Back in the 170s ....and....Other Bloggers You Should Read Today To Lose The Fat and Gain Your True Identity! (Plus added hubby pics for "Allie", and Thanksgiving me Pics in '09 and '11....worth a few thousand words)

Tanita-san: 179.8  Well, that's a psychological relief.

I'm boring today. Seriously. My brain feels all bland and gooey.

But I have been reading some non-boring fatfighter bloggers, and maybe you should,, too. Let's start:

Here's a quote from today's post by the keen-brained SCREAMING FAT GIRL:

Control is about avoiding stagnation. It's about not being trapped in your own head and body and being unhappy with where you are. It's also about not spending all of your time and energy convincing yourself that you are happy staying right where you are because you feel there is no place else you can go. It doesn't have to be about weight, but often in fat acceptance circles, that is pretty much what it is about. They preach a message of "can't control, don't try, just accept". I don't like that message, not because I care about people being fat (I truly do not), but because I think that the message should be that you can be what you want to be, not simply be told you'll never have enough control to be anything else. That goes for everything, not just weight.

I totally needed that post today. We're in a life crux--things will HAVE to change--and I fear some of the hard stuff ahead. BUT...no matter what direction the upcoming change goes, I need to embrace it and how it will bring me closer to who I want to be. I want to be adventurous and open-minded and courageous, not stagnant and neurotic and fearful.

I think my body's wonkiness lately is what is making me fearful again, uber-neurosis rising. The knees. The joints. The toes. The energy dip. Aging in general. It makes me want to self-protect. But that's not gonna take me where I want to be mentally, spiritually, or physically. I need to embrace...risk.

I am risk-averse. I tell you, really. I could live in a cocoon, spoonfed, I think. I almost once did, at my highest weights and sickest years. BUT..that's not who I WANT TO BE.

Anyway, Screaming Fat Girl's blog is a great read for those who need that body transformation. She did it and she knows how to elucidate the inner workings of it, and for some of you, that can lead to an epiphany, or at least a strategy.

If you need to lose weight, especially a lot, and if you're a bingey overeater, please read her post on REWIRING. I can attest to it. These have been MY stages in rewiring, me, the gal who started a diet at 10 am only to blow it by 7pm. I couldn't stay on a plan to save my life. The few times I did for a month or more, and never more than a couple months, it came back on in double time. This time was different. And this time reflected the stages in her post.  I went through it; she went through it. Only she writes them down clearly, stage by stage, and doesn't ramble freakily like me. Maybe it will help.

I liked it so much I added it to my "links for fatfighters and health-seekers" list, sidebar right.

Okay, next:

For those who are lower carb or Primal, etc, and wonder why Asians eating so much darn starch in the form of rice aren't bulging out all over, here's a great read by Mark Sisson.   Diets and movement...they all need to be taken in context. It's not just about rice (or starch, even). It's the whole shebang. You can't keep a lot of weight off without changing MORE than just how you eat today. You have to start thinking of changing a lifestyle, for sure.

And lastly:

Chris over at A DELIBERATE LIFE is doing a great challenge and post series. It's worth checking out for things to ponder and motivation. I loved this quote from a terrific post a few days ago:

I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want.
I just choose not to..
because I want health more than I want that ice cream, or soda...or pizza...or chips.
Nothing tastes as good as becoming the kind of  person I admire.
Nothing feels as good as showing the people I love that they are important enough to hang around for..to be healthy for...that includes Me!
When you eat well, and exercise..you are being your own best friend..

I want to be someone I admire, and I don't admire out-of-control people. I want to be IN control. I want to be disciplined. I want to be diligent. I want to be persistent. Weakness, hedonism, selfishness, gluttony: I don't admire that. I can empathize with it, but I don't ADMIRE IT. I don't RESPECT it. When I was self-indulging and self-pitying, I did not admire or respect myself. I respect myself a lot more NOW, because I had to work HARD HARD HARD CRAZY HARD to get here. When you put in effort and ACHIEVE goals, week by week, it builds esteem. No kidding. It does. It's like the high you get getting great grades and holding that degree. You worked for it. It's like craftsmen must feel building a house with their own hands. A sense of satisfaction from diligent work and not stopping until something good is created.

And I have to work hard to STAY here or make some more progress. So daily, I have respect for the me that doesn't revert to slug-glutton mode. And I like me so much more now. I don't say nasty things to myself anymore. I work on being more positive, in believing in myself more, even when neuroses rear their heads. I work on being affirming.

I have other areas where I need to work, create, achieve. And I want that wonderful sense of accomplishment. I want to like myself MORE.

I want to act in ways consistent with the me-I-wanna-be.

There's a lot of great blogging in the weight loss bloggy world, and those three bloggers are worth checking out. Not just cause two of them dropped oodles of poundage and one is a leader in a health-revolution type movement. That matters. But also read them cause they are smart folks who are great communicators, each in his/her own different style. They have valuable things to share to help the rest of us.

Now...go be the you that you want to be.

And be well...

Oh, and just for ALLIE (who commented re my booful boo), here are some recent pics of the man who has made my heart go doki-doki and bathump-bathump for 30 years....

New Year's Eve smile...still my fave face!

He used to have 60+ extra pounds...

The lovebirds last Thanksgiving Day...

For comparison: Wedding day, June 1983

My birthday, Feb 1983 (We're the taller two, hah)
I was normal weight--145 lbs.

To Show What Controlled Eating and
Exercise Can do: Me, Thanksgiving 2009,
that's a 2 years and 2 months ago...in the 260s.
He was about 20-25 lbs heavier here.
We're both shaggy. hah.

In summer 2000, in the 250s.
He's stunning. I'm ...BIG.
Wider than my hubby.

Rejuvenated Royal Couple of Amour!

Yeah, I like how I look TODAY, 12 years, 2 years later, better. :)