Strive for consistency.

Being consistent every day is tough. You may want to think that because you made healthy choices yesterday it's ok to slack off a bit today.

Consistency may seem boring or frustrating at first, but it becomes a very satisfying way of life once you get used to it. You learn you can trust yourself, and you begin to feel more grounded.

Action for the day: If you were going to be more consistent with your new healthier lifestyle, what would your life look like, ideally? In your journal, describe this lifestyle. Then live it for a few days. See how it feels to nurture yourself by being predictable.

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 People overeat and stuff themselves in order to feel good.  It's the pleasure factor that we are all after when we eat.  When we stuff ourselves or give ourselves sweets, we actually are feeding the hormones in our body that give us pleasure sensations and those are the same sensations we get when we feel loved.  We are as addicted to that sensation whenever we choose to overeat, get drunk or take drugs.  All of them give us pleasure and all of us are seeking it.  People just don't understand that food is an addiction just like alcohol and drugs.    I personally realized that I was stuffing myself because I never had the love of my parents.  My mother abandoned me because she chose to be an alcoholic and my father chose to love his second wife more than me and I ended up living with friends and other relatives all of my life.  My father died when I was 15 and my mother died when I was 20.  I harbored anger and bitterness towards them all of my life and chose to 'fill that void' with food because it made me feel good like being loved feels good.  When I realized that fact, it helped me deal with the whole overeating issue itself.  When I chose to forgive my parents and love them despite their failures, the desire to overeat went away.  Granted, the surgery happened before I did that and the weight came off but I've managed to overcome the 'food is my life' issue because I chose to forgive.   See, when you think about it, the people who have surgery are forced to first drink liquids the first week.  Then they graduate to more solid liquids the second week.  Then they graduate to soft foods after that and eventually get to regular food but in small increments from then on.  If you stop and think about it, if a person would eat like that without surgery they would lose just as much weight as if they didn't have the surgery in the first place.   People regain their weight because they never dealt with the issue of why they overate in the first place.  They thought that the surgery would cure the whole fat issue and it doesn't.  They learn how to graze all day or stretch their pouch back out and then wonder why they've regained most or all of their weight.    A person's weight issue will never be solved with surgery.  It can only be cured by finding out why you are overeating and deal with that first and then learn to LISTEN to your body and only eating WHAT and WHEN it wants to eat.  People think that 'mouth hunger' is real hunger but it isn't.  Overweight people usually don't know what it's like to feel a hunger pain because they don't get to that point.  Food is their life.  They live to eat instead of eating to live.  No one really realizes how little food the body needs for fuel each day.    If you ask me if I would have had the surgery again, I would tell you no.  Most WLSers aren't that way.  I would have chosen to cure myself mentally first and then listened to my body and learned what it really wanted and when it wanted it instead of just throwing food down it when I saw a commercial or smelled food cooking.    I don't know what decision is best for you but I do know that you must love yourself enough to cure the inside before you cure the outside, however you choose to do that is up to you.  

Hi There:
I weigh-in once a week, on Friday. This week( 7/23/10) I was down 1.6 lbs. The week before I was down a whooping 8 lbs. I don't expect that every week and my consistancy is very good. I'll take the 1.5-2.5 any week as long as I am constant, that means a minimum of 78 lbs. loss in a year, I'm in it for Life so I am making Lifestyle changes, not dieting. I am eating reduced calories but what I'm eating will be the same even after I reach my weight loss goal and go into maintenence. I'm not into any exercise routine, I have activities I enjoy now and then, and my daily activities as well as stretching. Once I reach my weight goal I may begin a very light exercise routine like swimming and walking 3/4 times a week. But I definately believe in staying busy with activities I enjoy.
Be Well, Live Well VM

Well I did wii-fit or clogging class almost everyday this week! Yeah!  Yesterday I weighed 251 :) , today I weighed 253 :(   I probably deserve the 253 - I haven't been as good with my eating this week.  I've got to get the exercise and eating better thing going TOGETHER, like at the same time!  I was stressed this week - my 8 year old daughter fell off her bike and broke her right arm on Thursday.  She's doing well, but bummed because no swimming, no archery, no violin.  I'm trying to find other fun stuff for her to do.  No excuses though! 

So where is everyone?  I'd like some weigh-in partners or exercise "partners".  Anybody interested out there?  Have  a wonderful weekend!!

I count calories, religiously. I use myfitnesspal.com website to count calories and exercise also.