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Dear WW Philadelphia Member,
I think goal setting during weight loss is hard because we’re afraid of disappointment. No one wants to be disappointed or feel like we let ourselves down.
What if you planned a really fun car trip … maybe with your best friend. You get started out and 150 miles from your starting point, you have a flat tire. A flat tire doesn’t derail the goal of the great car trip, it just slows it down momentarily.
Disappointment at the scale is similar. It should not derail us from our goals of a lower weight, healthier body.
Goals during weight loss do not need to be all about the number at the scale. Many of our goals should be about building better habits that will not only get us to that lower number at the scale but help us maintain that number. In other words, a place where I and many others failed in the past, maintenance. Believe it or not, maintenance is learned during weight loss. While we learn what works for our bodies and what doesn’t.
For me, habits like eating fruit every day help me curb my cravings for sweets. I’m not going to tell you it’s an instantaneous answer, it takes me about 3 days of no sweets (foods with added sugar) and eating 2-3 servings of fruit to get over the cravings hump. The good news is that once I get into that good spot, sharing a dessert or having a small, sweet item does not set me off again.
Another small but important goal for me is portion control. I’m a tall person at 5’11”. There have been times in my life when my activity level has been over the top. I have at different times in my life eaten LARGE servings; and there were times, because of my activity level and my body size, I’ve gotten away with it. But life changes as we age or get more involved in our careers. I do not have the metabolism I once had and need to be very aware of proper portion sizes.
Breaking goals up into small manageable, ACHIEVABLE, chunks is crucial to feeling successful. Feeling successful is crucial to adherence to our plans of eating a healthy diet, being more active, and getting to the best weight for our bodies. Doing all that without deprivation is what Weight Watchers is all about!
Have a great week WW friend and make a couple of small goals and share them at your next workshop.
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