Weight loss and Optimism
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Posted: 22 Apr 2010 04:00 AM PDT  I just read a manifesto talking about Cherry Bombs -- the idea that is so startling it changes the way you think about something because it changes the questions you ask about the situation. Mindful Eating can be a Cherry Bomb -- you don't have to stop eating the things you love -- you don't have to start eating the things you don't like. You don't have to exercise more to lose weight. How many of you thought those were the pillars holding up the whole diet universe??? The title of the post come from the idea on page 7. "Entropy: The inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society. Entropy explains why ho****er cools to room temperature, or why a teenager's room inevitably gets messy. Attitudes are the same way. When life doesn't present the desired result, it takes far more energy to stay true to your goals. Pessimism is attitudinal entropy." Attitudinal entropy...how cool of a description is that??? It takes work to keep a system going. Continual heat on ho****er to keep it hot -- continual harping on a teenager to keep his room picked up. Constant work put into the system. But what about your weight loss? If the weight isn't coming off fast enough, what happens to your attitude? If you are depriving yourself of your fav foods, what happens to your attitude? Frustration, pessimism, negativity??? And why should you put the working into fighting the attitudinal entropy? Because optimism fuels hope -- hope fuels action. You can't get to where you're going without action -- so you need optimism. According to the author: "Optimism, while requiring more effort, gives you power. It allows you to stand for something bigger than the existing state of affairs. Sustaining any sort of vision -- from raising venture capital to raising children -- requires almost irrational mounts of optimism. That's why optimism is so annoying. It asks you to take responsibility for you attitude and your actions, rather than throwing up your hands and blaming cir****tance." Wow! Cherry Bomb! |
Coming from a family that has seen a great deal of tragedy, my relatives and I cultivate an optimistic attitude. We have learned that while painful situations may just be around the corner, so are beautiful moments of transcendent joy. The trick is to latch on to the good stuff when it comes along, so that it will nourish and sustain us when we are tested.
We just burried our 95-year-old family matriarch last Saturday and this Saturday we will celebrate the wedding of one of her great-granddaughters. Our aunt will be missed, and a toast will be said in her honor, but it will not cast a shadow on the celebration. Life goes on, and we must grab all the joy we can while we can. She would not want it any other way.
Optimism and joyful acts always trump pesimism and inertia.
Yes, I have to agree..I'm at the stage where weight loss is long, slow and even slower. It can be devastating, however, now that I've finally started my water workouts, I am seeing definite undeniable changes in my body.
I thought of myself as a failure, unable to attain the goal weight as so many others had achieved. I became depressed and was slipped back into old habits.
But when I finally took the risk and went out to the pool..(yes, in a bathing suit!), that was when my new hope was born. No, let me reword that...not HOPE but KNOWING!
Because, though the numbers on the scale dont move very far, I have lost 4 inches off my hips, 3 inches off my waist and my clothes are all hanging on me. My body is tightening up and I feel boney in the strangest places.
I can "shop" in my own closet now...I'm ashamed to say how many clothes I have...and find "new outfits " to wear. I FEEL stronger, healthier and skinnier.
So I'm no longer HOPEFUL that I'm changing and reducing, earger, instead, that I am POSITIVE this is happening..slow, indeed, but accomplishing just the same.
So I guess, in fewer words, my attitude has morphed from HOPING to DOING. I EXPECT it to happen. I BELIEVE it will happen..IS happening.
And in the wisdom of Napoleon Hill, EVERY DAY, IN EVERY WAY, I AM BETTER AND BETTER!
Nancy B
Yes, I do know it's scary for some people to wear bathing suits in public.
I have never been that gal. I lived at a lake for 26 years, fluffy (300) pounds and lived in my bathing suit. I didn't care what people thought of me, never gave them that power. Just overwhelmed people with my personality and pretended to my self I was a size 16 not 28/30.
I still went to the gym too. I never got anything but encouragement from others. I never felt people shunned me because I was fluffy and if they did I would make them get to know ME. Not judge me by my size.
Sigh...then I came into the normal/thin world. All of a sudden I had to deal with new issues at the ripe young age of 51. Women being jealous, men holding doors, strange men smiling at me in the hallway and saying hello. Now I didn't have to deal with this behavior from people that knew and loved me fluffy...it was from strangers.
Hummmm...I still don't care what strangers think of me.
Nancy, I so glad you do water. It's very freeing isn't it? Life is great!! Hugs- Debbie
Nancy:
I need to print your post and read it to myself every day.
I am reevaluating the whole idea of goals that are tied to a number on the scale. There are so many other indicators one can use, such as the fit of the clothes, measurements, and last but not least, that tight feeling in your abs and deriere.
Have a great weekend!
Maria
