It's just been my dietaversary. I've been on a diet/eating healthier for one whole year. In that year I've lost 47 pounds and 31 inches. I've been calorie counting and going to the gym 3x a week. I thought I'd had a review and see what I've learnt. I also thought I'd post it here in case you lovely people are interested.
1) You can't be perfect. I'm here at the end of this year a bit annoyed I'm not at 52 pounds...which would be a pound a week. But if I hadn't gone on this diet I'd be up by at least 10 pounds which would have been an awful lot worse!
2) There is no such thing as coming off your diet. To me it doesn't exist. If I eat more one day I eat less the next. I think its how skinny people eat!
3) Exercise is fun! This is a revelation! How is this possible?
Well for me I'm very competitive so I do something where I am only competing with me - hence I always win!..and lose.
4) Just keep going. Sometimes, especially when you hit a plateau you just have to keep going. If you do keep going then you will succeed.
5) Believe! This diet has worked for me because I believed that it could. Its all about self belief.
6) Set up routines you can live with. For me I want the end of the diet just to be a continuation of what I am doing already. What i am doing now I am happy to carry on with forever. I think if you can't say that then you are going to have trouble adjusting to maintenance!
7) Plan for maintenance well before you get there. I've been planning maintaining my weight loss since before I lost any at all! I know its going to be hard. I know I'm not going to have the thrill of the scales going down. The maintainers forum here is great.
8) Don't get complacent. I was thinking yesterday that they say that if you do something for 3 months then it becomes routine, a habit hard to break. I've been doing this for a year. Could I go back to the mindless eating of before? In a heartbeat! I don't have the desire to do it but as a habit it is still ingrained. It would be so easy and that is the truth. I'm not proud of that but 35 years of routine compared to a year? I've got to stay vigilant.
9) Diet out of love not out of hate. I'm dieting because I want to live longer with my gorgeous fella, I want to have kids, I want to be healthy. I'm not dieting because I hate myself or my body. I think this helps me stay on the diet. I don't feel an overwhelming desire to eat anymore. When I did it was because I was angry with myself.
10) Do something else! Fixating on anything is exhausting! I've found I have lots more energy and confidence in my own ability to achieve. Because of this I've set up on online jewellery business. It gives me a real sense of achievement...so I get that plus my diet buzz. So I suppose really its about living now not later. Do what you want to do.
As for next year...
Well I am broody as **** so I'm wanting to get down to 224 max before we try for a baby. I'm 36 so can't afford to wait until I get to 140! So I need to lose another 32 before my next dietaversary in August 2007. Wish me luck!
ps I know I wouldn't have achieved what I have this year without 3FC. The forums here are full of great people and advice. There's always someone better off than you and always someone worse off than you. It helps you keep things in perspective!
Well its been a year...
on your weight loss! And thanks for sharing what you've learned. Food for thought, for sure.
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