Stretch Your Comfort Zone (not your waistband)

This blog post is inspired by comments shared in response to my last post.  Some of those comments were shared publicly and others personally.  For those of you who did respond, please know I dearly appreciate and value you. 

Thank you for your honesty and thank you for recognizing and appreciating my honesty.  I have not given up but I did need to refocus a little bit.  Your words were so encouraging.  Life is so much better when we can join together like this and talk to each other about our achievements and our struggles because we ALL have them!  Everyone is blessed and EVERYONE has difficulties and obstacles.  I heard someone say the other day that if you leave your comfort zone, God will do some creative things with your life.  I believe much of this journey for me is about leaving my comfort zone.  So when I was working so hard, balls to the walls I would actually say, stretching many of my comfort zones, and not seeing the change I expected, discouragement crept in.  However, when I worked out Friday, I realized that I was doing things that I know I could not have done a few months ago and even though I was dog tired in the end, I felt strong!  I don't want to give that up!  This is going to be a continual learning curve and nothing is going to happen overnight.  I'm continually exploring new foods, new restaurants, new places to shop, new exercises, and I just need to live and breathe in this time and not get caught up by the scale. Ultimately, the end game is being healthier and feeling empowered.

For me, this is not only something I'm working out but something that has to work.  This is why I'm not "dieting" or trying some quick fix plan.  While I might miss a few of the decadent treats that I overindulged in before, I am certainly not depriving myself.  I eat plenty.  I eat real food.  I'm within my healthy calorie range and learning about foods that are not only important for weight loss but for the heart, mind and skin.  I'm embracing exercise and my body in a way I never have before.  And, in the spirit of finding freedom, I'm also not going to live in bondage to too many rules.  It's all about smart choices and being informed but not being obsessive.  I know what both sides of this line are like, being too free with food and being to obsessive, and I can honestly say balance is so important.  Being prone to OCD, it is not healthy for me to worry or hyperfocus on all the numbers.  My phone applications and favorite websites definitely help me stay focused and armed with information.  Most of all, in order to keep working this out, I need to stay real.  I must have people I can be open and honest with because life is hard. 

I don't know if any of you have seen the t-shirts or bumper stickers that say, "I may be fat but you're ugly and I can lose weight"  but I remember seeing this on a buxom Floridian beauty one time and it cracked me up!  Fierce and snarky.  I think there are those, big and small, who are also ugly on the INSIDE and because of this I am motivated to talk openly about my quest.  No one is better than anyone else and I won't let anyone have that power over me.  I want to be a strong, real, woman.  None of us are perfect; herein lies our beauty.  Thanks for letting me complain and thanks for picking me up.  I'm working it out and working hard again!

"Glory is not in never failing but in rising every time we fail." -Anonymous

p.s.- stocked up on blueberries, kiwi, pineapple, yogurt, and all my fave skinny chick treats!