Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Ask The Former Fatties!

Reader Elizabeth Kiernan writes:
I love that I got a shout out! I also love this week's motto: remind myself that nothing tastes as good as being fit feels.

How do you remind yourself of your motto throughout the week?
Great question Elizabeth! My answer is purely speculative, as I haven't yet followed through on the motto, but here's how I plan to / how I did it today:
  • Make it easier on myself by eating before I get hungry. This closely resembles one of the things I said I was hoping to learn from last week. I find that there are times when I get so obsessed on one food, that I almost feel I have no choice - I just know that I am going to pig out on it. These times almost always occur when I haven't eaten enough that day. If I don't have breakfast and/or somehow end up not eating till after noon, I am getting fast food. When I get to that point, I don't think any motto could stand between me and Checkers, so I have to try my hardest not to get to that point.
  • Remember that it is always a choice, and that my choices have consequences. Even during those times when my pigging out feels inevitable, I am still the one who allows it to happen. I hope that the motto can serve as a last guard against cheating. I may have to say the motto out loud. But hopefully reminding myself of how I'll feel if I make a good choice will be enough.
  • Actually imagine what it will be like to feel super fit. For some reason today I pictured Katy and I, post weigh-in on December 15th, 2009. One of us is elated. The other is trying really hard to be supportive and may be surprised by how at peace she feels about having lost the Rematch. It suddenly occurred to me that on this day, I could actually look and feel better than I ever seriously thought I could. I talk all the time about wanting abs by the end of the year. But...what if I seriously have them? By stopping to live in that moment, I realized I was ready to do whatever it takes to make that my reality. And so I P90X'ed at 10:30 tonight. And it was goooood.
  • Set all different kinds of goals according to a timeline, and then divide them into smaller, more immediate goals. It helps if they are ambitious but feasible. There are exactly 11 weeks left in this contest. I want to weigh between 150 and 155 by then. So I've decided that I need to be losing 1.4 pounds a week. That is totally doable, but I need to hold myself accountable. Its tough to see how what I have for dinner tonight impacts what I look like while I'm Christmas shopping, but I can totally see how what I eat tonight can make or break me hitting my goal for this week. Same with exercising. Its really easy to just let a whole week slip away. I don't have time for that - the time is now.
  • Remember that I'm not just doing this for me. I am so glad that you commented, because I'd really like the Former Fatties to become a community that Katy and I happen to be King and Queen of. I knew I wanted to respond to your question, but knew that I would be in no way qualified to do so if I didn't actually follow through and do my workout tonight. And all of your successes have been such an inspiration to me (for those who don't have the pleasure of knowing her, Liz started that whole losing-40-pounds trend that is all the rage these days. And she's now addicted to competitive racing. She actually did that triathlon that I conveniently had to work during. And she loved it.) I hope Katy remembered during all of her crazy working out over the past few days that with every step or rep she completed she was pushing me to complete one myself. I so grateful for that, and for her.
So come on, readers! Speak up! I feel like Katy and I basically use this blog as a forum to talk to each other these days (and mostly, thats probably true) but I know there are at least a few more of you out there. What are your goals for this week? And how do you plan to stick to them?

2 comments:

  1. Why was I watching the Today show and reading your blog at 8:15 this morning? Cause I'm obsessed. Last night I may or may not have read your past few months blogs. Fantastic.

    Anyway my weight in day is Wednesdays so I wanted to wait until this afternoon to post because I anticipated my thoughts would change. Last week I lost 4lbs, this week I gained 2lbs. UGH! As I was walking out of my nutrionist's office I felt so blah and tired of this up and down nonsense. Then guess what happened?! You'll never guess. Miley Cyrus "The Climb" randomly played on my shuffle. Coincidence? I think not.

    My theme of the week is not allow one choice (skipping the gym, eating some fatty) to dictate how my whole week will be.

    Just like Miley says "The struggles I'm facing. The chances I'm taking sometimes might knock me down. But no, I'm not breaking."

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  2. my goal for this week is to go back to the gym, so far it's failing miserably! but the week is not over yet so maybe there is hope!

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