Reaching a Healthy Weight

Check out Sparkpeople.com if you want to get to a healthy weight. I'm finding that it is helping me articulate and then make progress toward my goals.

Focusing on reaching a healthy weight is so much more empowering than "trying to lose weight." Who wants to be a loser? Not me! And that's probably why I have been unsuccessful in previous "weight loss" campaigns.

Rob Riopel from Peak Potentials said at a seminar that he doesn't like to talk about losing weight because we usually try to find what we lose. And I always find my lost weight again. He suggested reframing it as "releasing weight." That made so much sense to me.

Now, I catch myself saying "losing" weight and realize it feels so depressed and "loser-like" - no longer feels natural. I much prefer thinking of it as letting go and releasing of weight I no longer need.

In my early 30's, I put on a lot of weight when I worked for a government agency and few people respected me. I needed to be able to "throw my weight around" plus eating seemed to soothe my anxiety and stress.

It occurs to me, as well, that the phrase "gained weight" is not useful for me. "Gains" are usually positive. However, in my case, adding on weight was not a positive thing. It was putting on a disguise, a shield, some armor to protect myself from the outside world that felt hostile and unfriendly. So the weight was not really a "gain" - it was protection and a burden. So maybe a better term is "took on weight."

Today, I don't need to take on any more weight or burdens. I can shed or let go of excess in all areas of life - from clutter to pounds, from ill-fitting clothes to random stuff.

It's a relief to talk about my weight - something of which I've been ashamed. So I am letting go of the shame - yet another unnecessary burden.