Small Things Become Big Wins

Nothing exciting happening in my world the last week since I got back from Brisvegas, hence the lack of blog posts.  I suppose I crashed and burned both literally and figuratively speaking.  It took me all week to get back to myself due to lack of sleep over the weekend, plus the high that I was on.  That was to be expected I suppose.  In my time away from the blog I have noticed there are a few people that are struggling.  For what reasons, it will be different for each person, but what I have noticed is that for most of them they are all in the here and now.  This is okay to some extent as this is about you and what is happening to you now, whether it is you hitting a plateau, maybe putting on a few kilos, or simply tired and need to hit the reset button. 

I have been through this for the last 6 months, struggling to meet my expectations, wondering why I am not dropping weight like I think I should be and basically just heaping pressure on myself.  In the last few weeks, I have taken some time to really look back at where I started, what I have achieved, what is possibly holding me back and what could have happened.  I have also been looking through some old photos and find these the best motivation (not that I need any and I hate the word) to keep moving forward and setting new goals.  As you read through this you will see some of the photos of the old me and also the newer me (still a work in progress).

I am not claiming to know any more than the rest of us about losing weight and leading a healthy lifestyle, I am learning new things every day and still battling my own mindset demons, but I have learnt some things about myself along the way and one of those is to regularly look back and see how far you have come.  If this doesn’t make you proud or spur you on to continue chasing your dreams of becoming thinner, healthier, fitter, setting new PB’s, new achievements etc, then there may be some issues.  You may be at a point where you feel like you aren’t achieving anything.  Look back at previous occasions when it all go to hard and think about what the old you would have done.  For me, when I put a few kgs on last round, the old me would have just allowed that to balloon out to 20kgs and back to where I started from the numerous other times I had lost weight.  Now I am looking at what crazy physical challenge I can take on.

We are all far from perfect and we will stumble many times in this journey before we can walk without incident.  The key thing here is making sure that we continue to move forward and progress not regress.  Thankfully we have taken many photos of ourselves (Julie and I) in the 15 months we have been on this quest to become healthier, but not enough early on.  So if you are just new to the weight loss journey, as much as you probably hate the camera and we all did, take lots of photos so you have plenty of pictures to compare yourself to as you start to have small wins.  These will be far more beneficial to you when you think the scales are your enemy and these will also show you exactly what others are seeing and commenting on as you become the better version of yourself.

As much as I make regular fun of my wonderful selfie queen friends, Cathy, Sarah, Kate and Rebecca, they have provided me with a lot of wonderful photos of their befores, during and recents which constantly blow me away.  Whilst I am not the best at taking selfies, I have taken the odd one or two, but I have also managed to get a good supply of pictures that I can see the difference in.  So the morale to this little bit here is to make sure you take a truckload of photos, don’t shy away from the camera and learn to love it.  It is for your benefit.

None of the above is rocket science and I haven’t come up with anything mind-blowing, but sometimes we all need a gentle reminder that we are still doing amazing things.  We need to gain a little perspective, look at the changes we have made and accept the small wins, because all of these small wins add up to something huge even if you don’t realise it. 

As I mentioned, my last round I put on weight.  I still ran a half marathon, I still trained for it and my first bike ride of 6 this year.  I struggled with my nutrition, but exercise was good and I didn’t let it get out of hand.  To me that is a huge achievement compared to what the old Greg would have done.

So now I put it out to all the people who read this and may currently be struggling, or have been in the past.  Go through what you have done in that time, what have been your wins, what have you done that you would not have done in the past?  Have a look at your old photos and compare them to the new YOU.  Put them up for all to see so they can comment and celebrate your success.  Blow your own trumpet, be loud and proud.

Let me know what you have ACHIEVED, focus on the good and be happy about what you have done and where you are heading.    So hit me with it people, all the positives…….