Progress
Yesterday was okay. Better than the last two days, still not great. I drank a lot of coffee and at the end of the day I broke down and broke out the Lindt chocolate balls. I only had a serving, but still…
And I didn’t track all the extra coffee or the chocolate. Of course, it’s not too late. I’ve been known to go back later and add in all the food I conveniently omitted. Just for the sake of accurate record keeping. It helps to go back and see patterns and so forth.
It was good that yesterday was better than the three days preceding it. Progress, not perfection, right?
The book I’m reading, Mind Prep, by Connie Stapleton, says that people with obesity are often perfectionists or black or white thinkers.
So, the thinking goes, I’ve either had a great day or a terrible day, and if it’s terrible, I might as well give up completely for the day, week, month, till New Year’s.
Maybe it’s not always as exaggerated as this. Or maybe it is, when you boil it down. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve had thoughts like these plenty of times in my life.
It’s all about shifting your mindset. When you can do that, you can start to be successful. When you can embrace slow progress and baby steps, you begin to build momentum.
If you keep saying, “I’ll start tomorrow,” you get nowhere. You go backwards. You have to stay on program, even if you mess up. You get back on the horse as quickly as you can. Preferably the same day.
A day is always salvageable. Meaning, you can make it worse by giving up completely, but why do that? You’re setting yourself that far back. Mitigate the damage. Forgive yourself. Move on.
I’ve said the same two things about 100 different ways, haven’t I. Sorry. When I am passionate about something, I often talk in circles.
Looking at the bigger picture, I’ve made quite a lot of progress. I’ve lost 6.8 pounds in the last month or so. Lots of non-scale successes, too.
So the last few days have been a little weird. It’s okay. As long as it’s only a few days. As long as I get back on track. And I will.
