makeover the MIND!

More than the physical, I think my mind has changed EVEN more throughout my journey...

It's like a transformation that takes place through the mind AND body.  Both must happen in order to find the results of not only weight loss, but changing your life!  Getting healthy isn't about fitting in a pair of jeans you haven't worn since college or about wearing that two piece bathing suit you've been holding on to...it's about SO much more and while it's great to fit into those old clothes or wearing a size you never imagined...it must be deeper in order to last!

For so long I set temporary goals...

I'd say, "I wanna lose 20lbs by July." "I want to finally wear those shorts that haven't fit in months" but it was superficial...

Surface results are temporary, but to stop the yo-yo effect of getting healthy-getting unhealthy-healthy-unhealthy, it takes a transformation of a whole different kind. 

 The mind MUST change.

Rather than setting a, "I want to weigh 125" type of goal or "I will fit into those jeans by ___", set a different type of goal and then another, and another...keep going and never stop!

I've found that it's the ONLY way I've changed my life completely. 

I no longer think about crappy food or what I can't do...

When I was "that" girl, I'd constantly crave bad foods which would turn around and make me crave more bad things, leave me feeling bloated and out of energy which would bring on thoughts of more bad foods, bad habits, etc...

and THAT was my life!

As time passed on my journey, I learned to crave better-for-me foods but still had habits of overeating and indulging at the drop of a hat, so while my workouts were great and on track, I'd sabotage again and again with FOOD...

Today, my mind is transformed and I'm confident in my decisions every day...

I set goals that are long term, ones that I'd surely fail at if I were my former self.  This mindset makes it more difficult to fall off track because I want to attain BIG goals that my body is now willing and able to do when I exercise and fuel properly.  Indulging leaves me feeling gross and I'm turned off by seeing others go wild at the dinner table...

Not because I judge those people but because I remember what it felt like THAT way and I don't want it ever again...especially when I know what it feels like to feel GOOD...the real good, not the temporary fix I craved for so long, but the way life should feel when we take care of our bodies and minds.  I'm worth that, we ALL ARE!  

On our vacation there were temptations all around and my former self would've jumped at the chance to grab a ice cream cone or a bag of popcorn at every pit stop but not anymore...it doesn't even interest me, not because I don't want good tasting indulgences but because it puts me further from my goals and ALWAYS makes me feel bad afterward...it's not worth feeling like that.  My body and mind have changed so those foods don't give me satisfaction as they used to...I have more substance in my life without filling my emotional voids with FOOD.  There's more to life than that and doing that, left me feeling empty and worthless...

why would I want that feeling back in my life??  Why would anyone?  

I have gained a new perspective about the world around me and where the health of our population is headed...and it's scary.  
watching small children ordering sodas like it's water, kids and adults choosing no vegetables yet replacing them with double orders of french fries and potatoes...
On vacation , I watched hundreds of overweight adults restricted (voluntarily) to a motorized scooter throughout the parks, riding around, finding it nearly impossible to do anything other than follow their families...a disability that is out of a person's control is one thing, but to purposely put yourself in that situation?  These people were not elderly, they were YOUNG, overweight and uncomfortable...clearly uncomfortable.  
FOOD matters that much?  That it will take over your life, impair your ability to live and make memories?  Wow.  Not judging because I WAS THERE and I was headed to an ever darker place before I decided once and for all, I didn't want to be a statistic.  I wanted to set a good example for those around me and I wanted to use my degree to HELP PEOPLE...not waste that knowledge, only to fall short on myself and everyone around me!  

But as I saw these things, I wondered how will we change it?  How will we reverse what we've done as a society?  It's scary.  One of the kiosks we stopped at for WATER had water, 6 different sodas and deep fried cheeseburger egg rolls??  What??  and...
the waters were more expensive than the sodas AND the egg rolls!!!!!
I'm confident that we must continue to educate and encourage those around us to find a better way.  To help them understand that it can be better, so much better...
But we need to rally together and find that magic ingredient that WORKS...the key to helping all of us find the healthy person that we've wanted to be for so long...
AND IT STARTS WITH YOU
CHANGING YOUR MIND, MY MIND...ALL OF OUR MINDS.