The heavy shadows of my weight trapped me in the same two cycles for decades. Transforming my shadows has meant breaking free of both of these cycles — to lose weight and to sustain weight loss.
One cycle consisted of successful weight losses followed by spectacular failures, often leaving me with more weight to lose than when I had started.
In the other cycle, I lived in a state of perpetual inaction where I resigned myself to obesity yet held out hope that I would “start tomorrow.”
I decided to break these cycles before I spent my whole life ensnared in them. Losing weight was my most important step to get healthy. As an educator, I put myself on a personalized plan for success, and I became a student and teacher.
I knew this was going to be a battle against myself. But, I was ready to wage this personal war in ways I never had in the past.
I focused on developing the mental processes that I knew were important to transformational learning. I committed to seeing this battle through and to facing my shadows straightforwardly.
My Weight Loss Processes
The list below centers on the most important mental processes that I used to lose weight and that I continue to use to sustain weight loss.
Focus on Why
Understand and Accept Myself
Plan for Success
Plan for Failure
Understand Perfectionism and Avoid All or Nothing Thinking
Build on Successes and Non-Scale Victories
Use Failure as Feedback to Learn from Mistakes
Create Small, Actionable Steps for Success
String Together More Successes Than Failures
Recover from Failure in a Timely Manner
Use Science to Inform Decisions, Not Emotion
Navigate Challenging Situations for Success
Transforming the shadows of my weight means that I continually use these processes — whether losing weight or sustaining weight loss. I will share more about these steps in my educational resources.
