Disclaimer: The soapbox that follows is for my worst enemies...me, myself, and I.
I have always struggled with body image issues. Ever since I was in middle school I was concerned about my weight. You might say that I still am obsessed with my weight...30 years later.
I always had a reason to obsess about being skinnier...mostly to please/catch a boy/man. However, now I have a man in my life who loves me just the way I am. He is always telling me how beautiful I am and how perfect I am and that losing weight should be the farthest thing from my mind. Today on my run I decided that he is right, losing weight should be the farthest thing from my mind. Feeling good should be the new focus.
Lets think about that for a minute. Getting out of bed at 4:00 am to run sucks for the first 5 minutes I am up, but I feel so good after I run...sometimes for the entire day!! Overindulging on certain foods is great for the 5 minutes it takes, but I feel so icky after...sometimes for the entire day!! I feel good when I eat right and exercise...really good. I like feeling good. Feeling good is great.
I am going to really try to focus on doing things that make me feel good, and eating things that make me feel good. You see it can be a win win situation. Instead of eating an entire piece of cheesecake which usually makes me feel gross...just eat a little, I get to have my cheesecake and feel good too.
Obsessing over calories, and cutting out certain foods just makes me even more crazy. Not sure how obsessing over anything can be a good thing. I know so many women who obsess over having a child. They try and try but to no avail. Many (not all) of those women when they stopped obsessing either by adopting or they just couldn't take it any more and just stopped trying...got pregnant. This also happens to young women who want to find a mate. They eventually find one when they stop trying and start being happy with their life, just the way it is. I think that the state of mind we have about life directly affects our life...duh!!
Why can't this work with weight too??
We are taught with every weight loss program that you need to count calories and cut out foods that are really yummy. It seems to me that by simply focusing on feeling good might just solve that problem. Eat what you want in quantities that don't make you feel disgusting. Exercise hard enough to get that feeling of accomplishment and set goals to achieve, and reset those goals to constantly better yourself, therefore feeling good. You might not lose the weight quickly but I am certain over the long run you'll be healthier, slowly lose weight, but most importantly you will feel good. You will feel good mentally and physically. You will stop obsessing and start living. You will start loving yourself and stop loathing yourself.
Sounds easy right??
I'll let you know...
More Later
- A Ro
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I am doing weight watchers again - & what I like about it is that I don't have to do without things I love. Yesterday I had a giant piece of bakery cake. I counted it & moved on - & didn't feel deprived with the smaller dinner I had to compensate. I've done WW before, but this time I'm trying to pay attention to what I really WANT instead of what I think I should eat.
ReplyDeleteSo good luck to both of us!
I hear you, girl. That's how my whole path to health and weight loss started... when I focused on health instead of the calories. I wish I could eat just one bite of something... but when I do, I tend to black-out and then when I 'come to', the dessert is gone. Not sure how that happens. ;)
ReplyDeleteI know for me personally as soon as I say I'm not going to have any xyz that is the one thing I crave...I have a lot of time on my hands these days and have to be careful not to eat because I'm not busy.
ReplyDeleteI liked the yoga...I have perpetual tension in my neck and I loved the stretching, etc. A friend invited me so I didn't go alone....that helped.