I have a passion for healthy living, but its taken me a lifetime to find that passion. Here is a little bit more about my past, and how its shaped my present:
The day I saved my life:
I look back now on my past relationship with food and am amazed. Why did I eat so much? I can’t honestly say. I’ve never known how it feels to starve and yet I ate as if that’s what would happen the next day. As if all the food would disappear the next day so I’d better eat it while I could. Why?
I don’t have the answer. Yes, I got a temporary happy feeling as I ate. For that brief moment, I got a rush of joy simply from the taste of it. Those positive feelings were quickly replaced by negative ones. Feeling overstuffed and out of control is not pleasant.
“Why did I eat that?” “Why can’t I stop myself?”, “Why aren’t I strong enough?” These thoughts were repeated over and over in my head.
“I’ll do better next time.” I would tell myself. And yet within a few hours I was at it again. Its a vicious cycle that repeated itself until I weighed 278 pounds.
But on January 5,2009 I stopped that cycle. I decided food would no longer control me. I would be the person I knew was deep inside. I WAS IN CONTROL.
Guess what I found? I got those same “happy feelings” each time I made a conscious decision to be healthy. And no guilt followed.
A new cycle was started. One healthy choice, followed by positive feelings then another healthy choice, more positive feelings and so on. The choices added up and before I knew it I had a whole new lifestyle, a healthy one.
I’m not going to tell you it was easy. And yet I’d be lying if I told you it was hard. It was neither.
I made up my mind, and then did it. It was as simple (and yet complex) as that one powerful decision.
Before:
