It's Not
About
the Scale

By Karen Preston

Karen lives, plays, and works
in Portland. A member of TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), she also founded Pounders, a weight-loss support group focusing on being fit through exercise and healthly lifestyle changes. Her story
was recently featured in Self magazine (September 2003).

I still find each
day too short for
all the thoughts
I want to think,
all the walks I want
to take, all the books
I want to read and
all the friends
I want to see. 

— John Burroughs

Getting Back on Track

One of the most common questions I’m asked is how I was able to find the motivation to maintain a weight loss mindset for so long. (It took three years and four months for me to lose 184 pounds.)

It took time to fine tune my healthy eating plan and learn the foods that worked best for weight loss. Before I started losing weight I wasn’t eating any vegetables except corn and potatoes. After a few months of experimenting I was able to consistently eat a minimum of three or four different vegetables each day.

I did and still do get off track. I’m an emotional eater, and so perhaps like you I struggle with staying in control when I’m upset or stressed. Last night I looked at the long list of things I “should” do before going to bed and began craving food. I settled for snacking on raw green beans and a vine tomato, but in truth I wasn’t hungry. I was just looking for some comfort and I’m smart enough not to keep high-calorie items around the house.

If I buy anything that I think may tempt me I portion it out as soon as I get home from the food store. For example, I know that with the brand of hard pretzels I like, 26 of them equal 80 calories. They go right into their own plastic snack bags counted out. Then it’s a no-brainer when I’m hungry and busy. I grab one bag and a string cheese and have an instant balanced snack.

The reason I was able to stay the course for so long is that I reminded myself that it wasn’t an all or nothing proposition. I don’t need to be perfect all the time in order to lose weight. I simply need to adopt healthy eating principles most of the time. If and when I slip I simply pick myself up immediately, forgive myself, and get right back on track. I don’t throw in the towel and I don’t punish myself by skipping the next meal or mentally beating myself up.

Early on in my weight loss I had an interesting experience. I had planned on having two home-baked cookies one afternoon, but ended up eating four. (I certainly wasn’t going to keep losing weight for years by depriving myself! That’s just not realistic.) Anyway I was mad at myself for losing control and spent the day kicking myself!

Just before going to bed I mentally reviewed my day and listed everything I had done that would help me reach my goal. There were so many things I had done right, but I had spent hours focused on the few minutes I had slipped up! I grabbed a blank journal and actually started keeping a daily list of everything I was doing right from that night forward. I called it my success journal and it really helped me get past my need to be in control all the time.

Perhaps you may want to consider why you want to lose weight. It’s so much easier to take and keep off your extra weight if you have a clear idea of the reasons you want to lose it in the first place. I actually made a list of 100 reasons I’m glad I’ve lost weight and the first 80 were pretty easy to list! So I’m sure that you can figure out a few of your own.

After that it’s just following the basics we all know:
• Eating the right foods in the correct amounts. (Use a scale and measuring cups at first if necessary.)
• Drinking your water (I drink 10 to 12 cups most days.)
• Exercising
Finally, don’t blow your indiscretions out of proportion. Those two extra cookies I ate probably totaled 300 calories and of course a pound equals 3,500 calories. Instead treat yourself as well as you would a treasured friend. Think about what you’d say to her if she slipped up and treat yourself just as kindly.

Have a wonderful holiday season!