I’m rewinding again for the return of my Question of the Week Series. I’ve been digging in the archives to find questions I thought really represented my thought behind series. I honestly didn’t remember writing this one until I read it. But once I did, it brought back a lot memories. Making the commitment to live a healthier life isn’t always easy. You have to honestly look at what it’s going to take and ask yourself if you really are ready.
Originally posted April 8, 2008…
I might catch some slack for this weeks question(s) but I don’t care. I need to ask not only you but also myself.
It’s a simple yet complex question, “Are you ready?”
- Are you ready to live a healthier lifestyle?
- Are you ready to make the harder choices that lifestyle may entail?
- Are you ready to plan, think, prepare, shop, and not just grab a donut on the way to work?
- Are you ready to shut off the TV and go outside for a walk?
- Are you ready to seek out the staircase instead of taking the elevator?
- Are you ready to admit to yourself you eat too much?
- Are you ready to tell yourself hunger is not an emergency or an excuse?
- Are you ready to face your feelings instead of shoving them down with a slice of pizza?
- Are you ready to stop trying to do it all and get more sleep?
- Are you ready to try new foods you’ve dismissed because you “don’t eat vegetables”?
- Are you ready to love yourself NOW, unconditionally?
- Are you ready to be the example, the motivator, the exception to the rule?
I really could go on and on. My point with this question is to get us thinking, really thinking about what it takes lose weight and keep it off. It’s not easy for everyone. Everything seems to be working against us. It’s easier to take the elevator then the stairs. It’s easier to say yes to the daily office danish then pack your own snack. It’s easier to run through a drive through then go home and cook dinner. I’m not saying you can never do the easy things again, but overall you have to make the harder choices. You have to be READY to make the harder choices.
So I ask…
Are you Ready?
And if so…
What are you ready to do?
P.S .I came up with this question this morning in the shower. Today there were at least 3 “hard” choices I had to make where I asked myself this question. It helped immensely and got me running on the treadmill, skipping the cookie at work, and deciding to make dinner instead of taking the toddler to Wendy’s. That’s why I decided to ask tonight.
Add on: I just asked myself again and avoided that before bed snack I’ve been getting used to. I am ready. :~)
Since this is a repost, there are comments on the original. Click here to go back and take a look. Many people answered honestly and I hope you do too
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Roni started this blog in '05 to journal her weight loss. 70lbs later, she's committed to living a conscious, healthy life and hopes to inspire others along the way. Read more on the about page.Like the new look of Roni’s Weigh?
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i so needed to read this right now! thank you!!! i just posted on my blog that i am ready to do three things right now: 1) not eat after 10pm, 2) give up soda, 3) do the elliptical 365 times in 2011. so far it’s going great! small steps, right?
xoxo,
erika
skinnytuesday.com
Some days I feel ready, some days I don’t. My goal is to make the hard choice much more often than the lazy/easy choice. It’s not always easy, but it will average out if I keep at it.
“Are you ready to face your feelings instead of shoving them down with a slice of pizza?” Is depression a feeling? I don’t even know what “facing” my feelings would mean. I’m not in denial, but anger is exhausting, and bargaining didn’t get me anywhere.
great post! let’s all commit to loving ourselves unconditionally. i think that would make a world of difference!
Brilliant. Everything you said is absolutely the truth. This is the harder path, the more difficult climb. But when I think about how darn miserable I was when I was 50 pounds overweight, hating going shopping for clothes, having high cholesterol, feeling crappy and unhappy about myself . . . now it’s EASY to answer every one of those questions with a YES because along the way, I became a thin person. I had a mind altering experience and left my fat self behind somewhere. So, yes, yes and YES!
Great post! Those questions are definitely necessary. When I was younger, there were always stupid sayings like “Weight-loss begins in your head”, and they were often just uttered without any explanation, leaving me feeling stupid because obviously, my head didn’t work right, right? These questions actually show what these sayings mean.
But if you answer those questions with no, the next would be, “Why not?” and “How can I get ready? “. I am still on my way, and it is not a short one – but I have become curious where it may take me. The one thing I have learned so far that finding satisfactory, long-lasting answers which will always be there for you is one of the most vital things during changing your life and weight loss.
Thanks for reposting this. I had to ask myself this question last week after being on/off plan for 6 months and lingering in half ass land. You know?
I’m not sure I was ready until now. I was settling back into my old self. My old excuses. My old burdens. But right now: YES. I’m ready! Life is too short. I either gotta be happy where I’m at or do what it takes to reach my goals.
Thanks for posting Roni!
Heck yea I’m ready! I’m ready to crush 2011. I’m ready to drop down to 6% body fat. I’m ready to run the race of the new year and finish with me running up to the huge bell that is 2012 and ring that puppy so hard because I finished all I had set forth. I’m ready to keep the momentum going with strategies that work. I’m ready to develop new strategies when old ones fail. I’m ready to take the hits and get back up. I’m ready ready ready ready!
Love the questions!
I love this post and yes I am ready! I kind of want to print these questions and hang them on my desk as a reminder.
Yup! I became ready the week after Thanksgiving (actually the week before I started counting calories, but I joined WW the week after for the new program.)
I wasn’t ready before that. But I’m down 8 pounds in 5 weeks and it’s easy, because I’m ready!
“# Are you ready to love yourself NOW, unconditionally?”
This is the one I cannot seem to master! I cannot seem to wrap my head or heart around this one, but I also don’t want to wait “until….” anything to live my life….This post is timely and speaks to exactly where I’m struggling right now, What if I lived as if I was ready???
Hi-
I am new to your blog. I found you when I volunteered to be the live blogger for you guys. Then I was hooked, you had me at your adorable haircut and the rest was just toppings.
Where do you live? I am in Reston, VA, I am thinking you are somewhat close-ish.
OMG! Miss Timing! Were you lurking in my kitchen yesterday? lol I was thisclose to ordering pizza after my chocolate seeking session. I think I WILL print these out and hang them on the fridge, inside cupboards, locker at work…
I am ready. I am registering for my first ever half marathon. Also, my big guy was sick with a stomach bug and Monday was really bad. I considered ordering pizza for dinnner because I was spent but I didn’t, I cooked for those of us who were holding food down. It felt great! Thanks for the great reminders! YOU ROCK!
I’m ready to start taking my running more seriously. I’m ready to move forward.
RG–love your comment. I’m ready to care for myself every day. I’m ready to keep finding other ways to cope besides food. I’m ready to relax!
Laurie, I’m in MD, just north of baltimore. :)
RG – I think depression is a feeling. When I wrote those original questions I was talking to myself and stuffing pizza down my pie hole was my only form of therapy.
So for me “facing” my feelings meant/means not turning to food to make me feel better when I’m sad/upset/depressed/whatever. Instead I try to figure out what is wrong and I deal with it they best way I can without using food as medication.
I asked this question last year and my 35lbs loss since then answered it. I got tired of waiting to reach my goal and went for it. I’m only 10lbs away from my maintenance range.
Roni – thanks for your reply. A friend of mine suggested that overeating was the bodies response to stress, that when there’s an excess of cortisol, it copes with it by putting it in the bodyfat, which I found interesting. If it’s not clear, I wrote that last night as I wanted to overeat to bury the depression that threatens to overwhelm me. I have ruminated and I have confronted and I have “faced” my issues, and I have found few solutions or answers or perspective. I just do what I can, day by day.
And that is all we can do. :)
I think i’m ready, but since I wrote “think” I guess most people would say i’m not. I’m just trying to take it a day @ a time.
The part I have the most problem with is “loving yourself”. I don’t think I know how to “love myself”. How do you do that when your entire life you’ve felt not good enough & pretty much everyone in your life makes you feel like your “ok”, but just not quite “good enough”??? I don’t know that I’ll ever love myself, but I am trying to be the best I can be.
Am I ready? Yes I am, I have to be but I am afraid. Afraid to die so young like my parents did. They died partly because of unhealthy living. They had their retirement within a moment’s reach, raised their children and were enjoying their grandkids. Their unhealthy lifestyles prevented them from seeing their grandkids graduate from high school and college, get married, and live healthy and productive lives. How sad it has made me to think I am the same way, poor food choices, sedentary lifestyle, stressed to the max. I am ready to change this. I was ready in August when I began my healthier living lifestyle. I have struggled since early December with making better choices though. The cold and holidays are triggers for me. Because of my recent poor choices, I am again in the pre-diabetic category. Since I am almost 48, which is three years older than my mother’s first major heart attack, I want to live longer and know I can if I live healthier. I am also ready to tackle my childhood trauma which another trigger. Overweight means being unattractive which means less attention which means no abuse. So am I ready? Yeah, ready to see my grandkids graduate, get married and live my retirement someday. Something I have control of as did my parents. I am making a better choice for me, for them.
I am ready to drastically scale back my alcohol intake because of the triggering effect it has on my eating. It’s simply not worth it anymore. I would rather be in control and not plagued by guilt after a night of overeating due to a few drinks and fewer inhibitions. I am ready to find new ways to be *fabulous* without throwing too many back.
Great Post, worth revisiting.
I am ready. Actually been ready, I am 11 pounds from my goal weight, and have lost 52. So I have done these things and continue to do them. When I go astray, I always get back to it.
There’s so much involved in gaining control of our over-eating, our negative self talk, our lives really. For those of us who are overweight because we choose (or really, feel we have no choice) to use food to deal with feelings, with pain, the path back to both physical and emotional health is a tough one. We have to deal not only with the physical problems our excess weight brings, but also with the emotional issues that got us to this point. Something as “simple” as low self esteem is enough to bring many of us to our knees when faced with a chocolate cake or a pizza. It makes us somehow think we will feel better, when all it really does is add to our self loathing, our nasty way of “talking” to ourselves and our overall feeling of being out of control. I have over a hundred pounds to lose, and I have considered starting towards my goal more times than I care to count. I want to be ready, I want to begin, I do. I can’t seem to find that tiny inner spark to get going. The goal is huge. My mind tells me it will take way too long, or never happen. What’s a girl to do? :(
Joanne-I had been using food to deal with feelings for 38 years. I am here to say that you can reverse this cycle. It is really one day at a time. Take a deep breath and think about that. One day at a time. There are amazing resources that help me to do the work on my thoughts that I needed to do to break free from using food to placate myself. Two must reads are The Beck Diet Solution and Skinny Thinking. I’m sure there are others, those just happen to be what I was exposed to. You have to do a lot of work on yourself, and it’s not easy, but the alternative is to live a life in a food prision where you are miserable. I choose to do the work every day for freedom from food addiction. It can be done.
Roni-how did you change your mind to go from a fat thinker to a thin thinker?
I AM READY! I am ready to face my issues head on! To fight back, to become a better mother, wife, friend and person. To take it one day, hour, step and meal at a time. This question is a good one to ask, to make me think am I ready.
Joanne –
Put one foot in front of the other and start walking! Seriously!
It’s about little things. If you focus on the big, overwhelming goals you set yourself up to fail. Small, baby steps. Pick ONE thing this week to work on. One little thing (taking walks, eating a healthy breakfast, stopping night snacks, food journaling) JUST ONE. Master it. Adapt it. Make it a habit and THEN add another.
It’s overwhelming, I know, but try not to think of about how long it will take. The longer you wait to make small changes the longer it will take in the long run.
Hope that helps!
Hey Ronnie, good post i agree that weight loss is not easy for everyone but i think is not impossible either. I personally enjoy reading blogs like yours, because it keeps me motivated on daily weight loss plan. :) CHEERS !!!
It took me a month to come back, but here I am. I appreciate your responses, and maybe this thread is even dead. But I am using it as my starting point. I am going to try your way, Roni, one tiny step at a time. I will try to keep my focus on health and feeling good over weight and how I look, but I know it will be tough. My first new habit will be healthy mornings – healthy food, a little movement. I know I’ll have to keep it varied and delicious to make it a habit, but I’m worth it, right? At least that’s the mantra I will keep repeating while I make my attempts. Actually, I hate even using the word trying or attempting… have to start using the word doing :) Thanks to both Roni and Wendy for the words of encourage, and maybe keep your eyes open for more from your truly :)
Will do! Glad you stopped back. :)