But in attitude and outlook?
If I were to look back at some of my very first posts, I think I would be embarrassed (not to say I won't probably will embarrass myself again any minute now ). I find it hard to believe that the person who started out (what seems like yesterday and eons ago at the same time) as such a whining excuse maker was really me. I've read a couple of posts today that really made me take a look at, not just the old me eating habits, but the old me attitude too. Kaplods and her amazing "in it for the long haul" outlook despite the other physical challenges she's dealing with, and PhotoChick recalling how she had to "eliminate the word can't" from her vocabulary to name the two that stick out in my mind right now.
I seem to have gone through several phases (lane changes?) along the road to better health but, all in all:
I've (finally) figured out that excuses are not reasons, and gone from making excuses - not just about eating or exercising but in a lot of other areas in my life too - to recognizing them for what they are and squashing them before they get said out loud.
From someone who couldn't trust herself with *snack* food (chips, cookies, ice cream, etc.) in the house at all, to someone who already bought Halloween candy because there simply is no fear of it disappearing (several times over) before the 31st (as long as I keep it hidden from DH ) I just have things I'd rather eat than candy now.
From someone who barely bothered to look in the mirror when getting dressed in the morning to someone who wears makeup, curls her hair, and uses hairspray EVERY DAY - even just for a trip to the grocery store (this is huge for me because, more than once, the old me went to the store in whatever sweats I had slept in the night before ).
From someone who would have used her looming unemployment as an excuse to hide in the dark crying in her beer over how no one was going to hire her anyway so there was no point in even applying; to someone who is still 2 months away from the doors closing but has already updated, and distributed her resume (and is secretly more worried about having to change travel plans for the holidays if she gets hired before the end of the year than she is about not finding a job )
(of course) I didn't see it at the time, but I was the sort of person I look at now and feel badly for them that their lives are so miserable. I was the person that most people would look at and think "what a filthy, fat, lazy, slob". Now I'm the person that women approach in the mall and ask what store I got my handbag or shoes from (which both tickles and flabbergasts me at the same time).
I know there was a thread a while back about whether the members who had lost a good deal of weight thought they were different people. As I recall, most said their lives had indeed changed in many ways but they were still basically the same person. I don't think I am the same person at all - I mean, my basic morals, (and warped sense of humor) haven't changed, but every thing else sure seems to have.
Anyone else done complete U-turns?