Hi! Coach Jeri here!
After years of being on maintenance, I now look back on the many years I spent going on and off diets. Why didn’t they work for me? How come I always went back to my old ways and gained the same 30 pounds over and over?
I now know it’s because I didn’t listen!
When I was handed a food plan that worked, I decided to do it my way. I thought I knew better and was so defiant, it was easier to blame it on everything else. As much as I believed I really wanted to lose the weight for good, my ego got in the way. When I finally realized that my way didn’t work, and started to listen to the people that were successful, things began to change.
A large part of the problem was I went into each plan with my mind made up in advance. Thinking that I knew it all and had heard it all before. The science is clear and has been for decades. Eat less, move more!
Eating a piece of cake instead of dinner only got me in more trouble. I couldn’t stop at one piece, and those empty calories just made me crave more.
Seventeen years ago I was in a meeting and I remember consciously noticing the many thin people around me. I started to sit with them and listen to them. I wanted their success to rub off on me. I stopped trying to manipulate the simple and easy to follow food plan I was given, and focused for the first time on following it as written. I had to make a mental switch and acknowledge that if I knew best, I would not be in this merry go round of losing and gaining.
Thousands of dollars later it finally sunk in.
It is a lifetime struggle working against the foods we love, that is why it is so important to find foods that fit into our food plan and we truly enjoy. Being committed to making better choices without feeling deprived will get you the success you have been longing for. Healthi has published so much great content recently. The blog is filled with helpful information to keep you focused. Things like all the Restaurant Guides that will help you make better choices when eating out, and the new Healthi Swap Recipes. Listen to the people in the Community and at the Meetings that have achieved success. The tools are all here, be open to them, embrace them, absorb every bit you can, and throw that defiance out the door.
There was a time I had little faith in long term success, it was only when I let my guard down and really listened that things began to happen. So ask yourself are you willing to do all the things you know you need to do – track, weigh, measure, drink water, move more and participate in the Community. If you say yes you will be successful!
