Why You Need a Plan
I recently watched a documentary about a weight loss game show that was very popular about 25 years ago and lasted for 17 seasons. The show was one Paula and I watched for a number of seasons, but eventually we lost interest as the show became more bizarre and unrealistic. The documentary was challenging to watch for a variety of reasons; from the brutality of the trainers, the absurd challenges that demeaned the contestants as human beings, and the constant conflicts between contestants, it was not enjoyable.
According to the documentary, after the winner was announced, the people who had lost hundreds of pounds were left to fend for themselves. They essentially had left reality behind to live on less than 1,000 calories per day and to be able to exercise up to six hours or more a day for close to a year—then, nothing. No plan for how to transition to a normal life again. No explanation from dieticians or trainers how to adapt to maintain their weight loss.
In reality, it’s happening again right now with people who are using GLP-1 RA injections to control blood sugar and lose weight. If you’re going to try it, you should plan an exit strategy well before you’re done losing the weight, the same planning as what the weight loss contestants should have been provided.
How can you do that on your own if the healthcare professional doesn’t? Remember when I wrote about the physician who lost weight by eating the same portions as his wife was eating? I saw him again a week or so ago, and he’s maintained his weight loss well. The plan was to eat like his wife ate, and it has worked.
The Bottom Line
No matter what program or strategy you have to lose weight and get fit, you’ll be more successful at maintaining your weight loss if you work on the exit strategy before you’re even done losing the weight.
- Are you willing to eat the same foods you ate during the process, or have you been depriving yourself of things you know you want to eat again? How can you fit your favorite foods into your new eating plan? The worst thing you can do is go back to your old way of eating.
- Have you been doing extra exercise to get there? What are you willing to continue after you’re done? If you go back to your old way of life, you’ll probably go back to your old weight.
Whatever your strategy will be, it has to be something you’re willing to do for the rest of your life. You have the chance to plan ahead. That plan may change as you progress, but it’s easier to adjust a plan you’ve already worked out than to come up with one out of thin air. As the saying goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
What are you prepared to do today?
