This is part 4 of the 4-part "Seven Keys to Permanent Weight Loss Success" series.
Key #6: Control your rewards
You've heard it before.
"Have a free day. Eat cheat meals."
It sounds exciting, doesn't it? For several days, you focus on ultimatediscipline. You eat perfectly "clean" and don't deviate from your diet... not even a little bit. But that's because you have a greatmotivator ... the promise of a day or meal where you can literally go"no-holds barred" and eat anything and everything in sight!
If you start to feel a twinge of guilt about your plans to assault thenearest buffet, you can simply flip to the pages of your favorite bookand reassure yourself with the claim that this meal is necessarybecause it will boost your metabolism. It's okay. Have it all. Chowaway. Stuff yourself. You earned it, and it won't make a difference,right?
Well ... maybe, and then again, maybe not.
Cheat meals, free meals, reward meals, or whatever names you chooseserve their purpose. I know that I would not have jumped headfirst intomy first physique transformation if I did not know I could dive backinto my binge habits once a week. And it worked ... for awhile. I stuckto the program and was losing weight.
As time progressed, however, I noticed a few disturbing trends.
Monday to me was simply a countdown to the day I could eat anything Iwanted. I was obsessed with it. Sure, I was eating clean throughout theweek, but I could barely focus on anything else other than the ideathat one day I would be going crazy. When that day came, I wouldactually plot out a course through the city so I could hit as manyfast-food and donut joints as possible. We went to buffets and then hitthe store and bought pounds of junk food to bring home and consumebefore midnight.
I realized that this wasn't control. It wasn't even reward.
It was addiction. I thought back to when I quit cigarettes.
How did I do it? Did I stop smoking six days out of the week, and then have a day where I smoked as much as I possibly could?
My body was giving me a few clues as well. I would feel bloated,disgusting, nauseous, and would often get sick after a free day with acold or sinus infection. I felt like I spent the first half of the weekrecovering from the last day and the next half barely holding on tomake it to the next splurge festival.
That's when I decided it was time for things to change.
I did not wantto remain a slave to food. I could not imagine going on like that forthe rest of my life, but this was supposed to be a permanent change,right? So I put my foot down.
I started with only allowing myself one or two reward meals per week. Icalled them reward meals because cheating is not what I was doing ... Iplanned them, and deserved them.
After several weeks of this, I noticed a significant
change: I was no longer desperate for those meals, I was enjoying myhealthy meals more, and when it was time to have a reward meal, Ididn't "waste" it on junk food or fast food ... I'd go to a nicerestaurant, sit down, and truly savor it.
Then I began to focus on my portion control. I was still over-eatingthat one meal, and I would feel like I had a hangover for the rest ofthe evening. So I made a pact with myself that I would never eat somuch that I couldn't have my other meals that day ... in other words,even with a reward meal, I'd control my portion sizes so that I wasstill ready to eat again after a few hours.
This is when I suddenly found myself in the driver's seat.
The food was no longer in control, I was. I still enjoy pizza, icecream, and many other treats. But now I control my rewards. I don'thave to go overboard. I don't have to use one meal as an excuse to jumpinto a pattern of binge eating for the rest of the weekend. I candecide, ahead of time, what and when I will enjoy my reward, and theneat just enough to satisfy my psychological craving without goingoverboard. I switched from a free day festival (like smoking a cartonof cigarettes) to controlled indulgence (like enjoying a nice cigar).
Here's some final points to consider ...
People are 250% more likely to suffer a heart attack after overeatingMost of the people I know who successfully lose weight and keep it offcontrol their rewards and do not have a splurge meal Your metabolismtakes more than a day of splurging to kick into high gear ... you arebetter off having a planned week of eating more calories, but fromhealthy foods
Key #7: Consistently refocus goals
This last key is perhaps the most important.
When I was digging through some old documents, I came across myoriginal goals list. This was in 1999 when I began my fitness journey.
My main goal was to reach 40" and I made a little side note, "if possible?"
Imagine that. A 44" waist and I wasn't even confident that I could lose four little inches!
After my first 12 weeks, I did not have a 40" waist. I had a 38" waist.I blew past my goal. So my new goal became a 36" waist, which I new wasmy limit because I was "big-boned." 36" gave way to 32" and at 6% bodyfat I was able to slip on a pair of 30" jeans ... over a foot (30
centimeters) had been trimmed from my waistline.
Goals can change, and that's okay. Constantly refocus your goals. Youmay be capable of more than you imagine or currently allow yourself tobe. Some of my goals that I created after learning the power totransform include running a half marathon and starting my own business,both of which I have accomplished and neither of which I would havethought possible in 1999.
To refocus your goals is to learn who you are. Maybe you thought youcould lose 40 pounds of fat in three months, only to discover you lost20. That's fine. Set a new goal to lose 20 more over the next threemonths. Maybe you thought you would never bench press more than 100pounds, but just did 110 last week. Great! Set a new goal to benchpress 150 pounds. As you learn your limits (or rather, how to move pastthem) don't be afraid to set your goals higher.
Don't make the mistake, however, of falling into the trap of not havinggoals. This is what many people do ... "When I reach 150 pounds, I'mgoing into maintenance." That is an excuse to settle, and settlingmeans going backwards and ultimately falling back into your oldpatterns. By consistently raising the bar, you are able to remain fit.
Fitness is about action and movement, not about complacency and "settling."
If you want to live a fit and healthy lifestyle, you must realize youare not on a journey to trim fat or increase your running speed.Ultimately, you are in pursuit of greatness.
Conclusion
These points that were created by people just like you have illustratedthat permanent weight loss success is a process, not an event. Itrelates to the people you interact with, the mindset you adopt, andyour core beliefs - even how willing you are to transform them.Studying these points is not enough. You must internalize them and takeaction. Only then can you become the journey to become your best.
