Patience may be a virtue, but it’s not always one of my
virtues—especially when it comes to myself. This healthy living journey is a
prime example. When I started this journey back in January, I had expectations
about where I’d be at certain milestones. For my birthday, for
example, I had expected to be able to wear a certain dress.
I was wrong.
Said dress was far too tight to be worn. The jeans that were
snug back in March are still snug. (However, those same jeans were unzippable
back in January. I have made some progress.)
I know I am developing healthier habits. I know my body is
healthier because of it. I also know that the path I chose—the path of
intuitive eating, the path of focusing on mindset and behaviors instead of calories
of food and pounds of weight—is the longer, more circuitous route to my goal. I
take as almost as many steps backward as I take forward.
But I want more and I want it now. I want one hour at the
gym to melt off a pound and a half. I want to eat a salad and see half an inch
melt off my midsection. I want to think
about lifting a dumbbell and feel my arm grow stronger. I want to go to sleep
tonight and wake up tomorrow morning able to fit comfortably into that birthday
dress.
We live in a world of instant gratification. We exchange
e-mails instead of letters. We use microwaves instead of ovens. We text and
instant message and tweet and ping.
Weight loss isn’t built for that world. Weight loss is all
about delayed gratification. It means doing the work now to see the results
later, whether later is the end of the week, the end of the month, or the end
of the journey. It means being patient in a world that fosters impatience.
Sometimes
that really tries my patience.