Swim Dress Ready…

I got an email today…from a health and fitness magazine…touting that I could be bikini ready in…four weeks…I deleted it…

Now…I hate to sound negative…but…come on…I’ve never been bikini ready…not even when I had the body for it…actually…way back in the day…Mama wouldn’t even let me have a two-piece…much less a bikini…I think I got my first two-piece…maybe my senior year in high school…and trust me…it wasn’t skimpy…and…I could count the number I’ve had since then…on my fingers…probably on one hand…

So…it got me to wondering…if I were young…and…thin…today…would I still be too self-conscious to wear a bikini…probably…but…I’ve digressed from what was originally on my mind…

The article…                                                         

I have to wonder…how could anyone who was actually…overweight…and…out of shape…be bikini ready in four weeks…I mean…think about it…on a reasonable diet…I could expect to lose a maximum of 10 pounds…in a month…and…with a really dedicated workout schedule…I could tone some…but…not from flab to washboard abs…

So…I’m thinking…this program…is a lot like that book that I bought last summer…that claimed…you could look thinner without losing weight…all you had to do was wear…a full spanx body armor…not sure how that would look in a bathing suit…oh…but…wait…if you were more than 10 pounds overweight…you’d better diet…

So…maybe the article should have read…if you are within three pounds of your goal weight…and…reasonably in shape…you can be bikini ready in four weeks…for the rest of you…better luck next year…and…here’s a link…for swim dresses…

Which then reminds me of the best title…other than…Bertha-Size Your Life!...that I ever saw…I Know why the Manatee SwimsNaked (I’ve Shopped for Bathing Suits, Too)…it just kinda sums it all up…doesn’t it…

Jane

Paradox Found…

Somehow…there’s something fundamentally wrong…with eating a candy bar…while reading a continuing education article about weight loss surgery…and…yet…I did…

Funny thing is…before that…I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a candy bar…of course…Bertha…nudged me…it hadn’t been that long…okay…I admit it…geez…it hadn’t…but…before that one…really…it had been a while…but I digress…

So…why…I wondered…how…did I find myself…reading about weight loss…and eating a candy bar…at the same time…it just didn’t make sense…even though…I wasn’t considering having the surgery…I was definitely thinking about the pounds I needed to lose…when the urge for chocolate suddenly overwhelmed me…I had a dollar…and there was a Snickers bar…just down the hall…I didn’t resist…

Kind of like…eating a large pizza…while watching…The Biggest Loser…well…I might have done that…but…honestly…I never did…at least…not the whole thing…maybe just a couple of slices…geez…

Bertha…tells me…it’s called…denial…and…that’s not…a river in Egypt…but…it’s just as full of crocodiles…snapping away at my happiness…by keeping me from living the fullness…of living my truth…

Hmmm...what can I say…she’s right…I have been known to bury my head in the sand…on more than one occasion…and…the sand in my ears…is really irritating…I might add…

So…how…do I fess up…look life straight in the eye…she says…start with the Forgiveness Prayer…start with…I love you…I’m sorry…Please forgive me…Thank you…directed to my spirit…she says…to always start with love…because…love is the truth of who I am…and that’s what it’s all about…

Jane

I have found the paradox…that if you love until it hurts…there can be no more hurt…only more love…  ~  Mother Teresa

Back to Square Three…

Woo hoo…I’m finally back at the gym…don’t get excited…I’ve only been two days in a row…I’m not doing anything fancy…walking on the treadmill…not too fast…not too long…just trying to get back in shape…

It’s kind of frustrating…it feels like I completely wasted three years of my life…spent getting into shape…changing my eating habits…only to find myself…back at square one…out of shape…and overweight…

But…then I have to ask myself…REALLY…am I totally out of shape…and the answer is…NO…not totally…I’m by no means where I was a year and a half ago…but I’m also not where I was before I started working out a few years ago…either…

It’s the same with my weight…I have regained…way more than I’d like…hello…one pound is more than I’d like…and it’s a lot more than one…but…it’s not all of it…

So…I’m actually starting ahead of the game…when I started…must have been four years ago…I broke the Diet Coke habit…and never went back…I drink mostly water…I started eating more fruits and veggies…I still do…I cook most of my meals…I carry my lunch…I rarely eat fast food…it’s really just my sweet tooth that I need to tweak…

Unlike when I originally started…I’m really looking forward to the exercise…to challenging my body…to getting stronger…and…especially…to getting back on my bike this spring…

So…maybe I’m not back to square one…maybe I’m at square three…or even four…I know I’ve got a ways to go…but…I also know I can do it…I’ve done it before…

Jane