What Weight Loss Taught Me About Love
There were points in my life where I weighed more than I wanted to and didn’t look as good as I wanted to look. When my body didn’t match how I felt, I felt trapped. I felt like I was a prisoner in my own body.
I wanted to have energy, look good and feel good about myself, but I didn’t feel like I had the energy or motivation to get there. All of my responsibilities were weighing me down and making me feel burdened, anxious and depressed.
I was lacking sleep and dealing with anxiety on a constant basis. I didn’t have enough energy to sustain myself in my daily life. I was afraid that I would be dealing with health issues if I didn’t put my health first.
I realized that I had to use patience and determination to get where I wanted to be in my health and weight loss. This also applied to my love goals. I had to do the things that got me closer to my goals. I had to cut out the wasted time that keep me stuck and prevented my success.
On December 5, 2018, I signed up for a challenge to lose 30 pounds and keep it off for a year through HealthyWage. I had to lose 30 pounds to get back the money that I put into it to be a part of the challenge each month plus money for winning the actual challenge. I would have to weigh in at the end of November 2019. In October and November 2019, I got serious. I limited my sugar, fat and oil intake. I drank warm lemon water in the mornings. I made sure to track my activities and calorie intake as well as get enough sleep. I drank a lot of water as well.
I disliked the feeling of limitation and restriction. In August 2019, I fully converted to veganism, but was still dealing with cravings and food addiction. The feeling of not doing what I wanted to do was emotionally frustrating.
I won my HealthyWage bet! I lost 30 pounds! I looked for fun, excitement and enjoyable moments in my time during my weight loss as well as in my love life. I learned that the feeling of being healthy allows me to do more and doesn’t restrict me. I chose my health over short term gratification. In love, it is important to learn healthy structure to have a healthy relationship. You should still have alone time, but also structure time in with your partner. It is important to learn and adapt so that balance can be achieved.
When I was at a low point, I knew I didn’t want to be there. I knew that it wasn’t a place that I was going to stay. When I was struggling to lose weight and win my HealthyWage bet, I had to develop and stick to a plan that was guaranteed to work. I had many points where I didn’t want to go through the emotional turmoil anymore. I had to face many deep emotional issues. Also, when I was trying to find a partner in love, I had to learn that my own personal issues need to be understood so that it did not hold me back from finding the person that would be able to love me and meet my needs.
