Optimal Living Magazine Fit, Fabulous & Full of Faith Issue

Intentionally Loving Myself
The Weight Loss Challenge
Queing Jones
It made me think about
how hard I'd been on
myself. I decided I was
going to be more
compassionate.
I wanted to treat
myself like I would my
best friend.
T
here was something different about the summer of 2014. I was going
through a lot of different transitions. I had recently lost my job; I was
moving; I had ended a relationship with the man I thought I was going
to spend the rest of my life with. I was feeling hopeless in a lot of
different ways, and I felt like things were so out of control.
I moved out of downtown Chicago and close to the water, which has always
been soothing to me. The day after I moved into my new place, I went for a
walk along the lake. I sat on a piece of driftwood and glanced behind me at a
sign that was posted in front of a protected area of the beach. The sign said,
‘Do Not Enter. Restoration in Progress.’ And I just thought, "Wow." That was a
sign telling me that this journey I was on was not simply about eating right and
working out. It told me that I really needed to be restored from the inside out.
So I just kept walking every day. And not even to work out, but because it was
soothing and helped me feel refreshed. I lost about 20 pounds that way.
Around that time I went to a seminar for women who had experienced heartbreak, and came away from it with even
more motivation to change my life. At the seminar someone said, "When someone breaks their leg and they're on crutches,
no one says, 'You know what, you just need to throw those crutches down and just start walking." Her point was that
any reasonable person understands that bone takes time to heal, but so do emotions. You have to be able to apply that
same level of compassion to yourself when healing from emotional trauma.
Even though I didn't like what I saw in the mirror, I was not going to say "you look disgusting" and insult myself anymore.
I started to understand that I had to love myself, or I would never be successful losing weight. I literally would stand in
front of the mirror and tap my belly and say, "Alright. I love you, but you'll be gone soon.”
It wasn't until I was 5 or 6 months into my journey that I started changing the way I ate. I knew I didn't want a diet. I
wanted a new lifestyle, something that would work for me for the rest of my life. So I tried a few different styles of
eating— Paleo, vegan, vegetarian—to find one that I was happy with. Before, I ate like a crazy person! Breakfast
sandwiches with extra hash browns, double bacon cheeseburgers with fries, and chicken with rice and beans and loads of
guacamole were my favorite meals. Now, I eat mostly Paleo with lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats.
For breakfast I like egg whites with an avocado, or I may do lean meat with some nuts. And I snack on clean, healthy
foods every 2 to 3 hours.
10 Optimal Living Winter 2017