Sunday, August 17, 2008

Tips about weight loss I learned while on vacation

1. Don't beat yourself up if you had a bad day. DO analyze why you had a bad day.
This was the hardest rule to learn. I finally figured out how to balance acknowledging a bad day but without beating myself up about it by imaging myself critiquing someone, like in an art class. You don't say "you screwed up" but you might say, "I would like to have seen more blue in the painting." Things like this focus specifically on COULD HAVE BEEN IMPROVED (not "Was wrong") without calling the artist, or in this case, weight-loser, a failure
2. Minimize the damage. Life isn't always all or nothing.
If you are stuck in a fast food restaurant, it might be unreasonable to expect you to eat a salad while your friends eat fries. There is a lot of gray area between tiny dressing free salad and 2 jumbo double cheeseburgers, large soda, large fries. If you can't get a salad, maybe you are OK with getting only one burger, medium fries, and a water? While not perfect, it's a huge improvement.
3. If you're having trouble watching what you eat, at least exercise.
The biggest thing saving me from weigh in disaster last week was walking 2 hours a day at museums. Not that you necessarily need to walk 2 hours a day, and of course you should consult with a doctor before starting any exercise program, but you get the idea.

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