Re: Happy Easter!

[Guest guest]

Hi Yuna,

Great list. Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Yuna,

 

What an incredible message! I copied it and printed it out to paste in my

journal.

 

Everything you say is so true and it expresses where I am right now in my

journey. I have been listening to on and off for about a year. In the

beginning it was all about weight loss but as time went on it became more about

respecting myself and my body and loving and accepting me as I am.  And in

accepting myself and learning to like who I am, I have been able to let others

in and discovered that people do like/love me just as I am.

 

Most people don't even see the extra 10-15 pounds and even though my weight loss

struggle has played a major part in my life, I'm sure that if most of my friends

and family were asked to describe me, the weight problem would be the furthest

thing from their mind. I think words like kind, and warm hearted and fun loving

would come up. I don't think that the first thing that would pop up would

be... " ...let's see. First of all, she was overweight and needed to lost x

amount of weight. " It's like when I read everyone's messages. I think of

Constance as kind hearted and hard working and brave and I think of you, Yuna as

athletic and kind and sensitive and as thoughtful and expressive and so

incredibly insightful, etc etc.I do not think about a number on a scale!

 

So, I am dressing better and taking much better care of myself and the negative

thoughts occupy less space in my mind and positive happy thoughts are more

common. I have even come to peace with my rounded belly (most days :-).

As you said, eat as well as you can. I no longer think about what is off limits

but more about what I want to include in my diet. I want to eat at least one raw

salad and two fruits and drink a bottle of water.

 

Finally, I think that's an incredible idea with the deserts at night! You have

found exactly what works for you andThanks so much for sharing Yuna!!

 

 

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter weekend! I had a nice visit with my

sister, but it's always so nice to come back home. It's a long drive to and from

my sis' house, so during the car ride, I spent some time ruminating about IOWL,

my own weight loss struggle, the journey I'm on with all of you, and where I am

now. When I got home, I made a list of what I've learned from and IOWL. I

would like to share it with you.

1. The journey is not just about weight loss, but about improving all aspects of

life. Focusing only on weight loss is to bring back that element of desperation

that is part of the whole diet " hate-yourself-because-you're-flawed " mentality.

I refuse to buy into that mentality anymore.

2. Screw-ups happen. I don't even like the word " screw-up, " because it implies

that you've done something wrong. If you break the law, then fine you

screwed-up. If you ate too much dessert, you simply ate too much dessert. It's

not wrong, morally, ethically, or legally. It just means weight loss takes a

little longer.

3. Live the healthiest life you can ENJOY, not the healthiest life you can

TOLERATE. Anyone can tolerate anything for a short period of time. Find a way to

eat that you can enjoy for the rest of your life. If you don't enjoy what and

how you're eating, it won't work for the long-term.

4. Similar to the above, eat what you like while working WITH your body. I like

to eat dessert after dinner. Even if I've eaten a big dinner and should be full,

my stomach will growl until I eat a little something sweet. Sometimes I ignore

it and just go to bed, but why would I deprive myself of something that I do

enjoy? So, I work with my body. I eat a smaller dinner, and then have a little

something sweet, whether it's a small piece of cake, or some ice cream. I'll eat

it slowly, focusing on how my body (especially my stomach) feels after each

mouthful. I'll stop when satisfied. If I know that I'm going to have something

really decadent, like above-mentioned cake plus ice cream, then I'll eat less

throughout the whole day. There are days when I really don't feel like eating

dessert, so I just forget about it. I could, in theory, stop eating dessert at

night altogether. But then I wouldn't be happy. And if I'm not happy, then it

wouldn't last and I'd

be setting myself up to overdo it. Does eating dessert slow my progress?

Perhaps. But what's slower... losing weight at say 1/2 pound per week

consistently? Or losing 8 pounds in 4 weeks, only to gain it back in 2 days

because I deprived myself and eventually went crazy nuts on the foods I didn't

eat, but wanted to?

5. Sometimes there will be struggle, and that's okay. sometimes reads

letters from listeners whose struggles have seemingly evaporated after listening

to IOWL. Well, I've concluded that they must be aliens. ;-) Or maybe I'm the

alien, because I do still occasionally have a struggle. But this isn't the

all-out tug of war that used to rage inside me. It's more my mouth pushing me to

eat some food that my stomach doesn't want. To help clear the struggle, I will

say to myself, " My mouth wants the taste and texture of [insert food name here],

but my stomach says `no.' " This acknowledges the part of me that wants to eat,

but also affirms my desire to honour my body. 95% of the time after saying this,

I will lose the desire to eat the food. The other 5% of the time... I eat, and

then forget about it. It's not wrong. See #2 above. Oh yes, this phrase also

works well for turning down food that well-meaning individuals try to foist on

you.

6. Feel good now. If I don't feel good about myself now, I won't feel good about

myself when I have the body that I want. Plus, it may be cliché, but now is all

we have. We never know how much time any of us has left. If today were to be my

last day on earth, I don't want to spend it hating myself. There will still be

days when I feel depressed, as emotions ebb and flow; on those days, I will just

do the best that I can.

7. Two combined into one: Acknowledge where you are and know that you don't need

others' approval. I have finally realized that yes, I am already slim. Not as

slim as I was at 10 pounds lighter (obviously), but I am nevertheless. I

resisted that adjective because I felt like trying to lose weight when I was

already slim was wrong. Why did I feel this way? Mostly because I let others'

opinions influence me. When friends, co-workers, or whomever would find out that

I want to lose weight, inevitably, they would make comments like: why do I want

to, I'm crazy for doing so, I'm so lucky to have a fast metabolism (ARGH, how I

hated this one), if only they could be my size, what's wrong with me, etc, etc.

Consequently, I always denied being slim and hated seeing people I hadn't seen

in a while after I lost weight, because of the comments. I felt shallow for

trying to get slimmer for aesthetic reasons, and not because of health issues. I

think this is part of

the reason why I regained the pounds. Now that I have more knowledge and

confidence, I don't feel ashamed for wanting what I want. I also know that I can

effectively handle others' judgments.

I would love to hear what you guys have learned from IOWL too. Please share! We

all have something valuable to share with each other, insights that we may not

be able to see on our own.

With love,

Yuna

To: insideoutweightloss

Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 9:38 PM

Subject: Happy Easter!

[Guest guest]

Oh , you just made my day! I have never been described as " athletic "

before. Wow, I'm all smiles here. :-) Thank YOU, my friend! Thank you too,

for sharing your comments. When I think of you, weight is not even on the

radar! If only we could borrow someone else's eyes to look at ourselves, even

just for a little while.

>

> Yuna,

>  

> What an incredible message! I copied it and printed it out to paste in my

journal.

>  

> Everything you say is so true and it expresses where I am right now in my

journey. I have been listening to on and off for about a year. In the

beginning it was all about weight loss but as time went on it became more about

respecting myself and my body and loving and accepting me as I am.  And in

accepting myself and learning to like who I am, I have been able to let others

in and discovered that people do like/love me just as I am.

>  

> Most people don't even see the extra 10-15 pounds and even though my weight

loss struggle has played a major part in my life, I'm sure that if most of my

friends and family were asked to describe me, the weight problem would be the

furthest thing from their mind. I think words like kind, and warm hearted and

fun loving would come up. I don't think that the first thing that would pop up

would be... " ...let's see. First of all, she was overweight and needed to

lost x amount of weight. " It's like when I read everyone's messages. I think of

Constance as kind hearted and hard working and brave and I think of you, Yuna as

athletic and kind and sensitive and as thoughtful and expressive and so

incredibly insightful, etc etc.I do not think about a number on a scale!

>  

> So, I am dressing better and taking much better care of myself and the

negative thoughts occupy less space in my mind and positive happy thoughts are

more common. I have even come to peace with my rounded belly (most days :-).

> As you said, eat as well as you can. I no longer think about what is off

limits but more about what I want to include in my diet. I want to eat at least

one raw salad and two fruits and drink a bottle of water.

>  

> Finally, I think that's an incredible idea with the deserts at night! You have

found exactly what works for you andThanks so much for sharing Yuna!!

>  

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you for this. What a great idea this is. I may have to do my own.

Thanks for sharing.

SHANNON

>

> Hi Everyone,

>

> I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter weekend! I had a nice visit with

my sister, but it's always so nice to come back home. It's a long drive to and

from my sis' house, so during the car ride, I spent some time ruminating about

IOWL, my own weight loss struggle, the journey I'm on with all of you, and where

I am now. When I got home, I made a list of what I've learned from and

IOWL. I would like to share it with you.

>

> 1. The journey is not just about weight loss, but about improving all aspects

of life. Focusing only on weight loss is to bring back that element of

desperation that is part of the whole diet " hate-yourself-because-you're-flawed "

mentality. I refuse to buy into that mentality anymore.

>

> 2. Screw-ups happen. I don't even like the word " screw-up, " because it

implies that you've done something wrong. If you break the law, then fine you

screwed-up. If you ate too much dessert, you simply ate too much dessert. It's

not wrong, morally, ethically, or legally. It just means weight loss takes a

little longer.

>

> 3. Live the healthiest life you can ENJOY, not the healthiest life you can

TOLERATE. Anyone can tolerate anything for a short period of time. Find a way

to eat that you can enjoy for the rest of your life. If you don't enjoy what

and how you're eating, it won't work for the long-term.

>

> 4. Similar to the above, eat what you like while working WITH your body. I

like to eat dessert after dinner. Even if I've eaten a big dinner and should be

full, my stomach will growl until I eat a little something sweet. Sometimes I

ignore it and just go to bed, but why would I deprive myself of something that I

do enjoy? So, I work with my body. I eat a smaller dinner, and then have a

little something sweet, whether it's a small piece of cake, or some ice cream.

I'll eat it slowly, focusing on how my body (especially my stomach) feels after

each mouthful. I'll stop when satisfied. If I know that I'm going to have

something really decadent, like above-mentioned cake plus ice cream, then I'll

eat less throughout the whole day. There are days when I really don't feel like

eating dessert, so I just forget about it. I could, in theory, stop eating

dessert at night altogether. But then I wouldn't be happy. And if I'm not

happy, then it wouldn't last and I'd be setting myself up to overdo it. Does

eating dessert slow my progress? Perhaps. But what's slower... losing weight

at say 1/2 pound per week consistently? Or losing 8 pounds in 4 weeks, only to

gain it back in 2 days because I deprived myself and eventually went crazy nuts

on the foods I didn't eat, but wanted to?

>

> 5. Sometimes there will be struggle, and that's okay. sometimes reads

letters from listeners whose struggles have seemingly evaporated after listening

to IOWL. Well, I've concluded that they must be aliens. ;-) Or maybe I'm the

alien, because I do still occasionally have a struggle. But this isn't the

all-out tug of war that used to rage inside me. It's more my mouth pushing me

to eat some food that my stomach doesn't want. To help clear the struggle, I

will say to myself, " My mouth wants the taste and texture of [insert food name

here], but my stomach says `no.' " This acknowledges the part of me that wants

to eat, but also affirms my desire to honour my body. 95% of the time after

saying this, I will lose the desire to eat the food. The other 5% of the

time... I eat, and then forget about it. It's not wrong. See #2 above. Oh

yes, this phrase also works well for turning down food that well-meaning

individuals try to foist on you.

>

> 6. Feel good now. If I don't feel good about myself now, I won't feel good

about myself when I have the body that I want. Plus, it may be cliché, but now

is all we have. We never know how much time any of us has left. If today were

to be my last day on earth, I don't want to spend it hating myself. There will

still be days when I feel depressed, as emotions ebb and flow; on those days, I

will just do the best that I can.

>

> 7. Two combined into one: Acknowledge where you are and know that you don't

need others' approval. I have finally realized that yes, I am already slim.

Not as slim as I was at 10 pounds lighter (obviously), but I am nevertheless. I

resisted that adjective because I felt like trying to lose weight when I was

already slim was wrong. Why did I feel this way? Mostly because I let others'

opinions influence me. When friends, co-workers, or whomever would find out

that I want to lose weight, inevitably, they would make comments like: why do I

want to, I'm crazy for doing so, I'm so lucky to have a fast metabolism (ARGH,

how I hated this one), if only they could be my size, what's wrong with me, etc,

etc. Consequently, I always denied being slim and hated seeing people I hadn't

seen in a while after I lost weight, because of the comments. I felt shallow

for trying to get slimmer for aesthetic reasons, and not because of health

issues. I think this is part of the reason why I regained the pounds. Now that

I have more knowledge and confidence, I don't feel ashamed for wanting what I

want. I also know that I can effectively handle others' judgments.

>

> I would love to hear what you guys have learned from IOWL too. Please share!

We all have something valuable to share with each other, insights that we may

not be able to see on our own.

>

> With love,

> Yuna

>