Incremental Failure

We were having an interesting discussion about the Bariatric After Life at my weekly support group meeting last Thursday, and my bariatric buddy, Mike, shared something that I thought was brilliant (hope you don’t mind, but I’m pimping your philosophy here, Mike!): He said, “Ya know, I don’t always get this bariatric eating thing right. I make mistakes and I try to learn from them; Sometimes, I really fail, but when that happens, I realize that I’m only a failure until my next meal. And, since that is most likely about 2 or 2-1/2 hours away, that means I’m only a failure for 2-1/2 hours MAX. After that, I have a chance to succeed again.”

This was, of course, the essence of his longer message, which revolved around his success through INCREMENTATION. He says it’s really important to plan and increment everything — meals, portions — even FAILURE. Whether you call it “failure” or you call it a “lack of success,” as long as you learn from the experience, it’s never a wasted opportunity.

I like what Mike is saying about incrementalizing (is that even a word? I made it up, so, yes) because, it makes me feel safer. Yeah, I do like to color inside the lines — big deal — I don’t mind limitations and boundaries — if they serve a purpose. I feel safer when I know what I’m supposed to be doing; I hate to guess. Call it the old “measure twice; cut once” idea, but I just like knowing what is expected of me, and what I should expect.

If I take Mike’s advice, from now on, my failures will only bite-sized; They’ll be “incremental” and only last only as long as I have to wait for my next meal.

How about you? How do you measure failures in your bariatric world? Do you throw the entire day (or worse) away if you eat the wrong thing, or eat too much of it — too fast — OR — do you decide that failure will only last until your next meal? If you fall into that latter category, then you’re an “incremental thinker,” and you’ll have a better time of succeeding in your new — healthier — WLS after life

At least that’s what I think. Thanks for the great insight, Mike!