Reality Check for Fatfighters: It Never Will Be Easy; The THINKING has to change the BEING to allow a NEW BECOMING.

You probably already know how marvelous a blogger Lyn of Escape from Obesity is. She lost 60 lbs with sensible diet and exercise methods: the healthy way. And she's one I tend to check in with frequently--and always when I'm especially struggling or need motivation or a recipe or hope. Even when some of her weight crept back and old habits popped up to bedevil her, she's refusing to give up. I like this.

Today, she gave us a reality check we all need. It doesn't get easy. It stays hard--whether losing or maintaining. This from today's post from Lyn about how we must learn to adapt, change, and THINK about exercise and food:

It is essential that I not only lift weights, but that I *become* a Person Who Lifts Weights. It has to be who I am. Not that I am going into professional body-building, but that it has to be part of who I am, just as much as I am a Mom Who Loves Her Kids and a Lady Who Cooks. We all have many facets, but there is a huge difference between having a task you do for a time, and hate it... and being a person who does something because it is part of who you are. If I hate my bike and always think, "ugh, I have to exercise, this SUCKS but I have to get the weight off," I am going to QUIT biking when I get the weight off, and I am going to gain it back. Period. So I have to either a) embrace the biking and be a Woman Who Bikes, or b) give it up and find a difference form of exercise that I can truly embrace.

Similarly, I have to be a Woman Who Eats Vegetables, and not just a fat woman who is eating a salad to lose weight but really wants to binge on candy bars. Some people say it's "thinking like a thin person" which may be true. If I *am* a thin person someday, I cannot keep thinking like a fat person or I will gain back the weight.

Yeah. It's true. Vigilance can't be slackened, and that's especially true with thought patterns and ways of perceiving oneself and one's life and one's mission. I know it.

I was .2 lbs from losing all that I had regained after the August challenge. I was at 270.4 a few days back, and my challenge weigh-in on September 1st was 270.2. So close to cracking into the 260's.

Well, the last four days have had me binge twice at night (and I have a lot of zits the last week, so I'm thinking this is a hormonal bit of craziness). Today, I was awakened by a BOOM! 2 hours after going to bed. Turns out it was a police team blowing up the door of a neighbor behind us (across the alley on a street that's one block away from City Hall and the police station, for pete's sake). C4 on the door. He was dealing drugs.

The BOOM! woke up hubby and me and our neighbors. I peeked out and saw a flak-dressed cop with helmet and I went right back inside and took cover. Later on, I asked the policemen watching the alley if hubby could get the car out and go to work. They said sure, all's safe.

Dang.

The neighborhood used to be so peaceful, safe, and full of really nice people. You could walk at night.

No more.

So, I ended up not getting rest (who could sleep with all the adrenaline) and I didn't eat (tried to nap before Pilates). As a result, my workout suffered. No food and no rest= rather sucky muscular effort.

I was tempted to stress binge, but I went and bought a skim milk latte and a chicken and brown rice with salsa bowl for ..er..brunch? I visited the market for fruits and veggies. I just need to get my mental mojo going for dinner.

Point being, I'm trying to think like Lyn suggests---I'm a woman who doesn't emotionally binge. I'm a woman who eats lots of fruits and veggies. I'm a woman who chooses better take-out meals. I'm a woman who loves to exercise. I'm a woman who learns to cope with surprises and stressors.

It's thinking comes first, and that leads to action.

We all have to become something new if we want to change and keep changing and hold on to the changes.

It's never gonna be simple. It's never gonna be easy.

And if you doubt that, go see how easy it is for champion fatfighters to regain. Visit some recent posts by Lyn and this week's posts by Jennette, who lost half her weight. We've seen the lovely and sweet Chubby Chick lose a chunk of adiposity and regain. It's hard. Hard. Hard.

But I also take heart when fatfighters don't give up, when they get back on the program and work harder to recapture lost ground.

Hooray! It's nice to have role models who are open, honest, and show that no one has to stay down. Or would that be stay UP, numbers-wise?

Happy Wednesday. Onward and DOWNWARD!