Jillygirl0220 wrote: »

Good day today
Exercise: 60 minutes (stationary bike/stretching & toning/lifting)
Tracking: yes
w/in budget: yes

I used to really buy into the whole "you must lose weight mentality" in my younger years - must lose weight to fit into a certain size, to please my man, to not feel so blobby when out in public, etc. . I found success when I focused on my need (for health) and how much I love physical movement. 130 lbs of weight loss later (8 years later), I still love working it out. I just want to lose 20 more then keep my focus on healthy living as I have just entered my 6th decade this year - yay me!

Thanks all for this forum and all the great & positive support - - you all rock!

biketheworld wrote: »

Many of us here on the UAC are fans of the Half Size Me podcast, hosted by Heather Robertson. If you’re not familiar with her, I put a short bio in a spoiler – along with some personal reasons why I am such a fan.

Heather Robertson is the mother of 3, who at one time weighed 340 pounds. She spent years yo yo dieting, using all the common and readily available fad diets. In high school she lost 80 pounds in 6 months time, only to put it all back on plus more.
She realized that although she was great at losing weight, she was terrible at maintaining and vowed to try a new approach – which was do lose it in a slow, sustainable way, and learn to maintain along the way.
It took her about 5 years (including 3 pregnancies) but she reached her goal weight in January 2012 and began her podcast in February of 2012. I couldn’t find how many subscribers she has – but she has 1900 reviews with a rating of 4.8. She’s coached hundreds of clients, and also has a YouTube channel with almost 8,000 followers.
The first couple times I listened to her podcast, I thought “big deal.” And then I listened to Episode #469 on a week when I was discouraged and considering quitting (yet AGAIN). It was a game changer for me. My approach and attitude about losing weight and becoming healthy was transformed. I’m losing weight really slow, sometimes I sit in a 3 pound range for a month or more at a time. But, I’m CONTENT with losing it slow because I understand THIS is sustainable. I’m not starving myself, I’m not setting goals that are impossible to achieve. If I never lose another pound, I’ll celebrate the 30 I’ve lost and celebrate that I didn’t yo-yo up and above where I started.

She recently recorded her 500th episode and to celebrate, put together six “golden nuggets” that she believes to be the most important truths she’s learned both personally and professionally. They are her observations of the commonalities and pitfalls that cause people to self-sabotage or be knocked off course.

I think these nuggets of truth are helpful no matter where you are on your journey. Hopefully, they’ll either strengthen your resolve to continue. OR, if you’re in the slumps, discouraged, and thinking of quitting – these truths will encourage you to stay the course.

So….we’ll spend the next six days looking at these nuggets of truth.

“Having” to do something implies an obligation, debt, vow, or contract. It implies that losing weight is a debt that you MUST fulfill. She heard the phrase “you have to lose weight” both from others and her own brain for years – and it sounded like “you have to lose weight in order to be worthy.”

An “ah-ha” moment came when her children were young and she was stressed trying to attend every playdate, every party, every activity. Her husband told her “you don’t HAVE to do all this” and it freed her from the false idea that being a good mom meant meeting someone else’s expectations. And then she realized if she had that flexibility with her children why couldn’t she extend that to herself.

She realized that losing weight isn’t a prison sentence. Her attitude changed from being forced to do something by someone else’s standards, to finally being able to create standards for herself.

And then, because she removed the phrase “HAVE TO” from her vocabulary, it freed her to CHOOSE to adapt a healthy lifestyle. And then, because it was no longer a burden – it gave her 100% responsibility for her choices. She was free to WANT to lose weight.

I’ll admit, this first “golden nugget” was a little hard for me because I can think of all kinds of reasons I “have” to lose weight. But the bottom line is that losing weight and getting healthy is always a choice. No one holds a gun to our head and says “hand me 50 pounds or I’ll shoot.”

We are all on different phases of our “get healthy” journey. Has the “have to” belief played into your reasons for your story? How do you feel about this first nugget. Is it a game changer? Old news? Agree or disagree? I’m anxious to hear what you think and how this one truth may affect how you look at this process.