I’m just going to bust out with the good news, I’m down to 165 (That’s a five pound weight loss)! I’m celebrating by popping open a bottle of champ… and there’s my problem. Now that things are happening, I’m realizing that this isn’t’ just a moment in my life where I will shed all this weight and I will forever be the same size until the day I die. This is a new commitment. That includes breaking bad habits, like celebrating weight loss with the stuff I love to eat.
It started at a recent engagement party our close friends threw for us. My aunt and uncle, a pair that have been married for twenty-some years hugged both me and my partner and my aunt cupped my face in her hands and said, “This is it… this is forever.” I said, “I know.” And she said, “I don’t think anyone knows what a true commitment is until they’ve experienced the ups and downs.”
When she said that I entirely understood what it meant in a relationship, but I’m seeing that a weight-loss commitment is exactly like a relationship. My commitment to weight loss isn’t just some moment of fleeting joy, it’s something I have to nurture, pay attention to and respect. Weight loss isn’t as easy as it was in my twenties, and it’s another commitment that I have to stick to. That also means breaking bad habits. This is the hardest part.
So much like a marriage counselor would suggest doing, I sat down and listed some of my new found commitments concerns, strengths, and weaknesses and even thought about my bad habits. This is how it looked:
Stressed? Take me to ice cream. Nervous? Take me to ice cream. Let’s celebrate! Take me to ice cream OR open up some good bubbly.
What I’m getting at is that my habit is to celebrate with food and that’s OK. It’s a normal human thing to do so, but when weight loss (and maintaining that weight loss) is a new commitment, you have to work on finding a common ground and new ways to celebrate. It’s a lifestyle change. Just like my impending commitment with the one I love.
So instead of celebrating with bad stuff, we went and splurged on some really great stuff at our local farmer’s market. One of the best things I’ve learned about California are the year-round amazing produce markets where I can get all my fruits and vegetables in one stop I got a slew of strawberries and spinach for my smoothies and lots of fresh vegetables for dinners. It’s overwhelming because not only is everything always so delicious, it’s really photogenic.
And just in case you were wondering how someone celebrates a five pound deficit sans sweets and alcohol. It’s with flowers secretly purchased for me by my partner at the market to show how proud and supportive of me he is of me meeting my recent goal.
I think this commitment is going to work out just fine.
