Ever open and close the refrigerator looking for something? I found myself doing this the other day. Went in, opened, looked around, didn't see anything good, left the room. Came back 10 minutes later, opened, looked around, nothing good had magically appeared in there since the last time I opened it, closed it and left the room. Still not satisfied, I went back yet again.
My son happened to be home at the time and he said, "Mom, what you are looking for is not in the refrigerator." Ah, the wisdom of teenagers.
He was right, of course. What I was looking for was not in there because I wasn't hungry. I was kind of bored. In talking about this with the group of people I help to deal with their weight issues, I found that not only was I not alone in this behavior, but also that it was many people's default behavior. One woman said when she was frustrated she would head to the refrigerator. Another went there when she was tired. The list of reasons was long and rarely involved hunger.
This is the time of year when that weight-loss resolution tends to get a little... slack. Maybe you have lost a couple pounds, but the work it takes to lose more, and keep off the few you have lost, gets old. You need to re-motivate yourself and decide, once again, what you really want.
Here is a helpful video for you to get you going again. It's all about the second stage of weight loss, which I call "The Decision." It's about keeping your eye on the prize and staying awake and aware right now. That means tuning into your behavior and paying attention. If your default is to head to the refrigerator or the pantry when you are not hungry, then that needs to be addressed if you want to lose the weight, and more importantly, keep it off.
You can change your behavior. You can lose the weight and keep it off. It's hard, though. When changing any habit, the first month -- or two, or three -- tends to be the hardest. I've been maintaining my 50-pound weight loss for 23 years now, and I still have to work at it. I can tell you that it is much easier now than it was then, but my default behaviors are still there. Some have been dormant for a very long time, but they can always, and sometimes do, resurface. I have the tools to deal with them now, though, and I help others do the same.
You can do this! It is a lot of work, on a daily basis, and it is so worth it!
That's it for now. Good luck and let me know how you are doing!
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