Beating the Odds Together

You've heard it over and over.  That most people fail to lose weight when they try.  That almost everyone who does manage to lose weight will inevitably gain it all back and more.

I bought that, for many years.  I mean, I did TRY to lose weight, and sometimes I would be successful for the briefest amount of time, but then, boom, I did indeed yo-yo right back up the scale.  Once I lost 80 pounds and kept it off for a while on a no-grain/starches/lactose diet I was on to curb IBS that seemed to be developing into Crohn's disease (it totally worked, along with a strict and expensive gut-healing regimen after a few years, different story), but as soon as I added back any carbs, it all crept back on, bit by bit over the next three years, plus 5 pounds, maybe more.  Somewhere in my heart, I had accepted it.  I believed that I couldn't really do it.  I thought it was inevitable.

This time is different.  Why?  So many reasons.  But I think the number one reason is - I don't believe the lie about it being impossible to lose and maintain your weight any more.  I've seen too many people succeed to believe it.  I am not alone in my journey.  And neither are you.

Suddenly there's a whole community available, without barriers, as long as we have access to the technology.  I keep seeing the blogs and sites of people who have lost hundreds of pounds and have kept it off for years!  When we read one another's stories, we gain insights into our own.  The reasons for our weight problems, what we are clinging to or medicating, the physical things that need healing, the emotional issues that need solving, the different paths to freedom.  We can talk over what works for us and what doesn't work.  I see the positive examples, the people who have made it.  I see the support that we can offer one another, and it is incredibly powerful.

Once I started seeing success after success, something clicked into place.  Once I saw with my own eyes that what was "common knowledge" about losing and maintaining weight being next to impossible was a lie, it became possible for me, too.  I had to find the methods that worked for me and heal myself physically and emotionally.  Still on my journey, but I'm telling you, it's totally different this time.  Life is new.  I've lost over 100 pounds.  I can't see myself ever going back.

Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being out there.  Thank you for showing me the way.  Thank you for exposing the lie for what it is.

I haven't forgotten about the award, 266, btw.  Had an exceedingly wacky day yesterday, full of both pleasant and unpleasant surprises, and in my spare time I've been hunting down my 15 newly discovered bloggers to hand it off to.  Hopefully tonight.  Best to all of you.