Don't set yourself up for failure....kill the stigma

http://freshdaily.tumblr.com/post/3859041540/i-used-to-get-shamed-when-eating-with-friends-or

I was recently talking with my friend about how she has seen people in her life go on diets and fail. And every time they fail it is more and more heartbreaking to watch. Now we both are not saints when it comes to eating right or working out. So sometimes it is even more hard to watch! It is harder to watch because it we can relate to it.

So I came across this image and thought it was perfect! We can't think about it as dieting. When dieting comes into the word play we are setting ourselves up for failure. We are thinking about only eating right for a temporary period of time.We are thinking that once we reach our goal we can 'quit.' We as a society can't think that way. We can't think that losing weight or maintaining it is a part time job. Its a full time job for the rest of our lives. 

I don't want to think about my journey as a diet. I don't want to view it as a temporary fix until after I get married. I want to change my whole lifestyle from eating to spending more time in the gym and leading a more active lifestyle. If I view it as changing my life for the better forever, then that is how I need to look at it. 

It is a hard journey and it takes a lot of thinking on whether to eat something or not. It may be second nature to some, but it takes active thought, listening, and talking for me to come to rational conclusions on my hunger and choices of foods to eat. 

By looking at it as eating healthy it is easier to make better decisions. I don't feel like I am punishing myself when others eat more fatty foods, or fast food. I can look at it as a decision to not put that stuff in my body anymore instead of looking at is a punishment for being large and in charge.

So I think that we can't look at bettering our life as a punishment, and that we can't look at eating healthy as the end, but as the beginning. The beginning of our bodies feeling good, and light. Its the beginning of living a long and happy life. These things we can pass down to our children. Teach them to eat healthy and that there is no such thing as a diet that it is just a healthy lifestyle. This is something I can teach my own children.