Weight Loss Success Is Not a Straight Line

When we are wanting to drop weight...whether it is a couple pounds or a hundred, we tend to want a straight shot...from "Point A", where we are right now, to "Point B", our goal weight.

Not only that, we expect our pace to be consistent along that path...so slowing down and Heaven forbid we ever stop along the way! Faster is okay...as long as we keep up the NEW pace!

Well, that just isn't going to happen. So what happens when we slow down or find a curve in our path? Often we allow that to totally derail us and put us back to the starting point...or even further back than that.

So, let's think about our weight loss goals in a different way...allow your mind to open up a bit, take a positive attitude and a big deep breath.

OK...here goes...

Think about when you get in your car. You know where you are going. Maybe you are going to a meeting in a nearby city.

You plan how long it will take to get there, you get directions, you make sure you have gas. You get in the car, start it up and you follow the directions to get there. You make it fine, both there and back. Fantastic!

Now, along the way you probably encountered a couple things that slowed you down from the fastest possible potential arrival, right? Let's just say this meeting was 60 miles away. You don't expect to make it in one hour if the maximum speed limit is 60 miles per hour because you know there are places where you can only go 20 mph...you know that speed limits vary and you plan accordingly.

You also realize that school is in session and so you may encounter a school zone, or a bus or two during the drive which may require you to stop. There are stop signs that slow you down...and stop lights. Then there is the commuter traffic.

When we plan a trip in the car, we allow for these delays because we KNOW they are just part of the journey.

Now sometimes things come up that we didn't, or really couldn't, plan for. Maybe there is construction on the road that you didn't know about. Or an accident brings traffic to a crawl. You might wake up to find that it snowed over night unexpectedly and you didn't allow enough time for the weather conditions.

You can choose to get stressed about this, or you just tell yourself that you'll get there in one piece as long as you keep moving. You make a call, you adjust your routine...you do what you can to minimize the impact, but you can't control it all.

You don't allow the road construction to stop you...you don't beat yourself up for not planning for the big accident that tied up traffic for an hour...you don't just give up and turn around and head for home! You simply adjust your route or your expectation of when you will arrive at your destination.

The road to our ideal body is like that. Just like when we are driving in the car, sometimes we will reach a stop sign, a yield sign or stop light...all things that we could choose to view as slowing us down...or we can choose to recognize that they will happen and it is all part of the journey.

Detours happen too...a party comes up (or several) and we overindulge which affects our progress. And sometimes things come up that are so big they are like the traffic accident or the big storm--we just have to surrender to it and accept that we don't have control over every minute of every day.

In other words, life happens. Don't expect your weight loss to follow a straight path. Know that life happens and your road will have twists and turns, hills and valleys, storms to ride out and detours to follow. Big emotional events may happen that temporarily slow you down or even cause you to loop back a bit on your journey.

The good news is you don't have to start back at square one! You can find yourself where you are on the path and start up again. Allow for the rhythm of life, the curves along the way...even the occasional traffic jam (weight loss plateau)...as long as you stay on the journey you will arrive at your destination.

The way to have weight loss success is to follow your path, get back on the road after a detour, plan for some delays, and allow the unexpected to just happen and not take you out! The only way to not succeed is if you give up and head back home!