Road Trip Anyone?

(I am shamelessly stealing this analogy from my Weight Watchers leader, Ellen … but I am totally giving her credit for it!)

How excited would you be if someone asked you to accompany them on a trip across the country?  You know … like from LA to L.A.?  That’s about 2,000 miles.  Pretty fun, huh?  So you get all ready to hit the road, then they announce to you that you’re going to be walking instead of driving or flying.  Now how excited are you?  Maybe not so much …

That was the analogy presented to us this week and how it applies to our weight loss journey … because believe me, it is a journey … and it is often like walking 2,000 miles. 

Walking in the door and perhaps the first few weeks are like the initial excitement/anticipation of the trip – planning the route, where you’ll stay, what you’ll see when you get there.  Then reality sets in – we’re going to be walking?  This might take longer than I thought … how do I plan for this?  What will keep me motivated to reach my destination?

With every trip, there are unforeseen detours, stops, side trips, slow downs and sometimes break downs!

You’re walking along at a pretty fair pace and up ahead there is a detour … you’ve got your meal plan laid out for the day, then that friend calls that you haven’t seen or heard from in ages and wants to “do lunch.”  At a not-too-points-friendly restaurant.  Well, you know, this is a special occasion … just this one time won’t hurt.  So you detour off your meal plan and order that higher points meal and split dessert.  Definitely not a deal-breaker, but certainly a detour off your original path.  How do you find the motivation to get back on track?  For me, it means honestly evaluating the meal, counting all the points for it, tracking it … and moving on.  There are always going to be detours on the road … if we follow all the signs, we’ll get back on the right road.

Sometimes, when you’re walking, you just get tired … you just feel like you have to stop and rest … that’s okay!  We’ve all been there.  Your body needs the rest.  It doesn’t mean you completely derail all the progress you’ve made.  You take the rest you need, find strength in the rest, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and hit the road again.  It could be that you’ve injured yourself, you’re facing a health issue, you’re going through a family crisis … whatever it is that is forcing the rest … just rest.  Look at all the progress you’ve made up to this point … look at the big picture, not the little rest you’re taking – find your motivation in that.

Even if you take a side trip or have a complete break down – look how far you’ve come.  Ever been stuck in traffic for a while and you begin to see cars turning around?  Then in just a minute or two, it clears up and you’re on your way again.  Don’t get that close to the finish line and turn around and head back in the other direction!  You’ve come too far!  Push on … you CAN do it. 

Losing weight is not easy … let me say that again … losing weight is NOT easy.  For those of us who have a lot of weight to lose (and truthfully, whether it’s 15 pounds or 150 pounds or more, it’s a lot to each person individually), it is tempting to buy into the commercialism of an “easy” fix … whether it’s the latest diet craze, some new miracle pill or surgery.  There is no easy fix … let me say THAT again … there is NO EASY FIX!  It is a long, hard road.  When I walked through the doors of Weight Watchers 16 months ago, I knew that this was possibly my last chance to really make an honest-to-goodness attempt at losing weight.  For me, the motivation was (and, in large part, still is) not wanting to face a surgeon’s knife to deal with my morbid obesity.  Because I knew that is where I was headed - either as a “willing” candidate for weight reduction surgery or as an unwilling patient to deal with one of the effects of my morbid obesity.

So how to stay motivated as you trek the 2,000 miles?  Lots of ways … surround yourself with the tools you need to be successful, become a little bit selfish when it comes to your weight loss goals, start talking differently, reward yourself for every goal achieved. 

I’m learning to clean out my surroundings and keep them clean.  I just can’t keep M&Ms around anymore – sorry to everyone who has missed that jar from my desk.  I’ve replaced those with other options, tools, to keep me motivated and successful.  I’ve talked in previous posts about the amazing RunKeeper app on my phone that tracks my walking progress.  Well, now I’ve paired that with a Pandora radio station and I can walk to all the 70’s disco music I want!  Don’t hate …

I’m learning that the things I have said to myself about my weight for decades are things I would never say to a friend who was facing a weight problem … so why should I say them to myself?  Why should I belittle myself?  Why should I be so hard on myself?  Why don’t I point to the positive changes I’ve made instead of the way my belly is still jelly? 

And possibly, the best motivator?  Start rewarding yourself!  It doesn’t have to be a huge thing … celebrate that five-pound loss with a new pair of earrings (after all, accessories are one-size-fits-all – I can still wear the same earrings I wore in high school – I’ll bet you can too!) … celebrate sticking to your plan for a week by heading to the library and checking out that great new book you’ve wanted to read and read it … celebrate when you’ve been physically active all week by buying a new set of earbuds and tune in to that disco station!

So, where am I on this 2,000 mile trek?  I’m somewhere around Ft. Stockton, Texas.  And I can’t tell you how very, very fitting that is for this part of my journey.  It’s almost laughable and certainly ironic how perfectly fitting this post is with where I am … anybody ever been to Ft. Stockton?!