I Don't Want to Die-------------t

I haven't yapped about weight or dieting lately, and it's for a good reason. It just doesn't have a big place in my thinking anymore. Oh, sure, I think about getting the last pounds off, but i don't dwell on it. I don't sit around telling myself "no" all the time. I remind myself "enough", and it is becoming a habit. I believe you can be a well adjusted individual at any weight, and if you're happy and healthy, then whatever weight you are is the weight you should be! Some of us are just going to be naturally fluffy, and that's just fine. God loves every inch of us, especially when we are diligent about taking care of ourselves. That means not being overly obsessed with anything, including food. Keeping our minds and bodies for His purpose, not ours. That's the real deal.

Making healthy food choices is not hard at all. I once made a list of all the healthy foods I could eat, and I actually love those foods. So wouldn't it make sense that when I got hungry, I would seek out those foods? Well, of course not. That would be too easy, wouldn't it? Or hard, as it turns out. The bulge wants what the bulge wants, and it's never rice cakes and celery. Thinking up choices is easy, writing it down is a piece of cake ( ooh, cake!), but actually following it...now there's a challenge.

So, one way I've dealt with that is to tell myself this: "Hey, you there with your tight waistband, listen up. Put your chins up and really listen. You can have whatever you want. Really. You can eat cake and donuts, chips and fries. Go bananas if you want to, but here's the deal. If you're going to allow yourself to be that out of balance over a food temptation, then be ready to deal with the consequences of that. Oh, yeah, there are consequences of them. I have 8 pounds back that must have really missed me! I really don't want to get in to this topic too deeply, because I've said enough about dieting in the past. The point is, we make our choices and we live with them. We can't whine about weight. It's not like it got there on its own. I'm not even angry with myself. That would be silly. Weight just can't have that kind of clout or we're in for it. If I even catch myself overthinking the weight thing, I know I'm letting it take over. Honestly, I have better things to do!

So, instead of self-denial, I've gone down the consequence route. You want fries? Go ahead. But drop and give me 20. Get on the fantastical elliptical and give me at least 30. Prove to me that you value this body. Start taking care of me and I'll take care of you! Don't put junk into your body and expect good to come out of it! And most importantly, there will be no beating up of self over food issues. We can start over in 5 minutes if we need to. We're going to eat, and we're going to move. It's a simple concept.

We all know the logical side of this, and yet the emotional side of us seems to want to drive the bus. We just have to get this in our spirits and let God help us achieve the level of health he wants for us! If He is number one, then food is a long way down the list for sure.

A couple of friends of mine lost significant amounts of weight, only I didn't realize it until they told me. I was a bit embarrassed that I hadn't been paying attention, I guess. Then I thought more about it. What I notice about these women is not their body sizes. One has beautiful dark skin, hair, and eyes, and I refer to her as a "knockout", because she is just so beautiful! The other has very pretty blonde hair, a nice smile, and pretty blue eyes. I was actually glad that I hadn't noticed their weight loss, because it proved to me that I'm not all that in tune to it after all! I really do notice their faces and personalities more than their bodies, and I was relieved! Now that they pointed it out, of course I can tell they lost weight, and I'm glad for them, especially if it helps them to do the things they couldn't do before. But honestly, they will always be just beautiful to me either way!

And so will YOU!