Breaking the cycle

I've been going through it on this journey to hit my weight goal. During half-term I went to Beijing with the wife and naturally there was over-eating and drinking.

That was expected. Since coming back I just haven't been in the groove. That raises an important question. Why is there a groove? Why is there a time when we're in the groove and out of the groove.

It's actually a form of yo-yoing. There's the more common form of yo-yoing when we're 'good" during the week but as soon as the weekend comes we lose it and end up eating shit.

The pattern I experience and may be you do as well is that I tighten up for a few weeks, maybe 3 or 4 but when I start to make progress, what happens is that I'll hit a low weight and then that day, no matter how hard I try, I end up sabotaging. I end up bingeing. It's this pattern of 3-4 weeks, hit a low, sabotage. Rather than tighten up, hit a low, keep going and then coming out of it gradually. Sometimes, it's not even hitting a low. Its just making progress then all of a sudden its sabotage.

Sometimes yes its holidays, but even when I don't have a holiday or anything, its sabotage. So i'm not quite sure the holidays ar the issue. They certainly don't help but I think I have the skills to deal with them and certainly minimise damage.

This yo-yo cycle is something I have experienced ever since I first started losing weight. I realise that some of it is physiological, where your body resists change but I think there's a large part of it which is a pattern.

So how to break the pattern? I broke the week-weekend pattern by not trying to lose weight, but just regulating. It was more of a mindset shift rather than anything. Just taking the focus off losing weight and shifting to "eating healthily" but eating at a lower calorie range.

I by no means expect this journey to be linear, but it gets frustrating seeing others get their goals, quicker and maintaining it where I just plod along going around in circles, making incremental gains.

Now progress is progress, no matter how slow but at times I really want to get off this ride and just hit my goal and get on with things.