Showing posts with label stay the course. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stay the course. Show all posts
This weight loss journey is a lot like a marathon: there are no shortcuts and no skipping steps. You must be prepared. You must be focused. You must stay the course and go the full run. This means planning ahead and doing what's necessary to reach the finish line.

These photos are from 5k and 10k races I've done since starting this program. The July 1998 photo was taken in a garden where I walked less than ten minutes. Back then, that was all the walking I could do. My heart was broken that I couldn't do more, but that was my life in a size 30/32. My weight loss journey has been a long one, but I am happy with where I am today: my goal size is in sight and my resolve to stay the course is stronger than ever.

Last night I ran the Bright Nights 5k at Forest Park with key friends Megan and Lou. Support is great to have when running a 5k and it's equally true on our weight loss journey. I experienced a fun non-scale victory moment with Megan before the race when a photographer looked at us and said "This is a great photo opp!" That never happened to either of us before!

Looking at this photo taken before the race with Megan and Lou, I ask myself: who is this woman? It's me - antlers, blinking lights around my neck, and all! I never would have worn those antlers when I was a size 30/32! It was great to let myself have fun like this!
Before the race with Megan and Lou
Five months ago I started training for last night's 5k. This gave me plenty of time to complete my eight week c25k app, but for no particular reason I stopped training after week four day two (6 weeks ago). I continued walking an average of 13,000 steps daily and I stayed committed to this run. Last night I stayed in the moment and let go of what I could have or should have done. I pushed myself as best as I could and in the end, my race time was my usual 5k race average: 44:57.
Finish time: 44:57 for this 5k (3.1 miles)
Sometimes when I'm walking or running I want to take a shortcut. There's a course I take just outside my neighborhood where the road dead ends and sometimes I REALLY want to turn around before the end of the road, but I don't. I push away those thoughts, just like I push away food cravings. 

One day while training for this 5k, I started an inner dialogue to encourage me to keep running. I realized my words of encouragement to stay the course while running were also applicable to my weight loss journey. As I alternated running and walking along with my c25k app, I used another app to record my thoughts on how training for a 5k is similar to my weight loss journey...
Stop hesitating.
Get focused. Stay focused. 
At some point you have to stop thinking about it and just do it.
Don't let anything get between you and that finish line.
It's not just about the finish line - it's about today and what I do now. Right now is about putting one foot in front of the other and seeing my commitment through.
Go for it. Define what "it" is that you want and stay the course. In this moment "it" is about finishing my training today. With my weight loss, "it" is about staying on program today.
I paused for a moment and asked myself: who is this woman?
At some point while recording my thoughts, I realized multitasking was not a good idea, as it took my focus away from running. I must stay focused, so I can reach the finish line as fast as possible.

This weight loss journey isn't a marathon, as weight loss isn't about getting to our goal size as quickly as possible. It's about changing our way of eating so we can lose weight and keep it off. Perhaps we should act as if it is a marathon:
  • Make a plan and stay the course
  • Keep your eyes on the finish line
  • Reach and maintain your goal size
Whether you're training for a race or just starting this weight loss program, you need plan. The program gives you the plan and it's up to you to embrace this new way of eating and to stay the course. Once this new way of eating becomes an instinctive part of your lifestyle, your focus shifts away from "all things food" to other aspects of your life. Once we "get it" (how to eat on the key program), we can incorporate more into our life and spend less energy focusing on how to stay on program, as that becomes automatic.

The timing of this "shift" varies for each of us, just as how long it takes us to reach our goal size varies. You and I may start at the same size, but you may reach your goal size in a year and it has taken me nearly four years. There are many different factors behind why this is different for each of us, but it takes as long as it takes.

It's about finishing what you started.

You don't have to become a runner if you don't want to, but do what it takes to stay the course and reach your goal size!

Are you ready to finish what you started? Yes, you are!


December 02, 2014
Exercise helps you to lose weight. Exercise is good for your health. Blah, blah, blah. We know all this, but many of us struggle to start exercising or to continue with our exercise goals. What if you didn't need to decide every day should I exercise, but instead you just do it because you made the commitment? What if you no longer had to debate with yourself every day about doing it or not doing it? End the debate. It's exhausting and doesn't make you feel good, especially if you decide not to exercise. Make the decision once and then do it every day (or at whatever frequency you chose).
I could not walk this reservoir in a size 30/32. Today I walk here 4-5 days a week.
I took this photo on my morning walk, which I get to do weekdays, yes at 6am, with my friend. When I was a size 30/32, this walk, that I loved, was something I had to give up because I couldn't walk the 4 miles around the reservoir. I couldn't even do part of this trail because of the steep hills at the entrances, because I was afraid of falling down, and because I could hardly breathe going uphill. When I added exercise to my life again, this was the first place I went to walk/run. At first, I couldn't cover the whole circle, but I kept at it and eventually I could. This was a big non-scale victory.

Robin had questions about exercise and how to get motivated to exercise:
It seems every one here is walking or working out. How do you do Zumba? I can't seem to get the steps to fast! How do you all do it? How do you get yourself moving? Motivated? Please help me!
You ask great questions and I'll respond to them, but first there are a couple observations I want to make and I have a couple of questions for you...

It sounds like you're in a panic about your weight loss journey, so I encourage you to:
  • Stop right now and take a deep breath.
  • Take a long breath in and slowly exhale. 
  • Repeat three more times.
Are you measuring your success with the success of others? I've been guilty of this from time to time and I know I'm not alone in thinking this way. This kind of thinking brings on self-doubt, which is not a good place to be, but here we are just the same.

The choice is ours: stay in self-doubt and allow those feelings to bring our weight loss journey to a halt or push past those feelings and continue our journey. We get to choose: move forward or move backwards, reach our goal and live our lives to the fullest or quit and live our lives wishing we could do this.

Part of the journey for many of us is to experience this self-doubt, to question why others are losing faster than we are, and to ask ourselves why we aren't losing as fast as others. When we're in this questioning stage, we're at a turning point on our journey, one which we may encounter many times along the way, when we stop and ask ourselves the question "why aren't I losing as fast as others?"

Behind the curtain, the real question we may be asking is "can I continue to do this?" or "should I continue?" or "is this sustainable?" Perhaps what's really going on inside is that we are having doubts about reaching our goal size. At this point, we're often close to another drop in size and if we can get beyond this point we will feel incredible when it passes and we're no longer questioning ourselves.

This is the point where we need to stay the course the most, to push away those feelings of self-doubt. This is the moment to reflect back on this same kind of moment when we didn't stay the course and how we regretted it later.

This is also the moment to also reflect on the moments like this that we pushed ourselves through the moment and how great it felt when we did.

Don't make this one of those moments of regret. Make this one of the many moments you can look back on with pride at how you pushed yourself through this moment. All these moments are what add up to your success and the propel you to goal size. Stay the course.

Weight loss is not the same for all of us, as there are many variables in each of our lives. Some start heavier than others. Some are older. Some have carried their extra weight for a longer time than others. The bottom line is that time doesn't matter. Do you best every day to stay the course and you will reach your goal. If someone told me it would take more than three years for me to reach my goal size, I don't know that I could have done this program. What I do know today, is that it doesn't matter how long it takes and that I feel good every day I choose to stay the course.

Motivation to exercise comes when you decide it's time for you to get moving. I remember at a refresher Julie told the woman sitting next to me "if you don't exercise, it's going to take you a really long time to get to your goal size." It was nine months later before I would take those words seriously and started to exercise.

For me, exercise first took shape when I downloaded the couch-2-5k app. I was going to a conference and I decided ahead of time I would use the treadmill each morning of the conference. In fact, I was on my way to the airport and I had driven about a mile away from my house when I realized I had not packed my exercise clothes and I turned around to go get them. At the airport, I told my co-worker I would be joining her in the gym each morning. I made the decision and then took steps to see my commitment through. The first morning of the conference, I went to the gym at 5am, I stepped on the treadmill next to my co-worker, and I turned on the c25k app and did my first workout.

I quickly realized I needed a goal to keep me inspired, so after returning home I registered for a 5k. There was just enough time for me to finish my c25k training before the race day. What helped me was that I solicited a friend to train and to run the race with me, but there were many times that I had to run by myself.

You asked about Zumba - Zumba is a blast! However, every time I went I felt that everyone else was doing so much better. I couldn't bend or move like they did. In other words, I was judging myself and I was in my own way. Once I got out of my own way, once I stopped comparing myself to everyone else in the room, I was able to enjoy myself. I haven't been back to Zumba, but it's not off the list of possibilities, it just doesn't fit into my priorities at the moment.

Right now my focus is walking 10,000-15,000 steps a day and to train for a 5k race in Dec. I made the decision to do this race once and now I'm following through by taking the steps (training) to reach my goal. There is no debate on "should I" because I'm committed.

In the end, it is only you who can motivate yourself to see your exercise goals through. Apps are helpful tools and having a walking or running buddy is wonderful, but it is on each of us to do this for ourselves, with our without friends or apps.

Make the decision what you want to do for exercise. Make the decision once and then take action each day to stay the course. If you take on too much, adjust the plan. This isn't failing, this is learning what's possible for you right now. Adjust your plan as you need, but don't get into the debate about exercising or not exercising. Choose once and then stay the course.

Hmm, this is sort of like what we do with this program right? We choose to follow this program and there's no further debate. Take the debate out the equation for staying the course on this program and with your exercise plan.
September 18, 2014