So a friend of mine asked me what my thoughts on the Paleo "diet" are, and if I would blog about it. So here are my thoughts.
Since deciding to get healthy, I have been making a conscious effort to read more about food & nutrition. While I still have A TON to learn, I am picking up more things here and there. My journey to get healthy has evolved quite a bit over the last two years. Two years ago, my main goal was to log my food and make healthier choices. At that time, healthier choices were adding more salads into the mix, doing more of my own cooking, mixing in some veggies, and essentially eating food that I considered "healthier." There was a time where I wasn't eating breakfast, so when I began to log my food/calories, I was eating Nutrigrain bars. I was also eating a lot of oatmeal, and not the best kind either. I was buying the packaged oatmeal with the variety of flavors. You know, the oatmeal FULL of sugar. Yeah, that's the one. At the time, what I was eating was healthier than my previous diet full of fast food. But while I was eating "healthier" than I had been before, I was still eating things that were really not the best option for me.
As things progressed, I wanted to cut out more of the processed food I was eating, and opt for healthier foods. Around that time my friend Katie and her husband Fonz had joined Crossfit and they were beginning to eat Paleo. Intrigued, I had Katie explain it to me, which lead me to read about it online. I toyed with the idea for awhile before I took the plunge and decided to try it out.
Would I consider myself Paleo?? No, I wouldn't. I'm not quite on that level yet, and I'm not 100% sure that is the right path for me. If anything, I would consider myself more Primal, and somewhat loose at that, though I'm working on it. There is a difference, and I will explain and provide some links as well. Please note, I could be wrong in my explanations here, this is just what I've picked up via internet research. But I consider myself more Primal as I have yet to cut out dairy and grains completely yet. I still have milk from time to time, I love cheese, and I do find myself eating some grains upon occasion.
The thing is, both Paleo & Primal are very similar. What they both have in common, the need to eat REAL food. Both diets cut out processed foods & sugars, and aim for diets with animal protein/fats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Basically if a caveman could have eaten it, it's fair game. There is more to Paleo & Primal, so I've put some links below for your reading pleasure.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz2NCVuYZ18
http://www.foodrenegade.com/why-i-heart-paleo-primal-wapf-diets/
Now to answer your questions as to why I chose to go the more Paleo/Primal route. To me it really just is a no-brainer. Often times before I opted to eat more Paleo/Primal, I would find myself hungry with very little left for my daily calories. As I started to eat more protein, and fill my side dishes with veggies, I was full longer and had less cravings. And honestly, I felt good. When I made the switch toward the Paleo/Primal direction, I was a little hesitant at first, but after about a month or so of it I felt a change. I felt better, which is not surprising since I was eating REAL and better food than I was before.
Another reason why I chose Paleo/Primal... I've seen it work. As I stated above, my friend Katie & her husband Fonz have been doing the Paleo thing as well as Crossfit, and I've seen the success they have had with it. Katie has been working on getting back into the swing of Crossfit & eating a stricter Paleo diet, and has toned up and lost some weight. Fonz on the other hand went into Crossfit & Paleo full force and lost quite a bit of weight. We're talking over a hundred pounds in a ten month time period. So I've seen that, when you really put in the work, you can be successful. So seeing the differences in my friends, and having their support, I decided to go the Paleo/Primal route. And hopefully soon I'll be incorporating a very modified version of Crossfit. But that is a post for another time.
If anyone would like a more in depth blog post about this, I can definitely work on that. As I said, I'm still learning and will share any new information I come across if you want to read it. :)
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Happy Sunday!
Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
Sundays for me are usually pretty busy. Sunday is the beginning of my work week, weigh in day, and also my food prep day. On Sundays I work 3pm-midnight and when I get off I usually go home, catch up on The Walking Dead, and make my food for the week. Tonight will be no different. :)
Last night I had the chance to spend a lovely evening out with some awesome ladies for my friend Katie's birthday. We had a dinner at Zaza Trattoria in St. Charles, which is Italian food. Now, for some of you who don't know, I have a love/hate relationship with pasta. Earlier in the week I checked out their menu so I could plan ahead for the evening. I DID order a pasta dish, and I DID have a couple drinks last night, but I also planned ahead. I knew what I was getting into, and made sure I had the calories to allow myself to have a good time. It's honestly so awesome to see the changes in myself already. If you would have talked to me two years ago, planning ahead was something I didn't do. I would have eaten/drank whatever I wanted without planning ahead, just with the thought of "this is a special occasion." I was the queen of excuses. A bad day for me now is NOWHERE close to a bad day for me two years ago. It's honestly amazing. Also, it helped that we did some walking last night as we did a bar crawl after dinner. It was a lot of fun.
With all of that said, I weighed in today and was down 4.6 lbs for this last week. I'm super happy & proud of my progress! Honestly, the bulk of my success comes from keeping track of my calories, & planning ahead/food prep. There have been times where I didn't log my food, or where I didn't get to prep for the week, and I was not nearly as successful as I could have/should have been. Planning is KEY to any success. Even if you're not Martha Stewart in the kitchen, a little planning goes a long way. For me, I eat a lot of chicken. I know a lot of people who really can't stand chicken, but I am NOT one of those people. I like to sautee it up with some veggies, bake it, there is SO much you can do with it. My newest thing when I bake chicken is to bake it in a foil pouch with some extra virgin olive oil, and I'll throw in a couple tablespoons of pico de gallo or fresh salsa. It comes out nice & moist, with a nice kick to it.
So, for those of you struggling with trying to lose the weight, here is my challenge to you. Log your food. Seriously. Keep a food journal and log your calories. I log my food on MyFitnessPal.com and I use their iPhone app when I'm not at the computer. Be honest with your food logs and give it a month. If you're honest in your logs, and make the effort to eat better, you WILL see a difference. Yeah, logging can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but it is SO worth it!
If you do decide to join MyFitnessPal, feel free to add me on there. I'm KittyCat613! Let's keep each other accountable!
So what are your plans for this week to be successful? The start of a new week means a fresh start! Give this week your best!
Sundays for me are usually pretty busy. Sunday is the beginning of my work week, weigh in day, and also my food prep day. On Sundays I work 3pm-midnight and when I get off I usually go home, catch up on The Walking Dead, and make my food for the week. Tonight will be no different. :)
Last night I had the chance to spend a lovely evening out with some awesome ladies for my friend Katie's birthday. We had a dinner at Zaza Trattoria in St. Charles, which is Italian food. Now, for some of you who don't know, I have a love/hate relationship with pasta. Earlier in the week I checked out their menu so I could plan ahead for the evening. I DID order a pasta dish, and I DID have a couple drinks last night, but I also planned ahead. I knew what I was getting into, and made sure I had the calories to allow myself to have a good time. It's honestly so awesome to see the changes in myself already. If you would have talked to me two years ago, planning ahead was something I didn't do. I would have eaten/drank whatever I wanted without planning ahead, just with the thought of "this is a special occasion." I was the queen of excuses. A bad day for me now is NOWHERE close to a bad day for me two years ago. It's honestly amazing. Also, it helped that we did some walking last night as we did a bar crawl after dinner. It was a lot of fun.
With all of that said, I weighed in today and was down 4.6 lbs for this last week. I'm super happy & proud of my progress! Honestly, the bulk of my success comes from keeping track of my calories, & planning ahead/food prep. There have been times where I didn't log my food, or where I didn't get to prep for the week, and I was not nearly as successful as I could have/should have been. Planning is KEY to any success. Even if you're not Martha Stewart in the kitchen, a little planning goes a long way. For me, I eat a lot of chicken. I know a lot of people who really can't stand chicken, but I am NOT one of those people. I like to sautee it up with some veggies, bake it, there is SO much you can do with it. My newest thing when I bake chicken is to bake it in a foil pouch with some extra virgin olive oil, and I'll throw in a couple tablespoons of pico de gallo or fresh salsa. It comes out nice & moist, with a nice kick to it.
So, for those of you struggling with trying to lose the weight, here is my challenge to you. Log your food. Seriously. Keep a food journal and log your calories. I log my food on MyFitnessPal.com and I use their iPhone app when I'm not at the computer. Be honest with your food logs and give it a month. If you're honest in your logs, and make the effort to eat better, you WILL see a difference. Yeah, logging can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but it is SO worth it!
If you do decide to join MyFitnessPal, feel free to add me on there. I'm KittyCat613! Let's keep each other accountable!
So what are your plans for this week to be successful? The start of a new week means a fresh start! Give this week your best!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
New stuff!
Just a quick blog, although I'll likely end up blogging more later, to say that I added some new tabs here on the blog. You can see the new tabs above. I added an "About" section, as well as a link to my Beyond the Fat Facebook Page and Twitter. I also have a link section so you can take a look at some of my favorite links, and other inspirational sites. So check it out and I will talk to you all later! :)
Monday, March 4, 2013
Things to remember
I was recently tagged in a FaceBook status by one of my great friends, and inspirations, Jenni Whipple! I wanted to share this here because this status just put me back into the groove of things. I had been feeling down, feeling like there were so many people that wanted to see me fail, that I was just out of sorts. I wanted to share the status with you.. so here is it.
"When you find yourself in the middle of that battle between those who want you to fail, those who doubt you or what your dreams mean to you, don't you DARE give into them! Don't you dare! You revisit why you WILL achieve your goals! You look at yourself in the mirror and you look at yourself straight in the eyes..even as hard as that may be, you do it! You do it, and you tell yourself WHY you WILL make those dreams come true. Why you will NOT allow THEM, THEM, THEM, to determine your future or who you are making yourself into! Oh no you will not! You have that control! If you slipped, you made a mistake, you pick yourself back up and dust yourself off, and start going in the right direction again. You are only a failure when you quit and give up, but, even after a "give up" you can pick up where you left off and get at it again. Push those nay sayers out of your life and surround yourself with believers. March with those who hold their heads high..that is who you belong with."
If that doesn't get you motivated to dust yourself off and keep going, I don't know what will. Yes, this journey for me is an uphill battle. Although lately it feels like it's an uphill battle, in the snow, with no shoes on. Haha. There are going to be days where I feel like the world is against me, but I'm not doing this for anyone else but ME. At the end of the day, it is ME who makes the decision whether I win or lose, not anyone else. Yes, having people around you who aren't exactly the most supportive does suck, but that is why you need to hold tightly to those who DO support you and build you up. It is essential for anyone's success to surround yourself with positive, like minded people. So, that is what I have been doing and am currently working on.
It is also important to know that you will always have "haters." Yes, there will be those people in your life who diminish what you're doing or what you have already accomplished. They take pride in making you feel like your accomplishments are invalid. But when you look at the bigger picture, why would anyone want to make you feel bad about something unless it is a valid & great accomplishment? The fact is, there are people who just love to hate anything good in your life. Basically, as long as you have "haters," it's safe to say you're doing something right. LOL. You also have to be careful for sabotagers These are people who eagerly stake a claim as a "supporting roll" in your journey, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty of things, they will always be the first to drag you down.
Who you surround yourself with is SO much more important than people will ever understand. Therefore, always be sure you surround yourself with positive, loving people. It also doesn't hurt to interact with those who have been down the path you're currently on. There is nothing more motivating than seeing someone who was in your shoes at one point, but who succeeded in their journey. Success stories are an AMAZING form of motivation, and the internet is full of them! :)
With that, thanks for reading!
Howdy!
Sorry it's been awhile since my last update. I won't say that I fell off the wagon, but I was slacking a bit. So I'll update you on my present situation.
So the inserts for my Reeboks were a bust. They honestly made my feet hurt even more. I have a very high instep so, when I put them in my shoes, it just made it hard to fit my feet in them. I put them in my shoes before I went to the mall and, on the way there, my feet ached so bad that I ended up taking them out of my shoes before going into the mall.
The thicker socks helped a bit, but I was still left with some blisters on my feet. So my next plan of action, when I have the money to sink into a new pair of kicks, is to go and actually get my feet sized, and get a new pair of shoes. Right now, this option is not feasible for me because I really don't have the cash right now for it. Buying food to eat healthy is far more important at the moment.. so we'll see. I'm hoping to be able to do this soon though, as I haven't been walking in a couple weeks.
As stated before, I had been slacking a bit. I was eating okay, but I was having a bit of a hard time. I'm a stress/emotional eater, and the last two weeks haven't exactly been all that great in my book. Some personal drama caused me to stress a bit, which lead to maybe not the best choices on my plate. I did have a little bit of a gain before I took 2 weeks off from the scale. I am happy to say though, that I am back on track. I weighed in yesterday and, since my last weigh in 2 weeks ago, I'm down 7.4 lbs. So, I am happy with those results.
As far as everything else, I do plan to begin walking again. It may not be in the best shoes for awhile, but I need to get my movement back in. I will also be starting up Crossfit sometime this week, or next week. I'm excited and very nervous. I, of course, will be logging my journey here and I have also created a FaceBook page for my journey. I will post the link to that here once it's up and running in the next couple weeks. I'll be posting progress photos there to show how I'm doing, but those likely won't come until after Crossfit has stuck and I have some progress to show. So maybe around the 6 week mark. :) Either way, I'm excited.
Other than that, life is life. I hope all of you are doing well. Thanks for reading!
So the inserts for my Reeboks were a bust. They honestly made my feet hurt even more. I have a very high instep so, when I put them in my shoes, it just made it hard to fit my feet in them. I put them in my shoes before I went to the mall and, on the way there, my feet ached so bad that I ended up taking them out of my shoes before going into the mall.
The thicker socks helped a bit, but I was still left with some blisters on my feet. So my next plan of action, when I have the money to sink into a new pair of kicks, is to go and actually get my feet sized, and get a new pair of shoes. Right now, this option is not feasible for me because I really don't have the cash right now for it. Buying food to eat healthy is far more important at the moment.. so we'll see. I'm hoping to be able to do this soon though, as I haven't been walking in a couple weeks.
As stated before, I had been slacking a bit. I was eating okay, but I was having a bit of a hard time. I'm a stress/emotional eater, and the last two weeks haven't exactly been all that great in my book. Some personal drama caused me to stress a bit, which lead to maybe not the best choices on my plate. I did have a little bit of a gain before I took 2 weeks off from the scale. I am happy to say though, that I am back on track. I weighed in yesterday and, since my last weigh in 2 weeks ago, I'm down 7.4 lbs. So, I am happy with those results.
As far as everything else, I do plan to begin walking again. It may not be in the best shoes for awhile, but I need to get my movement back in. I will also be starting up Crossfit sometime this week, or next week. I'm excited and very nervous. I, of course, will be logging my journey here and I have also created a FaceBook page for my journey. I will post the link to that here once it's up and running in the next couple weeks. I'll be posting progress photos there to show how I'm doing, but those likely won't come until after Crossfit has stuck and I have some progress to show. So maybe around the 6 week mark. :) Either way, I'm excited.
Other than that, life is life. I hope all of you are doing well. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Some updates
I apologize for not updating you guys on my weigh ins for the last two weeks. Life has been a bit hectic, but I'm back.
So Sunday, February 3, 2013 I weighed in and found that I gained 4 lbs. While it's frustrating to see the scale go up, I know why it happened and I was able to fix it this week. When I weighed in on Sunday (2/10/13) I was down almost 2 lbs (1.8). I know I would have been able to get a better loss had I walked like I had planned, but my blistered feet were killing me.
Thankfully, my feet are all cleared up now, and I purchased some thicker socks and some inserts for my shoes this weekend that I will be trying out tonight. I did end up walking Thursday last week, which felt wonderful. It felt really great to get in that walk. So I'm hoping the thicker socks and the inserts fix the situation I'm having with my Reeboks. The plan for tonight is to get in an hour of walking, and NOT have blisters... haha. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Also, Lent begins tomorrow. I'm not Catholic, but I like the idea of it. A couple years ago I gave up soda for Lent and never drank it again after Lent was done. That was a HUGE milestone for me because I had a serious soda addiction. So I'm trying to think of something I can give up, or something I can do in place of giving something up to better myself for Lent. I had somewhat been toying with the idea of giving up dairy, but I LOVE my cheese and often crave milk.. so I'm not sure that's a good idea. I'll let you know tomorrow what I come up with.
Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope y'all are having a wonderful day! :)
So Sunday, February 3, 2013 I weighed in and found that I gained 4 lbs. While it's frustrating to see the scale go up, I know why it happened and I was able to fix it this week. When I weighed in on Sunday (2/10/13) I was down almost 2 lbs (1.8). I know I would have been able to get a better loss had I walked like I had planned, but my blistered feet were killing me.
Thankfully, my feet are all cleared up now, and I purchased some thicker socks and some inserts for my shoes this weekend that I will be trying out tonight. I did end up walking Thursday last week, which felt wonderful. It felt really great to get in that walk. So I'm hoping the thicker socks and the inserts fix the situation I'm having with my Reeboks. The plan for tonight is to get in an hour of walking, and NOT have blisters... haha. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Also, Lent begins tomorrow. I'm not Catholic, but I like the idea of it. A couple years ago I gave up soda for Lent and never drank it again after Lent was done. That was a HUGE milestone for me because I had a serious soda addiction. So I'm trying to think of something I can give up, or something I can do in place of giving something up to better myself for Lent. I had somewhat been toying with the idea of giving up dairy, but I LOVE my cheese and often crave milk.. so I'm not sure that's a good idea. I'll let you know tomorrow what I come up with.
Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope y'all are having a wonderful day! :)
Deep thoughts with Jamie
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Honestly, I've been on and off working on this entry for the last couple of days. So it's finally here. Sorry if it doesn't exactly flow, I just pretty much have been typing whatever came to mind hoping it would make sense. I will probably be posting another entry shortly about my progress over the last couple of weeks. So stay tuned! :)
A friend of mine shared this article on her FaceBook page recently, and I'm glad she did. Thanks for sharing this Janeida!! Not only is this something I think everyone should read, but I'll tell you why. It's about to get deep in here y'all. I told you when I started this blog that I wanted it to be a place where I could be honest.. so here comes the honesty. You may learn a thing or two about me as well.
First, here is the article. This post probably won't make much sense until you read the article.. so take your time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brittany-gibbons/fat-shaming_b_2584298.html
Okay, so now that you've read it, here goes nothing. Fat shaming is a HUGE thing right now. As was discussed in the article, it's everywhere. I can recall many times watching the evening news and seeing a segment on obesity and they all start off the same way. The news makes a graphic of an overweight person, most of the time with their heads cut off, eating or walking down a crowded city street. Most of the time they zoom in and emphasize the person's larger stomach or how they're walking. I've always thought to myself how angry I would be if I just happened to catch the latest obesity epidemic segment and saw myself in their graphic, haha. Not because of embarrassment, but just the way obese/overweight people are portrayed.
Yes, obesity IS an epidemic. I AM part of the epidemic. I am MORE than aware of this, which is why I'm working to fix my issues. But honestly, my drive to fix the issues was not always there. I'll get into that more later. My issue is the way that obese/overweight people are portrayed.
I'm not sure what person came up with the "if we're cruel to this person, they will lose weight" idea, but whoever did... they are ALL wrong. When did negative reinforcement ever become a way to make someone successfully change their life? I spent my whole childhood being bullied about my weight, and I even deal with it now at the age of 30. Sadly, most of the taunting comes from kids, but you still have some completely immature adults to do it too. I can't tell you how many times I go to the store and you overhear a child saying "Wow Mommy/Daddy, she's big." Often times you will hear the parent correct their child (THANK YOU!), but you would be surprised just how many don't. I'm not even about to dive into parenting, being that I don't have any kids, but making fun of someone does not translate to them losing weight. If anything, it just makes them disconnect more and more from society, rather than getting the help they really need.
Honestly for me, the main foundation in losing weight is having a great support system. Sadly, not everyone has a person or people to back them up on their journey. I can't even begin to explain how critical a good support system is for me. Making a healthy lifestyle change is hard work, especially since the bad habits you're trying to break have likely been around for a long time. Yes, a person needs willpower to get through everything, but knowing you have amazing people supporting you and backing you up makes those changes a little easier to deal with. Honestly, I would be lost without the little support group I have.
Speaking from experience, most obese people have some sort or mental or emotional issue that goes along with their issue. I DO have mental and emotional issues when it comes to my obesity & food. No surprise there. We as people are supposed to eat to fuel our body, but I find that I eat to mask my emotions. I will be the first to admit, I eat my emotions. When I've had a bad day, it's so easy for me to go home and eat. Match that up with boredom eating, and you have yourself a problem. Since I've started my weight loss journey again, I've caught myself on the verge of boredom eating. I wasn't hungry, I wasn't upset... I was bored. Honestly, that was quite a victory for me to be able to see that because now it's more noticeable for me. Now I know to pay attention and how to stop myself from eating when I'm not hungry.
As for emotional eating, that's a doozy of a topic. There is a sort of shame that comes with eating junk when you're my size. We know we don't need the junk food, but in times of stress, it's almost comforting to eat it. I can remember many times where I would stress out, or something would set me off emotionally, and I would find myself hopping in the car and driving to McDonalds or Burger King for a quick fix. It's not because the food was all that great, or would literally fix the problem, but in some crazy way it was comforting. Somehow, sitting in the car eating that Double Cheeseburger or Whopper made me happy for even a brief moment. For that little moment in time, everything was alright. It was the moments following that the shame set in. Many times on my diet I would have moments like this. I would be doing so well, and then something would happen, causing me to make that journey to McDonalds or Burger King. It didn't help that fast food is proven to be addictive... The worst part about all of this was, I hid it. No way was I admitting that I had a momentary lapse in judgement and found myself hitting the drive-thru. That thought of "I failed" entered my head. Usually, when you've had an emotional setback or stressful day, once you've failed the domino effect begins. The thought of "Well, I failed.. so what I do the rest of the day really doesn't matter?" enters your brain. Then the double cheeseburger you just ate is soon accompanied by a large fry and maybe even a milkshake.
The worst part about it all was hiding the issues. I wouldn't log my impulse, I would just pretend it didn't happen. Which honestly, the second you stop being honest with your food logs, you're not holding youself accountable. So even if you do mess up one meal of the day, log it and move on. Make better decisions the rest of the day. As I stated above, it was a very hush hush thing for me. Any evidence of my trip to the drive-thru was quickly discarded and I sure as hell was not about to admit what happened to my friends or family. Not that it was something I would HAVE to tell them anyway, but sometimes I feel if I would have just come clean about it, they may have helped me figure out ways to stop it from happening to begin with. Either way, I've definitely learned from those situations. Do I still have impulses to go get a double cheeseburger and fries some days? YUP, I do. But, I'm working too hard to derail my progress like that to give in to my temptations. I have too many goals to achieve, and a bucket list I would like to start checking things off of.
My point in all of this is, when someone feels ashamed of doing something, they tend to hide it. Name calling someone, or making fun of someone because of their weight is not helping them out. I've heard so many bullies try to take credit for someone's weight loss because they felt that their ridicule of the person helped jumpstart them into it. In my case, the bullying just made me pull away from everyone and be more of a hermit. It didn't jumpstart me into making any changes. It made me feel terrible enough about myself to the point of depression and anxiety. Making fun of someone makes you a bully, end of story.
The biggest impact on my life, and my reasoning to get healthy, was hearing my friends and loved ones express their concern about me not living a long life. When I could see the genuine concern in their eyes that they would lose me, it made me want to get healthy. Not that I didn't think they wanted me around, I guess I just never realized how serious their concern was. Not only that, it made me want to get healthy for myself. So if there is someone in your life that you want to get healthy, don't make fun or them or bully them. Your harsh words will do more damage than good. Talk to them, support them, and help them get on the right path. Positive reinforcement does more than you know!
A friend of mine shared this article on her FaceBook page recently, and I'm glad she did. Thanks for sharing this Janeida!! Not only is this something I think everyone should read, but I'll tell you why. It's about to get deep in here y'all. I told you when I started this blog that I wanted it to be a place where I could be honest.. so here comes the honesty. You may learn a thing or two about me as well.
First, here is the article. This post probably won't make much sense until you read the article.. so take your time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brittany-gibbons/fat-shaming_b_2584298.html
Okay, so now that you've read it, here goes nothing. Fat shaming is a HUGE thing right now. As was discussed in the article, it's everywhere. I can recall many times watching the evening news and seeing a segment on obesity and they all start off the same way. The news makes a graphic of an overweight person, most of the time with their heads cut off, eating or walking down a crowded city street. Most of the time they zoom in and emphasize the person's larger stomach or how they're walking. I've always thought to myself how angry I would be if I just happened to catch the latest obesity epidemic segment and saw myself in their graphic, haha. Not because of embarrassment, but just the way obese/overweight people are portrayed.
Yes, obesity IS an epidemic. I AM part of the epidemic. I am MORE than aware of this, which is why I'm working to fix my issues. But honestly, my drive to fix the issues was not always there. I'll get into that more later. My issue is the way that obese/overweight people are portrayed.
I'm not sure what person came up with the "if we're cruel to this person, they will lose weight" idea, but whoever did... they are ALL wrong. When did negative reinforcement ever become a way to make someone successfully change their life? I spent my whole childhood being bullied about my weight, and I even deal with it now at the age of 30. Sadly, most of the taunting comes from kids, but you still have some completely immature adults to do it too. I can't tell you how many times I go to the store and you overhear a child saying "Wow Mommy/Daddy, she's big." Often times you will hear the parent correct their child (THANK YOU!), but you would be surprised just how many don't. I'm not even about to dive into parenting, being that I don't have any kids, but making fun of someone does not translate to them losing weight. If anything, it just makes them disconnect more and more from society, rather than getting the help they really need.
Honestly for me, the main foundation in losing weight is having a great support system. Sadly, not everyone has a person or people to back them up on their journey. I can't even begin to explain how critical a good support system is for me. Making a healthy lifestyle change is hard work, especially since the bad habits you're trying to break have likely been around for a long time. Yes, a person needs willpower to get through everything, but knowing you have amazing people supporting you and backing you up makes those changes a little easier to deal with. Honestly, I would be lost without the little support group I have.
Speaking from experience, most obese people have some sort or mental or emotional issue that goes along with their issue. I DO have mental and emotional issues when it comes to my obesity & food. No surprise there. We as people are supposed to eat to fuel our body, but I find that I eat to mask my emotions. I will be the first to admit, I eat my emotions. When I've had a bad day, it's so easy for me to go home and eat. Match that up with boredom eating, and you have yourself a problem. Since I've started my weight loss journey again, I've caught myself on the verge of boredom eating. I wasn't hungry, I wasn't upset... I was bored. Honestly, that was quite a victory for me to be able to see that because now it's more noticeable for me. Now I know to pay attention and how to stop myself from eating when I'm not hungry.
As for emotional eating, that's a doozy of a topic. There is a sort of shame that comes with eating junk when you're my size. We know we don't need the junk food, but in times of stress, it's almost comforting to eat it. I can remember many times where I would stress out, or something would set me off emotionally, and I would find myself hopping in the car and driving to McDonalds or Burger King for a quick fix. It's not because the food was all that great, or would literally fix the problem, but in some crazy way it was comforting. Somehow, sitting in the car eating that Double Cheeseburger or Whopper made me happy for even a brief moment. For that little moment in time, everything was alright. It was the moments following that the shame set in. Many times on my diet I would have moments like this. I would be doing so well, and then something would happen, causing me to make that journey to McDonalds or Burger King. It didn't help that fast food is proven to be addictive... The worst part about all of this was, I hid it. No way was I admitting that I had a momentary lapse in judgement and found myself hitting the drive-thru. That thought of "I failed" entered my head. Usually, when you've had an emotional setback or stressful day, once you've failed the domino effect begins. The thought of "Well, I failed.. so what I do the rest of the day really doesn't matter?" enters your brain. Then the double cheeseburger you just ate is soon accompanied by a large fry and maybe even a milkshake.
The worst part about it all was hiding the issues. I wouldn't log my impulse, I would just pretend it didn't happen. Which honestly, the second you stop being honest with your food logs, you're not holding youself accountable. So even if you do mess up one meal of the day, log it and move on. Make better decisions the rest of the day. As I stated above, it was a very hush hush thing for me. Any evidence of my trip to the drive-thru was quickly discarded and I sure as hell was not about to admit what happened to my friends or family. Not that it was something I would HAVE to tell them anyway, but sometimes I feel if I would have just come clean about it, they may have helped me figure out ways to stop it from happening to begin with. Either way, I've definitely learned from those situations. Do I still have impulses to go get a double cheeseburger and fries some days? YUP, I do. But, I'm working too hard to derail my progress like that to give in to my temptations. I have too many goals to achieve, and a bucket list I would like to start checking things off of.
My point in all of this is, when someone feels ashamed of doing something, they tend to hide it. Name calling someone, or making fun of someone because of their weight is not helping them out. I've heard so many bullies try to take credit for someone's weight loss because they felt that their ridicule of the person helped jumpstart them into it. In my case, the bullying just made me pull away from everyone and be more of a hermit. It didn't jumpstart me into making any changes. It made me feel terrible enough about myself to the point of depression and anxiety. Making fun of someone makes you a bully, end of story.
The biggest impact on my life, and my reasoning to get healthy, was hearing my friends and loved ones express their concern about me not living a long life. When I could see the genuine concern in their eyes that they would lose me, it made me want to get healthy. Not that I didn't think they wanted me around, I guess I just never realized how serious their concern was. Not only that, it made me want to get healthy for myself. So if there is someone in your life that you want to get healthy, don't make fun or them or bully them. Your harsh words will do more damage than good. Talk to them, support them, and help them get on the right path. Positive reinforcement does more than you know!
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