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One of the biggest challenges dieters have is refusing temptation…no matter in what form it takes.

But you know, temptation goes beyond mere food. Over at one of my favorite forums, I posted a followup to Giving into Human Temptation:

…I can really understand your feelings. How do you NOT care? Short answer: by internalizing how truly super a person you are…and how you shouldn’t waste yourself on someone who lacks the ability to appreciate you.

And how do you come to peace with what happened?

One thing that I’ve learned over my vast eons of experience is:

Everything…happens for a reason. You might not know why at that very moment, or the next week, or the next year, or the next decade….but…we always learn something from every agonizingly bad choice we make….MORE…

Which brings me to the point of this post in particular.

I’ve had epiphanies happen to me years after an event….all of a sudden, something would go *click!* and I’d realize, omigosh, because of xyz challenge 7 years ago, I knew how to handle the abc of yesterday. And if I hadn’t have gone thru the agony of those experiences long ago, I’d be up the proverbial creek without a paddle today.

Relate this now to you!

What choices have you made in the past that created the person you are today? To what temptations did you give in…and how have the affected your self-confidence, personality and soul?

Are you learning the long-term consequences of short-term personal gratifications of, say, falling off the diet wagon?

Getting together with an ex?

Playing the corporate politics game?

Giving your heart to someone who fails to treat it like the precious gift it is?

Well?

It is …. to think. And I think you’ll gain a deeper insight into what makes you tick and what can help you achieve success…once you give yourself permission to understand.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Here’s my temptations!

Morning,

Isn’t it amazing how easy we can sabotage ourselves when we try to lose weight?

Think about it. In what other activity in the world can you say, okay, if I continue to gain weight and resemble grounded hot air balloons, I’ll definitely die a whole lot sooner…but hey! Just one more cookie can’t really hurt now, can it?

Well?

Why people sabotage themselves is indeed a fascinating subject to study. There are lots of reasons, including:

• Lots of fat can shield a person from flirtatious attention (shyness)
• You’ve never succeeded before, so you figure, what’s different this time?
• You feel like you just don’t *deserve* to be thin
• You see your other friends chomping along, and don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable with your success (ain’t it amazing how (often women) can empathize to the point of insanity)?
• You’re told by your spouse or SO that you’re perfect “just the way you are” (translation, if you’re losing weight and getting sexy, maybe you’ll want to attract someone else….)
• Dieting…it requires too much short-term sacrifice.
• etc.

As a formerly big and hefty wench, I can attest to how important a solid, committed mind-set really is! After all, it’s your mind that controls if you start to inhale the yummy food that made you what you are today…it’s your mind that stops your hand from reaching for those Krispy Kreme donuts that are seductively singing your name…it’s your mind that moves your feet towards the gym and onto that blasted treadmill….it’s even your mind that lets you put on your armor and spar against a guy who will thoroughly toast your rear in kendo.

• Remember!
• You cannot change your past….but….
• You can alter your future.

You can choose to succeed. Be warned – it can be a very scary journey indeed, as your delusions are often stripped away, leaving the stark naked truth staring straight at you. But if you muster the courage to face them down and take control…the results are beyond phenomenal.

Honor yourself. You deserve it.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – one diet plan that folks enjoy trying is Weight Watchers. Here are some goodies from there:

One of the most difficult challenges folks who have yo-yo dieted face is that horribly annoying inner voice that chants, you failed 6 times before to lose weight, why on earth do you think you can succeed now?

As someone who once possessed the personality and self-confidence of a stale graham cracker cookie, I can really relate to the Inner Voice Hell. It took me many many years of, well actually, doing nothing and enduring it until I was fed up, before I looked at myself and said,

“Okay self, you have a choice. Since the only person creating that annoying icky inner voice is you, you can proactive choose to EITHER:

• Endure it and feel lousy
• Tell it to shut the hell up!

What’s it going to be?”

The ability of people to delude themselves is utterly amazing, I think….right up there with the wonder of electro-magnetism or how Lewis and Clark survived the frozen BitterRoot Mountains back in the 1800s….or even how my kids know unerringly the exact moment in time when Mommy has finally relaxed in her hot bath (and then get an insane desire to pop in and start discoursing on school, Naruto and other life-changing events).

So. Who the hell ARE you to think you can succeed this time in losing weight…when it’s failed miserably before?

Well?

I think the difference only happens when you’re reached rock-bottom in your own personal evaluation of yourself….and then bravely decree, that’s IT! I WILL CHANGE! It can’t be a half-assed attempt; that’s almost always the culprit behind prior yoyo dieting tries. You really have to WANT IT and WANT IT BAD…to the extent you’re willing to pit yourself against your own personal weaknesses.

Personally, I think this is a great, wonderful and very humbling experience. When you give yourself permission to succeed, you start to uncover the boundaries of your own personal inner strength. Stay at it longer, and those boundaries start to expand and encompass more and more steadiness and self-confidence.

That by itself…helps contribute towards your personal success. It’s like a rolling stone that gathers force and drive…and never lets you give up until the goal has been attained.

Don’t you agree?

Barbara

ps – need some ideas about self-confidence? Check out:

Morning,

Finally, after years and decades and eons and epochs and … you get the idea … I finally uncovered a picture of me doubling as a Macy’s Day Balloon (the before picture), and one a few days ago of me looking rather buff (the after!).

Here they are:

Now, that picture is admittedly photoshopped – the original was taken from the first Garfield Convention I attended. Garfield was next to me, as was a bunch of kids (and as I don’t have permission to post their pictures, I simply removed myself from the picture and threw myself into a park).

Here’s my current photo:

While it’s obvious I still have a ways to go, I will admit, I like the current “me” much more so than the former “me!”

I’m wearing my favorite karate shirt in the above picture. Because my karate gi is sleeveless, I always wear tank tops/sleeveless shirts (I’m insanely proud of my deltoids/biceps – it’s my only vanity). That was the shirt I was wearing the very first time I realized, omigosh, I have a waist! And and and … it’s smaller than my top! My bottom! And dare I say it…I no longer look like a hugely-rounded eggplant!

Witnessing the magic – ’tis quite a good thing, indeed.

Barbara

ps – there are lots of great workout things you can find online. Consider:

This morning, I wrote a bit about why calories are king.

And today in some forums, there were more postings about eating more and suddenly losing more too!  Check out:

Eat more AND LOSE weight?

I think the reason why some folks can’t wrap their minds around this fact is that the ‘eating more’ means nutritionally-dense foods like fruits and veggies, and not white chocolate covered macademia nuts! 

What’s been your experiences?

Enjoy,

Barbara