What I've learned....................

channamarie

I have only been with MFP for a few weeks but like so many others, I have been struggling with my weight for years. It took a very long time for me to understand my weight problems. When something good happened in my life, I lost weight. When something bad happened, i gained weight. You would think I would have realized the connection but it wasn't until fairly recently that I actually did come to terms with the fact that I am an emotional eater.
I am a VERY self concious person and always have been even though you wouldn't know it to talk to me. As a teenager, I would go out with my friends and the whole time, I would bee "sizing them up". Picking out the things I liked about them that I didn't like about me. Into adulthood, I would get depressed over my weight extremely easily and comfort myself with anything I could find in the fridge. As I got larger and larger, I would eat more and more.
A few months ago as I was sitting down watching TV with a king size Mr.Big bar in my hand, I looked at the woman on the screen and thought to myself, "why can't I look like that"? Then I looked at the chocolate bar. It sounds strange but that is when it all came reveling in on me at once. Not only did I need to make a lifestyle change, I needed a Self esteem lifestlye change.
A few times I have come across posts on the boards here of people beating hemselves up over the way they look, what they eat, calling themselves fat and ugly and I truly feel for them. I was them. Somedays I still am them. If you are one of these people please take a moment and think about these things.............
1, You are not ugly.
2, If you are overweight, you are in the right place at MFP. Remember we are here to help and support you in every way we can.
3, Age is a number and a number only. If you are 60 years old and want to put purple streaks in your hair...DO IT. If you look in the mirror and smile, that is all that matters.
4, Make time for YOU. Your family loves you and you love your family but they want you to be happy. If taking a sauna and a bubblebath refreshes you DO IT.
5,No matter what size you are, what you feel you look like, take a minute everyday to find something you like about yourself. You will find in time, as you continue to use the MFP program, that this gets easier and easier.
I AM PERECTLY ME
YOU ARE PERFECTLY YOU
Good luck to you all

jilleebean777

I absolutely LOVE and agree with this post 100%. I too have recently come to terms with my emotional eating. I knew in the past I had the issue, but never did anything to work on fixing it. I have recently purchased a few books off of amazon that will help (well are supposed to help) emotional eating and how to change your mind set to avoid it. I'm hoping to at least get an idea/insight of why I do it, or at least assist in keeping it at bay so that I can figure it out.

I know the feeling of the "wow I wish..." as well, sitting watching "The Biggest Loser" eating a bowl of icecream sounds pretty wrong, but I was there. Thinking the whole time, I wish I could do that...well I CAN!! and I WILL!!

I hope that you are liking this site, I just joined as well, and so far so good....