I was thinking yesterday how much I can learn by looking at my progress graph. I thought it might be interesting to learn from each other's graphs. So if you have one and you feel comfortable sharing it, please do!
Here's mine.
Here's what I notice about it:
1. It's two years long. I've learned a ton about patience from this process. I didn't set out to make a "lifestyle change" as I find such thinking very intimidating. And yet here I am two years later still chugging along - and so many behaviors that are part of my process
have become part of my regular life.
2. The overall trend is down, down, down - but there are plenty of daily fluctuations, of fits and starts, of periods of a week or two where I don't really lose at all. There are plenty of times when I didn't manage to stay on plan, too - but if I take a long-term view, they didn't stop my progress. Perfection is not required! But patience is. The progress is clear on the time scale of several months, but if you zoom in on some shorter period, like a week or two, it would not be apparent at all.
3. I have taken a couple of "maintenance breaks" when work got very stressful - first I ran out of time to exercise, and then I got a little less vigilant about food ... the thing I like best about this observation is that in each case, I was able to get right back on it. The other thing I like about it is that those "breaks" get shorter and shorter each time. The first one was very long, I think, because my new habits hadn't really become part of my life yet, so the first excuse to loosen up, I did. My job gets stressful in six-month cycles, and it's very good to see that I don't have an extended break every six months - over time, I learned to deal with that cyclical stress without needing to indulge in quite as much of a major break from my weight loss process.
I admit that part of posting this is just that I'm darned proud of what I've accomplished and enjoy showing it off to an interested audience.
But also, I hope it's inspiring and helpful to some who are struggling with your own processes, with learning how to deal with daily fluctuations or learning how to make permanent changes in your habits. For me, it's been a long process and by no means free of slipups and backsliding. Just keep at it.
Now please, post yours. I'd love to see what others can learn from such an overview of their process.
Progress graphs - post 'em if you want to
