The "staying-consistent" challenge

Hi,

Do any of you have a hard time with consistency in your weight-loss journey?  Do you have any ideas on how to "stick with it"?

I am disappointed in myself; disappointed that despite my acknowledgment that I have to work hard at losing this weight, I cannot seem to stay consistent.  All my life, I was 120 lbs. at five foot, seven and a half inches.  Without trying I maintained that weight well into my 20's. 

Then I became ill, and the medicine that I am still taking to this day has caused me to gain too much weight.  I will admit that soon I just let myself slide.  I ate worse than I ever had, stopped being active in even the tiniest things, and when I finally looked myself in the mirror and decided that I had to do something about my weight, I was 200 lbs.

So here I am.  I dedicated myself to adjusting my lifestyle.  Working out, changing my diet, being proactive about what I ate...I lost 10 pounds in April, bI haven't dropped another pound since!

I stopped working out.  I ate emotionally to deal with the anger I had towards myself for ruining a good thing.  I shut down, hid my head in the sand....maybe if I didn't look at myself I wouldn't feel as bad.  Slowly but surely day after day and week after week passed.  Each day I'd say, "I'll start again tomorrow." Each weekend I'd say, "I'll start again next week."  Time was slipping by and I didn't even notice it...Finally I grew tired...I grew tired...of ME!!!

I grew tired of looking at the calendar with regret.  So many "what-if's": what if I kept working out through the month of May; what if I was as dedicated at the beginning of the year when I promised myself I would do this?  What would it be now?  January, February, March...THREE MONTHS!!  Ten pounds a month is 30 pounds.

Paralyzed by looking back at what could have been, I could not move forward.  I spent my days beating myself up for procrastinating, and so I procrastinated.  It is only a week ago that I stopped and asked myself the question, "Do I want this week to be another one that I regret?" "Tomorrow do I want to look back at today and wish that I'd done something, anything?" "Do I want to look back at the month of June and wish that I'd lost 10 more pounds but just chose not to?"  No way!

Part of my motivation is that I don't want to REGRET another day, week, month, or year.  Part of it is that in challenging myself to become a stronger, more disciplined, responsible person, that follows through, continues going forward and does not make empty promises, I will be changing the course of my life forever.  Part is that I finally want to finish something I started.  I want put a goal in front of me and not stop UNTIL the goal is achieved.  I want to change my life, but I can only do so through a little thing called consistency.

If this is a consistency challenge then I'm with you!  One of my biggest problems is remaining consistent.  So how does this work?

Hi,

Okay.  Here is what I think we can do.  Here is a list of the things that I always promised myself I would stop eating and drinking, but always do it anyway.

* Soda

* Juice

* Potato chips/snacks

It seems like no matter how hard I try, I find myself at least twice a week saying, "It's just one soda/juice, it won't hurt my diet.  Then for working out here are my problems:

* Too tired

* Procrastinate

* Convince myself that "one day off won't hurt."

* Too busy

* Laziness

Since these things listed about are the sole reasons that I regret every wasted day, week, and month, here's what we can do for this consistency challenge.

JULY CHALLENGE: 

This month will be the "habit-forming" month.  Replace one bad habit with one good habit.

Week One:  June 29, 2009 to July 5, 2008:

Replace ONE "vice" with ONE positive element.  Start a "GOAL" journal.  Write a clear and deliberate statement of what you will eliminate and what you will pick up. e.g replace 1 hour of T.V. for 1 hour of cardio, replace juice with water etc..

• Drink only water.  If eating out, ask for water FIRST before you order any other beverage like soda or juice even if you want it.  Drink only water until your food comes.  By then I've found that I don't want to order the soda/juice any more because the water has satisfied my thirst for a beverage.
• With food, pick one "vice"/weakness.  Plan every single meal (including snacks) for this week deliberately replacing that one item with a healthier option.  Stick to your meal plan no matter what.
  
• To stay consistent with workouts, let's actually schedule it into an appointment book or day planner.  Make sure the time is realistic.  Always keep your workout appointments.
• Every night make notes on the past day in your goal journal: what did you eat/drink? is that something you can stick to? did you workout? if yes, how was it? if no, why not? what adjustments can be made tomorrow.

 

Week Two:  July 6, 2008 TO July 12, 2008: 

This second week's goal is to maintain the momentum of week one.  More likely than not it will not be enjoyable as yet but if we stick to this plan for the first 2 weeks of July we have a good chance of these behaviors becoming  habits!!

• Keep maintaining the same challenges of the first week.
• Look at your "goal" journal.  What patterns do you see?
  
  • Is your workout time realistic?
  • How can it be more effective?
  • Are your diet plans of the first week realistic?
  • How can it be more effective?
  • What can you change?
    
• To stay on track,  look at your goal journal first thing EVERY MORNING WITHOUT FAIL, read your goals out loud so you can hear them, and execute that plan every single day.  No exceptions.
  

Week Three to Five: July 13, 2008 to August 2, 2008:

The rest of this month is where we will maintain what we have accomplished and then add to it...slowly

•  Workout:  Add a small bit to your workout.  If you have been doing only cardio so far, add some strength or weight training to at least 2 days.  Start small.  Don't add too much just in case you can't maintain that.  If you've been doing only weight training, add cardio, etc.
• Diet:  Add another challenge to your diet, whether it is a food or drink challenge.
• MAKE SURE THAT YOU ADD THESE NEW CHALLENGES TO YOUR GOAL JOURNAL.  WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE SEE ALL THE THINGS THAT WE ARE COMMITTING OUR CONSISTENCIES TO EVERY DAY.  
• IF WE CAN'T SEE OUR GOALS IN FRONT OF US WE ARE MORE LIKELY TO NOT HOLD OURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE TO THEM!

For July, to remain consistent, let's start those goal journals.  The goal journal is to keep us focused on only our goals every day even if the day before was not completely successful.  It is personal and must cater to YOU and your goals. I have a few ideas for what we can put in our journals:

Amount of weight loss we want, date by which to lose it, calories to be consumed each day, foods to eat, foods to eliminate, meals and snacks, workout and diet that you are willing to commit to.  Read it out loud first thing every morning and really think about what you are going to do TODAY.  We only have TODAY.  Forget the slip-ups of yesterday, and the fears of tomorrow.  Take it one day at a time, and let's see if we can stick to this once and for all  with this challenge!!!!

Please give your ideas as well!!!!!

The challenge for the month of July is to stay consistent.   This way we can change our habits in good ones towards losing weight.  This week, I am challenging myself to work out every single day even on the days I REALLY don't feel like it.  If I can get through these 7 days, working out every day, I will be so happy.

I think the key to success is to set aside workout time that is convenient.  I found myself making excuses for not working out, and it was always because I had "something else to do."  I had to start working out first thing in my day to be successful.

In this consistency challenge, can anyone think of a challenge for this first week?