I strongly believe that there is no weight loss possible without self acceptance. I know it sounds very strange to work on accepting a body you want to change, but I strongly believe that weight loss starts with self-care, not punishment. Accepting our bodies is self-care. By changing the outside, we will eventually change the inside, the way we think about ourselves, and weight loss will follow. This idea is by the way explored in the wonderful essay by writer Malcom Gladwell call The Tipping Point (it is not an essay on weight loss). For example, crime rate dropped in NY city when they changed the environment. Will that work for weight loss too? Time will tell. How will I apply this principle? Here is my plan for today: clean my absolutely revolting wardrobe. Why revolting? Because it is a clothing store in itself: I have clothes from size 10 (college years) to size 20 (after pregnancy), and also a lot of pregnant women clothes. I feel extremely panicky just thinking of getting rid of those clothes. I am a size 16-18 right now, and I hate it: I am thinking, I will go on a crash diet, fit in those college clothes again, why would I get rid of stuff that I will use later, I can't give up loosing weight, and so on.
Here is my pep talk to achieve this difficult task:
-Do I really want to wear vintage clothes anyway, black tight pants and short skirt that belongs to a 20 years old?
-Do I really want to gain weight in order to fit in my size 20, or get pregnant again at my age?
-Do I really want to keep losing my actual fitting clothes in that incredible mess?
-I am really that poor that I can't afford to buy a couple clothes that fits o.k. and that I actually like?
The answer is no. I need this insanity to stop. And in reality, I end up wearing my husband's black tee-shirt over my too big for me pregnancy short.
So my mission today is to get rid of all clothes that are ugly, outdated or not a size 16 or 18.
It is going to hurt. I will keep you posted.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
No more dieting
O.k., let’s put it that way. I have been struggling with my weight since fifteen years.
After giving birth to my second beautiful son, I have 60 pounds to lose.
I did try, a number of times, sometimes with success, a number of diets. The South beach diet, the Atkin diet, the weight watchers, the abs diet, portion control, jogging, weight training, even intuitive eating. All those approaches work, when you do them.
I sure know how to lose weight, but I don't do it. Or I do it and then I sabotage myself and stop. I am not alone. Everybody does. People diet, lose, then stop and gain all the weight back, and then start again.It is the most common and the most absurdic situation in the world.
My thought about this: the failure of dieting is because it forces people to focus on food. And the more they focus on food the more they become obsess with it.
I intend to find another way to do this. So, guess what: I am calling it off. No more dieting. I am done. I have enough. I am making myself miserable by trying all kinds of diets and I am making all kind of people richer, again and again and again. The only thing it accomplishes: making me feel powerless. But I still intend to lose those sixty pounds. MY way. I am getting started now. And my journey does not begin with a meal plan. In fact, it is not beginning with food. It is beginning with the end of self hatred.
How? By facing the truth: I do not like my body and I have proven to myself at several occasion that I have no will power, no courage at all for changing it by dieting.
Knowing that, the only logical thing to do is to accept the body I have right now, after all it created two beautiful children and brought me to all kind of places and cleans the house and cooks for everybody. So now, how to work on self acceptance? Check my next post tomorrow.
After giving birth to my second beautiful son, I have 60 pounds to lose.
I did try, a number of times, sometimes with success, a number of diets. The South beach diet, the Atkin diet, the weight watchers, the abs diet, portion control, jogging, weight training, even intuitive eating. All those approaches work, when you do them.
I sure know how to lose weight, but I don't do it. Or I do it and then I sabotage myself and stop. I am not alone. Everybody does. People diet, lose, then stop and gain all the weight back, and then start again.It is the most common and the most absurdic situation in the world.
My thought about this: the failure of dieting is because it forces people to focus on food. And the more they focus on food the more they become obsess with it.
I intend to find another way to do this. So, guess what: I am calling it off. No more dieting. I am done. I have enough. I am making myself miserable by trying all kinds of diets and I am making all kind of people richer, again and again and again. The only thing it accomplishes: making me feel powerless. But I still intend to lose those sixty pounds. MY way. I am getting started now. And my journey does not begin with a meal plan. In fact, it is not beginning with food. It is beginning with the end of self hatred.
How? By facing the truth: I do not like my body and I have proven to myself at several occasion that I have no will power, no courage at all for changing it by dieting.
Knowing that, the only logical thing to do is to accept the body I have right now, after all it created two beautiful children and brought me to all kind of places and cleans the house and cooks for everybody. So now, how to work on self acceptance? Check my next post tomorrow.
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