Last month, while my hubby & I were doing the Kickstarter with Chris & Heidi Powell...I had my 'aha!' moment! I'm sure alot of you reading this right now can relate to that, right? I played every day like most kids...jungle gym, monkey bars, swings, running around the playground, roller skates, skate board, bike riding, swimming...I was an active kid! But, I was also the chunky sister. My Mom put me on my first doctor monitored diet when I was 10 years old and kept sweets and fattening foods away from me. No candy, ice cream, cake, cookies, etc. Lots of fruit, veggies and salads. Still, I stayed chubby! I was part of the 80's crowd so Tab, Fresca & Diet Pepsi were my go-to drinks, lots of salads, and lots of Jackie Sorenson & Richard Simmons aerobics classes! I've tried so many diets, I've lost count. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, TOPS, WeightoLive (Liquid Diet), High Protein/Low Fat, Low Fat/Low Carb, The Cabbage Soup Diet, Weight Loss Caramel Chews, Doctor prescribed pills, OTC pills, laxatives, water pills and starving myself!
One thing I never did though was look inside my heart and say, "Cheree...what's eating at YOU?!"
And THAT was my aha moment this past month! I suddenly realized that when I was eating, even healthy food, I was feeding an emotional issue. Pain, depression, loneliness, frustration, sadness, fear, etc. Instead of true hunger, I actually had the desire to feel something else, be doing something else, or be somewhere else at that very moment, and food really had nothing to do with that emotion! I was feeding the wrong thing to my body. I was craving to fill an emotional void, but stuffing it with food instead. And by doing that, my body wasn't getting what it truly needed. So, it caused a cycle of eating to fill the emotional void, which caused me to gain weight, which made me depressed, and I STILL didn't have my emotional needs met! It's been a lifetime with this vicious circle of destruction, and I'm the one who caused it. So, I sat down and started thinking about how I got here. Here's my story...
For me, my emotional eating is usually from pain. I have progressive MS, and with that comes severe nerve pain and muscle spasms. My illness kept me indoors almost 90% of last year and sitting in a recliner for most of that time. I piled on the weight to my already very heavy body, causing even more pain. This is no excuse, just a reality for me. For others, you can probably relate to emotional eating from job stress, a hectic family life with children and spouse or elderly parents, trying to juggle college and home life at the same time, financial struggles that include affording healthy food, lifelong emotional struggles that are made worse by battles with weight, peer pressure, family & friends who aren't supportive...name your poison, we've all got one!
So, what changed so drastically for me? I have to say that something about having $$ involved this time somehow REALLY made me focus on winning! And by winning, I really don't just mean the cash...'cause I was actually just shy of winning my first DietBet last month with Chris & Heidi Powell. I didn't come away a cash winner, but I lost 18.2 lbs!!! If money was my only interest, I could have gone down the street to one of our town's casinos and won a bet. But, no...this bet was about another kind of winning for me. I needed the cash incentive initially to drive me to take losing weight seriously and not give up so easily. But once I got started and felt good with the choices I was making, it became a SERIOUS adrenaline rush!!! I liked seeing the numbers go down on the scale! My face started to look thinner, my stomach flatter, my hips not touching the sides of the recliner...little victories that really excited me!!! I could FEEL the changes taking place in my body, and it felt FANTASTIC!!! I feel energized, inspired, motivated, capable of doing ANYTHING I set my mind to! And it was all because of a bet I made that I could win...for me. For my health. For my life!
There truly is no greater motivator that seeing results from your own hard work! No matter how small the baby steps are that you take, they are moving you forward in the right direction and in the long run, despite plateaus and back slides that inevitably will happen, you WILL reach your goal...as long as you never give up!!!
I've found my inspiration...ME!!! I am worth everything it's going to take to lose this weight, get healthy and feel WHOLE again! I hope you're ready for the same journey and will join me on the road to success! :)