It's going to hurt. Maybe not all the time, but it's going to hurt. I had braces on as an adult. It's not something I was crazy about but it's something that I knew that I wanted to have. It was not necessary but since I had lost all this weight, my teeth were the next thing that I felt needed to be fixed. I had a gap on the top and overcrowding/overlapping on the bottom (the best of both worlds...I guess). When I first started this process, I thought, no big deal. I'll get Invisalign and wear them for a while to straighten these teeth out. After a consult with the dentist, I found that my teeth needed more than a plastic mold, they needed full on braces. When I went to the orthodontist, they said I also had to have a tooth pulled due to overcrowding.
For the first two weeks, I was in so much pain that I had doubted my decision. I should've left well enough alone but it was too late to turn back. During this whole process, I would notice a little something here or there but nothing major. For the first few months they didn't even attempt to close the gap where my tooth had been pulled. I wanted that gap closed ASAP. The thing that I didn't know Is that they had to line up all the other teeth just right before they were able to close that gap.
It took two and a half years to get them off. The process was long and arduous but well worth it.
This is a lesson we can all apply to many other aspects of our lives. Whether it's a new way of eating, working out, running, or even our career paths. We all wanted to come out of high school or college making $50k or $75k a year. But in reality, we're lucky if we come out making half of that. We need to put in the hours and effort before we can reach a certain goal. It's uncomfortable to be the one who doesn't eat like everyone else; to be the oddball when ordering at a restaurant. It's uncomfortable to be the one to say no to going out because you have to hit the gym or the track.
Just like my braces, it's all a slow process. Every time I went back to get them tightened, I felt the pain and discomfort seeing little to no visual changes. I lost the majority of my weight in the course of a year. It didn't happen overnight. For the first four months, I didn't even weigh myself. I just knew that I felt so much better than I ever had before. So often, I see people going on the crash diets for several weeks and they loose weight but it's not sustainable. If you take it slow, it may be a tedious process but it's sustainable and worth it. You may not see the results from day to day or even week to week but they will come. And when they come, they will stay. At that point your mindset has changed so much that there's no going back. I've see this true in so many aspects of my life, not just weight loss.
If we make the change for the better, it will be uncomfortable. It may straight up hurt sometimes. I think about all the times I felt pain when I had my braces tightened but saw little to no changes in appearance. That pain was an indicator that progress was being made. No one goes into the orthodontist saying that they want their teeth fixed in the next 21 days. So, why is it that we think we can go on a diet for 21 days to fix the body we've been abusing for decades?
🏃🏻Keep running. Eat more plants. Small successes become great achievements over time. 🌱