I just finished reading Jen Lancaster’s Such a Pretty Fat, and I loved it! You should all go out and by your own copy today. And no, I’m not getting a portion of the book sales.
The book isn’t a tale about a fat girl who is now slim, but rather it’s a tale of a fat girl who thought she looked pretty good the way she was, until her doctor told her that it was time to do something about her weight for her health, and so she begrudgingly started leading a healthy lifestyle. The book chronicles her trial of several diets, and her successes and failures on each. Her writing is real, which is so refreshing. It’s also funny as hell, and will have you simultaneously laughing and crying because you’ve been there, too.
The thing that really struck me about Jen’s journey is that she isn’t at her goal weight yet, but she’s a lot healthier and happier now. She incorporated exercise into her weekly routine, and although she hated it at first, she now feels odd when she isn’t moving her body.
I had an “ah-ha” moment last night as I was reading the book because it dawned on me that the real reason she was having success in changing her lifestyle and losing weight was because she was working out. Now, this information wasn’t new to me, I’ve known this from my own first-hand experience. What hit me was the way that working out became part of her everyday life — little by little. At first she hated going to the gym and meeting with her trainer, but by the end she actually impressed herself with all she could do now.
The same thing is finally sinking in with me. Sure, the fast is really helping me drop weight quickly, but I know that the only way I’m going to be able to seriously sustain any sort of weight loss once I consume more than 500 calories/day again is to workout and workout hard. It has to become regular part of my life, and not just a fad that I jump on the bandwagon of for a few weeks and then quickly let slide.
I think losing 27 pounds so far has helped me realize that I CAN do this. It will be a struggle, and there will be times when I want to chuck the whole thing and eat something that I know I have no business eating, but I have realized that I am strong enough to do this. And that’s exciting.
Jen’s story helped me see that the details of her journey may have been a bit different from the one I’m on now, but the basics are still the same — change the way you think about food (it isn’t an all or nothing thing) and start pushing your body past its current limits and you will achieve success.
Success is different for everyone, but for me, getting to a weight with a “1” at the beginning of it is a start.
When I first signed up with a trainer, I signed for the next-to-minimum number of sessions. I knew halfway through the contract that I’d be signing up for more. Even though I wasn’t losing weight according to the scale, my clothes were getting baggier by the day. LOL Nutrition and education are important, but exercise, done well, is also a key.
And yes, getting to a ‘1’-weight is tremendous success! 🙂
I’ve seen that book advertised around. I’ll have to pick up a copy.