Want What You Have
You’re at a point in your weight loss journey where you feel stuck. You’re not quite at your goal. Or maybe you’ve been at goal and gained a little and want to get back to goal. You are struggling getting back into the mojo you had previously. Remember that desperate desire to be at goal? Although you still want to be at goal you can’t
seem to get your act together to make it happen. Why?
I hear this story a lot. In fact I live it too.
I have thought about it quite a bit. I’m starting to realize that we get all worked up about something we don’t have. We are focusing and wanting something we don’t have.
Why not want what we have?
Why not take some time and be satisfied with where you are? Learn to be where you are. Take a break and be kind to yourself rather than continually beating on yourself because you are NOT AT GOAL.
Take some time to BE where you are. Learn how it feels to maintain. Take some time to appreciate yourself.
There is a lot of focus on losing. And I know that is the objective. But, if you know me, my biggest teaching is
Losing the weight is one thing. Keeping it off is another.
Sometimes a stall, whether it is induced by our bodies or by ourselves emotionally, is a sign to take a break.
Our body is telling us it needs to take a break. In fact it is insisting on a break.
Take advantage of it. Take sometime and appreciate your new body. What does it feel like? Consider how far you have come.
When we take time to appreciate what we have there is a calm. This calm will in fact bring better clarity to your journey. Those desperate feelings will lessen. And you can in fact begin again to work down to your goal with a calm, focused approach. Appreciating what you have and knowing that you are a success because of where you came from. You know you can better yourself.
Please leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on this. Have you experienced a stall or a regain? How did you handle it? Were you able to get back on track?
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Comments (6)
Jamie Carnell
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Thank you for this. I needed to hear this today – I have gained pounds and I am frustrated and mad at myself for doing this. Yet I have still lost an amazing amount of weight and should celebrate this every day. Your post was very much needed today.
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my tiny tank
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Hey Jamie. I can be so hard on myself. But I’m learning its this hard black and white mindset which may be the culprit of my inability to progress. I’m going to find calm and then move on!!
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Julia
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This is something I’m kind of struggling with, as I transition into maintenance. I’m 13 months out from RNY and have lost just over 160 pounds. I am in the goal range my doc and I set, albeit at the top, but being at the top of it I look at myself and short of excess skin removal I honestly don’t know if I could lose another 10 pounds without starting to look ill. So now it’s trying to transition into being okay here.
It’s hard to explain: while I’m okay with my current weight (even when if fluctuates 2-3 pounds), it’s still very weird to think “this is it” and not get on the scale every day expecting it to continue dropping. I guess eventually I’ll get there…it’s just going to take some time getting my mind to make the transition from the losing phase to maintenance.
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my tiny tank
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Julia, there is a mourning period that happens when you hit maintenance. It is thrilling seeing the numbers go down down down. It is a high feeling. But once you get to your range you have to learn to be happy with staying within the range. And it’s not all that exciting BUT it is the real deal. The real deal is learning to stay put in your range!!!! I repeat “Losing the weight is one thing. Keeping it off is another.” its all about keeping it off and learning to be the NEW YOU! You are doing a great job! I think keeping it simple and thinking about “what we already have” how we feel. Liking where we are and not focusing so much on pleasure from the scale. as always thank you for your comments.
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Robin
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This is a great blog post today. Some great insight. Thank you.
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my tiny tank
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Hi Robin. Yes. I had been speaking to someone who had lost a huge amount of weight. She is still not happy with where she is on the scale. We were discussing what her next move should be. I think because I am so many years out I felt like she should try to be happy with where she is first. Take some time and learn how to be happy with her amazing weight loss. Live a bit in her new skin. Then when she found happiness in what she had then if she still felt the same way she could power on some more. I think I was sensing that maybe she was not happy with herself not her body and perhaps working on that a bit would be good. Because making the scale show a lower number doesn’t always make us feel happy. If you know what I mean.
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