I know we hear this phrase a lot in many aspects of our lives, and I'm sure we've heard it in our heads regarding weight loss time and time again.
I was reading a post that rockin robin posted in another thread. Isn't she inspirational?! It got me to thinking about the fact that I KNOW this time that it's different. I KNOW the weight is going to come off. I KNOW I'm not going to quit.
Perhaps my family, who has heard it and lived through it with me time and time again, would smile and nod supportively without any true belief. Perhaps others would think that there's no way that I could know that this was the time for it to actually happen for me. But that doesn't matter, because I know it.
How do I know it?
1) I never went at this with my usual gung-ho all-or-nothing attitude. I didn't start out working out an hour a day for six days a week. I didn't tell myself all the coulds and could nots. I simply started counting my calories and upping my exercise and watching the weight drop incrementally.
2) I haven't gotten frustrated with splurge-related gains or stalls. I've had a lot of special events lately that have resulted in a slower weight loss than I am generally accustomed to seeing at this weight. But I am fully accountable to myself for what I've done to stall that weight loss. And when the special event or splurge is over, I jump back on the wagon without berating or belittling myself.
3) When I hit my 230/229 plateau that I ALWAYS hit, I was patient. It was a much shorter plateau this time, and I think being patient and sticking to my routine was the key. Usually I'm frantically upping or lowering my calories, my exercise, my food groups. This time around I just plugged away and I got rid of the 230's a lot faster than the last two times.
4) When I've gotten lax on exercise, I just give myself a new start date. I don't think about how I've backpedaled or how much work it was going to take to get myself back into the shape I was in when I stopped working out. This has been key because it helps me get back on the wagon after a 5 day hiatus rather than waiting 5 weeks (or until the next "diet").
All in all, I think it comes down to patience. Before I wanted the weight to drop off of me as fast as possible. Now I just want to keep losing, keep on track, become healthier.
What has you knowing that THIS time it's going to be successful for you?