Comparisons




Comparing your weight loss journey to someone else’s journey never works out for anyone. Sure there will be someone out there that you will be able to say “At least I am losing faster than so and so”, but generally it always leads to depression, anxiety, and discouragement.  Then that leads to derailment and disappointment in yourself and back to the depression causing a never ending downward spiral. In the Eat Like A Bear Community, Maria De Jesus Bass is one person who has inspired me more than most.  Her positive words of encouragement has helped me long before I ever reached out to her to talk to her or ask her questions.  

She lost 130.9 pounds in just 10 months and 3 weeks. and surpassed her original weight loss goal in just 7 months and 2 days.  She ate one meal a day four days of the week (3 Ridiculously Big Salads and 1 Keto meal) and did an extended fast for 72 hours (3 days) every week.  She lost weight quickly and ate food full of nutrition when she ate. 

Now people have said that I have already done amazingly well with my weight loss journey.  Honestly, this is the very first time that I have ever lost more than 40 pounds in a year.  So I would have to agree that I have done very well.  Yet my goal is 200 pounds.  I have lost 141 so far to date and I have been at this for 15 months.  It took me over a year to loss 130 pounds.  If I started looking at Maria and said "I'm not doing as well as she did, I'm just going to quit or give up", I would be shooting myself in the foot.  My journey is not her journey.  I couldn't do one meal a day until I was almost a year into it.  When I started, I had to take medicine with food every 12 hours.  I couldn't fast, I couldn't even do some Intermittent fasting.  It was almost 6 months before I could get my eating window down to a 6 hour window.  After I cut my meds in half, then I was able to drop down to One Meal A Day (OMAD).

It is soo extremely important to measure your progress against yourself not someone else.  The scale isn't always the best thing to compare.  Take measurements periodically and watch the numbers drop.  That is the best way to track your progress.  This last month, I only lost 2 pounds, but I lost 4.5 inches off my body.  I can now go to the thrift store or the local retail store and find clothes that cute and fit instead of HAVING to shop at Catherine's for plus size clothes.  I can now sit in chairs with arms with out pain.  Those are better ways to measure your progress than the scale. 

Each person has their own battle to win and each person has their own struggles.  Some of us take medicine that make you gain weight and those make it hard all the way around.  I want to encourage all of you to evaluate your own journey, encourage others, and don't ever compare yourself to someone else.  If you don't make these necessary changes for yourself, no one else will.  No one else can control what you put in your own mouth.  No one else can help you stay focused either.  We can point you in the right direction, but you have to take this journey yourself.  

If you want to ask questions, I will always do my best or point you in the right direction to someone who can help.  Just send me message and I will do my best.  

For more of Maria's story and her wonderful inspiration, you can find her at https://www.facebook.com/jeleszinhasjourney/  or her web page at https://sites.google.com/view/jeleszinhasjourney

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