Reflections - why am I not succeeding on Noom this time around?

 After two months on Noom I got within a few hundred grams of my target, and then lurched back to within a few hundred grams of where I started.

Why this not working?

Here's some reflection on this.

Key thing I think is I am really, really struggling to achieve goals. This reflection is a case in point. I didn't do it, or anything else I intended to do over the weekend. All reasonable reasons why, or justifications why. But even this morning I haven't been able to get tasks done without interruptions and distractions. I'm batting off notifications as I type. How do I keep my focus around all this?

I think my previous success was also because I was able to set up a really clear routine that was set up for success, by modifying a past, fairly clear routine with bad habits and missteps. This meant I could identify my weak spots and figure out strategies to work around them. Don't have a cinnabun at 10am - keep working until 12. Don't use food as a distraction - put other things like white noise and countdown timers in place to maintain focus in short boxes. 

With Covid, every day is a new adventure. This needs to be overcome. So, I need to have a smorgasbord of routines and I stick to the appropriate one of the day.

My job has less interest to me and more vague requirements and deadlines. It's easy to coast. I need to stop doing that. I need to set up clear things I really want to do, and short steps to achieve those things. I need to motivate myself to see them through. I need to experience frustration and get over that. Because, the lack of motivation is influencing other parts of my life too.

I have less volunteer things right now too - okay, no volunteer things. What is going to take the pace of that?

The 'ultimate why' is harder to quantify for my brain stem too. Last time I was fat, I couldn't walk up stairs without puffing, I couldn't keep up on tramps. But now I'm trying to lose the last 5kg and put back good behaviours that have slipped. And I'm fitter and lighter than I've been since my 20s. I'm trying to go from good to great, instead of terrible to good. What's in it for me?!

Alcohol is undermining me. I'm going out too much, and if I'm frustrated and angry at the end of the day I'll have a drink or three to relax. There are too many calories, and it brings my elephant out too much, to allow that.

There is a lot of catching up with friends at the pub to do. I was curtailing my nights out fairly successfully up til lockdown, un-lockdown, partial lockdown and now un-lockdown again. Is that simply a matter of booking in runs and hikes so I can't go out?

OK. What's next then?