Happy New Year 2022- Love Life not Food

 I am going back to the day that I first started my weight loss journey

three years ago.  I need inspiration to help me get back the drive I had when I first started getting rid of flour and sugar from my diet.  Something I have learned this past year is that even through I know flour and sugar are not good for me I still like them.  I still want a cookie every once in a while, I still want ice cream once in a while.  Some programs that my subconscious mind is running are what keep me going back to the foods I just want to eat when I want to eat it.  This is my plan for this year.  I want to figure out the program that my subconscious mind is running to take me back to eating the foods that I know are not good for me.  So lets go back in time and see what I said three years ago, to get some inspiration to start 2022 off with some true weight loss inspiration.  

Anyone that knows me even a little knows or should know I have not liked chocolate for 18 years.  People ask me how can you not like chocolate?  I just don't like it anymore.  There was a day I (needed) wanted chocolate everyday of my life.

When I was pregnant with my last child I got so sick off of an Almond Joy no less--- My kids tease my youngest telling him " you ruined chocolate for mom" I tell him "it was the best thing that happened to me."  I tell others I may not eat chocolate but I sure have made up for it in other ways, while I point to the wonderful body I have. HaHa   My son says it really was the coconut that made me sick ( he hates coconut). Anyways what ever it is that you crave, white chocolate, caramel, Ice Cream, donuts, cake, ice cream( yes I know I said this twice) ( these are my go to treats by the way)  or Chocolate.  Whatever you say you love to eat, whatever it is..... why, why, why do we always turn to food?  Why when ever I am happy, sad, angry, content, (you choose a feeling) why do I always turn to food?

A few years ago we had one of our dogs die.  Our other dog was so sad he would sit in the back yard and moan and howl----guess what I did for him.........I took him a treat, yep I filled his pain with food.  So why?  that is the big question I'm sure everyone asks  why do we always turn to food when we have any kind of feeling?

I want you to think about that for a bit...........

Why do you turn to food when you have any kind of feeling?  Why do we think food is the filler for what we are feeling?  Think about that for a few seconds.....














We feed our emotions













Did you know that thoughts create feelings,
feelings drive the action
actions create the result

This is what I am learning day by day.

When I first heard this I thought hum really it makes sense but how do I change my thoughts. What I was asked was "What was your thought when you ate something you know you should not eat."
I said I thought I really don't care I just want to eat this.
So my thought was I don't care,
my feelings were bored,
my action was to eat what I wanted.
My results would never change.  The scale would creep up and I would feel like garbage.

I found out I really just wanted to eat what I wanted and not think of the consequences.  This kind of thinking would not take me where I wanted to go.  Nothing in my life would change.  I would still be heavy, I would still feel awful, and I would slowly be killing my body.

 I then created my mantra it is all over the place at home and school
Love life not food!  I am a healthy eater.

I started telling myself to Be excited: I can do anything I want. I want to eat healthy things.  I always make a plan, sometimes those plans change but  one plan that never changes is no flour, no sugar and no snacks. I try to always be conscious  about what I am putting in my mouth.
So Keep food boring and life exciting.  This is my 4th week with no flour and no sugar.  Here are the changes I see in me
Head is clearer most of the time
I can stay awake longer
sleep is better
body does not hurt as much as it used to
weight loss is slow and steady.

Do I still have cravings?  Yes  Do I still want things I know will make me feel yucky? Yes
So this is what has changed

My thoughts
When a craving comes up
I think,  Do I want this or do I want to keep the commitment to myself.
My feelings content
My action is to not eat what ever I want when I want
My result is all those things that I said before

Head is clearer most of the time
I can stay awake longer
sleep is better
body does not hurt as much as it used to
weight loss is slow and steady.

Something I've learned  is how to process my emotions.  Its ok to feel any feeling I have.  I've spent so many years hiding my emotions except a happy emotion. Happy emotions are always so easy to show to everyone.  The negative emotions are what we try to hide because they really are not fun emotions.  So we try to cover them up.  Find a place to allow you to feel that emotion until it subsides.  Relax into it! Name it (1 word) Find it in your body and feel it.  Picture it!  What does anger look like?

Could you imagine feeling that emotion instead of feeding it with whatever food you choose to try and hide it with?  Guess what if you try to hide it, it will still be there. It will come up to fester when you have a similar situation show up again. Does this mean I never struggle with emotional eating , on the contrary I experience a lot of emotions during the week and I have thoughts like ugh I just want a candy bar.  After that thought happens I stop and think do I really want a candy bar or what is the feeling I am feeling.  I am a school teacher and  most of the time I feel frustrated with my students, with the state department, or maybe other people in my life.  My action is to just feel that feeling and tell my self you don't need a candy bar, you need to feel your feelings. I made a commitment to myself.  I don't really want a candy bar, I just want to feel my feelings and move on.
I know I can do anything I set my mind to!

So flash to January 3, 2022-  This was our first day back at school.  I woke up as usual 4 AM for my exercise and scripture study.  This is the time I decided a long time ago that my exercise and scripture study has to be done or it just won't happen.  My day started off as usual.  I had a great workout and getting ready for work was easy and I was excited to get back and see my students.  Well,,,,, I got to work and four teachers were gone, that meant that I would have to sub in one of the classrooms. Lucky me got 5th grade.  As I was teaching 5th grade, we talked about resolutions.  I told them my resolution was to lose weight.  So I asked them what steps do I need to take to lose weight.  They told me to exercise, and  eat healthy.  Isn't that funny that those are always the things we go to to lose weight.  As my day went on I was feeling over whelmed.  When I got home I saw the cookies that I made for my husband and my feelings of overwhelm lead me to pick up a cookie, it was so good that I ate way to many of them.  So as I sat and thought about that once again I fed my emotion without even thinking about it.  Feeding your emotions leads to mindless eating.  

This is what I am going to do.  When I feel an emotion, that wants to be fed, I am going to ask myself will this empower me?  Will this food reach my weight loss goal.  Will I be able to release the unwanted weight my body is carrying if I eat that food.  

    Another things I have been struggling with is being motivated.  I've thought a lot about how to motivate the unmotivated.  As a teacher I see this all the time.  I have students that  really don't care if they learn to read or not.  I am looking for ways to help motivate them to want to be a better reader.  One thing I've found that helps them is find a story that interest them.  Help them get a buy in to their goal.  What do they want to learn about?  What interest them?

 

So what is my buy in to release those unwanted pounds? #1 I want to feel better. #2 I want a long life with out awful health problems.  #3 I want to play with my grand kids and be around for a long time so I can see them grow up.  

To sum up this pod cast- Find your why you want to accomplish a goal.  What is you buy in for wanting that goal?  Get excited about the goal and visualize it happening.  Find a way to enjoy this journey.  Life is hard but we are strong and we can do hard things.  Show gratitude for what you have and write it down.  Acknowledge the creator and know he will help you with anything you struggle with.  Feel your emotions and let food fuel your body.  We don't need chocolate to help us get through our rough day we need healthy food so we can have a clear and open mind.  We can do this!  

Next week I'll be going back to raising kids and talking about raising kids and eating healthy.  

I'll talk to you next week.