WI And Throughts In My Head

After a very carb-filled day yesterday I have just got my tracker all caught up.  Despite the fact that my food resistance muscle was quite weak yesterday, I am proud of myself for owning it and tracking it.  Yesterday I ate a total of 55 PPVs using my 30 DPA (pretty much by lunch) and then 25 WPPA. 

But it is all tracked and I have all my food packed at work today so I am off to a healthy start today as well.  I am thinking ahead to my meal out tonight (drinks for happy hour before) and my meal out at lunch tomorrow.  A plan is in place for both meals.

My WI yesterday was an exact maintain from two weeks ago.  Since I skipped the scale last week I am glad to see I am back down.  If I can keep my food in check, and be more consistent, I’ll start to get ahead of the game instead of playing this back and forth game.

I was thinking as I was getting ready for work this morning about my WW meetings.  The last few weeks when Donna starts off with Bravos, something you are proud of, somebody usually says “Last week Lindsay said….and it worked.”  It makes me smile to think that the stuff I share helps somebody else.  I just figure I talk too much in general.  It got me thinking if somebody was to ask me, “Why aren’t you at goal when you share so much good information?” my answer would probably be because I am just not ready to put forth all the effort right now. 

That sounds weird that after eight years with Weight Watchers and working so hard to maintain my loss for 5 years, why I would now not be ready to put forth the effort to lose this excess weight and get back to goal.  It goes back to Stages of Change as it was once discussed in my WW meeting.

Stage 1 is Pr-Contemplation: You are unaware of your unhealthy eating habits or behaviors and/or you not interested in taking any action to live a healthier lifestyle.

Stage 2 is Contemplation: You are now aware there is a problem and you are starting to evaluate the pros and cons of your unhealthy lifestyle.  You have a desire to change the behaviors causing this.

Stage 3 is Preparation: You have accepted responsibility of changing these behaviors and you are now ready to put forth the effort to seek a different outcome. 

Stage 4 is Action: Armed with the right action plan, you take the steps you need to see the changes you desire.  The problem is not as big as it once was and starts to become more manageable.  You have the momentum to keep you going and see the end result.

Stage 5 is Maintenance: You can now maintain your new healthy lifestyle and build on the behaviors in place with very minimal effort.  Life is going pretty snazzy for you.

In the diagram above, which I found from the SMART Recovery website, you will see there is also Relapse.  Sometimes we falter in maintenance.  “Most successful self-changers go through the stages three or four times before they make it through the cycle of change without at least one slip. Most will return to the contemplation stage of change. Slips give us the opportunity to learn.”

This isn’t my first rodeo with weight loss, however, it is my most successful trip down the scale and that is because pre-WW Lindsay was really ready to make a change.  I am happy I followed through and for five years I worked my Maintenance Stage with very little leg work.  Right now I am stuck between the Contemplation and Preparation Stages if I didn’t lack consistency I’d be stronger in the Action Stage.  Occasionally I slip back into the Pr-Contemplation Stage but only briefly when my inner toddler wants out and I want to pretend that I don’t have a problem with my poor eating habits.