Friday, October 7, 2011

Do Something For YOU


A Facebook friend of mine posted this on her wall and I felt it was important to share. I still remember the moment in September 2009 when I realized that I was fat. And if I was being totally honest with myself, I was not just fat, but according to my BMI, I was obese.

I used to try to hide myself. I'd tie a long sleeve shirt around my waist to hide my bottom half. I'd wear baggy clothes, hoping that I'd look more shapeless. I'd wear only black so that I would not draw attention to myself. I was embarrassed of my own body.

So you're probably wondering why I didn't choose to lose the weight sooner. I never really ate much. My mom always said that I "ate like a bird". My family thought I had a thyroid problem or that I was diabetic. My doctor ran those tests. They came back normal. The problem wasn't the amount of food that I ate in a day. It was the choices that I made. I never ate breakfast. I skipped lunch and would snack on potato chips. Sometimes, I would even skip dinner for a bowl of ice cream with pretzels to dip in it.

My husband bought an electronic scale for himself around September 2009. I didn't actually know how much I weighed. I had an idea, but that was it. I avoided the scale for a couple days then decided I needed to know. I stepped on the scale. I weighed about 30 pounds more than I thought I did! I was 55 pounds away from a healthy weight for my height!

The "sticker"/photo/saying that I posted at the top of this post reminds me of the internal conversation that I had with myself when I decided to lose the weight. I made the change for myself. I no longer wanted my weight to determine my happiness, my self worth, my future.

Losing weight is hard. Keeping it off is hard too. BUT feeling good about yourself is priceless.

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