Feel the fear and do it anyway...

One of the major things I uncovered on my journey thus far was how I numbed myself with food.  I mean I knew it all along really but the gravity of what I was doing only became apparent in the last 12 months. 

What I uncovered was although I was numbing my pain, fear and saddness, I was also numbing all my other emotions, happiness, joy, elation...  and I realised this when I stopped medicating myself with food I began to really really feel those emotions, I know I have come out of my shell more, I know I feel happier and thus I am a happier person in general, and also find that things that bothered me before don't bother me as much as they used to.  Not to say I don't get bothered, but I like to think I don't sweat as much of the small stuff as I used to.... :)

Food Planning for the Unexpected...

We all know that planning is a great tool when embarking on a healthy lifestyle, it helps us to keep on track, and can help make doing all those things we are supposed to do a little easier.  It's when we get tired, don't plan or find life getting in the way that our planning can fall away and sometimes we do to. 

But there are things we can plan for, for when our plans fail us.  That's a mouthful or an oxymoron, but it's true, we can be prepared for the unexpected.  A little research can turn a nightmare situation into an opportunity to enjoy ourselves but not ruin our efforts.

There's a lot of too and for arguements against fast food and "healthy" fast food options as to whether they really are the better options, all I can say is do a little research for yourself, have a stock pile of options that YOU know will work for you and your goals so when you find yourself with no other choice, well we all know that in reality there is always a choice! ;)  These still might be considered as sometimes foods in Elmo's world, and yours, but you don't have to pick the greasiest, fattiest sometimes food, that leaves you feeling like crap or worse still hungry afterwards!

I've seen my excuses, now what? (How to get over yourself)...

Make sure you've read Excuses, Excuses, Excuses first, as this is like a part 2'er!

So I've been having a little think about my excuses post and I suppose the next logical question would be once you've identified them, how do you put not accepting them into practice. I've had a long hard think about this especially as reading the forum can drive you a little insane with excuse after excuse after excuse just falling out from people. There's a mirad of strategies you can employ different ones work for different people you may have to try one or two before you find the one that hits home for you, but you know what the first thing is that you have to do.... the thing I realised I had to do.... you have to GET OVER YOURSELF. Get out of your own way, stop humming and ahhhing and thinking about all the reasons you have for not doing it or for not succeeding before, get off your arse and just DO IT! Nike were not stupid when they took this up for a slogan.

It may sound harsh but it's really true you have to get over yourself before you can make any steps in moving forward. I realised one day I was just over it, I was sick and tired of being fat, it was making me miserable it wasn't helping reach any of my goals, it certainly wasn't helping me meet someone to share my life with but what it was doing was leading me straight into an early grave or a reality TV show on how one day I woke up and couldn't get out of bed!

I guess you have to find that part of you that wants to be healthy much more than being fat, much more than that momentary feeling of pleasure or comfort that food gives you, you have to find those feelings from somewhere else.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses...

This was a guest blog over at That's Just How I Roll, I've left Jess' comments in because her comments and examples further illustrate my points! :D

Excuses, excuses, excuses.... it took me a long time to realise what mine were, now I see them everywhere in a lot of other people and I get frustrated… oops, I think I’m supposed to be more compassionate! But truly you can only lead a horse to water you can't make it drink... so cliché I know but SO TRUE. A lot of people are so caught up in the next quickest fix they can find, they really don’t want to HEAR the reality of the situation, you just seriously want to shake them up and say if you put half the effort into eating well and exercising than you did in researching and trying to take a crack at the latest fad thing you'd be closer to your goal than you are ever going to be!

Why are we so full of ourselves when it comes to these things, human nature, protection, emotional safety, ignorance, I don't know for sure... I think for me it was a mixture of all of them yet I don’t think I was ignorant I had the knowledge I just didn’t use it. I just know that since I have taken responsibility for my own excuses, it annoys me to see others covered in them. Like a reformed smoker, I guess in part I’m a reformed ex–dieter. What is that thing they say when you have that feeling about a new person you meet that you don't like them, it's usually that you see something in them that you don't like about yourself.... philosophical much?