Every day, from the time you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night, you live out your day in one of three behavior columns—weight loss, maintain, or gain.
Think about your actions during the day. Are you sticking closely to your diet and exercise plan? Are you monitoring portion amounts, using your behavioral tools, and staying strong with your commitment to your weight goals?
Or have you eaten a few more snacks or an unplanned dessert? Were you too tired to exercise? Did you simply give up and eat everything in sight?
At the end of each day, ask yourself this question:
If I lived every day exactly the way I did today, would I lose weight, maintain my weight, or gain weight?
You can’t stay on a diet plan only half of the time and expect to see results. To truly achieve long-term success, you have to live at least 90 percent (or more) of your days in either the weight-loss or maintain columns.
This translates to nine out of ten days or, if you prefer, think of it as nine out of ten meals.
If you consistently spend more than 10 percent of the time in the gain column, you probably won’t see very much success with managing your weight.
That means if you follow your diet plan during the week but eat whatever you want on the weekends, there’s a good chance you’ll end up gaining weight.
Today’s assignment’s assignment (My answers are in blue)
1. Even though you may have already been recording this each day, ask yourself, “If I lived every day exactly the same way as I did today, what would happen? Would I lose weight, maintain my weight, or gain weight?”
I use the colored dots calendar each day to record which column I was in. Wow, does that ever show the truth of my weight-loss actions. During the past month, I had 2 solid green weeks, then almost all yellows for the last two weeks! And yes, I didn’t lose much weight.
2. Describe which actions (or lack of actions) determined your column for today.
I’ve been doing a bit more “coping eating” again the past couple of weeks. The stress of setting up a new office, trying to sell our house, and figuring out a tight budget has pushed me toward a bit more emotional eating. Time to stop that!
3. Monitor your columns over a number of weeks (or review your current tracking system) to see how close you come to the 90 percent rule. Write your notes here.
I’ve used this concept in my tracking for many years, and find that it’s always accurate. If I’m sloppy and having too many yellow or red days, I don’t make any progress.