another 12 week program.
another diet.
another promise that fails to deliver.
another thing to fail at.
Will power, motivation, good intentions, goal setting, on and on and on it goes.
We are bombarded with images of before and after shots that portray individuals transforming their bodies from unhealthy, miserable, "one foot in the grave" to healthy, happy, "life is amazing". All you need to achieve the same results is "this" or "that" or "new toy" or "latest pill containing the extract of a fruit from deepest, darkest Africa".
Do you know what? NOTHING will work if YOU don't CHANGE.... I'm not talking about changing your diet or starting to exercise, I'm talking about YOU changing how you think, feel and see yourself.
Going on a diet and losing 10,20,30 kilos won't make you like yourself anymore. Because going on a diet doesn't challenge your thoughts, your words, your actions when it comes to your self worth.
What happens if you eat something that isn't part of the diet? What happens when you are so bloody hungry on that diet that you sit down and binge on whatever you can get your hands on to eat?
Guilt sets in and you HATE yourself for not having the willpower to stick to the diet.....
" I'm a failure"
What happens when you are stressed out and you haven't learnt strategies to deal with stress that stops you from raiding the biscuit jar?
And around and around the merry-go-round of the diet/binge/guilt/diet/binge/guilt cycle we go.
For years this was my life..... If only I was skinnier, I'd be happier. 1500 cals a day, hmmm lets make it 1200 cals a day and do 5-6 days of hour long cardio sessions.
I counted, I sweated, I got skinny, I got hungry, I got sick....... I binged. I felt so guilty. I purged.
For close to 15 years I suffered from Bulima. You don't undo that behaviour in 12 weeks. You don't work through the emotions, the mental battles, the fear of what life would be like without "the crutch" with a snap of your fingers, a wave of your hand. It's not like turning off a tap.
Think about how you deal with what life throws at you. What's your "drug" of choice?
How did I manage to change? To turn my life around?
I made the decision that my life couldn't go on the way it was and that I need to stop doing what I was doing...... believe you me, that STOP didn't happen overnight. It didn't even happen in 12 months. It took a good 5 or so years.
Why did it take me so long when I knew that what I was doing was bloody terrible for my health? Because there was still that voice that kept pulling me back down and kept telling me that I wasn't WORTH saving. That I wasn't worth recovery. That I didn't deserve to have the happiness, the contentment, the peace that others have.
I cried......lots.
I screamed......loudly in the middle of a paddock.
I got angry......still ran heaps to deal with that.
I was exhausted fighting with myself all the f*&%king time.
Change is hard f*&%king work.
But I didn't give up.
The ingrained negative beliefs that I had needed to be replaced by positive ones.
Instead of discounting compliments I started to say thank you (might not have truly believed them, but when you start to reply with positivity, it starts to stick in your mind).
I started to be grateful for all the things that I COULD do, CAN do, and HAVE done.
I started to open my eyes to all of the unrealistic pressure we put on ourselves to look a certain way, act a certain way, be a certain way. In other words, just don't be yourself. Screw that, there is no one more me than me, there is no one more you than you. Don't change who you are to keep other people happy....you aren't a piece of chocolate!! :-)
No one lacks will power.
No one lacks motivation.
No one lacks determination.
What we have that stops us from being who we truly are is FEAR.
"Fear's just a thing. Why let some thing keep your big life small? " Robin Sharma
When I stopped living my life in fear of getting fat, in fear of failure, in fear of not being good enough, when I started to take small chances on myself, when I started to trust again, when I took stock and full accountability for my thoughts, words and actions and stopped shifting the blame onto "the rest of the world", I CHANGED.
What are you truly afraid of?
You've got to deal with what is holding you back before you can move forward.
Before you can change.....
Habits (thoughts, words, actions) will bet intentions every single time.
YOU must be the change.
Change is hard f*&%king work but it's so f*&%king worth it!!!!
