Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A Bump In The Road
I've been on a diet since January. No, I've not been perfect on my diet, but I've not really considered myself off my diet except for the two weeks right after the lightening incident (my sister brought me a chocolate milkshake to the hospital - that started a two-week period of frequent treats).
I chart my weight each week and have enjoyed seeing the graph go down a bit at a time. That is, it went down a bit each week until about six weeks ago. That's where the chart went a little flat and then even went up some.
I had hit that critical point in a diet where you've lost some weight and enjoy not being quite so heavy but you are also a bit tired of dieting. You find that you can eat what you want and still be basically the same size. For a while, you can have the best of both worlds. It's very enticing.
What generally happens next is that you abandon the diet altogether and, at first, there are no real consequences. But you wake up a few months later, heavier than in the beginning and have to start all over - with all of the work and none of the rewards of a diet again.
Well, I recognized this stage from other diets of the past. My sister and I have often said that if we'd just stuck to our diets half-heartedly during those tempting times, we'd have been so much better off. Well, this time, I stuck with it fairly well. I cheated more for a month or so than usual. But I didn't abandon the program altogether.
And today, I made my first real progress in over a month. It was so satisfying to see the scale drop 2 1/2 lbs.
If I keep going, months from now these past few weeks will look like little more than a small blip on the graph - a small bump in the road. But that's only because I didn't get totally discouraged and stop. If I had stopped, then those weeks would have turned into the end.
While I was in the middle of rabbits dying and not being able to breed, it felt like the end a lot of the time. I can't say that there weren't days when I thought of packing it all in. Luckily, those moments didn't last long. I tried to keep an eye on the long-term. As long as I didn't lose all of the very core of my herd, I could recover. That thought helped me keep going.
Five years from now (which, at my age, isn't a very long time - you know, life seems quicker the older you get), I will be able to look back on this summer as just a bump in the road, a small delay, a little setback. But it will only be a little setback because I kept going. If I had stopped, it would have been the end of the road.
Now I'm not saying that there are no good reasons to stop your hobby or get out of bunnies. There are. But keeping an eye on your long-term goals and not letting a bump in the road cause you to prematurely end your hobby are both very important to your success and satisfaction with your bunnies.
Persevere - I think you will be happy with the results.
Laurie ¶ 7:18 AM
I chart my weight each week and have enjoyed seeing the graph go down a bit at a time. That is, it went down a bit each week until about six weeks ago. That's where the chart went a little flat and then even went up some.
I had hit that critical point in a diet where you've lost some weight and enjoy not being quite so heavy but you are also a bit tired of dieting. You find that you can eat what you want and still be basically the same size. For a while, you can have the best of both worlds. It's very enticing.
What generally happens next is that you abandon the diet altogether and, at first, there are no real consequences. But you wake up a few months later, heavier than in the beginning and have to start all over - with all of the work and none of the rewards of a diet again.
Well, I recognized this stage from other diets of the past. My sister and I have often said that if we'd just stuck to our diets half-heartedly during those tempting times, we'd have been so much better off. Well, this time, I stuck with it fairly well. I cheated more for a month or so than usual. But I didn't abandon the program altogether.
And today, I made my first real progress in over a month. It was so satisfying to see the scale drop 2 1/2 lbs.
If I keep going, months from now these past few weeks will look like little more than a small blip on the graph - a small bump in the road. But that's only because I didn't get totally discouraged and stop. If I had stopped, then those weeks would have turned into the end.
While I was in the middle of rabbits dying and not being able to breed, it felt like the end a lot of the time. I can't say that there weren't days when I thought of packing it all in. Luckily, those moments didn't last long. I tried to keep an eye on the long-term. As long as I didn't lose all of the very core of my herd, I could recover. That thought helped me keep going.
Five years from now (which, at my age, isn't a very long time - you know, life seems quicker the older you get), I will be able to look back on this summer as just a bump in the road, a small delay, a little setback. But it will only be a little setback because I kept going. If I had stopped, it would have been the end of the road.
Now I'm not saying that there are no good reasons to stop your hobby or get out of bunnies. There are. But keeping an eye on your long-term goals and not letting a bump in the road cause you to prematurely end your hobby are both very important to your success and satisfaction with your bunnies.
Persevere - I think you will be happy with the results.
Laurie ¶ 7:18 AM
