Does everyone know what an AH-Haaa moment is? It's that point in time, when you realize that something is the way it is.
Well, this weekend, very quickly, please share with us, your first recollection of being on an unhealthy path/ heavy path...how did you get to where you were in this journey. AND then the important part...your ah - haaa moment, at what point did you say, "I have things to change and I have to get healthy".
Happy Mother's Day to all. I know I got in trouble for this last year and the year before but I will say it again, if you are a woman you are a mother to someone; a friend, children, a SO; someone depends on you to give them what their mothers did when they were young, unconditional love, and understanding, not to mention hugs and support.
It's never too late to get it right.
Posts: 3473 | Location: Central USA | Registered: March 11, 2004
There wasn't one single ah-haa moment; I had hundreds of moments where I realized things were not the way I wanted them to be. Such as when my clothes stopped fitting; when my digestion gave me grief but I didn't take notice; when I had my gall bladder removed and the surgeon told me it was a lifestyle thing; every time I met with a dr or nurse and they talked about "weight control"; etc etc. But I suppose one moment I remember best was almost two years ago, after eating and drinking everything in my path for what must have been 4-6 months straight. It was July and I felt like turd. I remember thinking, "Enough already."
That thought paid off. Although I've been diagnosed with all kinds of things after that, I'm approximately 30 lbs lighter than on that day in July, 2006. The pants I wore then are so big on me now that I can pull them on without opening any buttons.
****************** “The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.”
I have an A-Ha moment every time I see a picture of myself! I think I need to hang those pics all over my house so it keeps me motivated. I have been walking almost every day. I have been eating less, and eating more veggies. The A-Ha moments also come when I look in the mirror and start seeing a smaller me, and when my clothes fit better. I hope that these are a-ha moments that last, rather than fleeting thoughts. My grocery bills are higher (which relates to the last homework about grocery prices) because I spend more time in the produce department. But, it's worth it. Feeling looser jeans, having more energy, wearing a smaller size-all a-ha moments! Jill
Summer Challenge Goals: 1) Walk 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week 2) Plan weekly menus
The longer I do this… the more that initial "A-Ha! Moment" seems a) a very distant memory… like it was practically another person AND b) I still remember it really clearly and vividly. Both things are true at the same time, is that makes any sense at all.
Also, the longer I do this… I’m more and more convinced that it isn’t so much that ONE wake up call or A-ha moment that matter all that much. Brian Wansink, the Mindless Eating guy, has done research and says that we make 200 food decisions a day.
The longer I do this… I think that a person has to have like 100 or 200 little “A-Ha” moments a day. That one wake up call won’t sustain anybody for a life time. It isn’t like somebody has a giant lightening bolt moment and then they wake up and eat healthy for the rest of their lives and they are “cured”. Even people who have had quadruple bypass surgeries don’t get cured of bad habits all that easily.
It is all of these “little” A-Ha moments like, “Yes, I DO have time to make breakfast at home and I don’t have to drive thru” or “I can’t exercise 1 hour today… but I can get on the treadmill for 12 minutes before I take a shower” or “Gee, if I measure out a tsp of oil in the pan… it tastes the same as if I glug in 4 turns around the pan”.
I also tend to have the same “little” a-ha moments over and over. I guess I learn sort of slow, because I need to learn the same lessons over and over and over again.
But it is REALLY, REALLY easy to have a big, giant profound a-ha moment… and then 3 weeks later to be saying, “Well, if I don’t make breakfast today and just drive thru… it won’t matter this one time”. It isn’t that the a-ha moment wasn’t profound enough or important enough or "real" enough… that is just sort of human nature. And it takes a bunch of little seemingly insignificant a-ha moments EVERY SINGLE DAY to really make this work long term.
The difference between “naturally thin” people and people who are “formerly overweight” is that “naturally thin” people make the little (good) decisions every day and make good decisions sort of “mindlessly”. “Formerly overweight” people make good little decisions every day and each one is a mini aha moment.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: GoingSkiing,
Denise
Posts: 8691 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
I wasn't born fat, infact until I went to Kindergarten I was severely underweight...I only weighed 5.1 lbs when I was born and 30.2 lbs at kindergarten. But then came school lunch, even taking it, meant I had things to trade for the things I really wanted. I started chowing down on candy bars as soon as I got an allowance, running to the store buying $1.00 worth of bars (in those days that was 10 of them) and then eating them at one time in my room. By the time I graduated HS, I weighed well over 150 lbs and for a girl of 5'2"...that was chubs. I continued to grow out. My high point after two kids was 248. I lost 2 lbs before WW ( but I've been a member off and on for over 13 times).
When I turned that beautiful 5 -0 number, I decided I had to get healthy. I was just diagnosed with diabetes, high BP, heart disease ran in my family, and I didn't want the second 1/2 of my life to be like the first. So off to WW again, because it is the one program, I knew, the one I could guarantee myself would work, and I needed someone else to hold me accountable, also. Health and life brought me here, health and living keeps me here.
Cathy J
It's never too late to get it right.
Posts: 3473 | Location: Central USA | Registered: March 11, 2004
