The inner fatty

First of all, let's be honest. No - I'm not saying "inner fatty" to be mean. But come on. If you are reading weight loss blogs, you probably have one. I have one. I will always have one, no matter what my outer appearance is or how fit I am. I will always have an inner fatty, lurking and waiting to pounce. It is my inner fatty that makes temptations so HARD to resist!

So - you're out to eat with some friends, and the menu is screaming at you. "CHECK OUT THESE NACHOS, BABY!! I'VE GOT THE CHEESIEST CHEESE STICKS AROUND! GO AHEAD! TRY MY TRIPLE DECKER MUSHROOM SWISS BURGER WITH ONION RINGS!!"

Or maybe you are at the end of a meal, regardless of whether you made a healthy choice or not, and now the dilemma presents: Should I order one of those Triple Chocolate Fudge brownies that looks ever so delicious on the dessert menu?

Maybe you are with friends (or on your own) and somebody (or yourself) suggests hitting up Five Guys for a burger. How about when your work environment constantly has doughnuts available? Or when there is a pot luck going on every other day for one reason or another?

Nobody is perfect. Even the most successful "losers" have given in...probably multiple or dozens of times during their journey. I know I sure have! I have an especial weakness for wine, which really is just a bunch of needless liquid calories. But I truly enjoy wine. Ummm, and doughnuts. And chocolate. And mushroom swiss burgers. And nachos and onion rings and mozzarella sticks. Mmm, and pizza. Oh, and most crappy food in general. (Can we say, HELLO inner fatty!!)
 
But once you learn how to say "no", it does get easier. You get used to it. You become proud of yourself for being strong. You learn what techniques work best for you. You can absolutely figure out how to tell your inner fatty to STFU!! You CAN win the war with your inner fatty!

But how? Here are a few of my tips. First, avoidance. If I can, I try to avoid a situation where I know crazy temptation will be. This won't always be possible, but for example - at my previous work place, I knew there were doughnuts available in a certain spot every Friday morning. I normally walked by that spot daily because it was the most direct route from place A to place B...but on Fridays, I would purposely take a different way, just to avoid even seeing the doughnut table. This might work with fast food places - if you go by one on your way to work and find yourself stopping too often - take a different way! Even if it means a few minute longer drive, who cares. You will save the time not waiting in line, you will save money not buying the crap, and most importantly you will save your health! When it comes down to it, your inner fatty can't rear his/her ugly head if you don't give her a chance to.

Another good one is distraction. This is easier said than done, but if there is a pot luck going on, contribute a healthy dish and encourage others to do the same. Then make a beeline for those healthy dishes, load up, and try to avoid the less-healthy options. Just distract yourself from the junk, with a plate full of healthy! Or if you find yourself sitting at your desk, craving one of those doughnuts that you know are lurking around the corner - chew some gum. Not only might it distract you, but even if not - a doughnut will taste like shit with a minty mouth :-) If you are at home, feeling munchy - go for a walk. Play with your kids. Read a good book. Just do something that you can get into, and that will help you forget your craving.

I love to look up calories! For example, there are 840 calories in a cheeseburger from Five Guys and another 310 in HALF an order of regular sized fries. Now think about that for a minute - how hard you work every other day. Maybe you exercise your butt off, or count calories...think about how this one meal (which will be over before you know it) is going to derail all of that hard work! I actually did this with Five Guys myself once...I was with a large group of people who mostly wanted Five Guys for lunch. Everyone ordered, I did not. Instead, when we got back to the house, I had some broiled garlic shrimp. It was delicious, and I saved 1000+ calories! TAKE THAT, INNER FATTY!

Planning is important! Maybe you are going out to eat...check out the menu ahead of time. Plan out what you are going to order and figure it into your daily calories. Then when you get there, stick with the plan.

Weigh yourself as little or as often as you need to in order to keep your inner fatty from getting out of control. Some people prefer to weigh in only once a week or once a month. Or even not at all, instead going off of inches or how their clothes are fitting. For me, more frequent weigh ins work best. I like to see the fluctuations and I like how I have gotten to know my body and how various things affect it. It helps me to plan and gauge my progress. I don't freak over the short term patterns...I only record my weight once a week, for example. But if I see that my pasta binge one night caused 2 lbs of water weight gain the next day, I might try extra hard to drink more water to flush out the bloat.

Keep sight of your goals and motivations. Write them down. Blog them. Put pictures on the fridge. Whatever it takes - just always "keep your eye on the prize". Before you down a 1500 calorie junk meal, ask yourself, is this short term happiness going to be worth it? What do I want more, this greasy food, or my health? If you answer the smart way, your inner fatty will die a little inside ;-)

Do you have any tips for beating the inner fatty? I'd love to hear them!

Choices

The plain, hard truth is that you CHOOSE how you react to the hands you are dealt. I need to remind myself of this frequently. In fact, I need to remind myself of this today, hence this post. This is as much of a reminder for me as it is for anyone else reading.

You are not fat just because obesity runs in your family.
You are not fat just because your spouse eats junk constantly but is lucky enough to never gain an ounce.
You are not fat because there is a McDonald's on the way to work each day.
You are not fat because kids teased you in 4th grade.
You are not fat because your school lunches were sub-par growing up.
You are not fat because you have a bad back/sore foot/migraines/insert any physical ailment here.
You are not fat because you are older and your metabolism isn't what it used to be.

*Sigh* I can definitely identify with this.

YES. All of those things (and plenty more) may contribute. They certainly don't help the battle, that is for sure. They can be HARD issues to overcome, and I am not pretending otherwise. BUT. In the end, it is YOU who chooses what to make of your situation.

You choose what to put in your mouth
You choose how active to be
You choose your own priorities
You choose to see the glass as half full or half empty
You choose to be determined...or not.
You choose to follow through...or not.


It is up to YOU how hard you want to fight. 

Weaknesses

Everybody has weaknesses. For us fatties and former fatties (hey, sounds harsh, but you know I try to be honest), often times our biggest weaknesses involve food. Here is a list of some of my weaknesses. I am all for things in moderation of course....but these are things that, for me, require an immense amount of willpower in order to NOT devour 5 servings of at once. The list is obviously not all-encompassing. I don't generally have a history of being picky about what kind of junky goodness I shove down my throat. Go figure....

1. Pizza
2. Pasta (especially creamy alfredo based dishes)
3. Bakery items (cupcakes, donuts, pastries etc)

Why can't my biggest weaknesses be salad? I do love salad, in fact you should have seen the massive salad I ate yesterday (with light dressing, used sparingly of course!) But I feel like no matter how much I change my life and get into a healthy eating routine, nothing will ever take away my love for pizza or pasta. Which really, is fine - the problem is more that once I start, I can't stop. I can't just eat a piece of pizza...I end up eating several. And feeling like crap afterwards, with a bloated stomach and guilt on my mind. I wish I could just be normal and eat a little, along with a great big salad, and feel satisfied! Unfortunately that is never going to be me, at least not without a constant struggle.

What are some of your weaknesses?

Why are you/were you fat?

I'm all about honesty. I believe it is a key component to successfully changing my life and maintaining the health and fitness I have finally come to know. Part of that honesty is recognizing how I got to be 227 lbs and a size 22.

I started out overweight when I was in elementary school. I had no confidence, and therefore was too scared to do anything about it. Exercising or joining in sports would have meant people SEEING me. I never thought it was worth it. Then in high school I concentrated on other things. I was happy with what I did and what I had. I was overweight, but not obese, and I figured that was fine - no biggie. I could manage that.

Then I got married, had kids...the weight started piling on. I ate even more crap. I love junk food, not going to lie. My willpower was non-existent, and to be honest I often didn't even care. I just liked food.

 I also engaged in almost no physical activity. I felt like it would be pointless to try. I was out of breath just walking up one flight of stairs in my own house. That's just the way it was and I felt like that's just the way it would have to stay.

I wanted to change, but really didn't know how. And I was afraid of failing, yet again. And it seemed like it would be SO hard. Take SO long. I felt like I would never get to where I wanted to be. Basically lots of fear affected my every thought regarding my health and the seemingly far fetched potential for change. I am pretty sure I also didn't realize just how big I was! I was fooling nobody by myself.

Now I am a "normal" BMI, which still feels incredibly impossible. I am a size 8 (6 on good days in the right brand). It still seems so foreign to me, but in a great way obviously. I am well aware that it could all go to shit, SO easily, if I ever stop being honest with myself. I need to maintain the honesty. I need to remember where I came from, and why.

Who is brave enough to comment with why THEY are or were fat? Not excuses, but actual, honest reasons?