My philosopy on weight loss used to be "get to work".
I was not particularly negitive about the thought, but I did allow it to overwhelm my life.
This past few weeks I have adopted a new frame of reference based on something I knew, but
perhaps never really learned.
Adventure
Happiness
Controlling for new.
My life has essentially been run by academic and work schedules for the last 9 years.
At the end of undergrad I told everyone,"hey, I spent four years learning Spanish and
I have hardly had a chance to learn the language! I'm overweight, I'm not happy, I'm just
"smarter" according to the University of Michigan." So I purchased a ticket to Bogota,
Colombia to see a friend, and learn Spanish.
In this picture, about a month after getting there I am covered with flour from a festival,
surrounded by sweet friends who don't speak a word of English, and you probably can't see
it but I'm dipping to the side because my pants are falling off of me!!
What sort of crazy diet was I on while I was there?... well, I ate whatever I wanted, but
I was eating new foods, so I ate them slowly to try to understand what was in them instead
of scarfing down a microwave meal and running off with no recollection of what I ate.
I was walking all over the city going to museums, parties, nightclubs.
I was meeting new people, learning so much I thought my brain would explode and
drinking often! This was not a countable lifestyle, this was an abundant lifestyle!
Now this life was not healthy by definition, nor was it sustainable, but my more
structured life lately has carried some important aspects of that summer of my life.
When I let myself LIVE, when I find a way to FEEL the moments, when I do things that
make me so happy that I forget the anxiety that pushes me to eat, THAT is when my pants
start falling off without any diet coach, without any consious effort, and just because
my body responds to my happiness, by looking happier!
I lost two pants sizes that summer, and I just bought a belt and kept on rolling. :)
Lately I have been adding happiness into my life through trying new things as much as
possible.Last night my boyfriend and I went out for a nice dinner, and I thought about
my options as I looked at the menu.
The "healthy" decision is the salad, but I have had that here every time I came
The "anxiety" decision is the crab cakes, but I don't need all that fat in my diet
and it won't make me happy to pig out
The "easy" choice is the shrimp and grits because OMG they are amazing here.
but I've already had them, and this is a chance for me to "control for new."
I chose the pan-seared redfish because I had never had redfish before,
I had never tried redfish before because I had always chose my dinner by one of the
first three crieteria.
Not only was this an amazing dinner, but I thought it had an interesting flavor,
I ate slower, and I was full half way through the meal!
The adventurous choice was the best choice. A little bit of new, a little bit healthy
and definitely memorable. It created happiness in my body.
~I would like to know if anyone else has a fun or interesting challenge for me, food,
goal setting, fitness or fun-based, that has brought joy to your life.~
Any suggestions?