Barriers to Success
Photo by Jeremy Chen on Unsplash
Are your thoughts around your food and weight keeping you stuck?
I weigh myself every day and because that is one of my daily habits (as it has been for decades), and because I know what my normal weight range is, I know when I am getting into a danger zone. And I would prefer to go to work on losing 2 or 3 pounds than 5.
At the beginning of COVID I gained a few pounds because I was eating like I was on vacation - for a month. Even though I have a lot of practice with the reset, literally on day one I was having these thoughts:
Why have I not lost that weight (or any weight) in one day?
Why is this taking so long?
Tomorrow I will just eat broccoli and chicken.
This is annoying.
And then I catch myself having these unhelpful thoughts, and just get to work losing those couple of pounds. I KNOW how problematic and unrealistic these thoughts are, and yet - there they are, getting in my way again.
Here are some of the common barriers we throw up for ourselves:
This is not happening fast enough.
According to who? Where is your unrealistic timetable coming from? Does it feel slow because you are eating in a way that is unsustainable so you can’t wait for it to be done? You are working to change your life, and that takes time.
I cannot eat that food.
Why not? Is it because you feel out of control around it? If that is the case I understand because I have been there (Sugar Sugar). I was eating sugary foods to manage feelings. Once I could identify and feel the feelings, the sugary foods became much less problematic. Go to work on your own behalf.
No one has noticed that I have lost 10 pounds, or how hard I am working.
So what? Do you notice it? Are your clothes a little looser? Do you acknowledge for yourself that you are working hard and doing what you said you would? Show up as your own best cheerleader.
I read on the internet (heard from a friend, read in the paper) that you shouldn’t eat bananas/bread/carbs/sugar. Alternatively, I should do Keto, try intermittent fasting, drink green juice every day, or go vegan.
Unless your doctor has given you specific instructions to avoid certain foods, why are you afraid of a banana? Is it a high sugar fruit? Yes. Is it a far better choice than a cookie? Yes. Be reasonable with yourself. If you personally decide to avoid foods or food groups, or follow a particular protocol, more power to you - I have done this. But do it because it is your choice, based on your body and what works for you, and your own trial and error. Be the CEO of your body (You Are the Boss). Don’t make it harder than it has to be just because of something you heard about that may or may not work for you.
Every single person has their own roadblocks to work through. The unifying thread of all of the success stories to one another is that each individual figured out what worked for them. Not just the food piece, but also the mindset and thought management piece.
Does this mean no setbacks, no binge eating, no frustrations or challenges? Absolutely not. It just means that each time one of these things happen we check our thoughts, check the stories we tell ourselves, learn from them and go to work.
