My new best friend lately.

It’s been awhile since I have posted and with good reason – I have been sick with a cold for the last two weeks!  Despite still having a sore throat, I had a burst of energy tonight which is a sure sign that I’m on the mend.  That being said, there hasn’t been much progress with my weight loss efforts over the last couple of weeks.  (In fact, I think a few too many treats at my sister-in-law’s baby shower on the weekend, may have set me back just a bit!)

But that’s one thing I am trying to think about differently this time around with my weight loss efforts.  Just as life goes up and down, so will my weight and my ability to stay on plan.  I won’t be able to be 100% on the wagon at all times.  We all stumble along the way, we all cave in to temptations now and then, and no one is perfect.  As simple as it sounds, it is has taken me a long time to figure out that a few minor stumbles along the way doesn’t mean that my entire journey has failed and that I must “start over” to be successful.

Yum.

In fact, it still amazes me how consumed with guilt I generally feel when I “fall off track”.  The other day, for instance, I didn’t feel completely terrible but I definitely had less-than-normal amounts of energy, a phlegm-y cough, and a bit of a sore throat.   I wanted more than anything to cuddle up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and a bowl of chicken soup (which is what I ended up doing). But even though I was under the weather, I couldn’t help feeling guilty about missing my daily exercise.  I sat there for a significant part of the evening arguing with myself about whether I was just using my slight cold as an excuse even though in my heart I knew I should rest.  I worried that if I missed that day (after already having missed a few days before it), it would be the beginning of the end – I would fall off track and find myself right back where I started in the first place.

I hate this guilt.  I hate worrying that one (or even a few) slip-ups will derail my entire plan.  So that’s why this time, I am trying to accept that these setbacks are not the end all, be all.  Instead of focussing on the lack of progress I have made over the last couple of weeks, I have decided to cut myself a break and to accept that life will naturally give us hiccups on whatever journey we are on (and besides, I was sick after all!)  I need to not be so hard on myself.  Instead of focussing on what I haven’t accomplished the last two weeks, I have to remember the steps I have taken in the right direction and keep my mind on where I am going.