There are few things more frustrating and demoralizing than the following scenario — and chances are, you’ve experienced it more than once:
You commit to a weight loss program and, damn it, you are serious this time.
Fed up with being overweight and constantly yo-yo-ing, you conjure up all of the excitement and enthusiasm you can muster and start your weight loss journey.
Again.
You exercise, cut portions, limit calories, reduce carbs, walk instead of drive, stand instead of sit, pass on dessert, give up the beer. And you lose weight.
Clothes are loose, and you feel energetic and thrilled with your new lifestyle. You lose three, 30, even 100 pounds. Life is grand, and you vow you will never go back to your old eating habits, sedentary lifestyle and over-sized pants.
Then something happens. You start relaxing on your program. You skip a few workouts. You drink a mocha (or margarita) here and there, dinner gets larger, you stop packing your healthy snacks each day, you can’t resist those cookies.
Next thing you know, you have veered off course and the pounds are piling back on. You frantically try to get back on track, but the excitement is gone, and so is your resolve. Now it’s just drudgery. Frustrated and disgusted, you go back to your old eating habits — and why bother working out at this point?
And so you quit. Again.
As someone who has played out this cycle more than once, I am know how painful it is. We are so quick to blame ourselves for being too weak and pathetic to stay on track. But what if that is not the problem? Often times, it is the weight loss plan — not us — that is the problem.
Ask yourself these three questions:
1. Is my weight loss plan healthy and realistic? No low-cal fad diets, quick weight-loss plans, magic pills or powders. You will never win the weight loss battle with these gimmicks
2. Is it doable for life? This is huge. If you cannot adhere to it for the long haul, that’s your explanation for why you did not succeed. If you are going hungry in order to lose weight, the program will not last. If you are working out hours a day to the point of exhaustion in hopes of burning maximum calories, it will not last.
3. Does my program empower me or jail me? When I got down to a size 2 by dieting, I was at my thinnest (and in my mind, most beautiful), and I was utterly enslaved. I was so obsessed with food and preoccupied with staying thin that I lost sight of healthy living; it ended with the queen mother of all binges and an extra 20 pounds of fat on my body.
Your eating program should leave you satisfied and able to indulge occasionally without guilt. Your workouts should empower you, not deplete you of energy.
My advice? Get back on the wagon — but be smarter this time. Permanent weight loss is never an easy path, but it is doable. Contemplate the three questions above.
You are not doomed to live in a fat body — you might just need a new program.
Catherine Bongiorno, lifttolose@hotmail.com, is a Mulkilteo personal trainer and nutritional therapist who owns Lift To Lose Fitness & Nutrition, www.lifttolose.com
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