When your life changes it’s also time to take another look at your plan to see if it needs changing too.

Life changes so quickly. It’s easy to catch ourselves with the wrong plan
in a new life situation.

Your feedback system is often the first warning of a previously unnoticed
life change. Your weight will start increasing for no reason you can think of
and then pow! You’ll remember you changed jobs or some other life-changing
event happened. It’s time to take another look at your plan.

Dealing with the Monster Flu

I remember when I had a monster flu that just wouldn’t go away for
months and months. I would start feeling better, start exercising a little, and then wham, I was sick again. I finally decided to stop exercising to give myself
a chance of getting better.

You might think I would see feeling sick as a life change and that I should
adjust my plan and create a new Safe Zone for myself. You might think that, but
I didn’t. A week or so later I noticed I was gaining weight. At first I blamed it on
the flu. But then I remembered, duh! I stopped exercising. That would do it.
A new situation requires a new plan. I had to adjust my plan and create
a new Safe Zone for my new life situation. I decided to dial up the extremeo-
meter on several strategies so I could maintain my weight. That was really,
really hard. I count on exercise to keep my weight in check. Without exercise

I had to eat a lot less. So here’s what I did:
❖ Take easier walks. Easy walks didn’t seem to interrupt my healing
and I still got some exercise.
❖ Dial down my portion sizes to lower my daily calorie total. I made
less food and put less on my plate so I would eat less. By exercising
less I figure I had to eat 400 fewer calories a day.
❖ I made doubly sure that there were no foods in my Safe Zone that I
would eat automatically.
❖ I tried more Volumetric recipes (see the Pump Up the Volume strategy)
so I could up the amount of food I ate, but still kept the calories
low.
❖ I was extra vigilant in applying my automatic eating strategies.
Nothing really difficult or dramatic. But it worked. Eventually I got better
and then I went back to my old plan. When you notice a life change early you
can react immediately. That’s the value of setting up and using your Daily
Feedback System.

A Tale of Two Changes at Once

My wife Linda had two life changes at once, and of course we missed
them both! Life changes are tricky that way. They just sort of happen and you
only think about them later when you are gaining weight.

Linda’s seasonal work of doing taxes ended for the year. She had created
a Safe Zone at work and that helped her stay on her diet. Once her work
ended, she was back at home and nothing took the place of the Safe Zones she
had been using. When you don’t consciously think about creating your Safe
Zone, you fall back into old bad habits and that weight starts coming back.
Fortunately, Linda’s feedback system told her she was starting to gain weight
and she adjusted her Safe Zones to compensate.

Soon after her job ended, Linda was selected to be on a jury for a trial
that would last 6 weeks. She realized a few days into the process that she was
gaining weight and that she needed to create a new Safe Zone for the court
house. She decided to bring lunch and healthy snacks to court. And because
Linda was sitting so much, she also decided to take a walk during her hour
and half lunch break.

Again, nothing magic, but Weight-Proofing your life isn’t about magic,
it’s about creating your own Safe Zones to bring about your personal goals.
Nobody said it had to be difficult.

Life Changes that May Change Your Plan

Any change in your life may require changing and creating a new Safe
Zone. Here’s a list of some common life changes:
❖ Going on vacation or traveling for work.
❖ Jury duty.
❖ Changing or losing your job.
❖ Changing schools.
❖ Changing seasons.
❖ Becoming sick or injured.
❖ Moving to a new house.
❖ Having visitors over to your house.
❖ Having a baby, or a child leaving home.
❖ Getting older or starting menopause.
❖ Some particularly happy or sad event like a wedding or a funeral.
❖ Any time you go someplace new that isn’t inside your Safe Zone.

The list is endless. Any change in your life can upset the tightrope you
walk while trying to control your weight.

How do You Handle Life Changes?

When your life changes, you can follow the steps under the What Do You
Do If Your Plan Isn’t Working? strategy. The process works for life changes too.
In general though you have three options:
1. Dial up the extreme-o-meter on your existing strategies.
2. Add new strategies that fit your new world.
3. Remove strategies that don’t work and put your efforts elsewhere.

Some set of strategies will work for you. Stay creative. And most of all,
even though it is hard, do your best to anticipate changes in your life so you
don’t have to be reacting all the time. Be proactive when you can.