“What are you going to do when …” is a question we ask of children; do we ever ask it of ourselves?
Children have little grasp of all the opportunities open to them and are often guided by parents, an inspirational teacher, a book, or a film.
Now is the time to ask ourselves; what are we going to do once we have lost the weight to make sure we keep it off?
People will say ‘being thin feels so good, I’m never going to put the weight back on again’
What we all have to realise is that staying thin doesn’t happen by itself – staying thinner takes change, effort, planning and sacrifice.
Don’t believe that when a thin person says ‘I can eat what I like’ that it means anything like it does for those with a weight problem – it doesn’t mean ‘I can eat as much as I like, of what I like, whenever I like’.
They mean sometimes I’ll have chocolate and chips on the same day (but then for the rest of the week I will eat salad and fruit all day) and I’ll leave most of the chocolate for when I feel like it at some time in the future – not I’ll eat it all now so it stops calling me.
Have you met the ‘When, Then’ syndrome – When I have lost weight – then I will…………..
Sometimes it is a good excuse to yourself for not trying something different and staying in your comfort zone. If I never get thin, or I put a bit of weight back ‘Then’ I’ll never have to do the ‘Then’.
And the ‘When, Then’ list is different for everyone. Get into a relationship, get out of a relationship, learn to fly, or dance, or swim, or paint, or get a qualification is a not untypical list.
And sometimes it is a dream you have been thinking of for years and you are already planning the scuba diving course, or the riding lessons, taking the kids swimming, walking to the pool without a towel around you or taking up yoga.
What will you do differently?
To maintain your weight loss you will have to change your behaviour from before you lost weight.
So, what are you going to do when you have lost your weight?
Think about what that will mean for you. What will you change. What will you do the same.
Change can be really scary, and it can be good fun too – go for your dream!
