Ok let’s be real.
When we’re doing something new, changing old habits and behaviors, and in going after our goals, we can FOR SURE expect that we’re going to have an urge to quit at some point. We may have many urges to quit.
Learning how to feel urges without reacting to them is one of the most important things we must learn in order to lose weight and keep it off for good.
We have to learn how to feel the urge to eat the ice cream without reacting to it.
And equally important, to notice when we have an urge to quit, and not give into it.
My clients who lose weight and keep it off for good have one thing in common…..
THEY DON’T QUIT!
Have they wanted to at times? Oh, yea.
Have I wanted to at times?…for sure.
But we don’t. We use our higher brains to make decisions. We think about what we want in the future more than we think about what we want at this moment. We act from our future selves.
Our future selves are already there. They didn’t quit, and that’s why they got there. When you act from that place, we get results.
Quitting is just choosing to fail. I think the discomfort that comes along with quitting feels MUCH worse than the discomfort we feel from showing up EVERY day.
Here are the times when many of us feel an urge to quit…..
When we realize that weight loss doesn’t = happiness
A couple of months in once you’ve lost a good amount of weight, and weight loss just starts to feel a little boring. The initial excitement of losing weight has worn off and now we’re just left with our emotions…..
It’s easy to want to quit at this moment.
But here’s a question to ask yourself if this happens: Why do I really want this? Why did I choose to set this goal? Is my reason still compelling? If not, it may be time to reset and remember why you decided to go after this goal in the first place.
When we think we’re not losing “fast enough.”
This is probably the number one reason we feel the urge to quit. When you think about it though, it doesn’t make any sense. At least losing slowly is losing…progress is being made. When we quit, we go backward and stop all progress.
So the question to ask yourself is: What’s wrong with losing weight slowly? Losing is losing? What’s the rush? If we’re in a rush, we’re doing it wrong.
When life throws us curveballs.
So often we blame outside circumstances for quitting. “Life happened”…..getting stressed out at work, losing a loved one, my kid got sick, we lost money, my husband got laid off, I started a new business, I moved, you name it!
But here’s the thing. Life is always going to “happen.” Circumstances change, we feel pain, we grieve, we get worried, we move across the country, things that are out of our control happen, and they always will. So the question becomes, how do you want to show up for yourself when it does? Do you want to add to the stress by eating like crap or do you want to prioritize your health and be able to go through it feeling good physically? None of these are reasons to quit.
It’s too hard.
Ok this is the last reason I’ll mention. We think “it’s too hard.” Giving up certain foods, cutting back on alcohol, planning and prioritizing healthy food. It’s for sure a major life change and an identity shift. It’s not easy. But what’s harder? Being stuck in a body you feel uncomfortable in, feeling depressed because your hormones are all over the place, feeling like you are out of control when it comes to food, OR doing the hard work to change it? It’s about picking your hard. At least one has an upside.
If you’re ready to lose weight for the last time, you have to decide that quitting is NOT an option. It’s a choice you get to make!
If you’ve been in the yo-yo diet struggle, this may be the most important blog post for you. When you yo-yo diet, you just have a quitting problem. And that’s good news! That means you all you have to do is uncover WHY you quit, and learn how to stop that cycle so that you never have to yo-yo again.
Want help with this? Uncovering and helping you undo old patterns is my specialty! Sign up for a strategy session here and let’s find out how to let this be the last time you lose weight.
Here’s to letting your last quit be the LAST one!
In health & happiness,
Jamie
