Today is day 534 since I started tracking my calories. I was thinking about the day I’d started: it was a Friday. I’d just finished listening to the book The Compound Effect in bed a couple of weeks after a medical procedure while trying to wrap my mind around what it looks like to move forward. Until then, I’d been asking myself what it looks like to build a life that reflects what I want and who I am. It always felt like life was happening to me, like there were always legitimate reasons why I couldn’t do things that would push me forward, and the reasons were sooooooooooo good and legitimate.
In the War of Art, Steven Pressfield calls this “Resistance,” the many things legitimate or illegitimate, urgent or not, that falsely stand in the way of your road to success. These things may be in your way, but they’re not immovable, impenetrable, or impossible to navigate. The question is: will you recognize that and decide to take new action?
In my mind. There were a lot of reasons, but those should never outweigh the conviction to make things happen.
I’d always had a fluctuating weight that tended in the higher direction. At this point in November 2021, I was the biggest I’d ever been, often being told that my height distributed the weight a little, so it wasn’t that bad. Even if it wasn’t that bad visually, it didn’t feel good when I looked in the mirror or in my body. I was tired, I felt tingles where there shouldn’t be tingles, and I was sad and needed the energy to do what I wanted – just to have the clarity and ability to have a good baseline quality of life, but between the physical and emotional weight I was carrying, nothing was going to happen on its own. The emotional weight at the time was going to be what it was. I’d just experienced something unfathomable in my mind, and I was in recovery with all of the ups and downs I could never have imagined. I’d taken time to feel, but now it was time to do it even though I didn’t feel like it. My behavior had to be the catalyst for a change in my emotions instead of waiting for the other way to happen; it wasn’t going to happen. I’m glad I didn’t wait.
Every choice we make adds up to weighing on a scale toward good or bad results. I had to ask myself where my scale was tipping and what I had control over. Did I just gain weight, or was I unconscious of the decisions I was making that made me gain weight? Is it out of control, or have I not reached out to grab the reins? I redownloaded my calorie counter and promised just to track and try to stay under the prescribed calories more days than not and see what happens. Eat what I want, use the food scale, and allow for indulgences that still allow me to be under the calories for the week. I had a plan. Now what? I did it. I’ve lost and maintained a 30lbs weight loss (and still steadily dropping) and have felt more in control of what’s possible in my life in general. I’ve seen what can be done with sustainable consistency: anything is possible.
Oftentimes, we’ll make the plan and say great now, I’ll wait for Monday, new years, tomorrow, anything but now. A few things call for you to wait actually to get started. For those legitimate things, I hear you, but most things aren’t that. You have to get started. It won’t be perfect the whole time, you’ll make mistakes and fall off a little, but the effort toward stacking better on your scale will shift the weight, and you’ll see results.
Here’s how we can think differently:
- Don’t wait to start. If you decide on something, start immediately.
- Consistency compounds results and confidence.
- Measurement matters: when we measure our efforts, we can clearly see where and how we need to do better.
- Some of your real reasons for not progressing are resistance, and you need to fight them.
- Things may not be your fault or exist in your consciousness, but your quality of life is your responsibility.
Stay Wintentional – Keep Flourishing!
