Posted by Amy | Posted in Having It All, Mind Games | Posted on 14-02-2011
Tags: Fab Girl, Fat Girl, Fit Girl, Mother Nature
@LeavingFatville is a Twitter personality I just adore. And of course, she has a blog too. She recently posted about feeling all knocked down over a recent weight gain. In blogger-confessional mode, she came clean about letting circumstances get the best of her and “piling fried chicken on my plate like it’s going out of style.”
This was my response to that post:
So, I have the answer for you. It’s hard because you’ve already decided that you are not a success. It’s hard because you’ve decided it is hard.
Every month I say “I don’t lose weight the week I have my period”. And guess what? I don’t lose weight the week of my period. My period rolls around, and since I’ve already decided that I’m not going to lose weight, it’s perfectly reasonable to eat 2 bags of M&Ms. Since I’m not going to lose weight anyway, yeah, I’ll have thirds on pasta tonight. I’ve already made the choice so all of my behavior AND my circumstances fall in line with that.
Yeah, so you had a bad week. Stuff happened, and you already have this very comfortable set of behaviors and thoughts in place to fall back on. So that’s what you do. And that’s what you will do until you make the choice to do something else. And it is as easy as making a choice, like choosing between red socks or blue socks.
Here’s the kicker that will twist your noodle – there’s nothing wrong.
There’s nothing wrong with making choices that lead to a 5lb gain. Those choices, behaviors and thoughts that got you to a gain are all perfectly OK. There’s nothing wrong with gaining 5lbs. Nothing. The reason you feel its wrong and hard and all the other negative adjectives you can come up with is because you’re comparing your actual real present with fictional story doesn’t exist.
You are who you are right at this very second, and that person is perfect in this very second. The next second is an opportunity for you to choose who you want to be. So who are you going to choose?
It all comes down to choice. A choice about who we are in our lives. And there’s nothing inherently wrong about our choices AND we can always choose something different.
So when Mother Nature visits, and I choose to be crappy and miserable and drown in chocolate, there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s nothing inherently “BAD” about it.
It’s not wrong AND it’s not productive given my long term goals. OK, get that — It’s not wrong AND it’s not productive.
LeavingFatville wrote “I’m stepping on the scale for the sheer gluttony of making myself see how badly I’m treating myself” and she tagged this with “Pity Party”. That just about made me want to cry (or slap her silly but seeing as there’s a country between us, that’s not realistic). She had an unsatisfying week and gained weight. There’s nothing to beat yourself up over. When you make choices that are no longer satisfying, guess what? MAKE DIFFERENT CHOICES!
I’m about a week or so away from Mother Nature’s little visit and I choose to make different choices this month. I might still fall into chocolate and gain weight, but it will be a choice that I make knowing it has consequences. I choose how my life is going to go.
What do you choose?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by amynowacoski and Leaving Fatville, Amy. Amy said: Talk to the Hand Mother Nature – http://bit.ly/i1ef0l today I'm choosing fun! [...]
Ohhhh! This is a tough one! I have learn to give myself the slack needed when the scale goes up and work hard to not use Mother Nature as an excuse for poor eating. My body LOVES to retain fluid and I remind myself once a month that it’s just fluid. I usually am rewarded with a big loss the following week. I loved your comment about accepting who we are in this very second. Thanks for the helpful reminder.
I could type a whole long post as to how good the above is and how it made me feel, but I’ll just say this:
I needed this today. Thanks.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post – I’m a first time visitor and can’t wait to read through the rest of your blog. We are all in charge of our own destinies whether we realize it or not and this was such a great reminder of that fact. Keep up the great work Amy!!
[...] sure do LOVE LOVE LOVE the Just Running blog and especially this post! Thanks Amy for putting this out there and especially for the great reminder that we are all in [...]
This was an awesome post! Seriously. I think it was just the kick in the pants I’ve been needing as of late. Boy oh boy have I been struggling for a couple of months trying to get my mind right, trying to stay motivated, trying to stay on track…and really, you’re right. It all boils down to ONE choice, THE choice at that very moment. Thanks for the kick in the pants!
I am always willing to give a kick in the pants! hm, I wonder if I can kick myself in the pants! Maybe after a couple more yoga classes!
I love this! I am having such a blog-crush on you. You have a fantastic attitude and I love your response to @leavingfatville’s self-beatdown.
a blog crush??? oh you make me blush!
[...] been in the head space of ‘choice‘ and ‘transformation‘ lately. And it really is as simple as declaring who you want to be and backing that up with [...]