Doing great

Today so far (because I wont fall asleep for like 3 more hours) has been the most perfect eating day ever.

breakfast: Slimfast
Lunch: handful of animal crackers
Dinner: slimfast and 2 apples
Calories eaten: between 500-800 TOPS. Awesome. I know I am going to eat a little more before I go to bed, and some of it is going to be custard, so i saved a few calories :)

I also wore ankle weights to work today and truth be told, it was a much better workout than I expected. I worked for a little over 6 hours and let me tell you, taking off ten pounds worth of weight at the end of the day, was a miraculous feeling.

I thought today that I would share with you my love for the book Skinny Bitch, which is not a diet book, but rather a plea to stop eating things that hurt your body. I love this book and I've read it at least five times now. I won't go on about it for too long, but I love its no-nonsense way of saying that we should stop eating crap and not feel bad about it.
When reading it today I was really struck by this quote:

"You are worthless to your colleagues, friends, and family, if you do not value yourself enough to take care of YOU. Yes, you have to put YOURSELF before your friends, parents, boyfriend, husband, and even your children. It won't make you a bad daughter or wife or mother; it will make you a less resentful, more confident, interesting, beautiful, patient, tolerant, and fun person to be around. Your bright shining light will give everyone around you the permission and inspiration to shine more brightly. Love yourself enough to do whatever it takes to be the best you can be"

I am not an emotional eater. I don't have problems with overeating or knowing when I'm full or have had too much. I do however have a sweet tooth, that is really hard to get a handle on. I feel the NEED to have a treat everyday. I feel entitled. Well I dont deserve a treat. Heck if I was a healthy weight (not that I'm far off) I'd be more than entitled to a treat every day as long as I was moderate. But I am still sadly a few pounds overweight. AND my goal is to make it down into the 120 lb level. If I have a goal like that, I deserve to treat my body like a temple and not fill it with crap once a day. My sweet tooth hasn't caused me to gain weight, but it has hindered weight LOSS and thats not okay anymore. I know I can't say no to all sweets, but really how SWEET will it be when I fit into size 2-4 jeans, have tight, ripped, abs, and can take all of the credit for that? I need to put myself and my health first.

I watch tons of documentaries about obesity and they make me sick. I think there are PLENTY of factors that make a person overweight, but when it comes to OBESITY, it's mostly a choice. There are very few people that can't help but getting obese. Yes, there are health issues that cause weight gain and hinder weight loss. Diabetes, depression, thyroid issues, genetics etc etc etc and so on. However, for most obese Americans, no one forces them to eat fast food. No one forces them to eat fat-laiden, high-fructose corn syrup filled foods for every meal. No one forces them to sit and watch television all day. It SO easy to get up and exercise. No one forces them to get biggie sized food. no one made them grab seconds or thirds. THEY chose what to buy at the grocery store. THEY chose to fill their stomach with donuts or cookies. THEY did it to themselves. I'm not condemning obese people, I mean afterall I am slightly overweight myself and always have been. Lots of factors contributed to my being slightly overweight too. But when the sh*t hits the fan, the fact of the matter is, I choose what I buy at the store. I choose to eat chocolate when I should be eating fruit. We don't hold ourselves accountable enough when it comes to being overweight. We want to justify our bad health choices with excuses. "i have bad genetics, its not my fault, i've tried everything" Sorry to break it to you my dear fat readers, but somewhere along the line, you made the choices that got you to where you are right now. I'm not being mean or unreasonable. But it's the truth.

There are some people who never have to struggle with weight.
There are some (I'm guessing I will be one of them) who have to struggle for a lifetime to be healthy.
We all have different challenges, but God would never give us one we can't overcome. If we truly loved God, and ourselves, we would try so much harder to take care of ourselves.

I saw this poor man yesterday at the corn maze. I felt so bad for this man, seriously almost cried when I thought about his quality of life. He was HUGE. I'm talking, probably over 400 lbs. Big guy. Really big guy. He of course was in an electric wheelchair. He probably was only in his fifties. His wife was helping him get into the car. How sad would that be, to be only 50 years old, and need as much or more assistance than an elderly person.  He couldn't go through the corn maze, I'm sure he was just there to be with his family. I just think, life is hard enough without having to have such preventable problems. He is now a burden on his family, and is incapable of having any quality of life.

I pray that none of my friends or family ever get that way. I wouldn't deal with it very well.

An old saying comes to mind... Everything in moderation. Moderate people are not obese. Moderate people, don't overeat on a daily basis, or spend all day on their booty in front of a television set. No they do not. Is it too much to say that fat people are extremists at what they do?

Anyway, I'm sure no one wants to hear my rants anymore, I'm just obviously very passionate about the topic.

I promise to do my best to improve my health and lifestyle. And if I slip up now and again, no biggie. I'm human.
What about you?