Emotions vs Logic

This last month has been really, really tough. I've been struggling with a lot of food issues that I thought were behind me. Well, struggling and losing the battle, to be perfectly honest. I've gained back about 7 lbs and while that isn't a lot, it is a step in the wrong direction. Seventeen steps, actually, since I should have been losing during this time. But every time I've hit a stumbling block during this journey, I remind myself that there is something to learn from it that I'll be able to pass on to others some day. Every challenge makes me stronger. Every battle, won or lost, provides new insight. My insight this time? Even though I am a very logical person, I am ruled by emotions when it comes to body/weight/food issues. I know I've gained 7 lbs and I know what 7 lbs looks like. But for some reason, when someone took a picture of me at the beach last weekend, I expected it to look like my 'before' pictures. I was literally shocked to look at the picture and see a 'normal' size person. My mind had gone back to 290+ lbs, even if my body didn't come close to that. And, in case you are wondering, yes I do have mirrors in my house. But what I saw reflected in those mirrors was a bloated, depressed, frustrated person. There is no logic to it, but our mind has so much power over how we view things. Fortunately, we can choose to take our thoughts captive. I had a conversation with a dear friend once about how to do that. She joked that it would be nice to have a thought catcher to wear on top of her head. So I made her one! Okay, so there is nothing magical about this baseball cap. But it is a fun reminder that it is a CHOICE we make, each and every time we are faced with negative thoughts: will we listen to them or will we take them captive and speak the truth to ourselves? Personally, I'm ready for some truth, thank you very much.

Weight Loss Myths

I won't pretend to understand what guys think, so I'm only speaking for the girls here. But I would be willing to bet that MOST overweight girls assume they will be beautiful if they could just lose the extra weight. Now, we may not say it out loud, or even think it directly. We just function with that assumption. If we really thought about it, we would realize that there are a LOT of skinny girls who are NOT drop-dead gorgeous. So what happens when we delete the fat and find out that our features are not going to make us America's next top model? I know - here I go with the 'discouraging' news again. I promise my goal is not to discourage you! Rather, I want you to think through WHY you are doing this journey. Be honest with yourself. The truth is, short of an extensive amount of surgery, which I can NOT afford, I will never have a bikini body. So if that is my motivation, I'm in trouble. It is my personal theory that misplaced motivation is key to why so many people struggle to keep the weight off after they lose it. If I went through all this work to look like a model but then I don't look like a model, where is my motivation to work hard to keep it off? But if my motivation is to be healthy, or to be able to hike or swim or bike or run (or whatever I enjoy) then I am in a much better place because I CAN do all those things now. And I look a lot better doing them now than I did at 290 lbs ;)

Newspaper Article

Here is the article about me that ran in the Honolulu Star Advertiser right before the Ragnar.

'Biggest Loser' TV show inspired big weight loss