What is it?

[gk]

I read success stories so I know it is possible for people to lose tons of weight and the bad habits that got them there. But as I sit here pondering how to make this 1,267th attempt at dieting work, I'm wondering......

What is the common link between all of these success stories? I know they all stick to healthy eating and exercise, but what makes them stick to it? What makes all those people overcome the bad habits they've had most their life once and for all??

[vmsurbat]

What is the common link between all of these success stories? I know they all stick to healthy eating and exercise, but what makes them stick to it? What makes all those people overcome the bad habits they've had most their life once and for all??

I'm not sure that I can come up with "the common link" but I can tell you what makes me stick with it:

1. Top reason? NoS habits equal SANE EATING. I truly believe that NoS is a codification of the way most peoples throughout most history in most places have enjoyed/been nourished by food and that has sadly been lost in modern Western culture. I want the sanity.

2. Because I *know* that 3 good meals a day is really enough food to keep me healthy, nourished, and satisfied, when I have temptations, I realize it is a mind-battle and I fight incorrect thoughts with correct ones. I LOVE the catchphrase sticky up top and have my own list of mottoes, truths, idioms to fight wrong thinking. Even after 4 years of NoS success, I employ those mottoes when needed.

3. Lastly, what makes me go on is to realize that I only need to worry about today. I didn't "overcome" bad habits (as in a one-time big battle that settled everything forever) but succeed meal by meal, day by day. A red day doesn't cancel the previous days of good NoS habits and doesn't prevent upcoming days of good NoS habits. Progress, not perfection. Mark it and move on.

Truly, nothing profound. Mostly keeping on with keeping on with the good habits I want to cultivate.

HTH,

[eschano]

succeed meal by meal, day by day. A red day doesn't cancel the previous days of good NoS habits and doesn't prevent upcoming days of good NoS habits. Progress, not perfection. Mark it and move on.

Truly, nothing profound. Mostly keeping on with keeping on with the good habits I want to cultivate.

HTH,

On the contrary, I found this to be not only profound but also beautiful. "meal by meal, day by day", will certainly go onto my sticky-board.

[Gepetto]

I've always thought of the key to success as getting up one more time than you fall down. It is perhaps a rephrasing of Churchill, but it's a reminder that it's the journey, not the destination - the movement toward something better that matters most.

[oolala53]

It is usually a mix of motivation and strategy. Not enough of the right motivation and the wrong (quick fix) strategy are more common than not.

Most people who eventually lose weight and keep it off say there was a moment when they really really really got that they didn't want to live either fat or overeating anymore, and that they were going to stick it out even when it got tough. They were not going to do something fast to get it over with. They realized that they were going to have to give up some pleasure in exchange for a new pleasure, although an imaginary one. Overeating or eating a lot of junk food often also just didn't fit their image of themselves anymore. Hating yourself for being fat or overeating ironically doesn't count. It's usually not a frantic decision, but more rather calm, cool RESOLVE. From what I can figure out, they just get tired of the life of too much and keep experimenting until they find the right mix of foods and mealtimes, and they allow themselves some limited experimentation with curiosity, not self-beratement.

One of the corollaries is that a person must accept that s/he probably cannot eat every time it sounds good to eat. Most of our ability to judge our needs has been perverted by processed foods and easy availability.

Another common motivation is health issues and taking it seriously that the pleasure of overeating (don't kid yourself, some part of it is pleasurable or you wouldn't keep doing it) is absolutely not worth the health reality or risks and that they are 100% responsible for what they put in their mouth, no excuses.

So, if someone keeps falling, I gently suggest s/he either still thinks the immediate pleasure is worth more than the later result, keeps thinking s/he is going to outmaneuver fate, or just hasn't found the right balance.

A beautiful body has often NOT been enough of an incentive to put up with a daily lack of eating pleasure. If someone cannot find enough pleasure in a modest amount of food, s/he likely won't ever stick to long-term "slim" eating. That's why I think it is so important to have at least some food you consider delicious at most meals. And that can change over time.

It can complicate things if it's been forever (or never) since s/he had any experience of living pleasurably without overeating because she has to go for a time on imagination of the later advantage. And that can be tough. But here we are.

I am still taming my S days and have had to (lightly) talk myself out of eating at least three times between breakfast and now, not yet lunchtime. After nearly three years, I've decided I need to actively rein things in, but I was very tired of overeating on S days. And it has been SO worth it. I peacefully really can't imagine doing anything more than I already do, unless I had diabetes or some other health concern food limitation could help.

Good luck, my friend!

[gk]

Thanks so much for your replies! Very good points that I need to remember. Plan to refer back to this thread often to keep me focused.

Appreciate it!