Saturday, December 17, 2011

food is necessary

You have to eat to survive.

I eat for a lot of different reasons, which I've expressed before.

This diet reminds me how often I turn to food for reasons outside of hunger. I'm bored, stressed, happy, depressed, anxious, lonely, celebratory, socializing...

Any emotion is cause for eating, and hormones too. Food is everywhere and convenient.

Sixteen months ago I started my weight loss journey and was exposed to the reality of the influence food had over my life.

It's true today, too, and it's probably going to be true for most of the days of my life.

My goal is to use food to my advantage, for my health, for survival, for necessity. I want to enjoy it and savor it.

To be honest, I am craving pizza right now. Instead, I ate a medium-sized helping of beef and cabbage soup for dinner.

It's a matter of choice, and one choice leads to another and another until you've created a habit. One small step at a time.

And it makes a difference. I was looking at Facebook pictures last night from two and three years ago and I can't believe the amount of weight I was carrying. It's like looking at a completely different person.

I'm thankful for this process, for the tangible physical evidence and the mental cleansing I gain.

People think I'm crazy for restricting my diet to this degree during the Christmas holiday. But part of weight loss is knowing yourself and knowing your body. I know that if left to my own discretion, I would eat myself into a weight explosion with all the holiday parties and dinner feasts.

So I choose to avoid that, lose weight this holiday season, and be ready in January to start training for my March duathlon.

Here's to health and happy eating.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm so proud of you! Your dedication has been such an encouragement to me.