Perfection
On your weight loss journey there is only one thing to strive to be perfect on.
You WILL NOT always make perfect food choices
You WILL NOT always exercise on plan or with as much effort as you should
You WILL NOT always meet your aftercare goals
You WILL NOT always lose as fast or maintain as steadily as you should
So what SHOULD you strive for perfection on? ACCOUNTABILITY.
When I talk about accountability, I do not just mean logging all of your food and exercise and logging your weight daily or weekly. That is the tool, the best tool decidedly, but does not embrace everything accountability entails. Thats like saying that bookkeeping embraces everything that accounting means, or arithmetic is the end-all of engineering.
Accountability means not only logging your food and exercise and understanding the impact of choices, but also understanding those choices themselves with NO EXCUSES.
I have not made every food choice perfectly on my journey. I certainly haven't exercised as hard as Alison, and probably Ryan. I am no less successful than either of them and no more.
When I make a bad food choice, I have to understand why I made that choice. Scale doesn't matter so much as motivation. I posted a while back about making a poor choice at PF Chiangs and having a fortune cookie. I think it was Jenn who called me out and said that my poor choice was a 25 calorie fortune cookie, hers was a chocolate cake. I would say that had I not understood WHY i decided to have that fortune cookie, if she understood WHY she had the cake and was dealing with it hers was the better choice. If I didn't understand WHY i decided to give in to the impulse to have that cookie it could lead to other patterns of less mindful eating.
The particular WHY doesn' even matter. Whats important is that I understand it and don't just label it. Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie, or a piece of cake is just a piece of cake. In my case, I logged my cookie. I understood why I wanted it and why I gave into it. I understood what it did to my calorie goals for the day. I was accountable to myself for that cookie in every way that was important.
A similar thing this week, DH had a bag of baked pita chips in the house. I had 5. I wasn't hungry, I didn't need them. Why did I eat them? I didn't lie to myself and tell myself that I was practicing moderation, or that I was eating because I was bored. I gave in to emotional eating because I was frustrated with work.
The compulsion didn't win. I was successful that day. I held myself accountable and that accountability helped hold me in check.
I know some of you are rolling your eyes and going "oh Lord, its Rob with his self-awareness crap again" (You know who you are, LOL). In my experience both on here and in real life this is what truly seperates the long term successful vets from the others. Everyone I know who is 5, 8, 10 years out and maintaining says the same thing. I still see them at group.
In the end, all of the things we talk about daily are just tools. Even our beloved sleeve is nothing more than just a tool. American culture loves to assign blame (Its the Democrats fault, its the repblicans fault, its the gays, its the Evangelicals), and we try to do the same thing here (Im not losing because the sleeve is not working, I ate this because my husband had it). Blame is a useless act. In the end unelss you were tied down and forcefed something you had a choice. Dont blame others and don't blame yourself. Understand why you mad ethe choice you made. Then you will be free to make a better choice next time.
You WILL NOT always make perfect food choices
You WILL NOT always exercise on plan or with as much effort as you should
You WILL NOT always meet your aftercare goals
You WILL NOT always lose as fast or maintain as steadily as you should
So what SHOULD you strive for perfection on? ACCOUNTABILITY.
When I talk about accountability, I do not just mean logging all of your food and exercise and logging your weight daily or weekly. That is the tool, the best tool decidedly, but does not embrace everything accountability entails. Thats like saying that bookkeeping embraces everything that accounting means, or arithmetic is the end-all of engineering.
Accountability means not only logging your food and exercise and understanding the impact of choices, but also understanding those choices themselves with NO EXCUSES.
I have not made every food choice perfectly on my journey. I certainly haven't exercised as hard as Alison, and probably Ryan. I am no less successful than either of them and no more.
When I make a bad food choice, I have to understand why I made that choice. Scale doesn't matter so much as motivation. I posted a while back about making a poor choice at PF Chiangs and having a fortune cookie. I think it was Jenn who called me out and said that my poor choice was a 25 calorie fortune cookie, hers was a chocolate cake. I would say that had I not understood WHY i decided to have that fortune cookie, if she understood WHY she had the cake and was dealing with it hers was the better choice. If I didn't understand WHY i decided to give in to the impulse to have that cookie it could lead to other patterns of less mindful eating.
The particular WHY doesn' even matter. Whats important is that I understand it and don't just label it. Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie, or a piece of cake is just a piece of cake. In my case, I logged my cookie. I understood why I wanted it and why I gave into it. I understood what it did to my calorie goals for the day. I was accountable to myself for that cookie in every way that was important.
A similar thing this week, DH had a bag of baked pita chips in the house. I had 5. I wasn't hungry, I didn't need them. Why did I eat them? I didn't lie to myself and tell myself that I was practicing moderation, or that I was eating because I was bored. I gave in to emotional eating because I was frustrated with work.
The compulsion didn't win. I was successful that day. I held myself accountable and that accountability helped hold me in check.
I know some of you are rolling your eyes and going "oh Lord, its Rob with his self-awareness crap again" (You know who you are, LOL). In my experience both on here and in real life this is what truly seperates the long term successful vets from the others. Everyone I know who is 5, 8, 10 years out and maintaining says the same thing. I still see them at group.
In the end, all of the things we talk about daily are just tools. Even our beloved sleeve is nothing more than just a tool. American culture loves to assign blame (Its the Democrats fault, its the repblicans fault, its the gays, its the Evangelicals), and we try to do the same thing here (Im not losing because the sleeve is not working, I ate this because my husband had it). Blame is a useless act. In the end unelss you were tied down and forcefed something you had a choice. Dont blame others and don't blame yourself. Understand why you mad ethe choice you made. Then you will be free to make a better choice next time.
_____________________________________________________________________
160 lbs lost. Surgeons Goal Reached in 33 weeks. My Goal in 37 Weeks.
VSG: 11/2/2011; LBL+Thigh Lift+BL: 10/3/2012; Brach+Mastopexy: 7/22/2013
It's all about choices! Choose wisely my friends...good point in that when you make a bad choice, find out why and stay accountable, both in your logging and in your mindset. Thanks for sharing your self-awareness crap for today Rob!!! 
Deb
Deb
Goal Reached in 12.5 Months
HW: 274 Pre-OpW: 266 SW: 254 CW: 125 GW: 145
You must permanently change your lifestyle if you want your weight loss to be permanent. You can do it!
Thank you for this post this is truly what this is all about accountability, if you bite it write it, if you nibble it scribble it!
ROMANS 12:1
I beseech you therefore brethern, by the mercies of God,that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service.
I beseech you therefore brethern, by the mercies of God,that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service.
I love reading your posts! I always learn something or am able to take something away from what you say. Thank you 
THis is an important thing to realize and learn I may need to reevaluate somethings and make sure I know why I do them.
THis is an important thing to realize and learn I may need to reevaluate somethings and make sure I know why I do them.
HW 373 PreOp 338 Day of Surgery 321 1st 34lbs 287 2nd 8lbs 278 3rd 13lbs 265
4th 7lbs 258 5th 10lbs 248 6th 4lbs 244 7th 2lbs 242 8th 0lbs 242 9th 0 242
You do a good job at sucking the thoughts out of my head and putting them in words that are cohrent and make perfect sense :)
Some days im on here and get bored at work, and think I should start just making an excuse wheel and tell people to pick a number....sooo many freaking excuses.
But on to another issue - i fully expect you to step up your exercise game!!!
Some days im on here and get bored at work, and think I should start just making an excuse wheel and tell people to pick a number....sooo many freaking excuses.
But on to another issue - i fully expect you to step up your exercise game!!!
www.sexyskinnybitch.wordpress.com - my journey to sexy skinny bitch status
11/16/12 - Got my Body by Sauceda - arms, Bl/BA, LBL, thigh lift.
HW 420/ SW 335 /CW 200 
85 lbs lost pre-op / 135 post op
~~~~Alison~~~~~
Hey My pace runs are paying off, I have shaved more than a minute off my 5k pace and I am already over 100% of my step goal for the week. I need to start participating more in your weekly goal threads. Thats such a great tool it should practically be its own board!
_____________________________________________________________________
160 lbs lost. Surgeons Goal Reached in 33 weeks. My Goal in 37 Weeks.
VSG: 11/2/2011; LBL+Thigh Lift+BL: 10/3/2012; Brach+Mastopexy: 7/22/2013
Its been a complete pain in the butt getting all of that back. It truly sucks when both your server fail and your back-up got corupted!
_____________________________________________________________________
160 lbs lost. Surgeons Goal Reached in 33 weeks. My Goal in 37 Weeks.
VSG: 11/2/2011; LBL+Thigh Lift+BL: 10/3/2012; Brach+Mastopexy: 7/22/2013
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