I've been lurking alot lately trying to get the courage to post. I'm so overwhelmed with all that I'm doing wrong that I don't know where to begin. I know WW is the best program there is and I know it will work IF I put for the effort. I thought maybe I needed a break and so I just stopped worrying with it for a while. But one week turned into two, then three, etc. Now I feel so overwhelmed about where to even begin. Any suggestions? Do I start with exercise, water, journaling, what??? I've always been very critical of myself and I have a tendency to have an attitude of all or nothing. I'm working on my self esteem lately but that's another story.
The reason you're getting vastly different answers is because we're all so different. I myself would choose to make believe I was on program and do it all at once. I've actually done that when I've had some pretty bad slips, and it helps me terrifically.
If that's too daunting, start with journaling. Write down everything and get as close to program as you can. Then add water, etc. Don't be too hard on yourself. So many of us do this and feel guilty. Let go of the guilt, tacklet the problem, and keep on keepin' on.
You can do this. Let us know about your success because I know it's going to happen.
You sound like the idea of doing it all at once feels overwhelming. It doesn't really matter what you pick as your first step, as long as it's something you are pretty sure that you can do consistently. It also doesn't matter how fast you add more steps, as long as you don't go so fast that you get to feeling overwhelmed again. As you can see, I'm a believer in baby steps. Doing one step at a time until you're back to doing them all. Maybe the weight loss will not be as much or as fast as if you try to do it all at once, but because you don't feel so overwhelmed, you 're more likely to stick with it.
Let me tell you a bit about my tale. I used to be an all or nothing gal, too. But somewhere I realized that all or nothing was the perfect setup for the yo-yo syndrome. That wasn't working, so I decided to do what I could at any one time. I stopped giving up completely and kept doing at least part of the program, exercise, water, keeping to the healthy food choices (even if I wasn't tracking points), etc. I've not made it to goal, and it's been a long time. But I have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for several years.) I know that over time, I will get to goal, and when I get there, I'll keep it off. I just lose very slowly.
I joined WW just over 4 weeks ago, and in the first 4 weeks I've lost 11.6 lbs. That's pretty good for me... for someone who, despite having the gym memberships and good intentions, didn't always actually make it there for workouts... despite being pretty fussy about what I eat and not (under any circumstances) wanting to cut out any of the things I like to eat... and most of all, despite despising even the thought of having to write down what I eat every time I eat something.
Programs like WW can work with you... no matter what your 'profile' is like. I still don't get to the gym quite as often as I should (though I have picked up the slack a bit walking outside more often - sometimes my pedometer has me clocked in at over 9km in a day). I'm still pretty fussy about what I eat but because of the flexibility of the program, I can still have the things that I want - I have just learned portion control. And writing down everything I eat - yup, you guessed it. I do it religiously now. It's a lot to tackle at once, but it doesn't have to be done that way if you'd rather start slower.
My leader talked about this at our meeting last week. She said how once you start on one thing, the other things (and for each person these 'things' are different) start falling into place as well. For example, if you choose journalling as your first step, you may notice along the way that you've also (unconsciously) started drinking more water or eating more fruits and veggies... because they go hand in hand. You want to do a good job with the journalling, so you start to fill it up with better food choices.
Anywho... that's my 2 cents worth! Whatever you do, however you decide to go about this, don't think it's too much to do and give up. Pick something, no matter how small it is, and go with it... the rest will work itself in when it's ready to.
I have to stick my 2 cents in here.
When I have been where you are (and who among us hasn't?) I need a plan. Generally, I pick one baby step to do, and I promise myself that if I can make it to lunch, I get a reward. For example, if I drink 3 glasses of water before lunch, then I might get 15 minutes to sit down and read a magazine after dinner. Okay, day 1 success leads to a new baby step tomorrow. Maybe this baby step is a full day, maybe not. it all depends on my state of mind. That all or nothing attitude is going to kill you here, so please check it at the door. Success breeds success, and will power is a like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Keep your baby steps going, and soon you'll feel stronger. I don't mean to sound like I'm preaching, but for me, baby steps really work, the key for me is celebrating my successes (no matter how small they seem) and absolutely giving myself what ever reward I promised me!!!!
Also, have you tried writing affirmations to say to yourself morning and night? Self talk can be our path to success or to destruction. When you are feeling down on yourself, you begin negative self talk (sometimes we don't even notice it), and that starts an ugly cycle of self fulfilling prophecy. But.... if you throw in some positive self affirmations (preferably when you first wake up and before bed at night) you start beating those 'baddies' before they even get started. Make those affirmations positive as can be and say them out loud and smile (no matter how ridiculous you look or sound :-)
My leader says its what got her to goal (she lost 135 pounds 21 years ago).
Please let me know how you are doing. We are here for you.
Thanks for all the help. I've thought about what I could do that would help to get back on track. The one thing I think I will concentrate on now is snacking. I've gotten into the habit of snacking alot at work. I think if I get my snacking under control then I'll try something else like my water and go on from there.
I definitely have trouble with negative self talk. I've been working on that for a while but that is really hard for me to realize that I don't have to be perfect.
Next time I post it will be a success to tell about. Thanks!
1moretime, leave perfection to God, that's my attitude! Take it from me, the constant perfectionist, the more I try to be 100% the worse I get. Strive to do your best, and like someone before me said, take baby steps. Journaling keeps me honest, even if it's not a perfect day it will help you feel like you've got a grip. In fact, I finally made myself an "informal" journal on my computer, with the blocks of breads, protein, etc. at the top of a page. They start out black and as I eat my # of points I color them red so I can see how I am doing. Below it I put the date and what I eat, how much exercise I get and water I drank. This way,at my fingertips I can see what I ate, have a record for when I am wondering what to eat, and not have cluttered papers in my drawer of old journals! I find I need little tricks like that to keep me going because I get bored. Make a game of it and be nice to yourself, believe me, take one day, one hour, one meal at a time. You can do it and the people on this board are awesome when you need help!
Pick one part of the program to start with...
