Getting Away From The “I’m On a Diet” Mindset

photo credit: Celso Flores

2008 was a year filled with ups and downs.   My wife was in and out of the hospital a couple of times, and at one stretch was hospitalized for 3 weeks straight with a blood clot. We had tons of other things going on during the year that made it a hard one, and we were relieved to start a new year relatively unscathed.

With the new year beginning I’ve set some goals for myself in the coming year, and one of them is related to my health and fitness. I’d like to lose another 30-35 pounds this year, to get to my desired weight of around 200 lbs. I’ve come close to that goal before, but I’ve never completely reached it.

In 2007 I started my journey towards becoming fit. I started the year at 255 pounds, my heaviest weight ever. I wasn’t happy at that weight, and I knew I needed to lose weight. Since I had turned 30 the year before I began reflecting on my health, where I was, and where I wanted to be. 255 pounds and unhealthy was not what I was shooting for.

That year, 2007, I lost 40 pounds to get down to 215 lbs. I was proud of that accomplishment, but because I wasn’t focused on living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I started reverting back to old habits. I started eating out at fast food restaurants again. I started getting a coffee and donut on my way to work. Finally, I stopped working out again.

My problem? I was living from the mindset that there are two ways to live. First, you can live healthy while you’re on a diet. Second, you can live “normal life”. The problem is, if you want to live a healthy life you have to make eating healthy and exercising your “normal life”. It has to become your new paradigm.

This year, my goal is to lose the weight, and to KEEP IT OFF. I want to change the way I view the world so I can get to the point where living healthy is the “new normal”.

How about you? Are you working towards a fitness goal this year? Once you reach your goal will you continue living healthy? How are you training yourself to think about living healthy as the new normal?