Let go and let… Coach?

Coach V. posted another video yesterday, and again it was perfect timing for me. It’s almost like she’s living in my brain!

One of the things that she talked about was our progress, or more specifically, our probable lack of progress.  She assured us that after having seen literally hundreds of women go through this program, that most typically don’t see weight loss or measurement progress until at least 8-12 weeks into it.

Whew!  What a relief!  I’m not a failure.  

In the last 6 weeks, I’ve seen very little movement in either direction, which logically makes sense but emotionally is sometimes a little difficult to deal with.  I need to keep reminding myself that this isn’t a weight loss program, it’s a method for transforming my bad habits to healthy habits that I’ll be able to maintain for a lifetime.  And as such, since we’re only 6 weeks in, we’re still working on building the foundation of these habits and not yet even talking about specific foods or food plans or anything like that.

I have to admit, though — because people know that I’m doing this, I get a lot of “So, how much weight have you lost so far?” type questions.  And then I’m put in the position of explaining that no, I haven’t lost weight, and yes, that’s normal for this program.  People who aren’t familiar with Lean Eating tenets have this common misconception — that it’s just another program geared towards nothing but dropping pounds.  Thing is, I know how to lose weight — if that was all Lean Eating was, I wouldn’t be here.  What I’ve never mastered, however, is doing it in such a way where weight loss isn’t the main goal but rather a side effect of healthy changes I’ve made to my lifestyle.

So, because progress at this stage can be a mental bugaboo that can cause nothing but unneeded frustration, Coach V. proposed a deal:  we focus on the habits and getting our training in, and she’ll keep track of the numbers. We need to let that part go — other than entering the data, don’t think about it, don’t worry about it, don’t let it get in your head and drive you crazy.  She’ll keep tabs on things and if she sees that you’re headed in the wrong direction, she’ll be the one to start up a conversation with you about it.

And that’s a huge burden lifted off my shoulders!  I wouldn’t have guessed that it would be, but it most certainly is.  I like being given permission to only concentrate on the things that I have direct control over.  It means that the important stuff is what will be getting my attention which will be way easier on my little pea brain than my normal over-analysis of the numbers.

So, I’ve got a job to do:  head down, habits practiced, workouts done.  Easy.