Life Doesn’t Start at Your Goal Weight!

When I lose all this extra weight, I’m going on vacation!

When I reach my goal weight, then I’ll try swing dancing.

I know I need new clothes, but I’m not buying any until I lose weight.

I’ll get back out there and start dating, but first I need to get back down to a size 10.

Do any of these ring a bell? We had a discussion this week about putting life on hold until we reach a specific number on the scale or get back into a certain clothing size. It made me sad that so many people were expressing this same plan of waiting to do things in life because they felt like their weight was holding them back.

Granted there may be some things that aren’t possible at the moment due to our current health/weight status, like running a marathon if you haven’t been training. However that should not limit us from doing the things that ARE possible. Punishing ourselves by not buying clothes that fit, refusing to treat ourselves to vacations, or avoiding social situations may actually prevent us from achieving our health and weight loss goals.

Depriving yourself of these simple pleasures could create a situation where food is our only source of pleasure or it could trigger eating out of frustration or negative body image.

Is there anything you’ve been putting on hold until you’ve lost weight? Is it possible that you could do this now rather than waiting for life to start at your goal weight?