Yesterday at our WW meeting, our leader asked our group what their best advice would be for a newbie. Everyone wrote down the answers and exchanged them with each other, and some were read out loud. I madly copied down a few.
To put this in perspective for you, I'm an emotional eater and a perfectionist with very strong "all or nothing" tendencies. I jokingly refer to myself as a "repeat offender" as I've done the WW program [and many others] many times over the years. I KNOW what I'm supposed to do, I just don't always DO what I'm supposed to do, I end up feeling guilty and beating myself up and then repeating the poor behavior. I'm now in my 60's and have eaten and drunk myself into type 2 diabetes, causing me to truly examine my "self-sabotage."
Here is the advice that particularly struck me [for the reasons stated above]:
"You don't have to be perfect to succeed. Be aware of your choices and do the best you can. If you make a bad choice, don't beat yourself up. It's not failure, it's just a bad choice."
"Examine ANYTHING that make you feel GUILTY so it doesn't become your downfall. Don't beat yourself up for failing to PLAN, JOURNAL, or EXERCISE. Planning and journalling are just tools [excellent ones, by the way] to help you focus on making good choices so you can succeed. You don't have to exercise or "follow the program perfectly" to succeed. Just do the best you can."
That's what they mean by "BABY STEPS." Focus on just one thing at a time, whether it's just learning the point counts of foods, drinking more water, eating more veggies, exercising more .... the list goes on and it can be overwhelming. Be patient with yourself!! (Can you tell I'm not?).
I also found that having a buddy was the best thing for me. I've formed many "virtual buddies" here over the past 10 years (yes - at THIS SITE a core of us have posted that long), and I just made a new buddy at my meeting yesterday. We walked together after the meeting.
You can do it. I did. I have. I will. WW kept "preaching" at me to make this a lifestyle. I get it. I really do. I just couldn't always do it. Then I'd start feeling guilty. And beating myself up. And eating..... You get the picture.
Don't wait til you get type 2 diabetes to WAKE YOURSELF UP! Progam yourself for success instead of "failure". Remember, it's not failure, it's just a [temporary] poor choice.