Hi, my name is Gwen, and I am a recovering chronic dieter.
I have spent most of my life losing “the weight” only to gain back more, going from being a skinny kid just out of elementary school, to clinically obese in my early forties.
As if gaining all that weight while spending most of my life on a diet wasn’t bad enough, the nightmare of thoughts and judgments that swirled around in my head was worse.
“You are what you eat.” That phrase holds a lot of charge.
I think whoever made it up must have been the same person who made up the first “weight loss diet.”
What a great tool for anyone touting a new diet—they tell you what foods are “good” or “bad” based on their opinion of how you should be eating. (Remember, you are what you eat—better get it right!) Then, conveniently, their job is done, leaving us dieters to slap on the judgment all by ourselves, based on whether we are following their plan to the letter or not.
Once we take over, it’s no longer about labeling the food—we start labeling ourselves. We think of ourselves as “bad” if we are not following the plan, and we tell ourselves that, as well as anyone else who happens to be in earshot.
The situation goes downhill from there. Not only are we a bad person for eating that tuna melt on white bread for lunch, suddenly we are fat, we look like cows, we’re weak, and we have no will power at all.
How does it feel to be thinking these kinds of thoughts?
Since I have trained myself away from this type of thinking, it felt icky to type the words, even in a pretend sort of way. But for many people these thoughts are relentless.
As the very wise Universe tells us, “Thoughts become things… choose the good ones.”
I’m fat. I look like a cow. I would have to say, and I think you’ll agree, those statements do not fall into the “good thoughts” category.
What are the implications of this?
If a kid is told repeatedly by a parent or teacher that he or she is stupid, there is a good chance they are going to grow up believing they are stupid. Then to reinforce that belief, they will get passed up for jobs and promotions, always having to settle for less than average pay, which leaves them feeling miserable and attracting the next dead end job.
What would happen if that same kid grew up hearing how bright they were, and how they could do or be anything they wanted? That child would know that there are infinite possibilities available, and that he or she gets to choose. They would likely have a joyful attitude toward life, and because of that, things they desired would come easily to them.
Same kid, two entirely different outcomes. The difference? What they believed about themselves, that generated the thoughts they were thinking, that made them feel a certain way… miserable or joyful.
Energetically speaking, miserable is a low vibration feeling, while joyful is quite high. Like frequencies attract, so if we are thinking a lot of low vibration thoughts, we are going to get more of the same.
So, where are we with this when it comes to weight loss and health? The same place we are when it comes to any scenario! Thoughts become things. Like vibration attracts like vibration.
I’m fat. I gain weight when I just look at chocolate. It takes willpower to lose weight and I have none at all. I’m being bad today—the diet starts tomorrow. I don’t know why I am eating this—I might as well just tape it to my thigh.
Those are some of the thoughts that used to be on my play list. They are low vibration, fear based thoughts, and they will bring about more of the same.
It took me a long time to figure out that weight is not exempt from the law of attraction! But it is something that we are deeply conditioned to be negative and fearful about… hell, many of us are downright mean.
Imagine if someone else was saying the statements above to you, and not just once, but all day every day. Would you shrug it off and think that it was OK? Likely not. So why do we think it is OK, important even, to say those things to ourselves, in this case when it comes to weight loss?
In my opinion, it’s not OK, and it needs to stop. But my opinion doesn’t matter, much like it doesn’t matter what someone else’s opinion is of which foods are “good” and “bad” for you to eat.
When it comes to weight loss and health, what matters is that you shift your focus away from you are what you eat, and remember you are what you think.
This food nourishes my body. I am strong. I enjoy eating whatever I am eating. My body is exactly where it should be in this moment. I am healthy. I joyfully eat meals that fuel my body.
And as a bonus, I think you will enjoy hanging around in the high vibrational space of your new healthy thoughts!
