Everyday Systems

I joined in 2006 and have not stuck to the plan very well. I love the plan and realize that if I had stuck to it I would be in a really good spot right now. Good choices every day add up. So do bad ones. Anyway, I realize I need to make a lasting change not just go on another diet. I have missed out on so much because of my weight problem. Weddings, reunions, friendships, trips, fun. I need a solution not another diet. I need a plan that will let me live, not measure and obsess. Writing down what I eat in the daily check-in, makes me realize the ugliness of my eating habits. So I will continue to plow forward. And I will not quit ever time I think I ate too much. That is diet thinking.

It's amazing how simple the plan is in concept, and how difficult it can be in execution (sometimes).

But it sounds like you've reached a turning point, and are ready to be serious about building habits through daily choices. Go, Milczar!!

I'm in a somewhat similar place - my "backsliding" thread has the details -and will also be working on "strictness" to re-build habits over the next 21 days. I do believe that if I start off strong, it will only get easier. At least, that's what happened before when I was doing well. Hope it's true for us both!

Good luck!

Milczar
Welcome back. I have also recently gotten back onto No S and it is such a relief to not be obsessing with points / calories and being able to enjoy functions with friends.

Start at the begining and take each day step at a time and you will soon be back in the swing.

milczar wrote:And I will not quit ever time I think I ate too much. That is diet thinking.

Oh yeah, that is diet thinking, why do we do that, anyway?, like a diet is something magical that will get completely ruined the second we slip?.
Hang in there!.

I figure the worst that could happen is I will maintain and not gain. And at this point in my life, that is enough

milczar,

I wouldn't even think of the problem as "being overweight" or "being obese."

These are things that happen to you, thinking in these terms makes you passive. I'd think of it as two problems, things that you do (or neglect to do): overeating and undermoving.

These are bad things in themselves, whatever your weight. They make you unhappy, in themselves, even apart from their results. They stop you from enjoying one of your five senses, among other things -- eating becomes shameful instead of joyful. And they are directly in your control, whatever your metabolism, whatever the flora in your gut.

When you look at these underlying behavioral issues as the problem, I find it takes a lot of the short term pressure off. As soon as you start "behaving," you are a success. You don't have to wait and hope. You're there already the moment you stop overeating. And the longer you behave, the easier good behavior gets. The only goal is to make future goals easier. It's simultaneously very long term and "one day at a time."

Reinhard