Since I first read this thread...that song by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap from the late 60's, "Lady Willpower".
("Lady Willpower...it's now or never...give your love to me...). I don't believe that Mr. Puckett was talking about dieting or maintaining a weight loss though!
Anyway...back to the topic at hand.
Geoducky - I gotta tell ya based on my personal experience...there is NO end to the journey of weight loss - it's a LIFELONG journey. The key is to ENJOY the ride! Focus primarily on the
benefits (wearing smaller clothes, feeling healthier, self-confident, 'part of the real world', etc.) and less on the
negatives (passing up the goodies, removing the bread basket from the table at the restaurant, etc.). I think you'll find that the POSITIVES of being a lower weight FAR outweigh the negatives.
Myself, I've been traveling this weight loss road since my parents put me on my first diet at the tender age of 7. (It was Dr. Stillman's "The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss Diet" - a high-protein regimen - I still remember the paperback book with the blue-edged pages...ah memories...) Since I'm 41 1/2 years old now, that would put me at
thirty four years that I've been on this 'long and winding road'. And maintaining for a looong time. I gotta tell ya...just speaking for myself of course - that the Food Monkey is still on my back. Just like alcoholics and smokers who 'kick' the habit, stay clean for decades, and all it takes is the one drink or one cig to kick them off the wagon...that could happen to me, or ANY of us. For sure - I've had those thoughts in the past (even when I was a chubby kid on some diet or other...) that 'once I lose all this weight, then the diet is over and I can do what I want'. Unfortunately, that ain't the way it works. To maintain basically means that you eat and exercise the same way to you did when you were losing. Sure, once in awhile you can have a 'treat', but I know for sure if I started eating the way I used to - half an extra-large pizza, a quart of ice cream, etc. - then the pounds will pile back on. And even if I stick to 'healthier choices' - like healthy cereal, whole-grain bread, old-fashioned peanut butter, lean steak, shoot, even oatmeal - if I consume too much of these items, I WILL gain weight. Calories really do count IMO!
And face it, when you've spent pretty much your entire life using food and eating as a coping mechanism, IMO it's not so easy to 'just stop it'. It hasn't been for me...believe me, after all these years I STILL feel the urge to open the fridge as soon as I get home from work - just like I did when I got home from school as a child - the snack thing. Losing weight and maintenance is HARD WORK - but the rewards are incredibly rich!
There are two words that I've used that I feel need a definition:
Willpower and
Complacency. According to Webster's the definitions are:
will·pow·er
Pronunciation: 'wil-"pau(-&)r
Function: noun
:
energetic determination
com·pla·cen·cy
Pronunciation: -s&n(t)-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -cies
1 : COMPLACENCE; especially :
self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies
2 : an instance of complacency
Synonyms CONCEIT, amour propre, complacence, conceitedness, consequence, egoism, egotism, narcissism, pride, vainglory
It's WAY too easy to become complacent - to think "ah, I've got this thing licked" - and then before you know it, the scale is up 10 pounds. NOT a good thing!
I've always liked this passage by Rosemary Green from
Diary of a Fat Housewife - check out what she says about willpower:
Quote:
PRACTICE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL: ...Pay particular attention to this principle. It has worked miracles in my life. It was only after reaching my goal weight of 135 pounds that I came to understand the critical importance of environmental control. I call it practicing "the common sense of self-defense," and it has not only enabled me to lose the weight - but to keep it off.
Finally, I realized that the typical "here's a diet...now stick to it" line from the doctors simply wasn't enough. I faced the fact that willpower, applied at the wrong point, had failed me for years. Willpower alone simply isn't enough. At least not in the conventional sense. I still cannot trust myself alone with a cheesecake. I am afraid I would eat the whole thing. So should I throw up my arms and give up? Or should I practice "the common sense of self-defense" - a conscious effort at environmental control where food is concerned - and NEVER ALLOW MYSELF TO BE ALONE WITH A CHEESECAKE!? You see, I have discovered that we fatties must look further than traditional willpower for a solution. We must implement a little ol' brainpower! We must determine which link is our weak link in the stimulus - response chain that leads to overeating. At which point in the chain can we expect our willpower to fail?
After 20 years I faced the fact that I simply can't control myself once the maple bar is in my hand. At that point, it is not my fault if I eat it. It is literally beyond my control. Like the alcoholic sitting at a bar with his favorite drink in front of him, once that stupid maple bar is in my hand, I am a goner. BUT...I DID have control before I bought the greasy sucker. Or before I walked into the store. Or before I got out of my car. Of before I stepped into my car. Heck, I knew I was going to buy that life-wrecking hunk of sugar and grease before I sneaked out of my house. That is where willpower must be applied!
When the first wicked thought of excess calories enters the brain - that is the place to nip it! Benjamin Franklin said "It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it." And Mark Twain said "It is easier to stay out than to get out." So I have made a comittment to me: I am Rosemary. I am a foodaholic. I must never again go into a grocery store alone...If I follow that rule, I will never again buy a stupid maple bar. "The common sense of self-defense." The sweet sound of thin and healthy for life! You see, I have become like the alcoholic who was smart enough to get out of the tavern!
Think of the extremes to which a basketball coach goes to win a game. He makes his team carefully scrutinize a videotape of their latest game. They study each move. They discuss each player's strengths and weaknesses. They plan strategies and play sot improve their next game. Their next game. All this planning and scheming...for a GAME!
Anyway, that's my thoughts on a Tuesday morning...
We completed the Idita walk and got t-shirts from the Boys Scouts in Alaska. We're doing the President's fitness challenge - we're in a group of two. I'm in the bottom 50%. 
Golly.
).