[Image from my Operation Beautiful Book Tour Post]
‘I don’t have a goal weight, I have a goal life.’
I heard this quote while watching an interview with an Extreme Weight Loss participant and it really clicked with me!
Along my journey, I realized that a certain number on the scale wouldn’t magically make my life perfect. For years I chased this number while becoming more and more unhappy.
I now focus on creating the life that I want, by taking small steps each day. It’s about how I feel each day when I wake up. If I wake up happy and eager to start the day, I know I’m on the right track. A certain number can’t dictate my happiness, but I can make changes in my life to feel my best.
While, I’m busy baking up orders today, I thought it would be fun to have a Glo Bar giveaway!
Leave a comment below sharing a lesson you’ve learned along your journey or simply share one of your favourite quotes.
One lucky winner will receive a delicious box of 10 Glo Bars! Goodluck!
Coming up, one of our favourite recipes so far in 2011….get excited!
A quote I made (and have on my blog) is “in order to BE ME, I have to live a BEautifully MEssy life”
love it!!
my lesson = you create your own happiness! no amount of money, lack of weight, awesome job, designer yoga gear will make you happy.
my favorite quote = “in your body lies a priceless gem, go inside and seek that” rumi
In the Fall of last year, in a moment of frustration, I sent an email to one of my favorite bloggers (Jasmine, over at Eat Move Write–check it out!) and told her everything. I told her how I’d been overweight my whole life, how diets never seemed to work, and exactly how little I thought of myself because of my insecurity.
After such a revealing, personal email, I was embarrassed and filled with regret about five seconds after I hit send. Luckily, Jasmine is a fantastic person, and her response was helped get me started on my journey to health and happiness. She bolstered my self esteem right away, and helped to explain that I was not alone in my struggles. Then she told me something about weight loss that struck exactly the right note. She said that if I wanted a college degree, and was working toward that goal by taking classes, I wouldn’t be upset that I wasn’t there yet–and that same concept applied to weight loss. For me, as I’m also working on a degree, this made perfect sense. I knew I wanted my degree-eventually-but while I’m still working on it, I never get upset I’m not yet finished. I shouldn’t, therefore, get upset that I’m not yet healthy or thin.
Today, a good half a year later, I’ve lost more than 25 pounds. I have a healthy BMI for the first time in my life, and am about ten pounds away from my goal weight, give or take a few pounds. I am healthier-and look better-than I’ve ever been. Unfortunately, I still struggle with self esteem issues, anxiety and tendency towards melancholy. That college degree metaphor still applies, though, and I use it as I work towards creating a healthy life–even though I’ve nearly reached my goal weight. The journey isn’t over–but I work to not let myself be upset as long as I’m working towards the goal–healthy AND happy.
Oops–that was a bit long for a comment–sorry!
Thanks for sharing Laura, a beautiful story!
A lesson I have learned is to love yourself and not take yourself too seriously. It might seem so simple and basic but I think most people have trouble coming to terms with that and living freely and that you only live once.
I want to share my favorite quote:
THE PARADOX OF OUR AGE
We have bigger houses
and smaller families;
more convenience, but less time.
we have degress, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but more problems
more medicine, but less healthiness.
we have been all the way to
the moon and back, but have trouble
crossing the street to meet
the new neighbour.
we built more computers to hold more
information to produce more
copies than ever,
but have less communication.
we have become long on quantity,
but short on quality.
these are times of fast foods;
and slow digestion;
tall man and short character;
steep profits, and shallow relationships.
it is the time when there is much in the window,
and nothing in the room.
— Dalai Lama
I’m not sure if you remember me, but I e-mailed you a little over a year ago. I told you that I’d read your blog and had finally come to terms with the fact that i had an eating disorder, and your response really gave me the courage to ask for professional help with dealing with it. I have to thank you for that and for helping me learn that it isn’t weak to ask for help, it takes a lot of strength and courage to reach out in times of need.
So proud of you Kait!
Angela, good stuff. We all need that reminder sometimes. The lies {given to me in word or image} that I let creep into my mind destroy me. However, if I hold fast to the truth that I have intrinsic worth and beauty, those lies placed upon on me by society seem to fade into oblivion. I have to harness that worth + beauty, and value myself. Difficult lesson to learn. Silly how we all like to play the comparing game so often, but I’m so glad that this is a place where we can express trueness with one another. We are all worthy of being loved. Worthy of feeling beautiful. Worthy of letting go to all of those binding thoughts and groveling in the freedom given by God — and seeing ourselves as He sees us. Loved. Desirable. Beautiful.
As far as my quotes/thoughts, I have a few:
“God cannot give us a happiness and a peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
-C.S. Lewis
“I am willing to fail. Risks are not to be evaluated in terms of the probability of success, but in terms of the value of the goal.”
-Dr. Ralph Winter
“I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside. Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stumped by this for many years. And then I realized, you just say, “Hi.” They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word.”
-Augusten Burroughs
My favorite quote is by the amazing Steve Prefontaine:
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”
I have it printed out and stuck on my fridge!
I really adhere to the idea that it’s not how much you weigh but how you feel. This morning while I was running I reminded myself why I do it- it’s not so much the end result or how I look, but rather that I am able to do it, that it makes me feel accomplished and proud of myself, and it’s time I am taking out of my life for me and my health. I feel similarly about food- eat what you want but remember how you feel after you eat certain foods. Which ones make me feel good and which ones make me feel crappy? I try to remember that.
I love that image! Along my journey (almost 90lbs gone now…woot!) I’ve learned to use the scale as a mere check point. Its there, it gives me some information but not all information. It does not determine what kind of day I’m going to have.
A quote that’s helped me stay motivated and positive.
“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.”
“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
One of my favorite and inspiring quotes was actually learned from you! “You are stronger than you think” has been my motto for many things in life. Whether it’s a run, or over coming a binge, I know that I’m just human, I make mistakes and I am strong enough to learn from them, move on and make a better choice next time. A healthy lifestyle can’t be adapted over night, it’s a long process which I have learned and an still learning today. This quote has really helped me over the past few years. It’s funny how just a few words can change perspective.
I have learned to be proud of my athletic body and my strong legs and focus on what they allow me to do rather than how much smaller they could be. I will never be a twig, but I sure can run a 10 km and excel in sports!
Energy is the essence of life. Every day
you decide how you’re going to use it by
knowing what you want and what it
takes to reach that goal, and by
maintaining focus.” – Oprah
I’m learning that pregnancy is teaching me more lessons about my body and self than I ever thought possible, the most important one being “let go and live” :)
Don’t tell yourself that you’ll get to be happy tomorrow. Because tomorrow, you’re going to say the same thing. You have to give yourself permission to demand to be happy today.
My mom always reminds me that “anything worth doing is worth doing well”.
In my ever long battle to lose weight I always set goals, “I want to lose 10lbs by the time we go to the beach.” And when the pressure of that goal overcame me and I didn’t lose those 10lbs, I got upset and didn’t have a good time on my vacation. I have learned to stop setting impossible goals and lose weight and exercise to be healthy and happy with myself, and enjoy my vacations no matter what my weight.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” — JRR Tolkien
This is my favorite quote because it reminds me that even if you don’t know what you’re doing or what path you’re taking in life, it could lead to great things.
Love that quote!
I saw this quote on the Runner’s World quote of the day yesterday and loved it: “If you have the enthusiasm and passion, you end up finding out how to excel.” from Deena Kastor