Happy Easter!

[Guest guest]

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