The focus of for this week was Turning Slip-Ups into Success, a topic very close to my heart and probably the heart of everyone who has ever struggled with weight loss.
For a long time slip-ups and "failures" derailed me, providing the opportunity to beat myself up and the excuse to "give up and just keep eating" for the rest of the day... or week... or month... or who knows how long, since I'd "messed up anyway."
Can anyone relate?
It took a long time (20+ years) for me to get to where I am today and I still have a ways to go, but for the most part these days, I can pick myself up, dust myself off and get right back on track.
Related Content: Helpful Ways to Stay on Track in Stressful Times
Have you ever noticed that most successful people had to overcome difficulty and hardship on the path to success? Did you know that Michael Jordan didn't make his high school varsity football team? Or that Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas and went broke several times before ever building Disney Land? What would have happened if they had stayed down when defeated?
Most successful people will tell you that they learned a lot more from their mistakes than their successes. I love the quote from Thomas Edison who said, "I never failed once. It just happens that determining how to make a lightbulb is a 2000 step process."
And so it is with weight loss - a long, winding, multi-step process.
Learning to Lose Weight and Keep it Off is a Practice
I've come to think about healthy eating, losing weight and keeping it off as a practice that sometimes I do well and sometimes I don't. I make mistakes and that's okay because every meal is a new opportunity to begin again. Now I try to learn from my mistakes and accept that I can be successful without being anywhere near perfect.
Monday was a great example. My day got off to a rocky start that included dropping my phone in the dog's water dish. So by the time my Mom showed up earlier than expected for lunch wanting to go to Culver's I was pretty frazzled.
Since I was not feeling hungry I opted to have a small chocolate shake for lunch. I hadn't done my typical pre-eating out research and didn't have access to the Weight Watchers mobile app since my i Phone was home drying out. But how many calories could a small chocolate shake have anyway?
It was thick, creamy, and delicious, too thick to drink through a straw, so I enjoyed every spoonful!
When I got home I checked the nutritional information and discovered that this "little indulgence" had set me back 742 calories, 36 g fat, 93 g carbs, and 13 g protein for a whopping 21 PointsPlus Value (PPV).
So, how did I recover from this major slip up? Did I say, "What to heck, I may as well go out and grab a large order of chili cheese fries?" or "There goes the diet for another week. I've blown it now so I may as well wait and start again next Monday."
No, I simply decided to play the scientist and see how long a small 21 PPV chocolate shake would keep me satisfied. (Turns out a long time. I wasn't hungry again until 7:30 that night, which means it kept me full for nearly 7 hours.)
That night, I ate a reasonable dinner and somehow managed to get through the rest of the week with 1 of my 49 weekly PPVs to spare!
You can't let one bad choice ruin your day. But you have to take responsibility for the choices you make. This episode reinforced for me the importance of having a plan/strategy in place before ordering in a restaurant, even after all these years.
Believe that You Can Overcome Whatever Weight Loss Challenge You Face
Research confirms that the single most powerful predictor of lasting weight loss success is strength or your belief. So it's critical to cultivate a positive attitude. Two of may favorite techniques are keeping track of successes and using affirmations. Each day I journal about 3 things I'm grateful for and at least 1 thing I've done right. And I have repeated my favorite affirmations for weight loss (affiliate link) so many times through the years, it's engraved in my consciousness.
Related Content: Favorite Affirmations for Weight Loss
What's your strategy for getting back on track after a setback?
If you liked this article on Turning Slip-Ups into Weight Loss Success check out these links:
- 6 Strategies to Eat What You Love and Stay on Your Weight Loss Plan
- Carrie Underwood's Secret for Staying Slim
- 6 Reasons to Love Exercise
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Alyssa (Everyday Maven)
So true! I really needed to read this tonight after a not so great couple of days. Thanks Martha! 🙂