To Lose Weight I Had to Stop Making Excuses

For 10 long years I have been using one excuse after another as to why I couldn't or wouldn't lose the weight.

Oh, they were endless - menopause, past issues, being in the crazy busy corporate world, not finding a diet that would work, being sad or depressed, and next came creating and operating a start up business. I could always find a new excuse.

What I have actually proven recently is that none of those excuses were real. 

Underpinning those excuses, for me, was a fear of losing weight. I'll talk about that another time, but discovering that, and working with it, was one of the keys for me. It didn't make the fear go away, but it did mean I was able to make a choice to face it head on, a choice I'm now making every single day. 

But there were so many other excuses too.

Whether I was on vacation, spending a weekend away with a girlfriend (oh yeah, now that's a good reason to overeat - not!), feeling sad, angry or depressed, there was always another excuse. Oh and then it was Christmas, Easter or my birthday. You know how it goes.

When I look at this with my adult self, none of these occasions are an excuse to overeat. None. Yes on these occasions I might choose to eat foods that are perhaps not the healthiest choice - I love Christmas cake and plum pudding, and at Easter, well chocolate is always a favourite, but there is no reason whatsoever to overeat. There just isn't. A small piece of cake or pudding rather than a large serving or a small amount of chocolate is enough.

But, the child within me, the little girl who loved chocolate and never had that much, grew into a teenager who when she had a choice, used it to sooth away her feelings. She is the part of me that wants to overeat. She simply loves that feeling that comes from the huge dopamine (the feel-good hormone our brains produce) surge produced by eating sugar. It's similar to that of a cocaine addict, with another hit always being sought.  

These days, my job is to keep her under control. With the way I'm eating right now, it's certainly much easier, because I just do not get the sugar cravings 99% of the time. But she's always there wanting to sabotage in other ways, so I need to keep a careful watch for her behaviours. 

For all of the reasons above - looking at the sugar addiction factor, the experiences of my inner child/teen, and processing all of my thoughts and feelings, is so important as part of this weigh loss journey. Exploring every aspect is vital in order to eliminate all​ of the excuses.

It's not just about food. There is so much more to this.

And, I'm going to be honest, I don't always find it easy. But I'm working at it. Every. Single. Day.

I'd love to hear about your experience of your weight loss journey, simply drop a comment below.

If you'd like to engage more, check out my Facebook page and Facebook group. 

Find out how I'm losing the weight here.