Thinking of Starting a Diet for New Year's? Try This One . . .

 Thinking of Starting a Diet for New Year's? Try This One . . .

The other day I was reading a Facebook post by author Anne Lamott about her "Anti-Diet." As I read, my heart was screaming, "Yes! YesI Yes!"
This I have learned in the past 18 months. Body image is in our minds. Question your thoughts about your body. Are they true?

I thought I was fat at age 25 because I had "hit 135 lbs." That made me much fatter when I reached 160 and joined Weight Watchers in 2000. I was back to 160, therefore  fat, when I was working out with an amazing trainer, Bill Heiselman, in 2007.

During the summer of 2013, after reading Marianne Williamson's book A Return to Love three times, my thinking changed. Yes, it took three times, but who cares?! I saw pictures of myself at 135. I was so stick thin skinny, and I had thought I was fat?! How could I ever have thought that tiny, skinny body fat?

Then I saw a school picture from when I was working out with Bill. You could see how toned I was. I love how toned I was. I could bench press 100 lbs and leg press 360. Oh how I loved how strong and toned I was. How could I have ever thought I was fat?!

So that's when the switch in my brain flipped. I stopped beating myself up every time I looked in a mirror, I stopped mentally yelling at my body every time I tried on clothes. And the best thing happened, I stopped comparing myself to every human being on the planet with horrid judging thoughts, "Oh, I'm fatter than her.  Yay, I'm thinner than him."

I found mental peace. My self-abusing brain shut the heck up. All because I realized it was a big fat liar! I wasn't fat at 135, and I wasn't fat at 160, so I probably wasn't fat at my lifetime high weight either. And guess what? I have not dieted, other than avoiding my food allergy triggers, and I have lost weight. Each time I get on the scale with my peaceful brain, and my body that is my body, not trying to be someone else's body, I am down a 1/4 pound or two pounds. Guilt and self abuse weigh a lot!

But I don't get on the scale very often because I no longer own a scale. Why would I keep something in my home that verbally abuses me?

Also, because I'm not trying to stuff down the negative thoughts, I no longer binge. I stop eating when I'm full. Because I no longer eat what I'm sensitive to or allergic to, I no longer crave it.

So, as New Year's Day 2015 comes closer, and you even think about going on a diet, try this diet- the diet of loving self talk. The diet of listening to your body, and exercising when it wants, resting when it wants, eating healthful foods when it's hungry, and stopping when it's no longer hungry. It has been the best and easiest diet of my life. And there are no membership fees or products to buy. ☺️ You are worth it!