Fluke, coincidence or pattern

I did not see this happen a lot this last Saturday, but I know that I have heard it a ton in the past. I guess, I just don't understand. I get being excited about a weight-loss. I get being disappointed when you did everything right and had a loss or stayed the same. Here is what I don't understand:

Jenny enthusiastically asks, "How are you?"
General response, before or while stepping on the scale, "I don't know, we' ll find out."

Now wait just a minute. I asked you how you were doing on that question, not "how was your week." You know that you should not let your mood be determined by what the scale reads, right? I mean, let's get real here people. We know before we step on (myself included) if we had a "bad week or not." And truly it is not about if we had a bad week, it is about if we made good choices or not. We choose to be good or be bad.

I have to be responsible for my own happiness. I can take what happens at the scale after I weigh in and learn from it, or make an excuse about it. Learning helps me to lose weight in the future. Making an excuse gives me a reason to be bad one more week.

I have to choose to be good. Even if it hurts my "feelings". Naturally, sometimes I would love to have the juicy, greasy burger and fries over the healthy, colorful salad with chicken. But I KNOW how I am going to feel. More importantly, I know what I am going to have to admit to myself later.

First mistake might be a fluke. Second mistake could be a coincidence. Third mistake is a pattern. When I know that I am about to make a bad choice, I have to remember that I have decided to change my attitude (and my body, for my health), my expectations and my responses.

When I get to that place of I know that what I am doing is the right thing for me, I can make better choices for me and my family. My attitude is get healthy, stay healthy. My expectations are to supply myself with the necessary food choices so that I can keep this attitude. (If I allow junk food in the house I know what is going to happen....I am going to eat it until it is gone, and usually no one else in the house helps.) My responses are obviously good ones. I eat the right things. I stay away from the sugary foods. We don't have cakes, pies, cookies in the house. If someone brings it over as a guest, it also leaves with them. That cake may visit my house, but may not reside there.

I clearly thought in the past that I could continue to make choices that I had convinced myself were only happening every once in awhile. When in reality I was making those choices on regular basis (more than twice a day). This was a REAL pattern for me.

Do you have a pattern that you would like to stop? Here are some tips:

• First, identify the pattern. Name it.
• Second, recognize that this is a problem in your life. Claim it.
• Third, ask yourself what you need to do to get rid of it. Tame it.

And now you are on your way to eliminating one bad behavior. Good luck. I love you.

Today's diddy: "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." --Eleanor Roosevelt.