Every Morning I Make a New Decision....

Having been successful at losing almost 150 pounds and also maintaining a healthy weight now for 2 years, people ask me "how did you do it" and they also ask me "is maintenance easier?"

The basic thing I can tell you is that each morning I wake up and I make a fundamental decision to live THIS DAY as a fit and healthy person.

Every.  Day.

This isn't a "once and for all and for always" decision that I made 4 years ago with a grand proclamation of "I will from this day on forever live as a fit and healthy person...." no.  Those types of proclamations don't tend to work so well for me.  The only one that has was my decision to get married (and sometimes that feels like a daily decision also LOL!).

I DID however, decide WHO IT IS I wanted to be.  A fit and healthy person.  And then every morning I make the decision to conduct myself today in the same way as a fit and healthy person would conduct themselves.

And guess what?  Utilizing the tools that TSFL had to offer me, I was able to make my dream happen.  One day at a time.  Waking up and looking in the mirror and saying "Ok Self, you have some options today.  How shall you live?  As a Class IV Super-Obese person?  Or as a Fit and Health person?"

And I would make my decision for the day and that was that for 24 hours.

It helped to make that fundamental choice first thing in the morning, because that way I didn't have to fret over 247 more food and drink and activity choices that would have occurred that day.  I just made the ONE choice first thing in the morning, and when those 247 other situations presented themselves I always did what a fit and healthy person would do instead of agonize over whether I "should" or "shouldn't" eat or drink this or that.  I would just think "What would a fit and health person do?" and then I would do THAT.

I didn't think "What would a person on a diet do?"  Because THAT is not the identity I wanted to adopt, either temporarily OR permanently!  I already felt like I had been a lifelong "dieter" and that is a weary life-sucking place to be ALL of the TIME. 

No.  I decided to be a "fit and healthy" person.  I enjoy being one now, and every morning, EVERY MORNING I still wake up and say "who do you want to be today?  How do you want to live today?" and I make the decision DAILY to be and to live like a fit and healthy person.

Even in maintenance.  So it isn't a question of "is it easier".  It is neither easier or harder.  I am STILL on an eating plan of my own choosing, and I am STILL asking myself that question, so in my view nothing has really changed from the 5&1.  My goal was "to attain and maintain a healthy weight" and I just so happen to be in the maintenance part of that, but it doesn't change the fact that I am on a regimented eating plan. 

So if you are reading this, and holding your breath waiting for the day you will be "done with this process" I implore  you to re-evaluate your motivations, and your goals.  Because if your goal is "to lose weight" and that is all, then you will ALWAYS have weight to lose.  It's called the "oscillating pattern of lose-gain-repent-repeat".  But if you listen to Dr. A in Dr. A's Habits if Health, if you incrementally adopt those habits as your own, if you make the decision to pursue OPTIMAL HEALTH and even ULTRA HEALTH instead of making this a "weight-loss diet" look out, your life is about to change in ways you haven't even DREAMED of yet.

Rinse and Repeat!