I hope this encourages those on their weight loss journey

What does it take to decide you’re tired of waddling around with those “closely knit friends” and “tree trunks” not worth hugging? Taking the road less traveled, I resolved to change my life style and traverse the path for success. I wanted to lose weight, feel healthy, fit and look good! Bottom line!
In June–2003, I determined an attitude change toward food consumption. I didn’t eat because I was lonely, sad or depressed, I ate, Baby, cause I just wanted to eat; mostly snack / junk food that required little preparation. This paved the way to correct my choice of healthy food over previous habits. Did the fad diets, found they only last temporarily, the weight always came back! Life change commitments are for life; losing weight through fad diets don’t take into account what happens after the weight is lost. What constructive changes have you made to keep the weight off, maintain your weight, eat healthy and keep fit, were questions I never considered. I didn’t exercise and am a graphic designer / web developer. Sat at a computer all day! I created my own “diet” and found an exercise program that worked for me!
Decision time; I eliminated eating between meals; snacking. At buffets I would eat to oblivion. Talk about sadistic fun! Attitude change; I eat one small plate of food and not being a dessert person, I’d sit back and enjoy conversation! I eat till I feel “comfortably satisfied.” I won’t starve to death, so not eating between meals, I don’t fulfill the desire to satisfy hunger pangs. The decision making, not the following through, was the hardest part of the life style change I embarked on. A friend asked if I had cravings and I had to honestly answer, not any more, because I was tired of who I was and how I felt and looked.
Finding an exercise program that I could stick with and enjoy, a friend introduced me to Curves and to say “I’z a happy chile” is an understatement!! The thirty-five minute workout is aerobic and strength building. One thing which evolves through the membership in the group that I work out with [the wild & crazy lunatic fringe morning group ~ I originally started at the Auburn CA Curves] is a support network. If you haven’t been there for a while, someone calls encouraging you to keep up the good work and not quit. Get well cards are sent to those who are sick or forced to take a leave of absence do to surgeries etc.. Can’t beat it, Babe! The monthly measurements are another encouragement. Watching the weight disappear [ever wonder where it goes . . . do the fat cells find another victim to attach themselves to ~ only kidding, but just a thought] has been an incentive to me to finish the race and accomplish my goal. After achieving the goal, a path to a new fit and vibrant life begins, determining myself to exercise and eat healthy. I look at it this way . . .
Have you ever seen a butterfly struggling to release itself from the cocoon? If you feel sorry for its struggle and assist it by cutting the cocoon open, what will emerge is not the butterfly you anticipated but a hideous blob with shriveled wings. The reason the butterfly must struggle through the tiny opening of the cocoon is because the life juices are being forced into the vessels of the wings. The butterfly will only come through the tiny opening . . . when the strenuous effort of nature is accomplished and only through great pains, endurance and exertion. What emerges, is the colorful resplendent winged creature we enjoy watching in early spring.
This is how I see my effort on this weight loss journey. I must determine NOT to take the easy way out. I will go through struggles and even disappointments but will emerge victorious! I have set realistic goals which will have to be maintained for the rest of my life. Eating healthy and working out [exercising] at Curves, I am confident I will win this race and emerge, not as a butterfly but a vibrant, vital, joyful individual who will sore through life instead of waddling through a maze.

Life is too short, Baby, don’t eat dessert first, eat life.
It’s not how many days are in your life, it’s how much life you put in your days!
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