You’d think that after a lifetime of dieting I’d realize that life is just a series of slip-ups, but for whatever reason I’ve never seen slip-ups for what they are. Instead of recognizing that they happen and that life goes on, I wallow in my failures and keep myself from moving on from my momentary setbacks.
Pregnancy has made me realize just how hard we are on ourselves. Whether we’re pregnant or not, I think women too often hold themselves to unrealistic standards established by themselves. Having to step away from the world of weight loss during my pregnancy has given me a lot of time to think and watch the world around me. What I’ve seen is that a lot of women are too hard on themselves, expect immediate results, are discouraged by slip-ups, and create strict diets that they can’t help but rebel against.
I’ve been in all of those shoes and I know exactly what it feels like to slip-up and to fail, but at what point do we realize that life is just a series of slip-ups? How different might our weight loss efforts be if we created more realistic plans, allowed ourselves to enjoy the world around us in moderation, and recognized that not everything in life goes as planned?
Our bodies and our minds are amazing things! I’ve definitely struggled with feeling discouraged about my weight gain during my pregnancy at times, but it makes me sad to read just how many women feel defeated and discouraged throughout their pregnancy. I’ve thought about it a lot and I think, at least for me, it stems from how hard I am on myself outside of pregnancy. Of course there are things we can control; what we eat, how much we eat, and when we workout, but outside of that our bodies do what they need to do in order to grow another human!
In the same way, our bodies react to our dieting efforts and sometimes it just doesn’t go as planned. Sometimes the scale doesn’t move. Sometimes we eat more than we planned. Sometimes we miss our workouts. Sometimes we slip-up. In the end though, life goes on!
What I’m learning is that we have to accept the ups and downs of life and focus on creating a liveable and realistic lifestyle in order to be successful. For me, I’m going to have to really work on my portion sizes, calorie intake, and vegetable in take in order to lose weight after the baby arrives. I’ll also want to get back into working out at a more intense level, especially if I want to return to playing football in 2015, but I have to be patient with my body as it recovers from having a baby. What isn’t going to work is if I’m too strict, too hard on myself, and unable to accept the slip-ups that may happen as I return to weight loss.
Are you too hard on yourself? How do you react to slip-ups?
In the spirit of full-disclosure, I’ve partnered with the Smart Ones brand and received compensation for my participation. However, all opinions given here are fully my own!