|
2006/01/30, 12:34 PM
I have a confession to make, one that I hope everyone that is struggling with weight loss hears...I didn't believe it could be done...I truly, deep down in my heart DID NOT BELIEVE I COULD LOSE WEIGHT...I didn't believe in myself, just like you may not believe in yourself. 10% of my heart said no way, even though the other 90% said I could. We come here, we post our struggles, our goals and then we doubt ourselves, maybe we don't come back, maybe we are here and sitting behind the scenes, but either way, a part of us either isn't ready to make the change we say we want so bad or we want to but can't dig deep enough to believe in ourselves.
As of Friday I have lost twelve pounds in a few weeks. It blew my mind - WHY? Because it was too easy...EASY?! That is right. It was easy because I STOPPED struggling with myself and made a decision that enough was ENOUGH! I had dilly-daddled with weight loss many times before only to lose a few pounds and gain them back. I have began exercise and eating right ONE HUNDRED times or more over the past 20 years to just stop again, so what makes this time different? A big secret to weight loss? Nope....
It is because I am different...it is the mindset you have, it is the COMPLETE decision of body and soul that says ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and you don't leave those dwindling little knawing thoughts of "I'll eat right as soon as I finish this cake!" or "I'll start exercising when it gets nicer outside" or "I'll lose weight and get healthier when things calm down in my life"! IT IS A BUNCH OF B.S. if you think you can accomplish your goals if you are not willing to give 100%, I am sorry, IF YOU ARE NOT READY - forget it, it won't work --PERIOD! But when you ARE ready, it will work and it will work in ways that when you get on that scale you say to yourself, "WOW! I DID IT and IT DIDN'T KILL ME DOING IT!" Diet pills won't bring you a healthier lifestyle, dieting won't, it has to be a combination of nutrition and exercise in it's entirety!
Honest, this is all I have done...I cut my calories back to a reasonable amount...I eat better carbs when I eat carbs and I eat less of them, I eat lower fat food items and less of them and I exercise 5-6 days a week. I haven't even added weight lifting back into my workout (I am starting that on February 1st - I do do some resistance workouts), which will definately give me even more results! I rewarded myself exercise items when I reach goals rather than food!
Your heart has to be in it, folks...mine was about 90% the previous year, the other 10% kept holding me back, I just didn't believe it could be possible even after I lost some weight and inches then, it was like I put the brakes on and just didn't believe I could ever be thin and healthy again...does that sound familiar? I let my life take ME over rather than ME taking over my life! I read post after post of people that WANT the new life, but what happens? Do you sucumb to the ice cream, cake, cookies, pop, chip, junk food? Is that what you really want? Are you willing to trade your health --your LIFE for those things that bring only momentary satisfaction? Do you want to keep climbing stairs only to gasp for breath like you just ran a 25 mile marathon? Or do you want to have the energy to run that marathon or at least feel like it? This weekend I went to Nashville's Ryman, I climbed about 100 stairs and could BREATHE when I got to the top -usually my asthma kicks in 1/2 way! I walked in high heels over 10 blocks, four of them were straight up hill and I LOVED IT! If it weren't for the heels I would have walked another 10!! (I thought about going barefoot but it was a bit chilly!) The sad thing was, coming down from a set of long stairs at the Ryman, I got behind a woman near my age that was very, very obese...she held the rail so tight and her breathing was so labored as she struggled for each step - and this was DOWN! She got to the bottom after nearly five minutes and she panted and she brushed the sweat of her brow as her friend/family member watched her with obvious concern. I almost cried for her it was so sad to see her difficulty...but I also was reminded that I did not want to see myself that way or have my family worry about me like that. It is bad enough I have given up fun things like swimming at beaches and the hotels we stay at when on vacation, wearing shorts, etc. My husband was even a bit miffed when I got hooted at a few times (I was shocked!!) and got, "Heyyyy, girl!" three different times - ME- 44 years old!! I was out in public and having fun rather than thinking about how everyone was looking at my fat!
COME ON!!! Make your choice - NOW! Don't wait ---don't wait until after your vacation, don't wait until after the banquet, don't wait "UNTIL THINGS CALM DOWN" because they probably WON'T!! Don't wait until you are IN A HOSPITAL BED or you develop DIABETS, don't wait until you need a wheel chair shopping cart because you can't walk to get your groceries! Make a list, write down WHAT you are waiting for! Then make a list and write down WHY you shouldn't wait. COME ON -- can you really tell me that sugar, lard, oil, JUNK is more important to you than your health, than your family having you around?? If your choice is that eating crap gives you happiness, satisfaction and you don't want to stop then you just keep it up and we'll make sure they put on your gravestone, "She loved chocolate more than herself" or something as morbid as your choices.
BUT --if you want with all your heart - 100% of it, to make your life healthier, please, please STOP making excuses, stop waiting and START TODAY, make TODAY the beginning of your new life, not tomorrow, not the next day, not after Johnny's wedding, STOP living your life by what you are eating or wanting to eat, stop the addiction and start rehab NOW! There is NOTHING stopping you but YOU - nothing!! You have to see that to get past the "want" and get to actually doing it! That is what happened to me...twelve pounds may not seem like enough to get excited about, but YOU hold up 12, one pound packages of butter and YOU tell me that it doesn't make a difference in my life!
I really, truly think that is why people sometimes post and then you never see them again, I may be wrong, but it seems so many WANT to make the change, WANT to lose weight, but not with 100% of their being...10%, 20% or more says you'd rather have that double chocolate ice cream or that rack of ribs. So you post your WANT, you post your HOPES, your DREAMS of living a better lifestyle, but then you get offline and you go back into your kitchen and you make yourself a couple dozen cookies and slug them down with some soda. -- STOP!!! Start by writing down what you eat every day - YES, it is a drag, I hate taking time to write down anything I deem as unnecessary, but this is necessary as you may not have realized HOW much you were actually eating in a day. It is SO easy to just eat one cookie in the morning, one in the evening, have a cappacino, all those little things you don't "count" as they don't "amount to much", but they DO! Every thing you put in your mouth is calories and those calories when broken down into high bad carb and high fat mean more FAT FAT FAT storing itself!
Start exercising, even if you begin with just 10 minutes a day, or even five if that is all you can do, DO IT because each day you do you will be able to do just a bit more every day!
Listen, I know how the excuses go, okay, I have lived 14 years of excuses --many were factual excuses, but excuses none-the-less. My brother always says, "Don't come to me with a problem unless you have a plan" and those are words to live by....we post here our problems but no plans of how to get ourselves where we want to be!
I honestly, with all my heart, can say to you that losing these 12 pounds was easy WHEN I made the decision that I was going to follow-through, that the day I started was the beginning of my new life -- not just another diet, not for anyone but ME. I went through the house and though I had already made some good changes in the past, I only did it half-a$$ed, this time I got serious, I included everyone that lived in the house and if they don't like it they can go eat out somewhere else. If they didn't like the skim milk, they can get their own refrigerator and hide it, but tough, because ENOUGH is ENOUGH! The WHOLE family benefits from my decision whether they liked it or not and one day I hoped that they would have me to thank for their healthier way of life! I take time to work out and if they don't like it or my employer doesn't like it, tough! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
That is where 100% comes in, if you are not willing to give 100% then you are not ready. Throw away the diet pills, throw away the radical diets, FORGET your old way of life and JUST BEGIN TODAY a new way of life, that IS THE ONLY WAY, folks, THAT IS IT! You know what I am saying, I know you do, you know that you cannot continue to eat the way you do, not exercise, if you want to SEE changes in your life. Please, don't think you have to give everything up -- I didn't give up things I really want, but I work them in -- if I want to have a piece of chocolate, I have a piece of chocolate, but I work out more that day and I eat even less fat that day, I am always thinking before I eat and that is the key -- THINK BEFORE YOU EAT -- give yourself TIME TO THINK before plopping food into your mouth and regretting it later, PLEASE! Before you know it your life is changing without having to think so much because you have a NEW life now!! A life where you have energy and feel good!!
100% is what it takes, if you have it, the journey will be much easier than if you don't as that other percentage that doesn't believe or that doesn't want to make the change will be the one that wins -- isn't it unfortunate that we let such a smaller percentage WIN? Where else can 20% beat 80%? Why do we let that little voice in our head that says EAT THAT CAKE take over the bigger voice that says I WANT TO BE HEALTHY EAT THE OATMEAL?!
Think about it....your choice and no one else can make it for you...100% or nothing...
--------------
Veda
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
Just live life and enjoy it!
|
|
|
|
2006/01/30, 05:19 PM
Wow...Veda...congratulations first, a little lengthy, but don't get me wrong, it is VERY inspiring to see someone so syked up.
You touched on alot of good points but the one to maybe realize and act on the most is, lifestyle...it has to be a lifestyle you adopt and nurture. This is where, like you mentioned, alot of people go off track. I being one of them. I'm in the process now of putting myself back on. I too once began to realize I could be what I really wanted to be but allowed myself to go off track and now I have to rebuild so to speak. But I have grande confidence in myself and that is key in adopting the lifestyle. It's obvious you also have that confidence as well.
For anyone that reads this thread and thinks I am just not that disciplined, think again, because you are, everyone is...as veda stated, it's a choice.
Their should be a running thraed entitled "anyone can do it-here's proof".
Anyhows Veda, I am very proud of you as I'm sure many here are, keep up the good work.
--------------
Seize the day!
|
|
2006/01/30, 10:53 PM
Thanks, Mojo_67, I couldn't help but be lengthy and I do apologize, it is the writer in me, but I just had to get out, it has been like the light went on -finally!
Good luck to you, you are right, we ALL have it within us, we just have to decide when we want to make it a lifestyle change, just as you pointed out! I didn't use to have the confidence, but once you get to the point of realizing that the only way to succeed in losing weight is to put forth 100%, I think you are ready and you can feel good about it!
--------------
Veda
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
Just live life and enjoy it!
|
|
2006/01/30, 11:26 PM
So true, so true.
I was just lightening things up a little with the lenghty remark, feel free to to get as lenghty as you want. I for one surely can't talk. Some of my posts are just as long.
Main reason was just to remind us that it is just a lifestyle change, not a prison sentence. Your doing this because it's a healthier way of life and it makes you happy...not because you have too.
Anywhos,
I'm glad you shared this post with us, thanks.
--------------
Seize the day!
|
|
2006/01/31, 09:17 AM
Congratualtions and noce post, veda!!!
I have been saying it all along, in many ways.. You are in control. period.
Keep it up!
--------------
In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.
- Sir John Lubbock
|
|
2006/01/31, 10:01 AM
Yes you have, asimmer, and you couldn't have been more right! I just finally realized it, you have to give it all because this isn't about doing it halfway, it can't work that way or you never get off the roller coaster ride. It is hard not "SEEING" the results as quick as we want, right now that is the hardest thing for me, but I know that in time I will and it will be worth the wait and I have learned that from people like you that share your experiences but we have to really want to LISTEN because it is important to our success in reaching our goals!
Thanks again, Mogo_67 for your support, we have to remember we can do this if we WANT to!! :)
--------------
Veda
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
Just live life and enjoy it!
|
|
2006/02/09, 11:33 AM
Great Post! Being a writer myself, the length seems natural for us when we have a revelation and have got to share it with someone. I love the passion you have burning to get healthy. That unshakable immoveable passionate burning desire to succeed is what causes us to stay on the journey to sucess and overcome every obsticle. Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. I too once had that revelation and have not lost the fire to succeed. I have lost over 50 pounds in the last couple of years and expect to hit my ideal weight this calander year. Believe me when I say "I see in you the ability to succeed". You have everything inside you that you need. Keep up the Great work. I look foreword to seeing you post your "Remember When.........." A great attitude often equals a great character.
--------------
"Do the right Things" and "Do Things Right". You will succeed.
|
|
2006/02/13, 12:20 PM
Veda i agree with your post. There are reasons/excuses for everything. We as indivisuals needs to understand and label them for what they are.
|
|
2006/02/16, 12:32 PM
raiderfanusa: Back at you with the AWESOME! 50 pounds?! That is tremendous! Thank you for sharing and keep coming here at FT to share, we need inspiration like you!!
zaboo2: sometimes the excuses are things that we just can't seem to get around, but where there is a will there is a way, right!!
--------------
Veda
It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. - Mabel Newcomber
Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. - Napoleon Hill
|
|
2006/05/11, 07:37 AM
thank you
:)
|
|
2006/06/24, 05:14 AM
HI Veda... I see this post is about 6 months old but it is very relevant to what I am going through at this time in my life. You are such a beautiful person... it is like you were typing out my inner most thoughts... get outta my head sis!
|
|
2007/07/24, 04:30 PM
I am so sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, I have a strange schedule and time lapses between too far from my ft visits, but thank you so very much for your post. I have had my ups and downs since that post began, but the past months it has been nearly all ups and I am always having to buy new clothes as they continue to get baggy and that is a wonderful feeling and you will feel it too, just keep thinking positive and rely on the fact that you are absolutely capable of doing WHATEVER you set your mind to! GB, Veda:love:
--------------
Veda
It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. - Mabel Newcomber
Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. - Napoleon Hill
|
|
2007/08/17, 07:09 AM
i feel the same way...thank you for writing that...it was really inspirational...it's things like that that will keep me going!
i have a long haul ahead of me and i know its not going to be easy but im ready for it and actually excited for the first time!
|
|
2007/12/28, 11:46 PM
veda and mojo you guys really inspire me to go full force in to make a life change man i didnt know this web site could be so helpfull keep up the good work guys and stay strong
|
|
2008/01/04, 09:03 AM
I liked this post and you are so very right. If you set your mind to make positive changes you have to be willing to do what it takes in the long haul. Awesome post!!!!!!!!!
|
|
2008/02/24, 03:10 PM
Wow, what a fantastic post.. it's like seeing all my thoughts, excuses and everything I KNOW deep down is true! Im so glad I found this after I only just signed up yesterday. I have for years started, done well for a couple of weeks then stopped because 'something came up' and it takes another couple of weeks or even months before I start again. This time I don't intend to stop. It's quite scary and daunting, but im going to go for it.
Beci
xx
|
|
2008/03/07, 03:35 PM
I can only echo what other people have said. Thank you for the inspiration. I have just this week make the decision that it is time. There is nothing that can stop me. I joined a gym earlier this week and have started working on my nutrition (wow its complicated looking at the whole picture and not just calories or just fat etc). When I joined the gym, I was asked.."why haven't you come in sooner?" Well, I've spent the last month "thinking" about it. But earlier this week something just clicked and I decided to take back my life. I'm ready to make these changes. Your post made me cry, because that was me. But not now.. I'm taking control of things. Thank you for the nice post.
|
|
2008/04/15, 11:24 PM
Hi everyone! I am new to this site - just found it tonight. Like Ninya, I have just joined a gym very recently. I had made lots of excuses before, but I got to the point where I was just fed up with being tired all the time and feeling bad about myself. I plan to watch what I eat and work out at the gym three times a week. I am looking to this site for support to help me stay on track !!
|
|
2008/04/16, 10:51 AM
Good for you, Alygrace!!!
Keep it up and stay motivated by researching aspects of a healthy lifestyle that you want more information on!
Also - anyone you need a boost, just come and post and I am sure that you will get one :)
--------------
Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they\'re yours.
Richard Bach
|
