Desperation to lose the weight once and for all is the most intense feeling I’ve ever experienced and finally finding that one thing that promises me the weight will finally come off and stay off I believed it with all my heart, and I thought to myself I’m sold!!!
I start off this months blog this way because I want you to know how many times I to have been there. There have been trillions of Mondays where I started my latest diet. I can tell you that the feelings of hopelessness and the true hatred I felt towards my body were so real and those thoughts were endless.
For four decades I tortured myself daily with thoughts of how my body didn’t deserve to be in the world. Why can’t I look like everybody else? Why couldn’t my body be accepted? How many tears have I cried in absolute frustration because I couldn’t keep the weight off? How many times did I isolate myself from having a social life in my twenties because I thought I was so fat? I have uttered to myself and other people countless times such horrifying words about my poor sweet body. Please believe me when I tell you that I have been where you are.
Now the point of my blog: I have learned through experience and education that there is no long-term diet or pill, and now we are using diabetes medication for weight loss? The only thing that will EVER work is a lifelong commitment to your own health. I’m not even going to use the word healthy because that can be misconstrued but movement and nourishment are the only ways to keep your body functioning at its most optimal. Many times we get so frustrated because it’s not happening fast enough and that’s when we are susceptible to quick fixes, I GET IT! I hope you will believe me when I tell you these solutions only work for a very short period of time. Think about it this way you are sending your body into a tailspin when it already knows how to function. What happens the second you stop whatever diet you are on? The weight comes back with a vengeance and sometimes more than what you weighed before, am I right? That’s because you are trying to outsmart the smartest part of you and that’s your body. We are all built differently and no amount of fad dieting is going to give you that body you wish you had. Self love and accepting yourself are real solutions to the decades of shameful thoughts about how much you hate your body.
Most people who are in the wellness space who really want to help people like us don’t prescribe drugs, restrictive diets, or excessive workouts. It has to a lifelong ingrained part of our daily lives to move our bodies that make us feel so free and happy is different for everyone, to eat foods that make us feel energized and happy is different for everyone, to spend time doing things we truly enjoy is different for all of us BUT there is something for everyone, you must figure out what those are. Please recognize that true freedom and real happiness comes from you taking care of yourself, you advocating for yourself. Ask questions, think about what these fad diets will do to your body in the long run and explore different ways to create the life you want. I invite you to figure out what makes you happy and take action!