The famous Dan John, in his book Never Let Go, touched on a topic that is extremely timely for me:
“I’ve come to some wonderful conclusions about myself after starting the Velocity Diet. I was blind to the fact that it was so easy to snack at random times of the day or drink too much alcohol. These blind spots of mine would have never come out into the light if it wasn’t for the V-Diet.”
I’m not going to write about the V-Diet or endorse it because I have never tried that diet, but if you are interested please feel free to look it up. What I’d like to address is the glaring fail that kept me from my goals: blind spots.
Blind spots can be excuses, lack of nutrition education, justification, and denial….among other things. Okay okay okay I’ve done them all!
The problem with blind spots is that they left a gap in my progress. “Sure, it’s okay to have that chocolate because I killed my workouts this week!” “Okay, I can cut this cardio short because I didn’t eat much today” those are the two of many statements that have gone through my head. Stupid, right?
The aftermath of the blind spots usually caused a shame/guilt spiral that would end up making me feel even more stressed, which of course doesn’t help anything at all.
It was only after I basically re-booted my nutrition 20 days ago that I have realized that all of those running statements in my head were actually sabotaging my goals. Did I want that chocolate more than I wanted to lose a pound? Well, at the time it’s hard to make that decision. Truthfully, I never even thought that way. I just wanted chocolate…now. Those blind spots, conscious and unconscious, were keeping me from making the progress that I wanted.
There are a lot of people who can eat or drink what they want (within reason) and that’s great (yes I’m jealous!). But me? I just can’t do that. My body is not going to change unless I cut out these blind spots and commit 100% to my goals.
Sure, I miss it all (cupcakes…I miss you the most!!). But I’m in a totally different zone now. My mind and my body both feel different. The biggest win so far, other than the increase in energy and weight loss, is that I feel like I’m being totally honest with myself. Now, if I can’t lose weight or if something isn’t right, I know exactly what I’m eating and can adjust based on facts, not fiction. I can give an honest assessment of my nutrition to anyone else as well. And that’s a win in itself.