Strategy: Treat it as a Job....
Just read the blog-turned-article: www.sparkpeople.
com/blog/blog.asp?post=amanda_took_a_slow_and_steady
_approach_to_lose_105_poun
ds_and_reclaim_her_health
where a woman lost over 100 pounds, mostly via exercise (like an hour or so daily). Her calories were around 2k daily. She lost it in what I would consider a slow timeframe, like a pound, then later 0.5/half pound, weekly.
A key point for me in what she wrote about her weight loss success was to 'Treat is as a JOB': it wasn't about motivation, or inspiration, but just having to do it: she made the case that one has to do one's job/go to work, and she treated her plan for weight loss in the same way. That's a different attitude than I usually have, and was very eye-opening; I'm usually all about finding motivation, inspiration, and the magic moments that will transform me. But as I well know, it's not a sprint of a few magic moments, but the daily certitude of a series of certain, fairly simple (in and of themselves) steps. Also the job metaphor is far more sustaining for the long haul, which, for me, will be the next two years (rather than having to be constantly inspired). But I'm motivated to again get my program going as my 55th birthday approaches (the day the Olympics start); even though I'm still a naturally dark brunette, who was told by millenials I worked with recently that they assumed I was their age, my age is beginning to show with a stray gray here and there at my temples, and if it shows on the outside, the bad health effects are probably stronger internally. This has been re-emphasized when looking at MY elders; I recently drove a friend to visit her birth mother who had her knee replaced, but after the operation her mother didn't do the folllow-up pt and really didn't move much at all, and had all sorts of huge blood clots in her thigh and legs,
so much that she had to be operated on and was in ICU for the better part of a week. That could be me, because I can (and often do) sit for long periods of time, sometimes working, sometimes not, and had been quite slug-like this past fall, and was feeling my legs really lose tone and ability. There but for the grace of exercise go I.
But now I'm on the Starfish Winter 5% team, personally vowing and working to get 120 min of exercise and movement daily (often late into the eve, as I'm on a 2nd shift schedule) with a plan to make January a highly successful *kickoff* month in this 'new job'. So I'm including tracking
(key data and accountability to myself, and awareness/mindfulness), drinking water 
(mission critical) and movement/exercise (because it's part of 'my job' and it's a 'feature, not a bug', 
) as part of my job 'duties'. 
Do others treat it as a job, and did I just somehow miss that key strategy over the years?
A key point for me in what she wrote about her weight loss success was to 'Treat is as a JOB': it wasn't about motivation, or inspiration, but just having to do it: she made the case that one has to do one's job/go to work, and she treated her plan for weight loss in the same way. That's a different attitude than I usually have, and was very eye-opening; I'm usually all about finding motivation, inspiration, and the magic moments that will transform me. But as I well know, it's not a sprint of a few magic moments, but the daily certitude of a series of certain, fairly simple (in and of themselves) steps. Also the job metaphor is far more sustaining for the long haul, which, for me, will be the next two years (rather than having to be constantly inspired). But I'm motivated to again get my program going as my 55th birthday approaches (the day the Olympics start); even though I'm still a naturally dark brunette, who was told by millenials I worked with recently that they assumed I was their age, my age is beginning to show with a stray gray here and there at my temples, and if it shows on the outside, the bad health effects are probably stronger internally. This has been re-emphasized when looking at MY elders; I recently drove a friend to visit her birth mother who had her knee replaced, but after the operation her mother didn't do the folllow-up pt and really didn't move much at all, and had all sorts of huge blood clots in her thigh and legs,
so much that she had to be operated on and was in ICU for the better part of a week. That could be me, because I can (and often do) sit for long periods of time, sometimes working, sometimes not, and had been quite slug-like this past fall, and was feeling my legs really lose tone and ability. There but for the grace of exercise go I.But now I'm on the Starfish Winter 5% team, personally vowing and working to get 120 min of exercise and movement daily (often late into the eve, as I'm on a 2nd shift schedule) with a plan to make January a highly successful *kickoff* month in this 'new job'. So I'm including tracking
(key data and accountability to myself, and awareness/mindfulness), drinking water (mission critical) and movement/exercise (because it's part of 'my job' and it's a 'feature, not a bug', ) as part of my job 'duties'. Do others treat it as a job, and did I just somehow miss that key strategy over the years?
Member Comments About This Blog Post
- vKPHEALTHY4LIFE
You can succeed at this job ;-)
1312 days ago - vKRISZTA11
I don't do it as a job exactly,
but I struggle as much over following my healthy habits as I struggle over going to work or not - that is, not much.
Not because it will be super exciting or fun, but because it benefits my health and makes me feel good.
1313 days ago - vWOUBBIE
I read this Dean Anderson article this morning, and I find he always makes great points
"Rule #1: Never tell yourself “I’m not motivated.'
"That’s not the real problem, unless you really don’t want to lose weight or live a healthy lifestyle. As long as you do want these things, you have all the motivation you need.
"It may be true that sometimes you don’t want to exercise, or that you really want to stop and get fast food rather than cooking dinner. That’s understandable, but it doesn’t mean you’re not motivated. It just means that you want two different and opposing things, and you have to make a decision. Telling yourself that you lack motivation is just a way of denying that you really do have a choice. It makes the problem seem mysterious and out of your control, and it makes you feel less powerful than you really are, because you lack something (the motivation) you need. Not true!"
https://www.sparkpeop
le.com/resource/motivation_arti
cles.asp?id=759
1313 days ago - vJEANKNEE
Yes. I do treat it as a job. But, I have a tough love type of personality anyway. So, I don't want to do it? Tough. Suck it up and get 'er done is kind of how I am. Am I always able to push myself through the resistance? Nope. I'm human.
I also lost slow. It took me 18 months to lose the bulk of the weight that's been since late June 2013. The first year I lost at a rate of about a pound a week. The second year that rate slowed to about 1/3 of a pound per week.
1313 days ago - vLOUIE-LILY
I love this idea...treating it like a job!
1313 days ago - vALEXTHEHUN
Good nutrition is something that we decide to do over and over. Your job is the same way, you just don't think about it. You just assume that you HAVE to go, because, let's face it, you're probably working because you need the income. So you don't think about the fact that it is literally optional - every day, every hour. Nutritional choices are the same, but we think of them differently. It might be more helpful to eliminate the option of making the "bad" choice. Or at least, but it so far out into the "crazy zone" that we don't seriously consider it.
1313 days ago - vCD4994568
Good on You! So many times I treat walking as do it early or I forget! So the days I have PT at 8am, there goes the walk. Fortunately for me DB is pushing more. So it is not just me saying "we need to walk"!
1313 days ago - vDEBIGENE
I think the "job" idea is an excellent for motivation to make a lifestyle change.
Just remember it's a new job and it takes one day at a time to LEARN it and daily PRACTICE is a key. There will be mistakes along the way but we have to learn to do it the right way or it won't be what is expected to move up the ladder of success. It is a learning process, we either learn the right way to do the job or we end up leaving. There's always the possibility of getting fired because we thought we knew better and did it our own way which just didn't work at our previous job and won't work at this one either.
We just have to find the right job meant just for each of us individually and that takes time.
Good luck finding yours .... your mind is in the right place I'm sure you will do GREAT.
1313 days ago - vDHBEST
I like the idea of treating it like a job. Most of us work harder for someone else than we do for ourselves. What is more important -- our lives? Or those jobs that sometimes don't value us, won't last forever, and pay us less than we are worth?
1313 days ago - v1CRAZYDOG
keep up the momentum.
1313 days ago
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