When I was 12 years old, I was 30 lbs overweight and miserable.
That’s 12 year old me all the way over on the right. My dad’s entire family was obese and even though my dad was normal and my mom was tiny, I was convinced that I looked the way I did because of genetics. Then one day, someone introduced the concept to me that I could be anything I wanted to be. God put the potential inside of me and my hopes and dreams came from Him. Genetics didn’t matter as much as my behavior did.
I started to study nutrition, calories, exercise, weight and height charts–anything I could find in the area of weight loss. Then I attacked the problem with the knowledge I found. The weight “fell off” over the summer (because of my serious hard work), and I went to 8th grade looking like a different person.
My struggle with weight didn’t end there. I still loved food, and my body was pre-set to hold onto more fat than most of my peers. I didn’t gain weight though, because I had developed a personal threshold. I didn’t count calories, but I weighed every day. I never punished myself with the scale, I used it simply to get information. If the scale was up I ate a little less that day. If it was down I ate a little more. Day by day I monitored things always watching for that number on the scale that was completely intolerable for me. If I hit that number, I got serious again until I was under my threshold. I was determined to never feel the way I did in that picture again.
When I got pregnant with my first baby, it was all of a sudden OK to gain weight. My threshold didn’t apply anymore and I packed on 60 lbs before Heidi was born!
My threshold, or lack thereof, also determined my success with savings, income, and spending. When I was in college, my checking account charged a fee if I allowed the balance to go below a certain amount. If I got close to that amount, I stopped all spending until I had a cushion built back up. If I had a cushion in there I spent it. Even now, I have an income threshold with my business. If my income drops below my acceptable amount, I kick it into gear and get the numbers up again.
Here’s the downside of Thresholds. They can keep us from reaching our real potential. If my bank account threshold is $100, then I’ll always have about that much in there. I’ll spend and save in routine to keep me there. If my weight threshold is 140, that’s where I’ll stay even though my ideal weight is 125. It’s hard to set a new threshold that is far away from where you are sitting now. With my personality, I have to put in a big push, all or nothing to reach the new goal and then set my emotions to the new ideal.
What about you? Do you have thresholds? How do you use them to reach your goals?
It seems like Amy Dacyczyn wrote something similar about herself in the Tightwad Gazette. I’ve been thinking about this post today, and am wondering how many different ways I do this. I definitely have a financial threshold, but I also think I have other kinds of thresholds – some that I won’t go lower, but others that I won’t tend to go higher than. For example, at crossfit, I think I have a threshold of effort that I am happy at, and don’t tend to go higher than that even when I could and probably should. I think it’s the same for many areas of my life, including the most important ones in my relationships with my family and God. Lots of food for thought here!
I also read your Target Red Card post today, and what I tend to do is plan to spend ‘extra’ cash several times over. Like, I’ll use my bonus to pay for x. Then later, I’ll use my bonus money to pay for y (forgetting that it has been allocated for x). Speaking about myself, it is frustrating to make the same mistakes over and over again!
Sheila, I do that too. I’ll get a little extra money and then spend it several times. I frustrate my husband with my crazy ideas. He asks me how I’ll pay for it and I say with X money. Which I have told him will cover 7x what it actually will cover, lol. Thank goodness I have him to bring me to reality.
I needed this today. I have ooched my weight threshold up and my workout threshold down over the last year. “It’s not that much.” “I’m so tired.” “They need me more.” And, I’m looking at needing to lose 15-20 instead of 5. So here’s to my commitment to be healthy and energetic, because letting myself go at the threshold has robbed me of what I really want. I appreciate you!