Success and Self-improvement Principles -- Celebrate Every Victory—Especially if You're Progressing Slowly

By Denise Miller Holmes

Most of the time, Americans get very excited about accomplishing a goal in record time. Fast is in vogue, baby! But, reaching a goal slowly can be powerful and leave you feeling like a bookworm in a bookstore…tingly all over.

To convince you that slow is as useful as fast—and sometimes better—I’ve picked an example that most of us can relate to and can be applied to most achievement situations—dieting.

Right now, in this country, tens of thousands are dieting and losing weight. Most of these people believe in fast methods. I used to be one of them. But, ten years ago,  after being diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and experiencing profound frustration in losing excess weight permanently, I decided to cease extreme dieting and to begin using portion control for slow weight loss.

Slow weight loss sounds insane to many because a fast weight loss is rewarding and, therefore, motivating. If you see the loss in a small time frame, it’s something to celebrate. Woo-hoo!

The problems with the fast method are 1) you regain it back quickly and, 2) after the diet is over, you never want to see a treadmill or a head of lettuce for the rest of your life. Thus, fast diets make it difficult to create new, healthy habits because those kind of habits take time and practice to become permanent.

The slow approach to weight loss, however, shines when it comes to forming new, healthy habits. Also, the pain of eating food you hate is eliminated. I ate foods I enjoyed, and, as time went on, I ate certain foods, such as sodas and french fries, less and less. 

The slow technique can be used for any success goal, especially if that goal seems overwhelming. 

The slow-but-steady technique is not new. You’ve heard the expression “slow and steady wins the race” from the story about the tortoise and the hare, where everyone bets on the hare to win the race because he’s so fast. But in this story, there’s a surprise. The hare loses energy and focus. The slow-and-steady tortoise triumphs!

After reading some diet pundit’s opinion that slow weight loss diminishes the yo-yo effect and weight re-gain, I was sold. My slow weight loss has brought me close to eighty-five pounds off my bod in the last ten years (am I’m still losing). I’ve found maintaining between each weight-loss cycle is easy.

So getting back to the title, how did I keep myself motivated and persevering as I built this kingdom of health? I celebrated each pound I lost. Each time I weighed, I’d tell my hubby the new weight number. We’d both get excited and yell a whoop-de-do. I’d call him at work and say the new number into his voice mail, and he’d call back and say the same number to me. It felt exhilarating!

So, if pedal-to-the-metal isn’t working for you, if you’ve become the exhausted hare lying prone on the side of the road, try the tortoise way. I believe that slow and steady does win, especially when each step forward is celebrated.

If the fast method works for you then do that. If not, then the slow-and-steady method works great. Do what you need to do to achieve your goal.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. – 1 Cor 9:24

My Fascinating Life--My Weight-Loss Journey: Plateauing, a New Paradigm

“Judging yourself is just as bad as judging someone else. Our thoughts are a powerful force, and what you pay attention, to you empower. Judging yourself only serves to strengthen your shortcomings.” ~ Jon Gabriel, author of The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary DIET-FREE Way to Totally Transform Your Body

photo credit: Ravensmagiclantern via photopin cc

For those of you who are my Facebook friends, you've heard me mention from time-to-time that I've lost a pound here or a pound-and-a-half there taking Green Coffee Bean Extract regularly. In fact, from April 2013 to September 2013, I lost fifty pounds.

I went off the Green Coffee Bean because I wanted to see what would happen. What happened was--I maintained beautifully. In fact, in December, I lost another 2 lbs., even though I was eating a lot of rich food in large amounts.

Huh, I thought, the supplement must have permanently changed my metabolism.

But then, in January 2014, I started taking the supplement again and ate exactly like I did before when I was losing more that a pound a week and I did not lose one pound!

So, I was confused. I prayed for an answer that would start me losing again and I found the book The Gabriel Method by Jon Gabriel.

Gabriel's premise? He says there is one most important determinant as to why a person is overweight or not, and that is whether or not the person feels safe.

And here's the kicker--when we feel emotionally threatened, unhappy, worried, lacking, grieving, or stressed, our bodies interpret these feelings as a physical threat. Our bodies interpret our negative emotions as danger, then they cause us to retain excess fat because they believe the fat will protect us.

photo credit: Arya Ziai via photopin cc

This dynamic also applies to the inability to lose more weight when dieting, which is commonly called a "plateau."

Well bust my britches (and I have), this sounds like bad news. First, how can I know what is eating me and second, how can I relieve myself of these powerful emotions once I ferret out what they are?

First, Gabriel does a great job of categorizing all the many mental issues that would make a person feel unsafe. These categories really helped my husband and me locate real issues that have been there for years and we're just now realizing them because of Gabriel's book!

Very powerful.

And second, he gives you ways to release these emotions. Hubby and I have also discovered a way to release deep-seated emotions through EFT (Tapping) and we use our method for release. (I'll share this method in a later post.)

But the big epiphany for me was when I asked myself when the big stall in weight loss started and what could have made me feel unsafe at that particular time. The answer was that I had to initiate contact with someone in August who I feel unsafe around. Only a week later, in September, my weight loss had stopped.

In other words, it may not have been the cessation of the supplement that caused me to suddenly stop losing. The cause of my sudden plateau may have been the new stressor!

So, this is a huge understanding for me, and my task now is to release these emotions and allow my body to feel safe enough to lose. I'll let you know when the pounds start coming off again!

I'll blog more on this later. Until then, you might want to buy Jon's book.

See Jon Gabriel's website; and buy the book on Amazon.

Source Article: Above quote from Goodreads.