I didn’t accomplish what I set out
to do with this blog and this book. I had hoped to use the blog as a marketing
tool for my novel, Losing Penny, thinking that as health conscious internet
surfers stumbled across diet tips and recipes on my blog, that they might also
be interested in reading Losing Penny. I also had a more personal agenda—I had
hoped that as I posted weight loss tips and veggie recipes that I would stay
motivated on my own personal path to optimal health and skinny thighs.
That didn’t happen. For a glimpse
of what did happen, you have to read the ending of Losing Penny—which I love by
the way, and since I don’t want to spoil the ending…I will leave you with this
one important weight loss tool. To enjoy
your life and optimal health—you have
to love and appreciate your body. That’s it. That’s the take away message I
wish I could shout from the top of the barbells at the gym and post on giant
banners in front of weight loss clinics worldwide.
If you hate your body, if you say
or even think cruel or unkind things about your body, you will never be at
peace and you will never be healthy. I don’t care if you have the means to hire
chefs, personal trainers and a team of plastic surgeons—if you don’t nurture
yourself with proper amounts of sleep, exercise, healthy foods and gratitude for the amazing gift of
your body—you will be at war. And guess what—you will lose…and I’m not talking
about body fat.
I will now climb off the barbells
and stop ranting. I don’t want to be a Julian Michaels, screaming in anybody’s
face. I don’t believe in screaming—unless grave bodily harm can be prevented
(but wait—maybe it can.) I don’t believe in punishments. I don’t think negativity
ever works…for long.
The other day I got two beautiful
magazines in the mail. My teenage daughters picked up the Bride magazine and
asked where they had come from and why. I didn’t know, but I think they must be
somehow associated with my credit card, since they had my full and legal name
on the packaging label. It took me a few moments to get what kind of magazine
the second one was—it wasn’t a bridal magazine (like the first) home décor or
fashion. Mid way through, after numerous advertisements for cars and jewelry I
found a picture of two beautiful models—male and female—sitting in a yoga pose
on the beach. Make 2013 The Year You Achieve All Your Dreams—the caption read.
And since I like yoga and the beach and dreams, I turned the page—only to find
five pages of advertisements for plastic surgeons.
I know plastic surgery can nip and tuck
our outsides, but I also know it can’t fix what’s going on inside our heads.
And that’s where real optimal health has to start. If you think weight loss is all
about bellys, bottoms and biceps—you’re wrong.
It’s a head game. And you will
never win if you don’t learn to love your greatest opponent—yourself.
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