Hello Cherelli:

Thanks for stepping out and sharing your personal goal on PeopleJam. You have had numerous challenges attaining you goals but I am sensing you are now ready to be who you really are. Look at what you have just pulled through! Time to pull off the insulation from living a healthy and energized life. This is just the next step for you!

I feel your pain with the sugar! I am also a carb addict and must stay away from most refined carbs. However, it really is just food and I remind myself constantly that’s all it is. When I get the urge……I tell myself it’s only food – so what’s going on? Hummmmm, I always need to stop and ponder on that!

I’m glad to hear you are attending meetings for support as that is a powerful tool in keeping your focus and continued progress.

You have a great motivation…..a role model to your daughter. It is powerfully motivating to be fully there for you child - a happy, healthy, energized and engaged mom. Can you picture yourself living that life?
Running, jumping and laughing with your daughter?

I have found for me, that when I became serious about losing the weight and changing my future, I needed to take some time, sit down and get clear on what I wanted my life to look like. What was my vision of my future life? What did me need to do and what healthy eating plan will work for me? What was my favorite type of exercise? Yes, this was about lifestyle change for me and there was no way around it.

A few other steps I felt were a must for me to get motivated and get going on my weight loss goals.

What is the sugar filling in your life? What’s working? What’s not?

Make a plan to get the unhealthy food out of your environment and throw it out! Yes, toss it!

Find a substitute behavior for eating – what would work for you? Do you have a hobby or something you love to do? Time with a loved one? What is it for you?

Set-up a great reward (other than food) as progress is made.

And yes, support, support, support! Exactly what you are doing here on PeopleJam and with ISM. What other support do you need?

A key for me was a group of like-minded individuals and a strong support system that would help keep me going when the going got tough. And don’t be afraid to call on them!

Glad to have you here Cherelli. Keep posting and sharing your progress.

We are thrilled to hear from you!

Regards,

Tina Elliot, MBA, PCC
Personal Life, Weigh Loss and Wellness Coach

Cherelli-

You're very brave for sharing your vulnerabilities. I have no doubt that you will achieve your goals. Make a list of personal reasons for becoming healthier and look at it each day. Also pick up the book, "Love Yourself Thin," which approaches weight-loss from a spiritual point of view. I'm sure it will help you a lot.

Best!

Cherelli, it sounds like you have been brutally honest with yourself and what you're facing. Addictions - a real beast! I was a two pack a day smoker for almost 20 years coupled with a complete food addiction. All of this was to help me fill voids in my self and my life. I had past pains and issues that could never be healed without serious examination and then feeling them again with full consciousness of what they were. If you would like to send me a private message I would be happy to share those with you more specifically if you think it would help you in your situation. I hope part of the work you're doing is to recognize what those voids are for you and what you're trying to fill with food. In my opinion, those things will carry on to be more of a legacy with your daughter than the weight or the eating habits.

One of the things I did back when I wanted to quit smoking was to write a letter to each person I loved to read after I was "gone" due to a premature death from smoking. That was a sobering dose of reality that was the tipping point for my decision to quit. You may want to write one of your own letters to your daughter if you think it would help. It made the possibility and very likely outcome of my health addictions VERY real for me where I could no longer deny what I was doing to my body. It made me think in very real terms about the loss and waste of my life that could happen and how it would effect those I loved.

Once you can understand the void you're trying to fill Cherelli and get your head wrapped around what could happen, in very concrete terms, if you choose to stay in your addiction, then making other, healthier choices becomes easier. Not easy, but easier. You'll be able to make conscious choicese versus emotionally drived choices that run and drive your behavior in ways that you can't see. Emotional needs/voids have a way of blinding us to our behavior and we create techniques to insulate ourselves from the truth when they're running our lives.

Keep coming here for support. We're here to all help one another!!!