This morning on the Today show, they featured a couple of people who had lost half their body weight. As someone seeking to do the same I am always interested in these types of stories. The main thing that stood out to me in the story was the discussion of how these people heard or felt "a click" and decided to change their lives forever.
Is there such a thing as "the click"? I am not so sure. To me when I hear someone talk about "the click", I imagine them having an epiphany one day and, click, they turn their life around then and there never looking back. This seems like a dangerous idea to me. It seems like a bit of a fairy tale to believe that the major lifestyle changes required to lose any amout of weight, let alone half
your body weight, will come easily once you hear "the click".
I have experienced many weight losses and gains in my life. I have been 340 pounds and I have been 165 pounds and I have been every weight in between....more than once. I can say I have never felt a distinct "click" where everything changed for me. What I have experienced is the waxing and waning of my committment and motivation to do what it takes to lose weight. I have experienced emotional hangups about food, dieting, and body image that have, at different times, both helped or hurt my weightloss success. But never a click. I don't think there is such a thing.
Or maybe for me "the click" is like "love at first sight" and I can't believe in it because I haven't experienced it for myself.
What about you? Have you experienced "the click"?
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12 comments:
Yes. I heard the click for the first time in my life in June of this year. It was like a switch being flipped on inside of me in which I realized that I wanted to lose weight and get healthy more than I wanted to avoid all of the things I've always avoided - changing everything about how I ate and actually picking my fat butt up off the couch and getting some exercise.
I knew all of these things before. I am a rational, intelligent being. But I was never committed to doing them before. I always lost and regained 20 pounds, then packed on 10-20 more and ballooned to 370 pounds. I have NEVER been successful at this diet business in my entire life.
But I had my click, my lightbulb moment, in the middle of a week and instantly started making changes. I made changes that have turned into lasting ones and built upon that throughout the year. I didn't wait for a magic date to start. I just did it from that moment on. So yeah, there is a click. I've heard it and I'm now within 15 pounds of losing 100.
I did. for some reason when I saw that women could be MUSCULAR and BIG and take up space and be noticed AND be fit (this was in the skinnyskinny was all the rage era) I decided I wanted that.
(I needed to lose weight then)
and went after it. I back slid a few times but Im still going after it today :)
Like you I have had ebbs and flow to my motivation. I haven't heard a click, but something has changed this past year. I do believe I can do lose this weight. I haven't felt like that before. I've also changed my thinking on setbacks, realizing they are bound to happen because nobody is perfect. But, no click.....yet! :)
Happy New Year to you Deb! I'm thankful to count you among my blogger friends. You inspire me in so many ways! :)
My click wasn't a click since it was long and slow. My doctor discovered a heart anomaly and had mentioned on prior occasions my weight. Those things coupled with the starting of a new WW at Work meeting in the building next to mine .... definitely not a click, but rather a building cresendo. (One prior WW success did result from a click -- seeing a "fat" picture of myself. Interestingly at a weight I'd LOVE to be at right now!)
Well, not for me... not really. I think the moment that THIS time became defined as the final time, the time different from all other times, was when I had lost a good chunk of weight and started believing it was possible. I KNEW I could do it, would do it. Mainly because I was DOING it.
:)
Maybe some people experience it. And the first time I really made the effort to lose weight, I felt like that too. But when you do it so many times, it's like, "Is this time going to be the time I change for real?"
My click will be when I step on the scale and reach goal and I can finally say, "I did it."
I did! It was one day that I was just sitting there looking at pictures and seeing myself. I realized that 230 pounds was not a good look for me. Then my thought went to how hard it was for me to grow up without a father after he had a heart attack in he 30's. I wanted to be there for my kids and I did not want them to ever have to lose a parent because of a weight related death!
There is a click. You can not explain it, but it happens. Some people think they have it, but when it happens, you will know. There is no turning back after.
I definately had that click moment, although I don't know why it was that exact moment I decided to change my life.
I just had an honest conversation with myself about what I wanted out of life and why I was not allowing myself to have those things.
I that was 11 months and 60 pounds ago.. I have had tough moments, but I have never wavered in my resolve to achieve my goal.
I thought I heard "the click" several years ago. Although I lost a lot of weight at that time, I regained it all. So, although I did hear a "click" again this time around, I don't really trust it . . . for me, it can "unclick" just as fast. In order to succeed at this, I need to remain vigilant and keep trying on a very conscious level - the habits that make it possible to live in a fit body are just not that intuitive for me.
I actually have experienced the click. A few times. It's scary for me, because it comes and goes. I wish I could make the commitment on my own... I am not sure where the click comes from, and that makes it dangerous.
Just found your blog, good stuff! I totally had the click January 2007, and then strayed for a while, and had the super-click in September 2007 and have been at it since. For me, I really have to state my purpose when I want to do something, and somehow that really gives me permission to go all out, and attack the goal aggressively. Weird, but it's how I work.
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