News from Trainer Sue

Motivation

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Day 71.

I am not a fan of the whole New Year - New You thing. I understand it is a time that motivates many people to take action that they had only just been thinking about, which is good.

But how do we turn this eruption of motivation into long term consistent behavior?

I received an email from a woman who lost 57 pounds last year that I want to share with you.

"I was always successful for a short while and then I would fall back into old habits. I would choose to eat foods that I knew were hurting my body. I tried no carb/low carb diets, I tried cutting sugar out of my diet...every once in a while I would even try exercising. All would work for a few months and then I would slip up and fall back into old ways. This "yo-yo-ing" was torture both physically and emotionally. I finally reached a point of giving up on myself. I would try again but inside I was telling myself I would never be able to lose the weight and sure enough I would fail again. As I re-read that last sentence, I am currently starting to cry. How horrible was I to myself that I would set myself up for disaster. Always putting myself down inside. Never believing that I could do this. What is worse, I had no self worth. I didn't believe I was worth it."

How true. Don't we quickly give up on ourselves? What would change is we decided never, ever to give up on ourselves?

First I believe we would learn to slow down. All the weight does not have to be lost by your deadline for your journey to be a success. Every pound is a victory and it is a slow process. Change is gradual. This is not the Biggest Loser.

Then I believe we would learn to forgive ourselves. To me that means when we had a crappy day and didn't do a thing we told ourselves we would do, we would wake up the next day with the outlook that it is a new day. And never again would we let the tapes inside our head beat us up. It's a new day!

I believe we would take the time to organize and plan for our success. If you don't believe you can succeed, why bother. But if you believe in yourself and never give up, you are going to need some things in order for this to work. Time scheduled to exercise? Check! Healthy food in the fridge prepared and ready to go? Check! Water bottle? Check!

I believe we would learn to eat and not deprive ourselves. If you know you are in this for the long haul, you are going to learn to eat and develop a healthy relationship with food. I believe in adding lots of healthy, whole, fresh, satisfying foods. Add, add, add. Then the few treats are not a big deal.

I believe we would heal. We've been putting ourselves down for a long time. We've been putting ourselves through the roller coaster of dieting for a long time. These harsh words and harsh lifestyles leave scars, but they can heal. If you are going to think about a new you this new year, decide to become the person who never, ever gives up on herself.

Now get moving!