So as I ride, or run, or whatever, I picture the finish line. I have constant dialogue with myself about that finish line... 'This too shall pass, when you cross that line. Your goal is the finish line and you know where it is. Get to the goal. Pick it up and get there a little bit faster.' And repeat. It's effective, I push for the finish. And I know on race day, I'll cross that line and I will feel great. The race will be over, behind me. Until the next one....
And this is kind of like weight loss. In some ways, you get to the goal, and you cross the line, you're done. But to stay there, you have to keep training. It's like there is another race, always a race to train for. So it's super important to just keep your training up. If you want to STAY at that goal, be able to cross that "goal weight" finish line every day, you have to train and do every day.
Sometimes that includes days off. A rest day. Yesterday I ate a lot of things which weren't planned for:
- A brownie
- A cup of soda
- Two bowls of cereal
- Two tea biscuits
- A slice of bread with peanut butter and honey
It was about 750 extra calories of not healthy stuff, and I am actually ok with it. I think part of weight maintenance after weight loss is knowing you're going to have a day like this, but that's fine, just do your regular routine the next day. You know, don't paint it all black.
So, today is my next day. I am on Maintenance Week 3, and since yesterday was a bit of a food disaster I opted not to go this morning, but will go tomorrow morning to check in. This has been an incredibly stressful couple weeks, both good and bad stress. In-laws came for a visit, fun, but had to prep and then they got here and lo and behold, they have some real health issues creeping in, namely mobility has severely declined. We had no idea. We got them a hotel room and another car to use while here, so it was OK, but it was hard for DH and for me. I DEFINITELY overate while they were here, but I balanced it all with excessive biking. Is that sustainable? No, but it did work for that situation. And now I have work stress. Spouse stress. I am taking steps to try to manage how I deal with these things. It's kind of working - I schedule in time with friends, plan workouts, don't worry about the house being a complete tornado, etc. I should find a yoga class, like a good vinyasa relaxing one.... maybe next week, actually.
We can train ourselves up to cross whatever finish line we have. And it feels great to accomplish a goal. But for sustained weight loss, well... there is no finish line. Kind of like life... death is the ultimate finish line. And since we don't know where that line is, we keep going. My hope is that by keeping myself as healthy as possible, I push that finish line out and enjoy my time in the race.
