Before I knew it, I gained a great bit of weight. I remember being discouraged at the prospect of losing fifteen pounds. After being underweight, then working out and getting into shape, it was a hard adjustment to have a baby and find myself fifteen pounds overweight. At time went on and I worked out less consistently and had three more kids, I continued to gain weight. A variety of factors played into my weight gain such as not watching what I eat, not working out, and my metabolism slowing down due to age and having babies. So, here I sit feeling like I wish I only had fifteen pounds to lose instead of a whopping 40 to 45. Did you get that number? You see, I knew I was gaining weight and felt that at worst I needed to lose about 30 to 35 pounds. I honestly thought I was being realistic about my weight. Then I got on my Wii Fit board and it told me I was obese. This means, my dear readers, that becoming overweight would be an achievement. According to the Wii Fit board I am ten pounds heavier then I gave myself credit for. Yes, I have exceeded my heaviest pregnancy weight! I find the most discouraging part is that I used to work out five times a week and have a bit of a background in nutrition. I am no expert but I also know how to lose weight. Yet, weight gain can happen to anyone.
This brings me to my next point; you already know that a mere fifteen pounds caused me discouragement. Well, 45 is a huge number. Really, being 45 pounds overweight puts you at risk for health wise. Now, to be fair, my goal weight would only require me to lose 35 pounds…so maybe I’m not doing too badly. However, 35 is still a good sized number. I mean we are talking about the size of a preschooler! My five year old weights 41 pounds! Are you discouraged? I found that very discouraging. So, I had to trick my mind into thinking about this differently. I am setting my goals lower. Lower as in my goal is to lose 9 bags of flour.
Nine bags of flour are equal to 45 pounds since each bag weigh five pounds. We all know that until we lose at least five pounds we feel like it’s nothing to celebrate anyway, right? So, this leads me to look at my weight loss goal in five pound increments. We can all do that, can’t we? I also find it quite motivating to see a five pound bag of flour as a visual of lost weight. So, I am going to reach my goal five pounds or one bag of flour at a time. If you are feeling discouraged, maybe a change in perspective will give you the encouragement you need. Yes, it may be a trick of the mind, but sometimes it also serves as the boost we need to achieve our goals.
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