Life is most certainly full of “ups and downs”. This concept applies to a very large spectrum of events, things and occurrences that occur during our lifetimes. Although this list can be huge, here are some examples of “successes” that we all may experience as we go through life:
- Graduating from school
- Finding our special loved one
- Obtaining a certain professional status
- Launching the last of our children out of the house as he/she becomes independent financially
- Having our favorite sports team win a championship
- Retirement after a long career of work
Very often when “successes” are achieved, these become a cause for a celebration. We will gather with the most special person or people in our lives and have some sort of event to recognize the success that occurred.
This entry is NOT about chastising people for going out to a celebratory dinner and gorging on alcohol and carbs as part of the festivities. We ALL need to celebrate our successes and in the big scheme of life, a rare outing in which you ditch any/all weigh control efforts plays little-no role in the overall chance of losing weight and keeping that weight off long term.
What this entry is about: Focusing on weight control, I advise all of our patients to “celebrate” their weight control successes incrementally. Take the time to recognize each 5-10 pounds of loss with some sort of NON-CALORIC, NON-ALCOHOL “celebration”. This could come in the form of a new article of clothes, a massage, a new book…something that “rewards” you for hard work you are putting in to achieving a higher level of health and happiness.
“Success” in weight control is not defined solely by getting from “Weight A” to Weight B”. Each pound lost is a “success” and in the aggregate, these will all add up to the final goal weight. Celebrate your weight loss successes along the way.
And no, you are NOT getting Kool and the Gang singing “Celebration”. Here is Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson singing their beautiful love song “I Celebrate My Love”.