Year One, Week Ten: The Hard Road

(postdated Monday, 11/29/21)

At the beginning of my IF journey, it was difficult to hold off from eating. Eventually, I trained myself to wait and savor the moment when my eating window opened. 

But the road got more manageable with every step forward. Getting started was (I thought) the most challenging step I'd ever take. But, once the ball was rolling, it was an easier road to travel.

And then, complacency set in. The path became level, and I was headed straight for the Wonderful World of Plateaus.

I stayed there far longer than I should have.

For months I stayed at the same weight, almost content that I wasn't gaining weight- but I wasn't losing weight either. Weight-loss limbo was where I resided, and when I wanted to get out, it was like Jabba the Hutt trying to get out of an overstuffed recliner.

If I wanted out of limbo, I had to fight for it.

It's almost like I had to restart my journey because I'd forgotten one key factor to keep moving down the slope to losing weight.

Sacrifice.

I was overeating, and I knew it. Nevertheless, I thought I could fool myself (and others) into thinking I was still doing well. I refused to believe I'd stopped progressing, even though the scale and the measurements told a different story.

Taking a good, hard look at your eating habits isn't easy. Changing them for the better is even harder, but I needed to make some profound changes if I ever wanted to be a thinner, healthier me.

Oddly enough, it was my son coming for the Thanksgiving holiday that helped me see what I was doing to myself.

My son told us he was losing weight, and it showed. When he first arrived, he was eating a lot less than before he moved away. But as the week progressed, he fell into his old habits, and food started disappearing. Fast. Like me, he was surrounded by good food and had gotten comfortable in his environment. And his diligence relaxed.

Mine was nearly comatose. 

So, for the first time in months, I'd made a few changes. I now eat breakfast with the family and have lunch as my last meal instead of starting my window in the afternoons. I don't feel deprived of their company because we all have breakfast together, lunches together most of the time, and dinner has been on the fly. I can skip dinner most days, but when we cook a family meal twice a week, I open my window wide for that day.

I also plan to have one of my giant chicken cobb salads as an OMAD sometime during the week. Unfortunately, I stopped doing OMADs, which was one of my biggest mistakes. I'll have to make a few substitutions (like leftover turkey instead of chicken), but the premise remains.

Sometimes it helps to get mad at yourself!

Complacency is a weight-loss killer. So I need to stop coasting and start that downhill trek again. 

Next stop- Three-hundred pounds!