Choices we make

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes…And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

I began my final journey to lose weight this year by working with a dietitian and then joining Glean on September 1st, 2024. I’m learning a lot - about what it means to become the woman I want to be for the rest of my life.

Once again, it’s not so much about the weight, although that is important to me. It’s become a journey about the choices I make and the self-responsibility I take for my actions on a daily basis.

Am I finding it easy? No. With decades of dieting behind me I’m having to unlearn all or nothing thinking, dismantle perfectionism that isn’t ever achieved, and unravel the urge to overeat instead of acknowledging deeper feelings and ditching old habits that no longer serve me.

I’m almost embarrassed at writing again about this as you’ve probably read too many posts from me and others about it in the past, but I decided to share my journey as I’ve committed to it for the next year to two years. It’s a big commitment, but one I feel is critical for me to have made.

Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with my stories each week but will share what I’m learning once and awhile in the hopes it’ll help you with whatever journey you’re on.

The first thing I did was to become crystal clear about my Why. You can read about it here. Through working with my dietician and doing some work with Tapping and Writing, I wrote that “I don’t want to feel uncomfortable the way I do now in my body next year - not at my next birthday and especially not again next summer, or the next or the next!”

When my work with the dietician had come to a close, I was inspired by a woman on Instagram to join Glean, a weight loss program that offers 1-1 coaching and group support through their app. At first I didn’t love the idea of an app but I watched and followed Lisa-Anne Campbell (lisaanne_campbell) on Instagram for quite a long time before deciding to give it a try. I haven’t been disappointed and love that Lisa-Anne is my coach at Glean, a woman who’s a therapist and a coach with personal experience at losing weight but more importantly, with a mindset that builds success, self-worth, and the evidence that supports this journey.

It’s meant that I’ve had to switch my thinking around a bit - actually a lot.

I’m now counting calories, something I swore I’d never do again after counting points with Weight Watchers. But I have changed my mind about it and have accepted that if I want to lose weight, I must be in a calorie deficit. The act of tracking is actually fine now - I don’t have good or bad feelings about it after accepting that it is one choice I can make that will move me along to my Why; it’s one thing I can do easily without worrying about perfection or getting all the numbers right, as long as I’m consistent. And, I won’t be tracking forever - just throughout this phase of learning about food and my body.

Secondly, I’ve had to learn that denying myself calories and thinking that the fewer calories I ate each day was the way to go, is completely wrong. I’ve had to work my way up to eating more calories while staying at the top of the range of what is my calorie deficit. Who knew that this would allow me to lose weight and not feel hungry all the time!

Finally, I’ll share with you that I weigh myself daily. It used to be that I would dread the daily weigh-in and so would step on that little machine once a week, and still dread it. Up or down or the same, that number would rule my day or week - until now.

At Glean, I enter my daily weight into the app and it’s averaged out over a full week - the focus isn’t on daily numbers because it’s not a true representation of what could be happening with weight loss. Daily numbers that go up or down could be for a whole host of reasons, all of which I’m learning more about as I journey on.

I’ll share more about the changes and choices I’m making with you next time but suffice to say that our choices on a daily basis are what creates lasting change - this is what I’m learning, with the goal to making it easier to move in this body, and feel good about the life I’m creating now and beyond.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions about my journey or would like to explore your own journey with me, connect with me HERE!

Joan

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