Nip it in the bud
August 21st, 2007 by Y.G.I’ve very likely already stressed that point in other posts of mine, but since I’m neck-deep into that situation again at the moment, it cannot harm to remember that simple fact, and state it out loud again (if this ever makes sense in the world of written media):
If you happen to gain a few pounds back, nip it in the bud! Don’t let that unwanted couple of extra pounds turn into four, then six, then eight, then… You get it.
I know it sounds cheap and dirty, I know it sounds simple, too simple, but frankly, how many of us ‘professional dieters’ have been there, done that, and got the T-shirt? How come it always takes a full regain, two, three, four clothing sizes (or more), and sometimes a good smack on the back of the head, too, to make us realize?
Lapses happen. Setbacks happen. All it takes is a few days of uninterrupted family meals (Thanksgiving, for instance), a wedding week-end, or simply a moment of lows rather than of highs, that send us eating comfort foods we’d better not touch to start with. And then some extra pounds show up on the scales a few days later, and I know how heart-wrenching, how disturbing it is. But we cannot afford to let those settle in, because the more we wait to take things into hands again, the harder it becomes to resume healthy eating. Whether you’ve been at that for two months or two years doesn’t matter: lots of successful maintainers themselves acknowledge that they have to remain extra careful and draw a ‘line in the sand’, a maximum amount of pounds after which they’ll work on getting back to their goal weight no matter what. Isn’t that why they’re successful maintainers, after all–because they’ve learnt where to draw that line?
We can draw that line, too. We actually have to do it, no matter how far from goal we still are. Because we have fallen doesn’t mean we can’t be back on our feet quickly. Don’t wait for the next Monday, or whatever other date, to do that–get back to your feet right the next meal, or as fast as you can if you’re in a situation in which you’re not the one in control of the food. Acknowledge you’ve stumbled, then let it behind you and nip the upcoming relapse in the bud.
A lapse isn’t a catastrophe, but several lapses tend to accumulate and cause a relapse to occur… and then follows the complete collapse. Which is something none of us wants, right?
