It's not a race.

This week I have been struggling a little bit. I have been really good in terms of my eating, so far I have only used 4 weekly points and I've gained a good few exercise points. But i have been struggling with the idea that the scales might not go in my favour again this week. Although I took last week in my stride and didn't allow my mystery 1lb gain have any impact my focus, I am not sure if I will be able to feel as optimistic if I have a gain or a STS this week. 

I have been following one of the WW facebook pages and something that seems to be coming up a lot is that this isn't a race. It's a life style change, not a diet. I thought I had grasped that concept, but this week I realised that I am feeling a little disheartened that my weight loss has slowed down. I was beating myself up a bit over my 1lb gain, and loosing focus on all my hard work to date...which has been a slow, steady weight loss not a quick fix. 

When I am hard on myself, or I get fed up that I'm not loosing weight fast enough the only person I am competing against is me. No one else is trying to beat me at loosing weight, no one else is standing in my shoes. When I am so hard on myself, the only person I am hurting is myself. I am robbing myself of the small victories along the way when I am only focused on the end goal and not rewarding myself for the small achievements. 

I was busy wallowing in my own self pity when I found a shirt that I fitted into rather snugly last June at the height of my weight gain. I thought, sure I'll try it on & maybe it will be a little looser..the shirt was hanging off me. Because I have been so focused on the end goal and not stopping to appreciate my mini goals I hadn't been able to see the weight loss I've had to date. I thought I'd lost a bit and it might be a little noticeable, but when I put on that shirt & my husband took a photo of me, I was really knocked back. So I stopped wallowing, and I gave myself a good old pat on the back. 

How many of us allow ourselves to be robbed of our achievements and the joy that comes with them by being our own worst enemies? I know I AM the only one standing in my way to success. I know I am the only one disappointed if I ONLY loose 1lb instead of the 2lb I'd been hoping for. Instead of enjoying the journey, I am have only been focused on the finish line and as a result I have been harder on myself when getting to that finish line is taking longer than I had planned. 

No more. 

This isn't a race. 

This is my life and instead of wishing it away until I 

reach my goal I am going to enjoy the now.

I am going to enjoy the small victories.