Saturday, June 19, 2010

Three lessons I've learned: down 4.4 this week and back on track!

Last Saturday my weigh in wasn't my greatest achievement: I was up 3.4 pounds and told you all about it.

This week, I'm down 4.4 which means I lost the gain and a pound as good measure.

This is great motivation.  I am soooo happy! Yippee.

The weight watcher / running gods have conspired to help me get my groove back, which just a few days ago, I wasn't so sure of.

Thank you, thank you universe.  I did run on Thursday which I failed to blog about for some reason and I did a lot of general running around while keeping an eye on food.  But because I was still feeling down about backtracking, I wasn't noticing or appreciating all the things I was doing right this week.  Turns out, I must've done a lot right.

Which brings me to a few valuable lessons:



1.  Never be so focused on the bad that you miss the good.
We all do this.  We beat ourselves up for "only running" x amount of miles, or the pace was only --- whatever.  Maybe you ate too much cake or blew it at dinner.  How about celebrating what you did right.  Lacing up your sneakers when you much rather had watched a marathon of The Hills, or you may've eaten too much at dinner but the rest of your day was healthy and controlled.  I did it all week and instead of feeling good about it all, I lamented about, "where was my groove," when it was there all along.

2.  Someone else is watching
Last week, after my 3.4 gain weigh-in, A woman who hadn't been at our meeting in almost 2 years came up to me.  She hadn't seen me in more than fifty pounds.  She had tears in her eyes, apparently we had joined around the same time, a few weeks in, she gave up.  She said she remembered me because I had said in a meeting early on, "no matter what, I'm coming every week."  She was doubtful that I would still be here and when she saw me, she said that I was so inspiring to her, because I did it.  Even though, I was feeling low from the gain.  She didn't see that.  She didn't see my internal struggle with feeling like a failure.  She saw me as an inspiration.  Your failing is someone else's inspiration - even if you never know it.

3.  Slip ups and Set backs are simply times to reflect and learn something - Not a time to quit
I know this isn't radically new and I've said it before but it's worth reiterating.  A "never give up" attitude is a must.  Set-backs, hills, bumps in the road, getting lost -- all a part of the journey.  Whether you lose your way for just a meal or even a month, there's always a way to get moving forward again.  Our set backs need to be viewed as great opportunities that we learn and grow from, that will eventually propel us to greater heights instead of a reason to quit.

XO
Jen

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats Jen!! I'm still looking for my groove. Someday ... someday. lol I actually went to WW early this morning because I was heading out to the track to walk/run. Can you believe it? I don't know if I'll ever be able to just run or enjoy that runners high but I figure at least I'm moving. Have a great weekend!

Unknown said...

That's awesome, Kathy! I definitely missed you this morning and was thinking of you. If you went early so you could walk/run then it sounds like you ARE in the groove!!

Frannie said...

Awww... what a nice post... so great to be inspiring to someone else... even when you're feeling low! I am still not doing great with my running... but a friend (out of the blue) started running and convinced me to sign up for the Firecracker 4 (4 mile race in Cranford on July 4)... I am not in shape for it... but what better motivation than to just sign up and know that I now have 13 days only to train?! Free on the 4th for a run?!