Now I ask this question in regards to weight loss only -
Me…well…hate to say…but when it comes to weight loss…I think I am a Talker & Fantasizer. Boy, I love to talk about losing weight. This is what I’ll do….(blah – blah – blah) – but I don’t do it and if I do I don’t stick with it. I have the best laid plans in the world and the worst follow through. And I fantasize about being slim all the time. I’ll see someone and I’ll think “When I see you in 6 months, boy will you be blown away!” In my car I’ll fantasize about being “magically thin!” Some of my favorites are the shower that melts away all the fat (and leaves my girls surprisingly perky) or unzipping my fat suit and stepping out slim. My weight loss strategy sometimes changes daily sometimes it’s minute to minute. 1000 Calories – that’ll do it…(5 min later)…1800 calories – more realistic…(5 min later)…Liquid diet – get this off now…weight watchers…atkins….ahhhhhhh. It really does change that often. When I get started and am doing good – it’s not like that. But anyone who has seen me through the up’s and down’s has seen that I don’t stick to it for more than a few months and then I am back to being very supportive, but not very successful. Somehow I need to get from being a talker/fantasizer to a planner/doer.
hmmm.. for a long long time I was a planner and fantasizer. I would get so happy thinking that in 6 months I would look SO different. I did alright but heavier not thinner. Finally, I said the HECK with the dieting.. I made a lifestyle change and believe it or not it WORKS! I have lost 40 lbs-- NEVER have I had such a loss on any other plan. It does take meal planning and will power--at first, then it becomes routine. I still have a way to go but man, it feels good. You can do it Sandi. you have such great advice for everyone. Such a motivator. I think that you have to be ready and want to do it. If you aren't mentally and physically ready to lose the weight then you proably won't do as well as you want to. Get psyched about it! You have been such an inspiration with all your motivation and kind words. I know you can do this.. we ALL know you can do this!
You know it's funny I was just thinking of this the other day. I would have to say that I'm both. I'm super at planning and so-so at doing (Although this time around I'm doing great at both thankfully.)
but I do enjoy some fantasizing. I try not to let me do too much of it or I can get discouraged because I'm not there yet. I do a lot of talking as well because it helps me to "brag" on myself if you will. I can now say I've lost 15 pounds. To me it doesn't seem like much on one hand when you look at where I'm going, but on the other 15 pounds is a lot when you think about how much easier I can move--I can jog now, walk for 30 mins. without getting winded, etc.
I think Gretchen hit the nail on the head when she said you have to be ready and want to do this and until you find that spot, you will continue to go back and forth. I still journal what I eat and I'm not planning my meals as well as I should but I do compensate on the days I eat more to eat less in the next day or two.
Used to be a talker/fantasizer, but something clicked and now I'm a planner/doer. It actually took moving to a new place, like making a fresh start, for me to get with it. I don't know that I could have done it before because I was stuck in a rut. Also, the fact that I was facing 50 and didn't want to spend my 50s feeling as bad about my body as I did most of my 30s and all of my 40s was a big motivator for me. Also, I went into this with the idea that it was going to come off slow, and that I didn't care because I was in it for the long haul.
I really think that something has to "click" before you can make the commitment--at least it did for me. I know that sounds pretty ambiguous, but I think a person really has to make a conscious, absolute decision to do something no matter what. And even then, that gets hard and I waffle. Sometimes, when it's really hard, I have to make a written contract with myself that I will do thus and such for the next four weeks, and I do keep those contracts.
Sandi, even baby steps help. Changing one thing and keeping that commitment to yourself will make you feel stronger so that you can make another commitment to take another step. I know you can do it.
I spent my whole life being a talker/fantasizer. Even as a child I remember laying in bed at night just wishing that somehow I would wake up thin the next morning and then dreaming about what I would do as a result of such a miracle. Now, finally, for some reason I can't even explain I have turned into a planner/doer. About weight loss, that is. The rest of my life is still an unorganized mess! I agree with Gretchen as well. There is just something about being "ready" and then everything seems to click. Not to say that anyone else who is struggling to lose the weight isn't "ready", it just seems like there comes a point when a switch is flipped and all of a sudden you just do it because you can. And it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal anymore, at least that's how it happened for me anyway.
I think I'm way too young to classify myself yet....
However, right now, I am a talker/fantasizer.
But I'm gettind DAMN tired of it. :blush:
In fact, I'm making an "exercise" schedule and having my friends sign up, so that I have a COMMITMENT. (Example: Mondays at 4:00, Biking with Kasey... etc.)
I CAN and WILL do this. And I *KNOW* you can too, Sandi.
I completely agree with the 'something clicks' theory. I'm not sure, other than when I was much younger, that I was ever much of a fantasizer....certainly never a talker.....I have hardly ever talked to anyone about my weight and/or about weightloss. A combination of events led me to become very determined to become fit and healthy, and that includes losing weight....and now I know what I have to do, and I do it. I think the fact that my reasons for doing this are health and energy related, although I do get my kicks from buying smaller clothes sizes, helps me to keep going. I am not much of a planner at all, so I don't plan my meals, but my kitchen is full of healthy food, and I carry healthy snacks around with me....maybe that counts as planning? And I commit to exercising 6 days a week, but I chose the type of exercise depending on how I feel each day.....I think, eating-wise, it has really helped me to have a very flexible eating plan, and go regularly to a 'slimming club'.....I never in a million years thought I would do such a thing...and I often find the sessions patronising, but I have met such supportive people there, it really helps....
I suppose I think the most important thing is somehow to find a healthy way of living, which you are happy with.....ie, not something that at some level you think you will do until you reach 'goal', and then stop.......
But I truly believe you have to be ready - its quite a big deal to totally overhaul your lifestyle, and you have to really want that change, and be ready for it......
Well since I went through the trouble of making a picture like the link below shows. I would say I am a fantasizer. I would also say I'm all of the above. I do like to talk to someone about weightloss if I am doing good. And I do plan with charts and diets and so on. Some of my fantasys are when I see thin people on TV just imagining how it must feel to be that thin. I try not to do that to much because it gets depressing.
definitely something clicked. fortunately. i realized before the surgery, fortunately, that i'd have to MAKE THIS WORK no matter what it took. yes, it takes supplements. and eating according to certain rules [as does everyone else around here by the way], and exercise.
but I WAS DETERMINED. and i focused only on one day at a time, because the rest of it was too big to even look at. when people said that i could be 100-150 pounds lighter by the next year, i didn't want to hear it. it was just more than i could imagine, and even if that turned out to be true, all i could see was TODAY.
and now - about 275 pounds lighter??? i've lost more weight than anyone had predicted. or than i could ever have imagined.
so for me, it's DEFINITELY a do-er. if i'd just fantasized, i would not have made it this far.
I'm a total talker and thinker. I think I'm going to do all this stuff and mostly it never comes to be. Thankfully I have stuck with this diet. While at times it has been difficult I can say I HAVE DONE IT, well at least for a month, so far, LOL. I really I'm trying to make this a life changing experience. I feel like with little steps I change the things that bug me the most. My next big hurdle is learning routine through regular house cleaning, cleaning for an hour or two everyday rather than through forced heavy and VERY STRESSFUL cleaning episodes. I really want to learn this habit before we buy a house (in about two years) and then exercise. Maybe cleaning and exercise together.
I WANT TO BE A DOER!!!
Michelle
Are you a TALKER/FANTASIZER or a PLANNER/DOER???
I'm A Talker
