Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Losing a Gallon

My body is a miracle. Ever since I wrote about women and flesh--I've realized that I needed to pay more respect to my body. Since then, a good friend recommended I read The Gabriel Method by Jon Gabriel. On April 20th, I started putting different things into practice. It took a month, but over that time, I've felt myself heal.

I used to have a raging sugar addiction. I remember the night when I said no to candy. It was difficult, but the strength from being next to a bag of candy all night long and not once having a piece--that was pretty spectacular. Not that I won't choose to have candy again--but it's the "needing" the candy that I don't want. I want to choose to savor a piece because that is my choice.

Food has been my enemy. I get frustrated with it. It doesn't make me happy.

Now--I LOVE food!

Last night, I sat down and had grilled Salmon and yellow squash and read about the benefits of summer squash. I read about the fiber, the vitamin A, C, and beta carotene as I enjoyed the flavor of the squash and the salmon. It was a joy to eat. I enjoyed shopping for food last night and filled my cart with fruits, vegetables of all colors.

I don't even know how I got to this place. It's just every day, cravings went away. Little by little. My body feels incredibly healthy. I feel I have more energy than I've had in ages.

You read in the book not to weigh yourself for 6 months because the body takes time. You lose, then plateau. But I wanted to anyway. At first, I dropped 12 pounds in a week. Then back up 5. (That was discouraging.) And then it just kind of held on for a while. I finally hid the scale from myself. Despite what the scale said--I could feel my body getting healthier. I felt lighter. I felt stronger. It didn't matter what the scale said. I had gone from wanting to eat at least two candy bars and three bags of candy a day to no sugar at all. Who cares if I lost any weight? I hadn't been to McDonald's in almost a month!

Sunday night, I was lugging a gallon of water into my room. I had decided to carry around a gallon of water to make sure I drank the whole thing throughout the day. I placed it on my night stand and thought about how it was so heavy. I decided I wanted to weigh it! But I didn't want the temptation to weigh myself. I fell asleep instead.

Last night, I couldn't resist the temptation to pull out the scale. I wanted to weigh that bottle.

I just thought--if I've lost one of these bottles of water in weight from my body--what a relief to my skeleton! I weighed the bottle. It was over 11 pounds.

Then I stepped on the scale. Since April 20th, I've lost 18 pounds!

It's a great start! I've lost more than a gallon of weight! I feel really good. More than the weight, I've lost the cravings. And I've gained a really nice relationship with food.

I feel spectacular.

Everybody has to do things in their own way and in their own time. The exciting thing is--I find myself adding a healthy new habit every day--which makes it fun. I created a meditation for myself to listen to as I drive so that driving can be a way of destressing. I have started stretching every day at work to oxygenate my muscles. I'm just adding little things to help find happiness in getting healthier.

I understand why they say not to look at the scale--it's because the inner changes matter more than whether the scale reflects those changes--but it was nice to see that things are working.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was very inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing! keep up the good work!

Melanie said...

I totally agree. I stopped eating junk as a way to make my body feel better, rather than lose weight... but I was amazed at how much harder it was for me to make good food choices on the days that I stepped on a scale and saw no movement, or upward movement. I think putting the scale away is really smart.

I'm so proud of you that you've changed your relationship with food. It is SO hard. And I am super impressed with you.

Eve said...

Thanks Melanie! It's taken me long enough. I feel like dieting is like long distance endurance running. This just feels like breathing. I've been impressed reading about all your healthy decisions lately!

Ms. Emily said...

I will have to try this method.

Unknown said...

The inside of you is beautiful as well as the outside. What you need to remember is that you need to make the outside as healthy as the inside. We have had the talk in different words. I need to gain twenty pounds. You want to loose twenty. Lets make a goal to do it together sweet one.

Joseph L. Puente said...

Well done, young lady! :-)