Displaying items by tag: Challenges

I’ll admit it, I’m an eternal optimist! I always expect things to work out well and to go smoothly. This attitude serves me well because the more I expect good things to happen, the more often good things show up in my life. That’s not to say I never face a challenge or hit a bump in the road. Of course I do, because life happens! Not everything in this life is in my control. Laws change, pandemics hit, people move away or pass away, the economy tanks, I keep getting older. I’m not sure how that last one happens so fast, but there it is.

There’s nothing difficult about understanding the basic weight formula: to lose weight, we need to use up more calories than we take in; to gain weight we need to take in more calories than we use up. And, although there are many different opinions about which calories are better for us than others, there’s really nothing difficult about choosing a food plan that suits us and our lifestyle. The same goes with the many different types of activity that might be best for our bodies. We can choose the ones that suit us and that we like the most. So, what’s at the heart of the challenge we feel when it comes to actually taking the necessary steps to add or lose those pounds?

How does it feel to backslide? And that can mean anything from actually gaining weight to having a week where we feel like we’ve really been getting with the program, but the results on the scale don’t reflect that. Maybe we lost weight, but not as much as we thought we should have. What kinds of feelings do we have and what thoughts go through our heads?

Holidays, birthdays, and special events are happy times. They are celebrations and causes for joy. The challenge for those of us who struggle with weight is that, for the most part, the celebrations include food – and lots of it!

One of the biggest challenges we face is whether or not to “announce” that we are starting a diet or trying to make changes for ourselves. It can be a very vulnerable thing to do.

There is a certain accountability value that goes into sharing, with at least one person, the fact that we are taking on a challenge or setting a goal. It’s important to have a witness to our efforts and validation for the challenges we face and overcome. The first person we share with should be someone we trust to accept us just as we are. This person is going to become our cheerleader when we need one the most.

Let’s talk about what’s on your plate. I don’t mean what’s on your dinner plate, but what are your real life challenges in the form of situations, people or events that cause you stress, worry, frustration, anticipation. Think of anything that interrupts your normally calm, serene, Zen personality. It doesn’t matter if they are ongoing or one-off.