Getting out of a mold
by Kay Hilts (DCW Member)

Perhaps you have struggled with your weight your whole life. Or maybe it has become an issue since your teen years or a pregnancy. Perhaps you are a teen already struggling with the weight. Whatever the case might be, being overweight is not a healthy state to be in and is definitely not a state our bodies are meant to handle.

If the weight has crept up on you over the years and you have "Dealt with it" knowing its there but, never really did anything about it...you have created a mold for yourself. If you have tried "dieting" and failed as 90% of dieters do, you have created a mold for yourself. If you know your overweight but eat improperly, you have created a mold.  If you have said no to outings or occasions using an excuse rather than admitting the weight is keeping you from enjoying it, you have created a mold.

What does this mean? By saying you have created a mold, this means that you have "got yourself into a rut" that you either gave up on, accepted, or made excuses for the weight. You know it affects your life, in your minds you know its not ok, but never take the step to look into a mirror and say directly, out loud to your reflection, "this is NOT ok, so i am going to do something about it." Its a hard thing to do.

We know it affects our life, our choices. We base many decisions on whether or not it suits us to go ahead with a plan or not because we ask first, "Will the weight play a factor in this event?".

Allowing the weight to control our decisions is wrong, plain wrong. It should never have to be the deciding factor on whether you should go out to eat with friends, being able to go swimming, playing ball with your kids or whatever. It is just plain wrong. It's a mold we get into and find ourselves stuck in.

Is it worth all the aggravation to stay stuck in the mold? Wouldn't it be great to instead of be stuck in a rut, to be able to jump out and and say I'm FREE?

What an awesome feeling, even to think it let alone be able to just do it. But how? First let's look at our attitude.

Having an attitude

Starting any Weightloss program requires a few commitments on your part, whether its 10 pounds or 200. There are many avenues that one must consider to lose the weight and keep it off. If you have a desire to lose weight, then you must gain the attitude to follow through with it.

Generally, people who struggle with their weight also struggle with issues of self-esteem and depression. This is one of the toughest aspects of weight issues. It takes a lot of time to be able to work through those issues before during and after Weightloss.

Being overweight does not make anyone a bad person. It does not make you ugly or unattractive. But if you have an attitude of self defeat then, it will show on the outside. Working on our attitudes is the biggest thing one can do for oneself. No human is worthless. No human is unloveable. But if your current attitude is pushing people away, you might think that these two statements are true of you. They are not.

Actions speak louder than words. We have all heard that one said before right? Well think about that statement. If you are struggling with Weightloss, grumbling about how fat you are, how you wish you did not have the weight, how depressed it is making you, get a grip on this statement. Actions speak louder than words. Make it your attitude. Like Nikes Slogan...just do it!

Talk is just that...talk. Action will get you success. Action will raise your level of self esteem because you know that its not idle talk, you REALLY do not want the weight and ARE doing something about it. Action will get you pounds lost. As action is taken, the self esteem will improve and so will the depression. Why? Because there will be improvement in your Weightloss, there will be improvements in your attitude, because you took the time to put words into action and do something about it all. An accomplishment! Make the commitment today. No more idle talk and a little more action!!! You CAN do it!!!!!!

Next let's talk about choice.

The choice is really up to you.

We all have the ability to make choices for ourselves.

You can can choose to either stay

• in your mold,
• in your rut
• in your box

or you could make the conscious, life saving, life enhancing, choice to LEAP out. It require commitment, it requires work, but most of all it requires you to tell yourself "it really is NOT ok to be at my weight, I must DO something about it and make it a life change. I owe it to me, I owe it to the people I love."

Choice means freedom. Freedom to make yourself a priority, freedom to make changes that will create positive results. The ball is in your court to STOP, THINK, and REACT.

STOP - take a moment to ask yourself the reasons you want to lose weight. Write them down, start a journal. Ask yourself the pros and cons that losing weight will bring you.  What benefits will losing the weight make in your life?

THINK - Are you ready to take action? Is this something you really want for yourself? Where will you be a year from now? Stuck in your rut still or will you look back and proudly exclaim "I DID IT!!"?

REACT - Now decide on your plan of action. Set your goals and write them down. Goals should be daily, monthly, 3 months 6 months, 9 months and 1 year to start.  Keep looking at your goals so you never forget. Put them on your fridge so you see them. Mark them off when completed. Make Every Day count!

Make changes to your lifestyle you can live with for life. Make them healthy choices. Make the effort, get the results. Never be stuck  in your mold, your rut, your box EVER again.