The Struggle with Losing Weight
I’ve seen many friends and family members struggle with weight loss throughout my life. My weight didn’t start tipping the scales of unhealthy until I hit 40. Then like a speeding bullet, pound after pound started piling on. Now, as many of my friends know, I do not like the burn of working out. I focus too much on the feeling and it messes with my creativity and flow of writing. I attempted going on the treadmill to lose the weight, but it didn’t do anything. No matter how fast I walked or the incline, it just sucked up my time and felt pointless. At the time, I wasn’t trying to lose weight for the right reasons. I thought if I lost weight, I would feel better about myself. A trap I’ve watched so many people fall into, just like I would be happy if…
The Importance of Self-Worth, Self-Esteem, and Self-Image
When we put our self-worth, self-esteem, and self-image outside of ourselves, we will STRUGGLE. We set ourselves up for failure, disappointment, and lack. We don’t have to lose weight to be lovable. We do have to choose to love ourselves in order to see the love that is presented to us. That doesn’t come from what we are not right in this moment. If we struggle with loving ourselves, we will manifest struggles in our lives. Our energy that comes from our core will permeate throughout. You can read more about in the inward journey:
Enjoying Losing the Weight
I knew if I was taking care of myself mentally, taking care of myself physically would feel natural and right. I decided to walk outside in nature, because that is something I love to do. I walked 5 miles a day listening to self-help books, meditations, podcasts, and anything that encouraged positive thinking. I love food so I wasn’t about to give anything I loved up, so I just started counting my calories and being accountable for what I was putting in my body. The weight came off. Then, in the busyness of life I just couldn’t find the time for walking the 5-mile walks and lost interest in counting the calories, and the gaining commenced. The maintaining got lost in the busyness of trying to fit more into my day than I had time for.
Mindset Matters
Now, as a writer of a blog called From A Loving Place, I have talked about the energy of against thinking and what that does to us. I know negative energy attracts more of what we don’t want to see, so if I go at weight loss with the energy of working against accepting the person I am right in this very moment, I know that I’m putting a negative energy into the process and I will feel like I’m in a struggle to lose weight. If I focus on there not being time, the time for it goes away. I decided I wasn’t going to try to lose weight. I was going to accept myself exactly as I was and focus on being the healthiest version of me.
When the Student is Ready…
Then came the road trip. I love road trips. I can be in cars for hours, days, and/or weeks and as long as I’m not in an area with excessive traffic, I’m at total peace. Road trips are an important part of my self-care, but not this particular road trip. I was in pain. There was a new roll of fat over my ribs that was causing me pain while driving. This roll was messing with my joy and my self-care. I found myself completely focused on the roll of fat the whole trip. It’s not like it changed my outer looks that much, but it definitely was affecting what was going on inside of me. That pain showed me something needed to change to be the best version of myself, so I started focusing on how I WANTED to feel. My energy was aligned with a healthy mindset.
The day after I got home from the trip, I decided it was time to commit to healthier practices. I had bought a knock off the Simply Fit Exercise Board some time ago, but just like any gadget it had sat in a perfect place ready for the day I would start getting on it. I went onto YouTube and found tons of great workouts to do with the board and weights. What I loved about the thought of this workout was that I didn’t have to make any time to do it. I simply did it while watching a television show that I already made time for. For the first time, I actually ENJOY strengthening and toning exercises, and it is strengthening my whole core and my arms!!! WHAT?!
Gaining Wisdom About Healthy Living
I’ve discovered that when I enjoy the process, I don’t feel like I’m in a struggle to lose weight. As I enter my third month of doing these workouts and being accountable for the food that I put into my body, I’ve lost 18 lbs. and counting. I’m not dreading anything; there is no painful recovery time. The exercise doesn’t make any of my body parts hurt after. My creativity is intact. I can go on for short 10-15 minute spurts, 30-minute variations, or just go at a steady pace for an hour. I feel good while I’m doing it. As I started to feel better and better, I started adding leg lifts with ankle weights, variations of weights from 2-10 lbs., and mixing it up with yoga stretches. I’m no longer focused on losing the weight, but enjoying the feeling and the energy I have to get me through the day. I’ve noticed how much healthier I feel inside and out, and because my mind is focused on the good stuff, I’ve noticed I WANT to eat healthier. I WANT to research healthier meal planning. I’m no longer naturally drawn to things that don’t make my body feel good. I’m not longer feeling the STRUGGLE of losing weight. I still LOVE food, I’ve just found a way to enjoy new and different ways of preparing, cooking, and when I do want to splurge—I do.
Maintaining Healthy Weight by Attracting the Good
I FEEL great, inside and out. My energy is in line with attracting what is good for me, and I find more and more things that make me feel good. Maintaining is no longer a chore, because the goal is about living a healthy and joy-filled life. Outside of exercise and nutrition, I’ve also committed to keeping my head in the right space by writing out a page of positive intentions and gratitude daily. There will be a post to read more about that on Friday, September 6, 2019 on this website. If you haven’t signed up to follow this blog, you can do it by scrolling down on your phone or going to the sidebar on your computer.
With Love and Gratitude,
Rachael Wolff ©2019
Author of upcoming book: Letters from A Better Me: How Becoming an Empowered Woman Transforms the World
