Hey guys !
You have asked me to write something on the BODY image and so I want to share with you how I lost my last 17 pounds!!!!
After all we often think we should ‘lose weight’ or change our body in some way when we think of how our body looks.
A year after having all my kids, I plateaued at around 10 pounds over my normal body weight. Or so I thought was my normal body weight.
So here’s a short version of how I lost my last 17 pounds:
1. Don’t overeat. (Super easy)
2. Feel all the negative feelings when I don’t overeat. (Super hard)
That’s it. It is extremely simple and also hard at the same time.
It actually used to be hard at first and now its so almost effortless.
So now let me tell you the long version of the same story.
The reason I overate was because I was feeling anxious, bored, overwhelmed, nervous, you name it and I would be eating because of it, to avoid it.
Of course I wasn’t aware of that at the time, not consciously at least.
By doing this work I learned a lot about emotional eating and what it takes to stop overeating.
It required me to be willing to feel super uncomfortable when I wanted to overeat.
I was willing to feel anxious or bored and deprived and NOT eat anything.
Once I was willing to do that my whole life changed.
I was back in charge of my body and what I put in it.
I was no longer at back and call of my feelings, of my bad habits, cravings or mindless eating.
I have lost all the 10 pounds I thought I needed to lose and an extra 7 pounds on top of that just because I decided to feel my feelings instead of avoiding them by stuffing my face.
Today I can truly enjoy my body when I get dressed in the morning and when I go to bed with a happy stomach.
When I pack for vacation I no longer have to dread putting on my swimsuit and have a potbelly sticking out, I am excited to be the size I was when I was 20!
How amazing is that!
I was overweight ( now lots of people may roll their eyes if they know me and they would say I can’t claim that title, but to those people I will say that for a decade I went to bed with the big stomach ache from overeating, which kept me up half of the night, so that i think even a little person can feel overweight and achy and want to lose that weight).
I was over my normal weight and that caused me to beat myself up, put up with the stomach ache, have low self confidence and just in general not feel in charge of my body.
So if you asked me what I have to offer on the subject of ‘body weight’ I would have to say it all starts with your willingness to feel all the uncomfortable feelings.
Your body is simply a reflection of the choices you make when you avoid ‘life’.
Part of my lifestyle now is not eating anything after dinner ( no desert or snacks); I also don’t eat any flour or sugar during the day .
This keeps my hunger scaled back to only require what I need to fuel my body.
I do plan exceptions (a treat planned ahead of time, and never as a response to a craving in the moment), sometimes a birthday cake or a non alcoholic beer. I do that as a practice of not being afraid to consume those foods and being able to still eat them without binging for a week afterwards.
Another big change I have included in the new me is not consuming any alcohol. And let me tell you – life is SO much better without it!
I will talk about that one in my next blog!
Stay tuned!
Natalia
