It's Not FAIR!

How many times have you seen other people in your life, 'normal' eaters, munching on things you can't have?

How does that make you feel?

Angry?  Upset?  Stressed?  Anxious?  FRUSTRATED? 

It's not FAIR, right? 
It's not fair that you can't eat what they eat. 
It's not fair that they never gain weight, and yet YOU only have to SMELL fattening food and you gain 2 lbs.! 

It's not FAIR that you have to live on packets and only eat 1000 calories a day and STILL you have to wait and worry and run to the bathroom every 5 minutes and say 'No' all the time and salivate watching everyone else enjoy themselves while you sit there with your plain SALAD.

It's not FAIR!
Of COURSE it's not fair. 

You're right!  You are absolutely, 100%, RIGHT.
But....listen to me for a second....


....Whoever said life was FAIR? 

Is it FAIR that children get CANCER?  Is it FAIR that the nicest people in the world seem to have the hardest lives? Is it FAIR that there are wars in this world, and good men go overseas to serve their country, only to DIE?  Is it FAIR that we AGE? Grow old, get wrinkles, and have aches and pains that only get worse as life goes on, only to DIE?

My grandmother told me on her deathbed...."Linda, let's face it.  Life SUCKS and then you DIE".

Now, this was a woman who never cursed in her LIFE.  The very fact that she used the word 'SUCKS' had me in a state of shock!  And she was suffering....needlessly, in my book. 

WHY?  Her comment threw me into a depression that lasted YEARS (and resulted in my being on Prozac). 

I kept thinking about it.  I STILL think about it once in awhile.

But you know what?  Years later....first of all, a doctor told me that the medications she was on resulted in her not really thinking straight....she was like a drunk person.  Secondly, she lived a long healthy life until her kidneys failed....she came a long long way....all the way from Chekoslovakia, in fact.....to the 'new world', a new life in America, a family she raised and cared for, and in her late 70s, she even had a BOYFRIEND (her husband died many many years before) who was begging her to marry him!  (she wouldn't;  because she said it 'wouldn't be right', she was 'too old'.  More's the pity....)

She was the kindest, gentlest soul I've ever met in my life. 
And she gave me -- and all my siblings -- so much LOVE that our childhoods were truly blessed.  She instilled some great values in me, too, including the value of persistence and hard work!

And I'm POSITIVE that she was rewarded in Heaven.  Absolutely POSITIVE of it, as sure of it as I am of my own name.  She's happy, and whole, and at PEACE.
And I took her words WAY too seriously.  I forgot all the good things I had in my life.  I've never been dirt-poor....I've never had to scrub floors for a living....I've never been hungry. 

She was all of those things and MORE, and still rose about it.

LIFE ISN'T FAIR.  That's the truth.

So....what are you going to do about it? 

Are you going to give UP, and just say 'It's not fair' and therefore eat whatever you want, whenever you want, because you want to be 'just like your skinny friends'....and SUFFER the consequences?

All the horrible things that happen to us as obese individuals....the discrimination, just the way people LOOK at you (trust me, when you get to goal you'll notice the difference)....the aches and pains, going up stairs, being unable to cross your legs, or go on rides at Disneyland, or be happy to have your picture taken, or fit into a beautiful dress versus wearing 'whatever fits', or hiding from cameras, or feeling decidedly UNsexy when alone with your DH.....?

Is it WORTH that taste in your mouth?  That momentary, fleeting few minutes of pleasure from eating something that's not healthy for you?
...and what ABOUT your 'normal' friends?  Time has a way of catching up with people...sometimes people who've been 'skinny' for years, suddenly find their metabolisms catching up with them, and oh BROTHER, THEN what do they do?  They don't know the first THING about dieting!  Whereas you could quote calorie counts off the top of your head, they are CLUELESS. 

I saw this with my 'skinny' Aunt after she took a trip overseas and overdid it on local goodies.  Boy, was she upset!  And she had NO IDEA how to lose the weight.  She really struggled....and wound up half-starving herself to lose it. 

I've lived with my food addiction basically my entire life.  And the worst part of it was, I DID NOT HAVE THE SOLUTION!  I searched, high and low....I tried 'everything'....and NOTHING worked.  Not for long.

Listen to me.  THIS PLAN WORKS.  You have half the work done for you already because it WORKS.  You don't have to try umptee-ump different diets anymore. 

THE ANSWER IS RIGHT HERE.

All you have to do is make up your mind to DO IT.  Stop complaining and DO IT.

Stop looking for excuses, stop worrying about everyone else, stop whining about how it 'isn't fair', and DO IT.

NO MATTER WHAT. 

Make up your mind that NOTHING, and I mean absolutely NOTHING, is going to stop you or stand in your way.  Do whatever you need to do to have the food you need to stay 100% OP every.single.day.

NO MATTER WHAT.

Get COMMITTED.  Don't salivate about what others are eating...instead, find the BEST possible choices for yourself that are OP!  You DON'T have to suffer.  Even 'out'.  In restaurants you can order beautiful cuts of fish, grilled chicken, turkey burgers, beef burgers, vegetarian options like frittatas or omelets, all KINDS of things.  And veggies GALORE.  Just ask for them without any sauces, please.  (and be NICE about it, SMILE and tip well, and you'll always get what you want).  And don't forget the salad on the side!  With your favorite MF-approved salad dressing, of course (just ask for it for dressing on the side or no dressing....and put a travel-sized container in your purse with your dressing in it. I've been doing this since Week ONE on program and it's never failed me yet!)

And don't forget your MF bars in your purse for snacks.  And your water bottle!  You can get water anywhere.

You DON'T have to suffer or be hungry.....IF YOU DON'T WANT TO! 

It's all in your HEAD.  How you APPROACH it.  If you fixate on what others are eating and tell yourself 'It's not fair', then of COURSE you're going to struggle.

But if you fixate on your OWN food, and what YOU CAN HAVE versus what you CAN'T have, you can make it.  ALL THE WAY. 

You can do it with a smile on your face and PRIDE in your heart.  Every single day.

I am a food addict.  I know that, and I'm not worried about it anymore. It's part of my life.  It's something I have to deal with.  PERIOD. 

Just like I was born with brown eyes and I have size 11 (yep! LOL) feet.  It is what it IS.

Crying about it....whining about it....is going to solve NOTHING.

So I deal. 

YOU CAN DEAL, too.  Just make your mind up and DO IT. 

Take it one day at a time, and please please DO NOT look at the junk or sludge!  Why DO that to yourself!?   Just say NO and enjoy your OWN food.  Whatever it is. 

You're SPECIAL.  TREAT yourself that way.  TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY,
you only get ONE and YOU are its one and only owner!

YOU CAN DO THIS!  I promise you.....I've said it before and I'll keep saying it.  If I can do it, after all these years, with all my horrible bad eating habits (and I had a TON! LOL)....
then YOU CAN DO IT.

Keep on keepin' on!