Every time I see a fat girl, I want to hug her. The younger they are, the more my heart aches for them. In them, I see the old me. I want to help ease their pain. (In my mind, the more pain they feel, the bigger they are. You don't eat because you are happy and problem free) I want to tell them what I've learned. I wish I could go back and tell the five year old me so many things!
1. You are wonderful. Take the time now to take care of yourself. Take control now. You are only 20 pounds overweight right now. It may be hard to lose, but it's a lot harder to lose 200, trust me!!!
2. Love yourself completely. Don't make ANY decisions in your life until you have learned to love yourself. They will be decisions you live to regret.
3. It may be comforting to eat, but food will never bring you happiness, it will destroy it. Exercise, though uncomfortable and hard and first is the only way you will every truly feel happy.
4. Eat healthy. When you eat natural healthy food, you feel happy and energetic. When you eat garbage food, you feel sick and bloated. You really are what you eat!
5. Don't ever give up. It may seem impossible, but it's all one step in the right direction. NEVER let one mistake or short coming decide who you are going to be. If you want to lose weight, you want to be thin, each small decision builds up to one overall picture. One brownie, one piece of cake isn't worth failure. (but if you fail: learn, move on, and focus on the goal)
6. Realize that even if you don't love yourself now, you will someday, realize that you do deserve that love, you deserve to be happy and you must do everything in your power to accomplish that.
7. Stop making excuses. It doesn't matter that you're not athletic. It doesn't matter that you can't make a basket or hit a baseball. Find something that you love to do. Run, bike, something. Just get up and move!!!!
8. If you fail, you will suffer. Your kids will suffer too. You owe everyone around you to be the best you that you can be. Do it. Do it NOW!
I wish those were life lessons I could have learned before. I wish the 5 year old me could have learned that with out the struggle and heartache I've been through this last year, but I'm so thankful it only took me to 32. I may be a slow learner, but just moderately.
Congratulations Lauralee. This is a huge deal--really hard lessons to learn that I'm still working on. I may not need to lose 200 pounds but I have an unhealthy BMI and an unhealthy relationship with food. It's so hard to fix at this age, and so much better to just start young. Print this out and hand it to fat girls everywhere.:)
ReplyDeletewoooow Lauralee, that is awesome. Awesome. I am so happy for you. As a pediatrician, I want to say exactly what you just said up there. It's soooo great to see what you have overcome!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear girl - your list is perfect....
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