Written by tigs01 on 10/01/2011 17:07
Forgive me; this is going to be another ramble inspired by a post on the 5+ board.
This was the question asked a short while ago. My reaction? Yes! Yes, it is very much worth it.
What have I gained as I've lost weight? Well, thanks to being an active part of the community, lots of new friends who support me along the way, and who I support in turn. My self-confidence is better now than it has been for a long time. My skin is so much better, clearer and brighter. I am able to wear clothes that have been sitting in boxes or shoved to the back of a wardrobe for the last six to ten years. I have more energy, enough that I could attempt a Jillian Michaels DVD today. Okay, I only did half of it, but I was not in the best of moods earlier on and it just seemed like too much hard work. (Note to JM: Jumping Jacks are so not low impact when you have dodgy knees and are still close to five stone above a healthy weight.) I can actually get up close to my DH when we cuddle in bed at night, and he can get his arms all the way around me with ease. I actually want to cuddle up to him, I'm not pulling away in case he gabs a double handful of flab and is repulsed by it! (Not that he ever was, bless him.)
My figure is coming back. Slowly, but it is coming back. I am actually starting to look more rangy than fat, especially across my arms and shoulders. I still have plenty of curves, but they are mostly where they ought to be again.
The ability to choose wisely, food wise, and to control my intake. The wisdom to know when I can eat something that I love rather than the healthiest option available, and the knowledge that in doing so I have no need to feel guilty or miserable over my lack of self-control.
What have I lost? Some of my inhibitions. Four stone seven and a quarter pounds of blubber. The fear of food that has dogged me for all of my adult life. Guilt! I've lost a ton of guilt. Guilt at being fat and unfit, guilt at eating the 'wrong' foods. Guilt at over eating and not exercising.
I look at myself now, and my attitudes towards food and exercise and really to life in general, and I just marvel at how long it took me to figure all of this out for myself. I suppose we each come to this point eventually along the road to success, perhaps more so if we have a lot of weight to lose and have begun the journey many times before.
It took years of being unhappy to get here. Years of pain, both physical and emotional. My knees are reminding me this evening of how they used to feel (those Jumping Jacks I mentioned earlier - evil!)
I know that I can do this. Don't ask me how I know, but this time it all seems so easy. Even that six week plateau wasn't enough to break me. I just feel that I can't fail. More to the point, I will not fail. I am far too stubborn to fail, this time. I am doing this for me, because I wanted to. This time, no one made me diet. No one made me feel small or bad or ugly. I wanted to do this. My health and mobility were in serious decline. At 38, I felt closer to 70 than 40. I didn't want to be old before my time, or to die a miserable death many years earlier than statistically I should.
If you're struggling, or finding it hard going, just ask yourself: why? Why am I doing this? What do I want to achieve? What is it about being slimmer, fitter and healthier that appeals to me? What are my core reasons for doing this?
Are you here because you want to be here, with every fibre of your being? Or are you here because you or someone else think that you should be here?
Be selfish. Do it for yourself, over and above all else. You are the one who has to live in the body you create for yourself. Make it the best that it can be, for you. Don't let any person or circumstance stop you. You - like life - are what you make yourself to be.
You owe it to yourself to change for the better. You deserve to change for the better. So start making those changes now. Today. You're so very worth it.
This was the question asked a short while ago. My reaction? Yes! Yes, it is very much worth it.
What have I gained as I've lost weight? Well, thanks to being an active part of the community, lots of new friends who support me along the way, and who I support in turn. My self-confidence is better now than it has been for a long time. My skin is so much better, clearer and brighter. I am able to wear clothes that have been sitting in boxes or shoved to the back of a wardrobe for the last six to ten years. I have more energy, enough that I could attempt a Jillian Michaels DVD today. Okay, I only did half of it, but I was not in the best of moods earlier on and it just seemed like too much hard work. (Note to JM: Jumping Jacks are so not low impact when you have dodgy knees and are still close to five stone above a healthy weight.) I can actually get up close to my DH when we cuddle in bed at night, and he can get his arms all the way around me with ease. I actually want to cuddle up to him, I'm not pulling away in case he gabs a double handful of flab and is repulsed by it! (Not that he ever was, bless him.)
My figure is coming back. Slowly, but it is coming back. I am actually starting to look more rangy than fat, especially across my arms and shoulders. I still have plenty of curves, but they are mostly where they ought to be again.
The ability to choose wisely, food wise, and to control my intake. The wisdom to know when I can eat something that I love rather than the healthiest option available, and the knowledge that in doing so I have no need to feel guilty or miserable over my lack of self-control.
What have I lost? Some of my inhibitions. Four stone seven and a quarter pounds of blubber. The fear of food that has dogged me for all of my adult life. Guilt! I've lost a ton of guilt. Guilt at being fat and unfit, guilt at eating the 'wrong' foods. Guilt at over eating and not exercising.
I look at myself now, and my attitudes towards food and exercise and really to life in general, and I just marvel at how long it took me to figure all of this out for myself. I suppose we each come to this point eventually along the road to success, perhaps more so if we have a lot of weight to lose and have begun the journey many times before.
It took years of being unhappy to get here. Years of pain, both physical and emotional. My knees are reminding me this evening of how they used to feel (those Jumping Jacks I mentioned earlier - evil!)
I know that I can do this. Don't ask me how I know, but this time it all seems so easy. Even that six week plateau wasn't enough to break me. I just feel that I can't fail. More to the point, I will not fail. I am far too stubborn to fail, this time. I am doing this for me, because I wanted to. This time, no one made me diet. No one made me feel small or bad or ugly. I wanted to do this. My health and mobility were in serious decline. At 38, I felt closer to 70 than 40. I didn't want to be old before my time, or to die a miserable death many years earlier than statistically I should.
If you're struggling, or finding it hard going, just ask yourself: why? Why am I doing this? What do I want to achieve? What is it about being slimmer, fitter and healthier that appeals to me? What are my core reasons for doing this?
Are you here because you want to be here, with every fibre of your being? Or are you here because you or someone else think that you should be here?
Be selfish. Do it for yourself, over and above all else. You are the one who has to live in the body you create for yourself. Make it the best that it can be, for you. Don't let any person or circumstance stop you. You - like life - are what you make yourself to be.
You owe it to yourself to change for the better. You deserve to change for the better. So start making those changes now. Today. You're so very worth it.
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