weight – Peace with Food

Whew!! You made it through the 30-Day Peace with Food Challenge. Maybe you’re unsure what to do next.

This reminds me of all those times I set a goal, reached it, and then felt vague and ambiguous. Somehow I had thought that just by reaching the goal all my problems would be solved – that it would be the end of the discussion and all of life’s mysteries (regarding my goal) solved. But that’s not how it played out at all. I found myself sitting at a crossroads trying to figure out which way to go. And as I did, I realized that life went on and so too must I.

But how?

By taking the Business as Usual approach. In other words, by just continuing to do what I had been doing, all along, to reach my goal in the first place.

In the case of the 30-Day Peace with Food Challenge that would mean continually following peace by rating my levels of peace in the areas of food, weight, body, and the funk.

That’s what Business As Usual is all about. Just doing the same things that brought you the peace in the first place. Nothing real exciting. Nothing real profound. Just . . .

Business as Usual.

Take-Home Message: Continue on by using the Business as Usual approach.

Being a runner, one of my goals was to run a marathon. It was one of those things on my bucket-list – or what Lara and I call our Live-It List.

And although I wanted to run a marathon for the purpose of accomplishing a worthwhile and challenging goal, I must confess I also had ulterior motives.

To lose weight.

I was convinced that a marathon would solve all of my weight issues. So off I went following a training schedule to a T. I was committed and focused. I would run a marathon and be set free from my weight problems for life!

Wow, was I misguided. On marathon day, my weight was actually up nine pounds from what it had been just weeks before. I didn’t fare much better the second time around either. Two weeks after the marathon I had gained all my pre-marathon weight and more. *sigh*

What a valuable lesson. As awesome as marathons are, they (and all other workout programs) are not the magic bullet for my weight issues. I had to get to the heart of the matter and deal with the reason I struggled with my weight and food in the first place. It wasn’t because I wasn’t working out enough, it was because I had an unhealthy relationship with food.

Until I dealt with that issue, my weight issue would continue to be lurking in the shadows.

Now, I’m not telling you exercise isn’t important because it is for so many reasons – it helps you live longer, strengthens your heart and lungs, makes you feel better, improves your confidence, improves your brain, helps you look better. . . Need I say more? So if you are not exercising, please consider finding some physical activity that you love to do and then do it regularly.

But don’t expect it to do something it was never designed to do – fix your food issues. That, my friend is up to you. 😉

Posse Discussion:

Have you ever signed up for a workout program in hopes it would be the magic bullet? Share your answer with your posse.

Click Here for Day 21!