Something clicked
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Something clicked
The sweet spot that is imperfect consistency
Well, it’s been a minute since I last wrote here! On April 1st I recommitted to my program and since then I dealt with bursitis in my knee, a pulled muscle in my abdomen (both very painful), an anemia scare (I have a history of this) and a big wobble in my business that made me want to burn it all down!
Phew. All of this sure made me feel old. But. I stuck with my program and lost almost 14 lbs. And I’ll say this, something does feel different this time round, it’s like a few missing pieces are finally clicking into place:
1. Imperfect consistency
This is a big one and all about “falling off” plan and getting back on it quickly. Take Easter: we celebrated with friends and I overate a little and even had dessert even though I had planned to not have any sugar (abstaining from refined sugar is one of my plan’s pillars). In the moment I said to myself “I will enjoy all of this and get back on track tomorrow.” And I did! The next day I continued logging and staying within my calorie limit and stopped eating sugar again. Just like that, no drama, no guilt.
This is huge.
Normally a situation like Easter would have triggered my last-supper monster and sent me into a tailspin of emotional overeating until I start my diet again next month. That did not happen this time.
Same with tracking.
I use the LoseIt app to count calories and it has a feature that tells me my streak after every logged day “Congratulations, you're on day 43!”. I used to be terrified of breaking my streak and ‘starting over again.’ Well, when I was dealing with my pulled stomach muscle I was in a lot of pain and just couldn’t deal with tracking and all of that. I wasn’t eating much anyway and decided to not track until I was healed. And that’s exactly what I did, after a week I was feeling better and started tracking again. This was definitely another break-through moment, to be ok with breaking the streak and not letting it trigger last-supper mode.
Consistency is key to everything but it doesn’t mean that we have to be 100% perfect all of the time. It just means that we have to do something more often than we don’t. I feel like I am finally getting this.
2. Learning to be ok with less food
To lose weight we have to eat less. That’s not easy for the emotional eater in me who relies on food to feel safe and calm. And who overeats to numb out unwanted feelings. That’s partly why I count calories because that helps me keep my portions in check, I overeat regularly without that.
However, I’ve also been working on listening more to my body. Which really doesn’t want a ton of food all the time, it wants to release weight after all. So I’ve been doing things like eating half portions at restaurants and taking the rest home, and noticing when I feel too full after a meal and eat less of it next time. Yesterday I was in Fairhaven which has a great gelato place and I don’t know, I was so exhausted from everything that had been going on this month, including some hefty work frustrations, that I really craved some ice cream. So I got some and walked over to the village green and sat on a bench in the sunshine and enjoyed it. After eating about half of it I ralized that I’d had enough, it had scratched my itch and I didn’t actually want to eat it all. So I threw the rest away and it was no big deal and did not trigger a sugar binge, either.
There are big things happening in my business although they will take a few months to unfold. It’s been a really emotional year in this regard and I am so grateful for my trusted V.A. and strategist as well as other business buddies, they helped me gain a lot of clarity with regards to the path forward and I am feeling pretty excited!
Today one of my soulsisters arrives from South Carolina. She is staying with us and I am taking next week off to enjoy some girlfriend time! I am not tracking calories next week, it feels like too much of a hassle with a visitor in the house. Angie loves healthy foods and is a normal eater, I’ll just model her and watch my portions and enjoy my meals. And once she leaves again I will continue tracking in my LoseIt app.
Have a lovely weekend!
Kerstin xo