Weight loss projects: getting back in the saddle
I’ve been lazy about blogging for about a week, which sort of matches how I’ve been feeling about the Project. This is fairly normal, actually, though I wish it weren’t so.
Some psychologists speculate that we have a sort of natural limit or quota in terms of how much “self-control” we may be able to maintain over our behavior. The idea is that if you spend a period of time resisting a temptation or sticking to a hard task, you sort of run the self-control batteries down. So the thing you have to do is give yourself a bit of time and some outlets for not being so perfect, while your self-control battery “recharges.” Then you may be ready to get back to whatever you’ve been working on.
For instance, if you’ve ever known anyone going through treatment for substance abuse problems, you know two things: 1. just about everyone, it seems, in CD treatment seem to be smokers (though less now than years ago), and 2. the general rule of thumb in most treatment programs is don’t try to quit smoking while you’re busy trying to quit drinking or using drugs or whatever. It just seems to be too hard to start controlling everything in your life at once.
This past week I’ve had actually a great week in maintaining my workouts, and their quality (and my strength on the weights, aerobic conditioning, etc.) is improving. Fell down over the weekend on the food diary, but was partly derailed by reading some articles and suggestions dealing with changing diets to a less carb-based, more plant/protein/legume diet. Have to look at that some more, but part of the many suggestions were to give yourself one day a week to cut loose, eat whatever. Not sure how much I agree with that, though we sort of let ourselves do it over the weekend. And somewhere in there (along with the weight gain last week) I think my energy for food recording and blogging flagged a bit.
But that happens. The real key, of course, is to get back in the saddle. You fall off the horse, get back on. You have days you don’t want to do it, get back to it the next day. Breaks aren’t all that bad, as long as they aren’t permanent. I find it helps to keep the “big picture” in mind — if I imagine looking back, maybe in a year or two, after getting to my target weight goals, I’ll very probably have a bunch of lapses, periods when I cut back, vacations where there was no gym, parties and dinners out and days when everything will have gone to hell.
But the general, overall trend should be that every time, I got back to the plan, and that most of the time, I did an adequate job of sticking to the program.
At least once every 3 months, I experience complete and utter meltdown. I’m tired, unmotivated, and I can’t bear looking at gym equipment for a moment longer.
I had a meltdown on Friday. I worked out, but it was all wrong. My lifts were weak…I couldn’t complete my reps and I didn’t even attempt to do cardio (I couldn’t face it).
So, that night, I went out for an awesome dinner (big greasy hamburger, french fries and beer) and then I went out drinking with my dad (got totally wasted). Those are things I normally NEVER allow myself to do…but I needed to let loose, put things in perspective and relax.
Moral of the story: even those of us who are supposedly ‘hardcore’ and ‘super dedicated’ have times when we just lose it. It is normal. The trick (like you said) is to come back stronger than ever with renewed vigor. We learn way more from our failures and weaknesses than we ever do from our successes and strengths.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks again, kookie.
I have meltdowns like that in the gym mostly when my blood sugar is either high or low, but sometimes the general sense of “got to just take a break” hits me. I’ve also had some recent “big events” that are good ones — my agent finally starting to shop my book around, after TEN YEARS of working on it!, and I think something inside is just saying “finally, dude, cut back and relax — you’ve earned a rest!” And of course, beers and burgers and pizza spell “rest” to me. Unfortunately.
But I’m back at it all this week and so think it’ll be fine, for awhile, anyway. g
Wow…congrats on your book! I hope it gets published and sells a zillion copies!
So many factors in our lives outside the gym (both good and bad) can make SUCH an impact on how we perform INSIDE the gym…it’s a miracle any of us get any exercise at all.
Thanks. Fingers are crossed.
Alas, it’s time now to get to that gym. g