Time to Reflect

All long-term changes require us to pause and take stock of our progress.  Weight loss is no different, especially if you plan on making a healthy lifestyle change.  It’s so easy to just keep plowing forward without taking the time to really think about what’s working and what isn’t working.  Yet, building in time to do that is so important and having a system makes it easier.

During my work as a corporate trainer, I often debriefed activities by asking 3 questions.  The purpose of the questions was to get people thinking about what they learned from the activity and what changes they want to make based on what they learned.  Asking these questions about your weight loss efforts on a weekly basis will help you stay on track.  Here they are:

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• What’s still challenging?
• What changes do you need to make going forward?
• What went well?

I took some time this week to reflect on my weight maintenance since I’ve been in South Korea.  I’m starting to slip a little, so I need to check in with myself.  Here are my responses to those questions:

• What’s going well? Taking smaller portions of all the delicious Korean food.  I want to try it all, and smaller portions allow me to do that without overeating.  I’ve also been paying more attention to my hunger signals.

• What’s still challenging?  I have no idea what the calorie intake is for what I’m eating.  Luckily, Koreans tend to have a healthy diet, so it hasn’t seemed too high calorie.  On the other hand, Koreans tend to eat large amounts of food, which can be challenging to navigate.  Also, I was sick for about two weeks, so I got out of an exercise routine.  Once my routine gets interrupted, I find it difficult to get back in the swing of things.

• What changes do I need to make going forward?  Find my groove with exercise now that I’m feeling human again.  Reduce the amount of snacking I’ve been doing over the past week.  For whatever reason, I’ve increased my snacking (and not necessarily on healthy things).  Continue to be diligent about portion control and tuning into hunger signals.

So, now it’s your turn.  Take time to reflect, and then try to make it a weekly habit.  Find a good time and place that works for you.  I find that my blog posts provide a good opportunity for me to reflect.

Replay the Day

Take a look back.

How did you do?

Did you eat the meals

You had planned to?

Did you think ahead

And make a good plan?

And then think to yourself, “

I think I can…I think I can?

Did you think about food?

Did you plan how to move?

Are you proud of yourself

For finding your groove?

As you replay your day

And maybe even your week

Make some adjustments

To get the changes you seek!

One of my favorite places to reflect - the great outdoors!
Here I am at Seoraksan National Park in South Korea.