Losing weight is not just about food choices, calorie counting or stacking up the minutes on an elliptical. Everyone has heard the myth that willpower is everything, but now fitness experts are discussing “want power.” "Willpower is defined as the mental strength to set limits for yourself. Want power is your desire and motivation-the forces that drive you to behave in a certain way" (Rippe and Weight Watchers, 2005, p. 56).
Your motivation to get to a healthy weight and maintain it, is usually caused by something. It could be an event coming up (good thing no one organized our high school reunion) or a comment about the way you look. In my case the event that made me want to lose weight was the pictures I erased off of my FB page that showed a rather plump Colleen next to a row of beautiful, thin girls. Sorry Caitlin, your wedding was beautiful and I am very happy for you but your pictures are not going on my page. I'll need you to renew your vows in a couple of months so that I can look better in your photos. Thanks!
Today a group of friends and I discussed how we want to look different than we do now. We each found a flaw in ourselves that no one else saw. We were forgetting to be happy with our bodies, even though the figure can be the first to go when life (in this case, babies) get in the way. So I know I write about how unhappy I can be with my weight and physical appearance, but I can’t help but wonder if I will look back at pictures of myself today and think “damn I looked good.” So I think I’ll try to change my mindset and even though I know I have work to do to get to a healthy weight, I am going to try to be happy with myself in the process. I don’t want to miss pictures of Isa and I on Easter because I was too disappointed in my belly (read: myself) to take pictures with her. I am going to try to be happy so that I don’t miss out on life. I want to be confident in pictures and not regret them like the ones taken at Caitlin’s wedding.
Colleen - I am totally with you on wanting to change how I look in pictures and events motivating changes (my brother's wedding coming up in a year and I would like to be my goal weight). But when I got pregnant with my first I took a vow to never avoid pictures because I didn't want to lose the memories. I had a lifetime of my mom never agreeing to take family pictures because she needed "six" more months to reach her goal!
ReplyDeleteThats what I keep doing, Isa is a year old and my mom yelled at me for not taking pictures with her. She said Isa would want to see what her parents looked like when she was a baby. Unfortinately for her there are not many but that can change
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