Guest Post from Veronica!!!!!

Hey everyone!!! As you know Im super busy so I have left my blog in the very capable hands of my bloggy bestie Ms. V. She is super amazing and like most of us she is on that weight loss journey!!!

 

 

Hi everyone. My name is Veronica. I reside at V Watts Thoughts  My bloggy bff, Toya, invited me to do a guest post and I was all too excited to do so. If you all have followed Toya for a while, the last time I did a guest post I spoke about my spiraling downward journey through bulimia and my upturn to recovery.

Today, I’d like to talk about getting out of the “FAT GIRL FUNK”. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that mentality that you look too fat, you feel too fat, the 5lbs you lost is a drop in the bucket compared to how much you have to lose, the “oh, I’ve already eaten a candy bar today might as well chunk the rest of the day out and eat like a pig”. 

A lot of us have been there and maybe still are there. I know that for me it has been a difficult journey to get out of that mind set. As I sit here and type this blog I am a full size 16 weighing 184lbs. I can honestly tell you that I feel better about myself today than I EVERRRR EVER EVA had felt about myself when I was 138lbs during the bulimia. See, the thing is that you can reach your goals of weight loss or size or activity level but if you don’t ditch the fat girl funk then you will never be happy with any of it. I’ve been through this vicious cycle of wanting to lose weight, losing some weight, but it’s not enough so I get angry and disappointed with myself so I say screw it and I gain it all back.

It wasn’t until I learned to be positive about myself, love myself for reasons other than my weight, and give over my health (efforts) to the Lord that I began to see real results. To date, I’ve lost 36lbs. I’ve gotten back into running and I feel on top of the world. I’ve been actively trying to get healthy for the last 8 months. This is huge for me because right around 3 months ago I would have rode a rollercoaster of TRY-fail-TRY-fail and hate every moment of it. What I have discovered while losing weight this time around is that in being less stringent and critical of myself I’ve seen that it has made this process a much more pleasant one. I learned to forgive myself for “mistakes” I made with my nutrition. When I quite the nagging and self-shaming it stopped me from continuing the binge cycle.

When you focus on your mistakes you tend to continue on that path of self destruction. I also truly try to celebrate every little improvement I make. Did I lose a pound in a week? AWESOME!!! No, it wasn’t as fan-flippin-tastic as losing 5 or 10lbs but it is progress and I feel like I should acknowledge that. When I began to celebrate my little successes they no longer seemed little to me. There is a saying, “fake it til you make”. I faked being as excited about pants that were a smidge less tight until I began to really appreciate that they weren’t tight anymore. As I said I am sitting here at 184lbs and feeling fabulous about myself. Yes, I’d love to lose more weight and be in better shape but I know that will come with time. I’ve got to love the me I am now before I think I love any form of my future self.

Let go of the past, look towards the future, be kind to yourself, and get outta that fat girl funk!

Tell the Truth Tuesday

Tell the Truth Tuesday!!!! This idea came from the Mr. and originally thought I would be silly and say the things we are all thinking but not saying (we don’t care about Kim and Kayne’s baby, your co worker is driving you crazy) but then I decided I needed to write about my feelings and tell the truth.

If you have been reading my blog for any period of time you know that I struggle with my weight. I mean struggle struggle like tears are shed sometimes. For a while I could not understand what I was doing wrong. Then I was diagnosed with PCOS. Ugh another recipe for disaster since one of the side effects is weight gain. AAANNND Im getting married in November. Needless to say I am on a weight loss journey.

I say journey because this process has not been linear. It has not been all roses and sun shine. Some weeks I love the scale other weeks I think she is a she devil in a plot against me. Now I will admit my eating is not always the best and you cant out run a bad diet. My weight has gone up and down and toggled between numbers and then BOOM I hit ONEDERLAND.

Well I don’t know if I got cocky, or satisfied that my fat girl jeans fit again but I became lax and started falling into old behaviors. I am human and this is a daily battle for me. If you are one of the ones that eat clean with no worries KUDOS to you. I however love fried chicken and potatoes.  With my bruised bone and edema working out is a no because I'm on crutches. So I have to be very careful about what I eat.

In the mean time I did it… got on that wretched scale…and guess what? No more onederland. I weighed in at 200 and almost had a come apart. Then I decided hold on Toya you have still managed to keep off 20 pounds. Reel in these emotions and this eating. Truly I think my lowest was 196 so that’s a four pound gain and while on some level it is bad, its not the worst or unexpected. I have had weeks where I ate whatever I wanted and downed mixed drinks like I was back in my undergrad days. So four pounds ehhh I guess it will be ok this one time.

However it is not acceptable to continue this behavior especially since I’m down at least 2 more weeks. I have been taking advice from a dear person in my life and hitting the sauna. I have been throwing a pity party when really I know better. Pity party leads to emotional eating and oh hell no!!!! So instead of continuing to feel bad about these four pounds I will celebrate the 20 I have lost and kept off. 

On this journey I know I will be derailed but I WILL NOT give up. I will fight to get to goal weight and lose at least 50 more pounds. I may not reach this goal by the wedding but I will NOT be 220.

There is my truth and since we all love a good before and after shot here you go…

Monday this week, and summer sometime in 2012

Featured in an Online Magazine Yall!!!!

Blogging for me is about accountability and making connections. Little did I know that my friend from school and soror (ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY INC) *shameless plug* would be following me on Instagram (Where I post a lot of pics related to the never ending weight loss journey) and ask me to write a story for her online magazine called ImBettah.



 

The magazine is all about empowerment and foward thinking. From their About section: Informed, Marketable, Black, Educated, Talented, Trendy, Aware & Healthy. IM BETTAH is an online magazine intended to provide you with a new experience and vision of the Black community. This will not be your average media platform. We share knowledge on issues that affect our daily lives.

 

I say check them out folks! Anyway back to the feature, she wanted me to share my journey thus far and how I got started. so many times people including me have started to lose weight and give up for whatever reason/ yu know the reasons, slow results, laziness, lack of comittment any ole reason will do. So of course I was flattered and said yes.

 

I have shared parts of my story on the blog and you can read that  here when I did the biggest Loser link up... someone needs to do another one... hmmm.. anyway. My story was featrured and would love if you all would go check it out and like it tweet it or whatever I would be soooo appreciative!!!

 

Oh and one more bit of a news. As a result of this feature and my wellness wednesday posts I will be writing mental health related pieces for the publication monthly!!! Im totally excited about branching out. This will give me the opportunity to share my life's work with the massess!!!