Transformation Tuesday

It is a very powerful thing to have pictures like these…at times when its been a few days since the number on the scale has changed and I’m feeling stagnant, I need reminders like this. And these reminders turn into motivation to keep going! Before and after (or during, as the case may be) pictures are my jam! I have been pouring over them on Instagram and meeting new people on similar journeys or those who have almost reached their goal weight and who are keeping it off and living a healthy and thriving lifestyle. They inspire me. #transformationtuesday has been one of my favorite hashtags on Instagram lately, so I thought I’d share a couple transformation images of my own to chronicle the journey and show my progress.

The picture on the right is from October 2012. I just just started working at Horizon Credit Union. The picture on the left is from a couple weeks ago. I see the changes in strange places like my nose; my bra fits so different, and I’ve lost at least a half size in my feet. That jacket on the left picture…I can wrap it around my front now. I feel like my eyes sparkle more now.

Picture on the right is from May 2013, just before we made the change and the one on the left is from last week. I have a much more pronounced chin, and I can almost see my collarbone! Yay! This encourages me to keep on going, and maybe it can encourage others too. Set your mind to something, do the work and you’ll see and feel the results. And take pictures!! I think its so important to have these to look back on and compare. I’m sure grateful for them.

Something I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on in regards to my health is the reason that I put on the weight in the first place. I want to break this physical cycle, so I need to understand the mental one too. We live in such a food-centric culture, where everything revolves around food and meals. We celebrate with food, we comfort with food, we eat when we’re bored, we eat when we’re sad, we eat to gratify our emotions….we rarely eat because we’re hungry. It is so common to never experience that true need for food because we never stop eating. But in these last few months I have come to really understand that food is a fuel, and I need it to thrive and be healthy and active, but I need another outlet for my emotions.

“I must learn how to eat to live, not live to eat.” –Tweet this!

I have been doing some reading on the topic and there were a few questions in a book that really hit home for me: Can you find a different hobby when you’re bored, instead of eating? Can you deal with stress without using food as a pacifier or distraction? Can you create happiness without having to eat?

There have been so many times that I use my “celebrating the everyday” motto as an excuse to eat and justify bad food choices. I need to break this cycle!

What it comes down to for me, and I think for everyone, is to understand hunger and need and how food fuels the body. So I am working on developing a genuine desire to eat less. This is where HCG protocol comes in so handy. Because of the effect the HCG has on you, you can eat significantly less food than you ever have before and really test your body. It has given me a chance to retrain my mind so I think in terms of physical need instead of cultural norm. Just because its “lunch time” doesn’t mean I have to eat if I’m not hungry. This break in eating has given me a chance to rethink the role that eating (the act itself) has in my life, and to develop different coping mechanisms and build emotional strength.

This is huge to me.

I know that my desires to eat in the past have had nothing to do with hunger. I am so susceptible to commercials, advertising, seeing others eating, thinking that you have to get popcorn at the theater…I have to retrain my brain to recognize true physical hunger to control these desires, which I know will ultimately result in me reaching my goal: thriving in health.

I’m working on this…letting my emotional wounds heal, breaking the cycle of overeating to compensate for those wounds, and eating less because I want to, not just because it will result in weight-loss.

Glad for these lessons and the results. Thanks for letting me share.

Is this something you struggle with too?
What things have helped you better understand your hunger and motivation to eat?