Cuz I Got a Peaceful, Easy Feeling....

Cause I got a peaceful easy feeling
And I know you won't let me down
'Cause I'm already standing on the ground
I love the Eagles.  And their lyrics are flowing through my head as I sit here preparing TAXES for the extension we filed in April.  And guess what?  I've got a peaceful easy feeling!

Not because I am doing taxes, but because I am being true to my eating plan and authentic to WHO I decided to BECOME 4 years ago. 

A fit and healthy woman.

I think so much has to do with our identity.  Who we want to be.  I decided who I wanted to be and I set my course to DO only those things which THAT person who I wanted to BE would DO.

In years past this was not so.  I would yo-yo diet all over the place, even losing 140 pounds just to gain it back.  And I SO remember what I said to a friend of mine in THAT journey, when I was AT my goal weight.  She had complimented me on my "weight loss" and I had said, out loud to her, "Yes, but I'll probably gain it all back, because I always do that."

BOOM.

So spoken, so done.
So expected, so done.

It was an absolute self-fulfilling prophecy.  And guess what, it came true.

A year later I was the highest I had ever been, at 272 pounds and walking with a cane.

WHAT HAPPENED?

I picked myself up off the floor and I made a DECISION to change my IDENTITY.  I was no longer going to identify myself as a chronic "dieter" who could "lose weight" with the best of them, simply to turn around and gain it all back again as if a switch had been flipped in my brain and changed me from Jekyll into Hyde.

No more of that nonsense.  Seriously, it was nonsense.  You see, I had the power to CREATE the life I wanted.  I had the power to DECIDE who it is I wanted to be, and then BECOME that person.

Now I'm not saying a cat can become a dog.  I'm not saying an apple can become a snake.

I AM saying that we will DO exactly what we EXPECT to do.  And we, in this country, pretty much always get what we really want.  "For where your treasure is your heart will be also."  And my treasure had been....FOOD.  The yummy FOOD.  I pintressed it.  I collected recipes for ooey-gooey things.  I baked Christmas cookies every year and gave them to the neighbors.  I had a zillion baking books for cakes and pies and tarts.  You know the ones, like the Williams and Sonoma beautiful coffee-table display books with the shiny pictures promising sweet tempting things.  I was a foodie.

I changed that. 

I began to IDENTIFY myself as a FIT AND HEALTHY WOMAN.  And I wasn't lying to myself or playing games, I was dead serious.  When I was in a restaurant I adopted the attitude of "what would a fit and healthy woman order at this restaurant?" and then I would order that.  When I put on my walking shoes I would ask myself "what would a fit and healthy woman do today?" and I would propel myself out the door with my favorite music.  At the movie theatre I would ask myself "would a fit and healthy woman buy a large popcorn and a box of dots?" and the answer to that would be no, so I'd have my diet coke and Medifast Chili Nacho Cheese Puffs. 

At wedding receptions and birthday parties I would ask "what would a fit and healthy woman eat?" and I'd bypass the cake, bread and desserts, sticking with my chicken and salad, OR I'd simply eat my Medifast Meal ahead of time and drink water. 

I changed my EXPECTATIONS of myself to do ONLY what a fit and healthy woman would do.  I read Dr. A's Habits of Health and began to adopt them as my own.  I stayed accountable to my Health Coach.  I DID.

I DID.
I DID.
I DID some more.

And now I've maintained a healthy weight for 2 years.  And I DON'T have an itch to scratch which will send me over the edge and back to a class IV morbidly obese woman with a BMI of 47+ because I am not her anymore.  I am a fit and healthy woman, and a fit and healthy woman I will remain.

And there is great peace and joy in the journey, and peace and joy in the process.

Rinse and Repeat!