Why My Weight Loss Continues to be a Journey

When I first started this food blog back in 2018, I never knew what a journey it would be. In fact I thought I was finished with my weight loss journey for the most part. I had lost over 40 pounds. Little did I realize how much work it is to stay at goal through the ups and downs of life. It’s relatively easy to lose weight when you are super focused on just that. But throw in life and all of its curve balls, maintaining becomes way more difficult. Losing weight is a journey, not a destination.

Getting complacent

After making it to goal, I had visions of losing more, but when you get to goal, often times a certain attitude develops with thoughts of, “I can finally eat this, I know what to do if I gain. I’m happy where I am, etc.” If you’re not careful, and keep this attitude in check you’ll find your weight starting to creep back up on the scale. This happened to me. I need to remember, “Don’t get complacent”.

Shifting the focus to other things

Losing weight begins to take a back seat to living your life and the focus becomes pursuing your new goals whatever they may be. I really thought after goal, “I’ve got this, now I can focus on my food blog.” And I did. And while I didn’t gain back all of the weight, I did stray from goal. It’s hard to focus 100% on losing and maintaining weight when you start to focus on other things going on in your life. I need to remind myself watch where my focus shifts.

Life’s little unexpectancies

In early 2020, I had a huge set back with my health. My rheumatoid arthritis came back with a vengeance – so bad that I could hardly use my hands or walk. The usual 4-5 mile daily walks were totally out of the question. My rheumatologist in fact told me not to walk because my ankle was so inflamed and walking would cause more damage to it. I have to admit, I did have the “poor me, pity party attitude,” for a while. It was a long 6 months but eventually things settled down again. My new meds kicked in and I finally could do most of the things I previously did. I need to remember, life will always be unpredictable, just go with the flow.

Reigning it back in

After the inflammation finally went down and I was able to get back to walking, I decided this was the time to start working on my weight again. I needed to lose about 15 pounds to get back to goal. I started tracking again and watching what I ate. Always remember to pay attention and stay on top of it.

Finding new tools and mixing it up

One thing I’ve learned about weight loss is that you need to mix it up. Keep looking for new tools to help you achieve your goals. One of my tools for many years has been Cookie Rosenblum’s podcast, “Weight Loss Made Real.” I love her ideas and philosophy and finally this past September I decided to join her program called “The Freedom Group“. It’s been very freeing.

While I’m still a big advocate for WW, as it got me on the right path and helped me lose over 40 pounds and get to goal, Cookie’s program has helped me to find a better way to lose and maintain weight for life and get back to where I want to be. Through her program, I’ve discovered that I’m an occasional emotional eater and definitely a habitual and overeater. Knowing this about myself has helped me fine tune my weight loss program into a program that works for me. I need to pay attention to my body and find what works for me.

There’s no one set way to lose and maintain weight

It really doesn’t matter what program you do, as long as it works for you. There’s no one “right” and “perfect” way. So if what you’re doing isn’t working, make sure you’re doing it correctly and not making up your own rules and if that still doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to try something else.

All weight loss programs work for somebody but maybe the somebody isn’t you. It’s really about the mindset, changing your thoughts and attitudes about yourself and your body. Sometimes your mindset is “there,” and the body just needs to catch up on the scale. Sometimes the body is “there,” meaning you’ve lost the weight, but the mind needs to catch up thus the reason you can’t maintain the weight. Your mindset isn’t there yet.

My weight loss journey is a journey, not a destination

The biggest thing to remember on about your weight loss journey is that it’s a journey and not a destination. If something isn’t working, pay attention to why it’s not working and if necessary, switch programs until you find what works for you at this point in time.