Healthier Living Support Thread: PART TWO!

Good advice Jess. It's not that I'm not enjoying the food. I made some great dishes, but perhaps I do need to go off plan and eat out and enjoy.

Congrats on the weight loss!

Thanks, I had a wonderful meal yesterday..........and 100 percent healthy!

:balloons: AMEN DEB! BRAVO! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!! :yelclap: :cheers:

Deb, I stepped out of that thread because I felt out of place.

I agree with your post here though. The weight on the scale is but a symptom.

Morning everyone,

I also agree with you Deb,

I think we might have gotten a bit carried away with the losing weight thing. I am guilty of it. I will limit that and focus more on other aspects of the "healthier living thread".

Have a good day, I am off to shovel some snow (great work-out) and study for tonights nursing exam................(yikes!, it's my first one).

Jess

Just finished visiting the weight loss thread, where I opened up my mouth and inserted my none-too-tasty foot in there....and really started a bit of a heated exchange.

At the root of our problems w/weight, we have some deep issues, I believe.

So many of us worry about a number on our scale/tape measure or sales rack.

Maybe we need to pay more attention to the other aspects of our health and wellness. That is why I started this thread. To me, your weight is a PART of who you are, not the whole you. Seems we have interchanageably used the terms "losing weight" with "becoming healthy". I hate to see us go that direction. I have spent a lot of time fighting weight issues all my life.....first w/anorexia and bulimia and massive weight loss in my teens and 20s,and now later, issues with overeating for comfort and dealing with stress and accompanying weight gain that is rather unhealthy.

I have found my weight correlates with my mental/spiritual/emotional health.

Let's not lose sight of those things-----

If we have not addressed "what is eating us" we can't control what we eat---it's about alot more than "you are what you eat"----you eat how you feel. I need to find a way to stop my emotional eating. It's a destructive and protracted struggle in my life I am ready to end!

That is so true and certainly bears repeating, Deb. In fact, I began to get depressed not too long ago over family issues and started eating to kill the emotional pain. The depression has pretty much subsided but the eating goes on....and on....and the least little issue with my family sends me into another tailspin.

So I'm in counseling. Not for weight loss, per se, but to deal with the roots of the weight gain. (Not my family's fault, but more problems equals more stress and I do tend to eat a lot under pressure.)

I'll probably never be "skinny" again, but that's not what being "healthy"--inside and out-- is all about.

Now this is not to undermine anyone else's success with their weight loss goals--I'm absolutely PROUD of you! It's just that for me, on this thread, I come here because whether I'm actively trying to lose weight or old attitudes that keep me stuck in an unhealthy lifestyle, I know I am welcome and encouraged.

You have no idea how much that means to me. So I want to thank you all for being so supportive, no matter where our personal journey is taking us.

It does help me to keep focused when I'd really rather just be a couch potato and watch TV and nosh all day. Especially since I have recently discovered the joys of expanded cable and HDTV.....

But I DID ride my bike for almost a half-hour yesterday.

like you once said before deb, " your story could be mine in so many ways". i am so sorry about your father and the name calling. i too remember my stepfather.......calling me "meatball" and "feces" (in a more derogatory word of course). my mom did little or nothing to support me. needless to say, i grew up in foster care as the state took custody of me and put me in counseling.

i grew up as a bitter and very angry person. through therapy i learned, i was none of the above and that i must love myself before others could do so. i did just that and slowly but surely people began to warm up to me and befriend me. i was always like a wild animal ready to attack and on the defensive side. i am not saying you are like this, but i can understand anyone feeling this way. i also learned to forgive my mother and that man (yes, the man that abused me not only physically but sexually too). i changed so much that you would not never believe today how i used to be. was i wrong? i don't think so now. i think i did not know any better and that behavior was what i learned at home and never knew anything else.

so many people tell me "you are so wise beyond your years". i think life forced me to mature at an early age and not by choice. i didn't want to give up my childhood but oh well..........it is buried in my past. you will never forget your past but you can learn to put it aside and not interfere with your current life. this therapy and new learned behavior not opened my heart, but it opened maybe the biggest door in my life. it motivated me to pursue things i could never even have dreamed about and therapy does work! medication helped me, and i can proudly say i no longer need it.

don't get me wrong, life is not perfect for me and there are days i am so blue i cry myself to sleep.

i definitely understand you and want you to know i am don't say i am sorry because of pity (no way!)..............i truly mean it and you can consider me a shoulder to lean on and a friend. i know i may only be 24, but that should not be an obstacle.

hugs to you deb and angie, :kiss

jessica

Happy new week, healthy living buds! Report from here... scale up half a lb. this morning but will be back at the workout tonight (seemed to not be able to find the time to do one since Wednesday). I really think that I've kept my eating well in check. FH and I also took care of some spiritual health this weekend, dragging ourselves out of bed early yesterday to attend a UU church we visited once in December. The topic was life events, rather apropos as we consider our upcoming wedding. The entire experience of the service was much-needed, I think. It allowed us to enter a community outside of our own little worlds and even those of our family. It gave us new things to think about and discuss. I also thought of you all during the unison benediction, as there is a part in there about taking care of our bodies, as they are a gift. I will bring the program to work tomorrow and post those words, as I found them inspirational.

Jess, congrats on the weight loss! And best of luck on your test today, I know you'll do great! Also, I think that you have made great strides from your past. You are absolutely an inspiration. You will make a wonderful nurse.

Tweety, dieting can make one ornery... maybe give yourself a little reward, and then get back on the horse. You're doing great!

Deb, I have visted the weight loss thread as well, though haven't posted as I don't think they really want to hear from someone griping about 5 lbs. I believe that the spirit of "healthier living" is the one we should strive for, not weight loss specifically. Our bodies and minds are not independent, both work together and both must be nurtured.

Angie, you sound like you have a great attitude on all of this. Great job with the bike, et al.

Sarah, thinking of you today, hon. Hope the biopsy goes well.

Renee, and anyone I may have missed, hello!

You guys are deep today. LOL

I can relate to the self-esteem issues on all fronts from parents at home to peers growing up, to society. I have seen over and over how those issues affect how I treat myself. Only, and only with positive self-esteem and emotional health can I take care of the physical. It all works together with me.

The scale didn't budge this week, but I didn't expect it to. I only hoped to maintain. I'm one pound from my original goal, and six from my revised. I'm beginning to wonder if my revised is posible. But one day at a time.