BUT!

as im driving to the office today, i see a thin pretty girl going for a run.... then i am at a stop light and lady in the car next to me is also thin and pretty and is eating a yogurt in her car...

i look at the floor of my car and see hamburger wrappers...

it occurs to me that i shouldnt look at this like "losing weight" which is exactly how i have been looking at it...

its not about losing weight, per-say. i want to live like a skinny person!
its not about "omg i cant have this chicken nugget!" ... its a matter of - would that girl running down the beach be sitting at home and scarfing this nugget?
probably not.

i want to live like the person i want to be.
i want to be that girl who runs in the morning, or the one whose behind the wheel food is a yogurt and not the dollar menu on a whim.

and why havent i been? if thats the person i want to be, why the heck isnt it??
... because ive been lazy and have poor self control. and the only reason i am the way i am not living the way i'd like to be is my own fault.

there is nothing but me hitting that snooze button, or driving into mcdonalds....

i can EASILY live the life of a skinny girl and call it a day - no problem! no one is stopping me from doing it but me.

so thats it!

i want to LIVE like a HEALTHY person!!!

... just a new revelation i wanted to share.

I totally agree with you. I was throwing myself a pity party last night, thinking about all of the "good" food I would have to give up in order to really lose weight. I was really asking myself if I could do it... wouldn't it be easier to just eat like I have been, continue to pack on the pounds, and pretend like I don't care about how I look or feel?

Then I realized that I got this fat by choosing to be this fat. I can blame it on stress, or birth control, or surgery or whatever else I feel like blaming it on, but the truth is, I chose to eat, and be lazy, and not exercise self-control. So, with that in mind, I can also choose to not live this way anymore. It wasn't like God said "sorry, you have to be fat for the rest of your life, but your college roommate gets to be skinny and fit!" No, she could choose to be fat if she wanted to. Just like I can choose to be healthy, fit, and thin if I really want to.

The question I ask myself now is, how badly do I want it?

I totally agree with you 100% on your motivation. That's what it takes, I'm seriously living proof that it works. Change your lifestyle, change the way you eat, change the way you look at food and it can make the biggest difference in the world. And the reason why I love it is because, skinny girls can still have hamburgers & french fries etc, they just do it in moderation. So good luck and I am happy that you came across this notion....So...GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!

Cheercoach, I must admit your ticker brought tears to my eyes. That is just such a wonderful accomplishment and you look beautiful in your pics (the before pic looks nice too BTW).

Oh I totally get this. It's so true.

Choices.

2fat4 (and everyone, really)- But what you must not forget is that "the good stuff" you can't have anymore changes. Soon, the foods that are good for you become "the good stuff". Another poster once mentioned how someone was in amazement that they would never eat fast food again. I used to be like that. Now, you couldn't pay me to touch the stuff because it tastes terrible! It is such a process and evolution. Now it is natural for me to run 5 days a week and not question myself. Now it's easy to choose the salad bar instead of a fast food burger. I'm not perfect, but in a constant state of evolution (hopefully, for the better )

Great post, Kate. Good to see you around again.

I definitely agree - it's about learning to love the way you feel after a yogurt instead of a hamburger. A lot of times when I don't want to workout in the morning or say no to a cookie at work, I think about how I want to be "that girl" ....as in, the healthy one who's always eating right and working out

I think you are right on, miss michelle. I can choose to say "I will have yogurt and FEEL GOOD that I chose to eat this healthy snack over a candy bar" instead of lamenting that I ate yogurt instead of chocolate. Contrary to how many people live/think, we have ownership over our feelings, not our feelings owning us.

I am learning a lot lately about emotional responsibility, and I am trying to apply it to the way I view food. Why do I FEEL like I need that piece of pizza? Is it because I'm really hungry, or because I'm trying to satisfy some craving, or really because I'm bored and can't think of anything else to do? What am I trying to satisfy by choosing fries over fruit?

Has satisfying ourselves with unhealthy food ever worked in the past? No, because we keep coming back for more. Ever notice how someone rarely ever says "gosh, that huge salad was so great, I think I'll have another!" No. They have learned to be satisified with their healthy choices. But you do hear a lot of people (secretly) saying "I think I'll have another slice of pizza," or "maybe just ONE more scoop of ice cream," or "one more brownie won't hurt me." And yet, one more piece turns into 5 pieces. One pizza this weekend turns into another pizza next weekend. We look down at the empty pizza box and wonder how we ate so much pizza. What on earth did we think we would satisfy within ourselves by eating so much?

Changing our attitudes about how we view food is absolutely essential. We will never be satisfied if we constantly think about how we're missing out on the "good stuff," instead of focusing on how the healthy food is benefitting us in every way - fighting cancer, reducing heart disease risk, lowering blood pressure, etc.

If I look at the way my skinny friends eat, versus how I eat, it is a world of difference. yes, they have pizza once in a while, but do they eat half the pie? No way! Do they have Starbucks? Yes - but once a week, not once a day!

I'm with you all completely. I want to eventually become the type of person who craves healthy food over bad. I think it's all about 'training' your body to want certain things. My biggest problem is i always have to be snacking, it seems and i have such a sugar addiction. =(

I love this post! It's given me lots of motivation today...so thank you

I read this post and I sat back and I thought about it... You are right. After reading it a few mins ago I went to my pantry and threw away all of the fattening unhealthy food in my pantry. 3 whole bags. *gasp* They were heaving carrying down 3 flights of stairs plus the flight of stairs to go down to the dumpster... all i could think of is... that could have been on me.

Now all I need to do is not buy any unhealthy food when I go grocery shopping and I'm all set.

You can do it! We all can!

Every change, no matter how small, is a victory.

Tonight I was making my husband's lunch for tomorrow and put some cookies into a bag...normally I would eat two or three cookies right along with it but tonight I decided... NO. I am not going to eat them. What would I gain from eating cookies? Nothing. Nada. Zip! Zilch!

What small change is everyone going to make this week?

yay!!! im so glad other people feel the same way!

horray for healthy choices!!

awesome post, KateRN. I've had the same feelings before, but they've never stuck -- hearing you (and everyone else) talking about it made it very real. Much appreciated; it really hit home!

Honey, don't just LIVE like a healthy person, BE a healthy person!

I really think the difference lies in the above statement. When you are just trying to be like everyone else, once we reach our goals, we tend to stop and just go back to our old ways until we've packed the weight on, then go through losing it all over again. Vicious cycle, I tell ya. But if we ARE everyone else, in making that entire life style change, we can keep it off

And I really believe strongly in how we view ourselves and the people around us. Using positive and affirming words are part of a very strong sense of will power. But hey, I'm that girl standing in front of her fridge that not only mentally argues, but also argues with herself OUT LOUD about the food in there, and whether I should eat it or not, hahahaha.

For me, it's all about avoiding things like diabetes, heart failure, triple bypass surgery, etc!
And to top it off, the cartiledge (especially in my knees and hips) is degenerating, and if I want to avoid having injections or major hip replacements, I MUST LOSE WEIGHT NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS!!!