I have posted it twice in the last day in response to some other folks, so I thought I'd post it here in it's own subject line.

Weight loss is a struggle. For people without extra issues but losing a LOT of weight like 30, 50, 100+ lbs? The journey is long. You are not immune to “weight loss funks” and feeling all “Yargh!” with it sometimes. Something you might not face as much or at all if your total weight loss was smaller – like 5, 10, 20 lbs.

Then for people with extra mental health burdens (self esteem, confidence, anxiety, depression, etc) or extra physical health burdens (hypothyroid, diabetes, PCOS, mobility impairment, etc) it can change the volume of the funks from “Yargh!” to “YARGH!” even if the actual weight loss amount is the same or smaller than the folks above. The extra burdens make it feel so much more frustrating.

We cannot help what we feel when we feel it. We CAN choose how to react to to those feelings and we CAN choose how we talk to ourselves in our heads. And attitude wise? It's like the dog/wolves. The one that wins is the one you feed. The story is below.

When that bad dog starts barking bad thoughts in your head, tell it "BAD DOG! Shut up!" and teach it to heel and obey you. Because YOU are not bad. It's just the bad dog barking its noise making it hard to think straight.

Feed the good dog so it grows strong, your inner cheerleader and builder upper. Do not feed the bad dog, your inner critic and bringer-downer. Let that one grow weak and pale and anemic! He will never disappear, but his barks can be less loud and come few and far between.

The dogs will follow the owner forever but remember YOU lead the pack! YOU train the dogs.

Just throwing it out there as general encouragement for whoever needs it today.

Enjoy!

A.


A Cherokee Legend
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego."

He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Awesome and oh soooooo true!

Very good! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you.

I definitely need to feed my good dog more, and stop letting the bad dog control my moods. Thanks for the post, I'm bookmarking it!

Very true, chickie!

Good one!

Oh, that's a keeper ... and so true! Thanks for posting that for us all here!!!

Love, love, love it... thank you for sharing this!!!

I love it

Well said!

I could not have said it better!

Glad you guys find it helpful. In my life funks, not just in the weight loss related funks, sooner or later I take a step back and go "What a minute! What dog do I REALLY want to be feeding here?"

Good mental health begins with keeping one's thoughts in good order. We all have the two dogs inside. And it really is -- "the one who wins is the one you feed."

I don't expect my life to be perfect, I know I can make mistakes and I do, but I pat myself on the back for trying. And I end up liking my life how it is and I like me in general.

Guess I tend to like to play with the good dog more than the bad one! LOL.

HTH!
A.

Great post. I shared this with my 8 year old son last night, who is always getting into trouble at school, not following directions etc. We talked awhile about what dog he has been feeding, and which one he wants to start (we had a good laugh about his 'bad' dog being a titch obese while his good dog is skin and bones...) and I have my fingers crossed for today!

This is why I love this quote:

"I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances." -Martha Washington

Great post, astrophe.

this is a phenomenal post. i love it. thank you so much for posting this message, as it is something many of us need a reminder about on a daily basis. especially during those aggggrrrgggghhhhhhhh moments.