When I was at my heaviest weight, I was in the habit of putting myself last. I lost a sense of who I was as a person. I no longer cared about myself. I thought that I did not matter. Instead, I focused on others and what I they needed. I lacked entitlement which is just another way of saying my needs do not matter. I tried to figure out what others wanted from me rather than what I needed from them.
The process of losing weight may put you more in touch with yourself as a special person. This was so true for me. I realized that I had hit rock bottom and unless I focused on myself, I could die. Losing weight took all my effort. I had to put myself first. Little by little, the notion clicked that I was as important as anyone else. When you gain weight, you feel ashamed. Shame leads to feeling that you do not matter. Always remember that you are so valuable. Lets go forward to losing weight!
All of us have had the experience of eating food to help us cope and feel better. You can refer to this as stress eating. Stress eating is a double edged sword; it makes us feel better in the moment, but can also fill us with regrets. You might feel that you have lost control or that you have eaten the wrong things and have strayed from your goals.
Losing weight meant going through a lifestyle change for me. By this I mean, I needed to modify my eating habits and my sedentary ways. I did not realize that changing those things would also effect my outlook on life and my self-esteem. Generally, I see the world more positively now. I use to perceive people as critical and judgmental. I now view people as more engaging and accepting. I feel more connected to people and that gives me a larger sense of purpose.
I have chosen breakfast as my main meal of the day. The reason why I adapted to this habit is I am hungriest in the morning. When I was morbidly obese, I use to eat snacks late at night and have a big dinner which did nothing for my weight loss. Once I eliminated night time binging and enormous dinners, I started to consistently lose weight and began craving more in the AM.
Most woman usually dread summer months. When we expose so much more of our bodies to public view, we may feel nervous about how we appear. Shame and embarrassment can keep us from the beach and other fun in the sun activities. Rather than focus on your appearance, give attention to the excitement and laughter you could be experiencing with your family and friends. Feel the exhilaration of swimming in the pool or ocean.
I would like to confess old eating habits that kept me in secret misery. I use to privately pig out so no one would know how much I am binging. If anyone knew the amount of take out I was devouring I would have died of embarrassment. If there were a family dinner, I would usually make a secret trip to purchase fast food before attending a family gathering. Typically, I would go to Mc Donald’s and lie about where I was going. At my job, I was pretending I was on a diet when I was not.
Snacks play a significant role in your diet because they add variety and are a reward system. They give us that boost of energy when we need it. Here are some of the goodies that I like to nibble on: Greek yogurt with or without fruit, cheese, nuts, coffee, sugar-free gum, vegetables and fruit. Notice that these foods are nutritious as well as tasty.
If there were a quick and easy way of losing weight- we would all be thin. Of course this is not the reality; weight loss is a serious challenge. Talking from my own personal experience, I started to lose weight at the rate of 1-2 pounds a week. I felt disappointed at first, because I wanted to lose about 4 pounds a week. I now know that was un-realistic. Fortunately, I did not get discouraged and continued my game plan of eating healthy, organic foods.
What does it mean to possess the right mindset to drop weight? Many of us want to lose weight, but we only want to lose weight if it requires few sacrifices. I noticed that some people (like myself) want to exercise excessively, but retain their usual poor eating habits. This generally does not help to have a steady, successful weight loss.
I am mindful that weighing in every morning helps me to stay accountable. Having an awareness of my fluctuations in weight helps me to pin point my problem areas with food. When the scale increases, I look at what I ate the day before and pay close attention to what have caused my weight to go up. For instance, cheese is a healthy food, however if you eat too much of it you could gain weight.