Everyday Systems

Just an observation:

Short-term "diet" (way of eating) mentality would probably lead me to...

give up and eat whatever-whenever if I "failed" before the end of the day, week, or even occasionally the month, as in the Christmas season.

give up and eat whatever-whenever if it started to look like I wasn't going to meet my weight goal by the pre-set date.

hop on the scale morning, noon, and night.

feel depressed, give up and eat whatever-whenever if the scale wasn't kind to me that day, week, or month.



So, to think long-term, I plan on lengthening my way-of-eating mentality to the rest of my life, not just this day, week, or month.
My plan?

use a 2 year calendar to record my success.

have a smaller goal (1/4 of the excess weight) with no date, but a reward.

weigh myself once a week only, at the same time.

record my weight once a month only at the same time and day of the week.


Any other ideas on this subject that might help?

I have an even smaller goal for you...maintenance. Do not gain anything back that you have lost. With the exception of this month, my monthly goal has always been to maintain the previous month's loss. This month I have a special occasion coming up so I set a special goal. It was an ambitious goal, and I do not think I will reach it. However, I am doing well enough to still feel good about this month. I probably will never set a monthly goal other than maintenance again.

Leave off the weight goal entirely, and create HABIT goals.*

(If the habits are solid, the weight will follow. For me, focusing on weight means that I slack on habits when my weight looks good, and get frustrated when it doesn't... just normal fluctuations can derail me.)

I use the "5 degrees of change" as a metric when I'm adding habit - something so small I go "well, duh, I can do that!". Usually it's harder than it seems to sustain it. Once that habit is firm, I can enlarge.

* That's not to say that you can't celebrate weight loss. Every 10% is a health improvement, after all!

GREAT ADVICE!! Thanks, guys!!