Yesterday, while reading my morning e-mail I received an article about the importance of journaling in regards to weight loss success. Even before I could read the text I thought, “NO WAY! I’ve tried keeping food journals for weight loss purposes and I HATED it!” I mean really, who wants to be a slave to the laborious activity of accurately jotting down every single morsel of food and drop of liquid that goes into their mouth. Not to mention having to keep track of the exact times and reasons behind their eating. And then it occurred to me: But, you already are a slave.
1. I’m a slave –shackled to my worry and guilt concerning my ever-increasing weight.
2. I’m a slave to the unhealthy foods that I consume in exorbitant quantities.
3. I’m a slave to my discomfort and ill-ease as I painfully sit in your tight jeans, or when I feel my inner thighs rub, or when my upper back fat hangs over the bra-line area of my tank top!
As I’ve been dieting virtually all my life and exercising in hopes of becoming super fit without drastically changing my eating habits, I’ve gone beyond the point of frustration. I’ve resigned. I’ve giving up on weight loss and simply focus on loving and accepting myself as I am. Doing so has helped my self-esteem yet my desire to be my best self still remains. I do want to be fit and lean. It’s a personal desire and not a fulfillment our society’s ‘standard of beauty’ requirements. I feels good to exercise and to be secure in one’s skin. Yet regardless of how sexy I may feel as I am today, I definitely wouldn’t mind being able to pull it off 100% –like managing to wear something out of Cat Woman’s wardrobe ;0) But then again, I’m tired. Be it with dieting or fighting for the right to be considered attractive even as a ‘fat girl.’ It’s exhausting!
And then it happened, as if the Universe sensed my conflict, I came across a fitness coach’s comments in regards to people being ‘works in progress.’ She went on to use three key words: Decide, Commit and Believe. She stated, “Once you connect to the fact that you want change, you have to commit to the process. You may miss a day of training here and there, or shove a stress doughnut into your mouth, but the only way for you to get back on track is to recommit. Create the change you want.”
‘RECOMMIT!’ That word empowered me. It created a drastic perspective shift. I went from feeling like a weight loss burnout to a potential weight loss success. Just knowing that if I fumbled along the way, I could always renew the promise I’d initially made to myself, “I’m going to become mentally-emotionally-physically-financially healthy no matter how long it takes!”
Of course the next question that popped into my head was: Can I commit?
“Yes, I can. But it has to be for something worthwhile and important.”
“Aren’t you ‘worthwhile and important?’”
“We’ll yeah, but I didn’t see it like that.”
-Perspective shift!
As a semi-vegan, I’m committed to not eating animal flesh. That choice is something I renew on a daily basis. My trigger is in reminding myself that the flesh on the grill or in someone’s plate was once a living creature. It’s easy for me to associate all meats, seafood and eggs with death and decay. Yet I can’t seem to do the same with sugary/white/processed/fatty foods. Intellectually, I know that those types of foods cause illness and subsequently death, if abused. But I’ve not acquired the emotional releasing mechanism necessary for kicking my unhealthy food addiction.
So what’s it going to take? I’m not quite sure but I think making a true commitment to COMPLETE WELLNESS –a total mind-body-spirit connection is imperative. Stephen R. Covey states in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: “… we find two ways to put ourselves in control of our lives immediately. We can make a promise –and keep it. Or we can set a goal –and achieve it. As we make and keep commitments, even small commitments, we begin to establish an inner integrity that gives us the awareness of self-control and the courage and strength to accept more of the responsibility for our own lives. By making and keeping promises to others, and ourselves little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods. The power to make and keep commitments to ourselves is the essence of developing the basic habits of effectiveness. Knowledge, skill, and desire are all within our control. We work on any one to improve the balance of the three. As the area of intersection becomes larger, we more deeply internalize the principles upon which the habits are based and create the strength of character to move us in a balanced way toward increasing effectiveness in our lives.’
Will keeping a weight loss journal, strengthen my character or create a balanced approach to increased effectiveness? Not entirely, but I think it can play a significant role if I tweak it a bit. This week while attending a coaching class, I learned the difference between a client who is ‘trying to reach their goal’ and a client that is ‘committed to his/her reaching their goal.’ Trying means that the client is only attempting to reach his/her goal without doing all that is necessary to achieve it. But a client that makes a commitment binds him/herself to his/her objective in terms of it being a promise or a pledge.
For years I’ve tried to ‘get thin.’ But I wasn’t committing to it holistically. Making a promise to become ‘whole’ is much more liberating and strengthening than simply wanting to lose excess weight. Be it committing to a single relationship, getting a professional coaching certification, or sticking to a wellness program, for me 2008 is proving to be the year that I must rise to the challenge of a complete transformation. It is a challenge that I must carry out with courage, determination, enthusiasm and poise. Therefore, I won’t waste another minute of this New Year feeling bad about myself, uncomfortable in my clothing, or stressing about the upcoming spring and summer seasons.
“Do I wear a bathing suit –and feel exposed to critical eyes.” OR
“Do I burn up in this black t-shirt and jeans that’s hiding my flabby stomach and thighs?”
The answer : “Do whatever it takes to be thrilled with who you are without losing sight of what is important: mind-body-spirit balance and personal integrity. So with all that said, it’s time to take a giant step toward total health and fitness by having this post be the first entry of my Complete Wellness Journal –the tweaked version of a weight loss food log.
