My biggest insight? That I need to get out of my own way! I have (slowly) realized that the majority of obstacles and road blocks along the way have been things that I put there. These obstacles have either been all in my head or if they were real, external issues, they were things that were definitely in my power to control or change. Physically, there is no reason I can't lose weight (I know I'm lucky here)- I just needed to ditch the excuses, cop to my own BS and get to work!
That this is the most important thing I can do for myself right now. It's more important than a better job, more important than World of Warcraft, more important than going back to school. All of those things can wait, but my health is at risk now. Every day that I'm not working on it is another day that I can't get back, and another day that my body will have to recover from.
Also--if you hate a specific exercise, don't do it. I hate the elliptical. I mean, I really, really hate it. I've posted ragecomics to Reddit about it. I therefore do not do my cardio on the elliptical. Forcing myself to do something I hate isn't going to help me establish new habits; it's just going to make me poop out.
Adaptability and perseverance matter more than anything else. There is no one thing that will work....many things that worked will stop working...new things can be found...being able to adapt to life and just keep going is what matters.
I've had a lot of insights since I've started, but I think the biggest - which I work on every day - is that my body tells the TRUTH but my mind LIES. The trick - when it comes to hunger or exercise or whatever - is to figure out who is really talking!!
I am not immune to falling back into old habits if I am not diligent and checking myself. Whenever I begin losing weight, I always assume I've broken the bad habits for good. This past week was a rude awakening that I am human and capable of falling back into bad habits. This knowledge also makes me more forgiving of myself and able to dust myself off and start over when I do slip.
As long as I just keep going back to the gym, without fail - even if I don't think I'm seeing results, and just as long as I drive *away* from mcdonald's instead of *to* mcdonald's - EVENTUALLY there will be a change. So just keep going back.
Eating out is a diet killer. I eat much less and much healthier food when I cook at home. Since beginning my diet 2 months ago, we haven't eaten out except on a weekend vacation for our anniversary. We used to be a 2-3 times per week family. Surprisingly, I don't miss it much anymore. At first I missed it because it was something to "do"-- like a fun Saturday activity or something. Now that we're out of the habit, I simply don't even notice that we're not eating out. It has made it soooo much easier to stay on plan, and I'm so glad my husband is being so supportive of me that he's willing to forego eating out.
Also-- the "Hunger is not an emergency" phrase comes from the Beck Diet Solution-- basically a book that teaches you how to diet. It works with any diet and helps give you good habits/ways to stick with whatever program you decide to do. That book is awesome-- really helped my ability to stay on plan. I think it's really going to help on maintenance, too. Practicing what the book suggests has really made me feel so much more in control of my eating, and that has made all the difference in the world. I don't feel like I'm a slave to cravings anymore-- it's a lot easier to turn down off plan food than it was before, and it keeps getting easier. I still "cheat," of course, but most of the time it's when I've made a well-thought out decision ahead of time, and I think that's key. It takes away the addiction part of food.
Hmm my biggest would probably be that while I could lose weight eating the things I used to eat just in smaller portions, it was harder to maintain. I've been far more successful since realizing that I needed to chat not just how much I eat but what I eat. The closer to a paleo diet that I eat, the better I feel and the easier it is for me to lose.
That weight loss can be enjoyable. I wish I'd realised this years ago, I'd have started much earlier but I was afraid that dieting would be too tortuous to manage.
I totally thought that this morning as I was trying to drag myself out of bed when a certain cat kept me awake all night. It worked!
