Rules

Thursday, January 7, 2010

I have been thinking about rules. I am an accountant and typically a rule follower. I like structure.

When I was Banded, I was told to not drink carbonated beverages, don't drink with meals, take small bites, don't eat bread, etc. I considered them RULES and I followed them with great success! I lost 75 pounds in about 9 months.

But then I started to stretch the rules. I tested some toast or a biscuit and it didn't hurt, so I stopped following that rule. I started sipping more at meals until I was drinking normally again. My bites started growing to whatever my body would allow instead of making them all small. There are many more of these than I'm listing now.

The last three months, I started stretching all of my rules so much that I stopped losing weight at the same rate. I became frustrated at my lack of success. Instead of admitting my weaknesses and making changes, I kept going...stretching the rules even more.

I'm very fortunate that this behavior only stopped my weightloss. But I learned that very easily, old habits come back quickly and old paths can be revisited. I'm glad to have restriction again and I'm back to the basics.