Motivation To Lose Weight | How Happy Are You? | Days 61-63
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Did you notice I hadn’t posted anything on my “My Motivation To Lose Weight” blog for a few days?
We went out to the country to stay with my parents and they have zero cell phone range or internet access.
Pure bliss. As much as I do love being ‘connected’ I do enjoy being forced to ‘disconnect’ sometimes. It’s so peaceful that it makes it very easy to reflect.
My Mom is fantastic and had rung my husband before our arrival about my food requirements. She had the menu all planned out perfectly. So healthy, nutritious and delicious.
During dinner the subject of my blog came up and we started talking about what I’d learned so far. They know this is the first time I have ever stayed on a diet for longer than 2 weeks (I’ve just hit 2 months – hard to believe really) so they’re quite curious.
I voiced my opinion that one of the real reasons we don’t lose weight on diets is because we’ve never found a motivation to lose weight that was strong enough coupled with a determination to carry it through.
They were impressed that I could go through an entire evening of them enjoying Champagne, Wine and Irish Coffees without giving in. I winked at Dad and said, “I’m a stubborn b!tch when I want to be.”
And then the subject of weight loss did a complete 180 and Mom and Dad started talking about their own experiences.
A few years back Mom, for some inexplicable reason started to gain weight even though she hadn’t changed her diet at all. When she asked for advice the only suggestion I could give was to cut out the 5 teaspoons of sugar she was having a day in her cups of tea.
She tried that modification and within 3 months she was back to feeling comfortable again.
But did she rely on any massive amount of motivation to lose weight to do it? Not really … she just didn’t want to put on weight so she cut back on something she could.
And then the topic moved to Dad who has been trim and athletic his whole life.
Over Christmas we all tend to over-indulge and by the end of the holidays he is just sick of the sight of food. If he feels his belt getting a bit snug does he diet? No. He just goes fencing! And that fixes it quick smart.
So that evening when everyone had gone to bed I started to think about this. Neither of them needed a massive degree of motivation to lose weight. They just made a decision, and got on with it. So what’s the difference between them and us?
And then BAM!!! It hit me! They don’t use food for comfort. They use food for fuel.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been the “Queen of Comfort Eating” for so long. Pain and misery seemed to dissolve with a mouthful of cookies, ice cream and chocolate.
But then what was I left with afterwards? I still had the pain, I still felt miserable and now I could add GUILT to my list of woes. It was a vicious, never-ending cycle.
So back to Mom and Dad. I look at them and they are so divinely happy you’d think they were still on their honeymoon!
So for those of us who battle to lose weight, I believe there might be more to it than simply finding your motivation to lose weight. I think we might need to identify what’s making us unhappy and address that first.
So if you’re struggling to find your motivation to lose weight, and if you were to be totally honest with yourself, is there something else holding you back?
How happy are you, really?
P.S. This blog is about proving once and for all that diets don’t work.
If you want to see some of the crazy diets I’ve tried, check out my first post.
I have 27 days left of my personal 90 day challenge and at the end of it I hope to have proven once and for all that diets don’t work, that there is a way to lose weight that does not rely on calorie counting or ridiculous diet restrictions, and that weighing and measuring yourself is not conducive to healthy weight loss.
And if I can do it, ANYONE can do it : )