For lack of a better "intro", today's question is kind of straight forward.

What will it take to get you to make a change? Food, jobs, exercise, etc. How bad does it have to get before you admit you need to make a change?

And once you make that change, how do you keep it going?

Finally, pat yourself on the back for a change you made recently.

I don't know what it is, but sometimes it just clicks.

I guess I get to a point that I can't tolerate something any more and I just know I have to make a change. I can't pinpoint that time and I think it is different for everyone.

I am very proud of my walking so far these past few weeks. I had gotten really stiff and not able to move well. My sleep schedule had slipped so badly that, at times, I would be going to sleep not long before dh would get up.

I knew I had to take the bull by those proverbial horns. I think the smartest thing I did was find a walking buddy. We "bug" each other into our walk. It has already made a difference on the sleep schedule. I'm up early and asleep about midnight. I'm mentally better and I think that is only the first of many baby steps for me.

Linda

What will it take to get you to make a change? Food, jobs, exercise, etc. How bad does it have to get before you admit you need to make a change?

I just don't know. Sometimes I make changes when they don't even need making, jsut for the sake of variety. Sometimes I won't change something that really needs changing because I'm too stubborn. I guess it takes a lot for me to change the really big bad habits, but little more than a whim to rearrange the furniture.

And once you make that change, how do you keep it going?

Daily reminders and permission to fail repeatedly.

Finally, pat yourself on the back for a change you made recently.

I have managed to make daily yoga and meditation a habit. Most mornings I get 20 minutes of yoga and 15 minutes of meditation, and if I sleep in and skip it, I jsut feel off all day.

quote:

Originally posted by Kat N.:
I have a really good box of Godiva at home which I am saving for when I am below my goal weight and yes, I think of it, but I don't go eat it! Why then does chocolate in other people's stash (that they have told me to get anytime) which isn't good chocolate call my name so loudly that I go running for it?????

I want to make a change, but don't know how. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Hmmm is it a difference in environments??? are you stressed by something at work??? do you feel pressure to take it because it's offered???

This is just a thought, but I wouldn't make the Godiva for reward for reaching your goal weight. To me, that seems like you are defeating the purpose. I used to reward myself with food when I did something good for myself or completed a huge task, but now I see food as more of a way to fuel my body so I can accomplish whatever task is at hand.

quote:

Originally posted by Coaster Girl:
What will it take to get you to make a change?

This is sort of funny, because I recently asked dh, "You want to lose weight. You need to lose weight. What has stopped you from just doing it?" He “only” has like 20 lbs to lose… it isn’t some overwhelming amount. But, he really couldn't answer.

But then I thought about changes I've wanted to make... and I couldn't answer either, "What stops me...?"

Q. And once you make that change, how do you keep it going?

This gets asked a lot on the WW maintenance board. I’m really not sure of the answer. I’m not sure EXACTLY how I got the switched flipped in my own head. Just one day, I decided, “The HECK with this!!!! I’m losing this stupid weight and I’m not gaining it back.” I don’t really understand why the switch has stay flipped for me, and for many, many people… it gets flipped back… and doesn’t stay flipped.

There is a very good article on the WW site about “Flexible Restraint” (which is a concept a lot like moderation).

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=21021

It talks about “Want Power” vs. “Will Power”. I know that right now… I WANT to be thin more than I WANT 3 cups of ice cream.

But I think that being thin "works" for me better than being heavy. Dr. Phil (and other shrink types) say that people do "what works". I discovered that being fat didn’t work for me. It really served no useful purpose. Emotional eating didn’t work for me and made my problems much worse. I still eat for emotional reasons… EVERY person does sometimes. If I ONLY ate for “fuel”, I’d eat way differently than I do now. But my emotional eating falls within the bell curve of “normal” and isn’t an issue to make me gain weight.

Eating a brownie and ¼ cup of ice cream for dessert works (for me) as well as 3 brownies and a pint of ice cream. Some of it is finding what works… and also what doesn’t work.

I suppose that in a way… it isn’t so much that I WANT to be thin… because LOTS of people WANT things. People want to lose weight VERY badly and will go to drastic measures to do so, like surgery or liquid diets for months at a time. There are people that are miserable heavy and want more than anything to lose weight, but can’t or don’t or aren’t able to keep it off. So, I’m not sure that just WANTING it is enough.

But, for me, I don’t just want to be thin. Being thin “works” better than being heavy. It isn’t that I don’t WANT to stress eat. It just doesn’t “work” like it used to.

I think with the house work thing… the amount of cleaning we do “works”. The house is not ready for a magazine shoot… but it is functional. You can’t eat off the kitchen floor right now… but child protective services isn’t coming to take ds to a foster home, either.

Cleaning… weight loss… pretty much all areas of life… the pithy sayings, “You have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk” or “Actions speak louder than words” are really true… and while I might SAY I want the house to be neater or dh may SAY he wants to lose 20 lbs… right now, our actions are speaking louder than our words. And we are doing what “works”.

quote:

And I am totally guilty of not taking time for me. I don't just burn the candle at both ends, I juggle three or four candles burning at both ends.

hmmmm are we long lost sisters???!!! I have the juggling 3 or 4 candles with both ends burning syndrome myself.

Honestly, I think for me change happens in stages. but first I have to want to change. I think the saying goes "You will stay the same until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change. It started with me exercising. Then it was changing what I eat. Now I'm changing how I eat and why I eat.

I take my little successes and build upon them.

I think it would have to be something big. Like maybe the dr saying I'll be dead in a year if I don't stop eating cake You know what I mean.

So in other words it needs to hit me like a ton of bricks, not once but repeatedly.

How to keep it going? You tell me.

I agree with Brie...there are different thresholds for different things. I don't know that I "admit" things (nothing is ever clean enough, I'm never thin enough, I could always do better) so much as have someone draw attention to something else that I can do.

As far as jobs...as soon as I realize I'm miserable, I start looking for something else. So far, this job isn't miserable, it's far from it.

For relationships and weight loss...I'm much slower to change. The guys before this one were...not nearly up to the standard I should have been setting. It wasn't until I realized there was better out there that I knew I was shortchanging myself.

For food...since high school, I've been interested in organic and "whole" foods, so that's never felt like a change, just a modification. It's the thinking that I'm not worth the time or the effort (for anything) that's been the hardest to change. But it is something I'm working on and committed to.

A recent change for a back pat...I've started having more fun cleaning. I know, I know. But Martha Stewart's new book is like a bunch of little projects that I want to try. I've cleaned doors, cleaned stained-glass on the interior doors, dusted the mantle, cleaned out a closet, rearranged bookshelfs...it's fun.

I honestly don't know how to answer your question. I don't what it will take to make those big changes because I've never actually done it. I sometimes think that I will have to hit rock bottom, like an alcoholic or drug addict, before I will change and that scares the hell out of me. I really believe I haven't lost weight, haven't taken steps to change my career because I don't want it bad enough. I guess I have become very complacent in my life. Some days I just want to give up and say forget it, I am not going to change. I hope that this is not true. I think about change, I think about how my life would be different, and yet I don't do what I need to do to change. I think that perhaps there will come a day when I have had enough and will make some changes. I hope anyway.

Jill

It took 50 years for me to decide that my health was more important than food. Another two after that to decide that exercising was going to make a difference enough to stick by it. It took three years to face my diabetes; and almost that long to think about having knee surgeries.

What does it have to do in order for me to change? First, any change has to be MY idea, no matter how scary or threatening things get, it's still MY idea. All my decisions are made that way. Then I know I will stick with the changes that need to take place.

Chocolate that calls my name at work is my issue at the moment.I have a really good box of Godiva at home which I am saving for when I am below my goal weight and yes, I think of it, but I don't go eat it! Why then does chocolate in other people's stash (that they have told me to get anytime) which isn't good chocolate call my name so loudly that I go running for it?????

I want to make a change, but don't know how. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

I find that most of the time, it's simply a procrastination thing. I can find reasonable excuses, but that doesn't make it true.

Sometimes, I just have to hit bottom, where I can't stand whatever situation any longer, or just can't stand that _______ isn't done.

I had trouble integrating Flylady into my life for that very reason. It seemed almost TOO easy to work for 15 min. and then take a 15 min. break. But the ironic thing is I actually get more done that way than I do otherwise. And it never takes as long as I thought it would. I still don't get it, but hey, it works.


And I am totally guilty of not taking time for me. I don't just burn the candle at both ends, I juggle three or four candles burning at both ends.

It's funny how sometimes the shortest questions are the hardest to answer.


I find that I have different thresholds for different things. I was overweight for such a long time and did absolutely nothing. Then I had my lightbulb moment and everything was as clear as day and I knew what I needed to do and I still basically do it now out of habit (with lifes up and downs factored in of course).

My struggle right now is finding some inner peace and balance between work, family, house and me. I seem to be last on my list (and of those around me).

Usually it takes me having zero patience, yelling and screaming at my family, and not wanting to go to work for the "life is out of balance" wake up call. I hate that it has to get that bad before I take time out for self care. One of the things that I'm working on is making sure I take enough "me" time every week, and preferably a little every day. I'm hoping that if I do it reguarly, I won't hit the absolute lows when I feel like I just need to escape it all.