I saw a book on the Good Morning America show that I cannot wait to read. It is called Fit2 Fat 2Fit by Drew Manning. Drew is a natural fitness junkie and personal trainer who had never been overweight in his life. He felt that in order to really help his clients meet their goals he needed to be able to understand what it was like for them. So for 6 months he “let himself go” he stopped exercising and ate the typical American diet of fast and processed foods. He gained 75 pounds in the 6 months! The interesting part is that he documented his journey. On the GMA show I enjoyed hearing him and his wife talk about the unexpected emotional changes they both experienced and I look forward to reading about them in his book. In my opinion, one thing that is most often missed on the weight loss journey is the emotional changes. So many times you don’t even realize your own emotional state let alone someone else’s battle. Just like Drew, he had never experienced the battle of weight loss and had no idea what his clients were trying to overcome.
The emotions are something you can talk and talk about but until you really experience the journey it is hard to truly believe the difference you feel when you make positive changes. You may also think “then why is it so easy to slip backwards?” My thoughts on that are we so often stand in our own way. Subconsciously we don’t believe we are worth it, we have spent so much time feeling fat and lazy that we have to rebuild that self-esteem to know that we deserve to feel this way. I remember when I first started Weight Watchers I had attended 2 meeting at two different times trying to decide if it was for me and if it was worth the money. The second meeting I was sitting there after class waiting to talk to the presenter and someone came up to me and I started talking about trying to make my decision when she just looked at me and said “Aren’t YOU worth it?” I had never really thought about it that way, that night I decided I was in deed worth it and I joined WW to lose 30 pounds! Sometimes the best advice is so small and you just have to read between the lines. A few of the little pieces of advice that have hit home for me are “Aren’t you worth it?” “Quit sabotaging yourself!” and “Accept it and move on.” The last one came at an inappropriate yet perfect time. There are so many things in life that we dwell on when in fact we cannot move on until we just accept it. That may be the first step in your journey, accepting what and where you are in life and accepting that you are ready to change or move on. This can take us all the way back to the first article of my journey “No Excuses” If you are still making excuses you have not accepted your reality.
I can’t wait to read this and share some of Drew’s lessons.
