 years.  Undoing a history of bad decisions and habits has proved no easy task.  

Today I measure my progress not just in just pounds lost, but in living a much healthier lifestyle. While it is true I still have much more work to do I can look back and not have to be afraid of zucchini and I now know the things that trigger my unsavory behavior and I can me mindful not to fall into those cycles.

But it all takes time.  I can't undo all this in a day or a week or a month or two years.  It is a lifestyle change.  I am lucky because it is going to take me the rest of my life to get better. A little better every day.  

Please be kind to yourselves, do the work, take the time, don't give up.