I am motivated to lose my extra weight as I have not been before.
I had tried thinking reward before: I had told myself that if I got to 150 pounds (I'm 5"3-1/2" tall) I'd go on a spending spree of up to $500 for all new cloths. Now, that would be an insanse spree for me-I don't spend that much a year or even two years. But no movement forward.
Shame hasn't worked either. I am not necessarily embarassed by the weight- it doesn't matter if I tell you I'm 196 or not, it doesn't change my weight, and if you saw me you'd already know I'm plump. Even though I'm anonymous online, I don't see the need to pretend I'm a tall slim redheadhead. But I do feel a sense of shame that I have not been able to control my weight. I've kicked alcohol and other drugs, I've kicked cigarettes, why can't I just be more physically active and not overeat? But, the little internal shame talks don't work either.
(With quitting drinking and smoking, there is the reward of being successful on day one. You may be a shaking, sweaty, uptight mess that week, but -snap-you are a non-drinker, a non-smoker. With weight issues, I can be physically active and eat right all day, and look and weigh the same. It is frustrating for me. I try to just enjoy the process, but it's a challenge.)
The idea of being in a bikini bathing suit on a beach in Croatia is a mighty deterent. If I make my 20 pound loss, which I expect to do, I can wear my standard one piece and be fine. I carry weight in my belly, so the bikini idea is especially funky. I'd like to be the kind of woman who becomes rubenesque, and becomes curvier everywhere with some extra pounds, but my body does a portly older man thing; weird small butt with a big gut.
Once I've hit a five pound loss, I'll assume that I've gained some new good habits, and I'll look for other ways to utilize the credible threat. A friend who just quit smoking took the idea; she rewards herself regularly, so she didn't know how to use that, but the idea of taking AWAY a reward-no buying of books for 6 months if she smokes-was a motivator she could grab onto.
Has anyone else used the Credible Threat concept? I know for some it can seem too punitive, but for me, since I picked a reasonable goal (essentially a pound a week), it's working so far.
Credibly Threatened
April 1st, 2006 at 11:37 pm
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:10 am 1143936638
One thing very important: I always allowed myself some stuff that wouldn't be considered "good" for a diet. I always ate whatever I wanted to at night and didn't feel like I had to say no to a few beers. If I couldn't have had some of that stuff, I never would have lost the weight...which, by the way, was 40 lbs. But I did it by not focusing on the weight, just what I could do to be more healthy.
Good luck!
April 2nd, 2006 at 04:57 am 1143953873
April 2nd, 2006 at 02:31 pm 1143988269
I went on the low carb diet and lost some, but now I am just stuck. I am trying to walk more on my treadmill. The low carb diet seems to work the best for me cause I don't get so hungry!
April 4th, 2006 at 02:11 pm 1144159866
April 4th, 2006 at 11:38 pm 1144193907
April 5th, 2006 at 04:45 pm 1144255503
Also, it's definitely true that it's much easier to not eat too much to begin with rather than trying to shed it once it's there!
I have never needed to lose more than 10 lbs or so, but i must agree that losing weight is one of the hardest things you can do. And that exercise can be very boring, especialy if odne repetitively, solely for the purpose of weight control. If you can work exercise into your normal routine, it's much easier to keep up.
I control my weight by weighing myself in the a.m. every day, so if i'm up a pound or two i freak and eat less that day to get things back under control before it becomes a real problem.
April 8th, 2006 at 06:39 pm 1144521566