RANT – How To Fix Your Pathetic Fat Problem With This One Challenging Idea

Morning!

Okay…yet again….afternoon.

Today's post is a post near and dear to me heart, as it deals with being fat and overweight and out of shape and all those other icky things.

And I'm warning you now, I'm *extremely* opinionated on this topic, so should you wish to rearrange my suave model-like face upon reading my harsh realities, all I ask is that we keep the conversation professional, okay?

With that out of the way, let me slap you upside the head with the following statement.

At some point in my life, I'll be unable to walk.

Yes indeed, sad but true – I have a condition (MHE, multiple hereditary exostoses) which in my particular case, manifests itself on with my foot being attached to the side of my leg instead of the center.  (I also had a doorknob on my femur, you can read about that over at my Fab Fit Mom site).

As you can imagine, this makes walking a wee bit challenging, as there's now no cartilage in my ankle (resulting in my bones are grinding against one another whenever I walk).  Whee!

To make a long story short, over the past few months, my walking ability has decreased to the point that I now use a cane (a very manly cane, I might say) to assist me when needed.

Ah well, these things happen; there are tons of other folks 'way worse off than me!

Let me now intentionally digress towards a slightly different topic.  Back in 12/2006, I committed to myself that I would lose 50 pounds (I was one huge mama back then, 177 pounds on a 5'3.5" frame). 

And I did…and I keep it off for the most part (8 pounds has creeped back on me, mind you, which I'm now getting serious about removing again).

Heck, you can see it firsthand here!

So….are you with me so far?

Basically, I consciously made a lifestyle change and lost the weight.

But now, a new twist smashed itself down upon the very fibers of my being – because walking is slightly less enjoyable than scrubbing out toilet bowls with a toothpick, I can no longer use a treadmill to keep in shape.

Gone, too, are my beloved 2.4 mile circle walks!

Not to mention, using ellipticals are completely out as well.

All together now….WAH!

But!

If I give into despair regarding my inability for "normal" exercise, the weight will come back even heavier…making my mobility even more difficult than it is right now.

Yes, I agree…I *do* deserve another wah!

WAAAHHHH!

So the choice came down to me….do *nothing* (which is what a lot of fat people do), watch myself balloon once more, watch my ability to move decrease to something less than a speedy snail, and generally just feel sorry for meself all around.

In a word…I do *not* think so!

See, the thing here is….

• I (I hope you're sitting down for this) own my mouth.

And….

• I own my body.

And…..

• Nobody *except* me can make that mouth or body do anything at all!

So if I overeat…I get fat.

• I own that.

And if I choose *not* to exercise, my muscles get weak, loose and kinda sorta icky all around.

• I own that too.

The world (get this!) doesn't *give a damn* about my situation.  I…and I alone…can change my future.

And after internalizing that, here's what I did.

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1.)  I got two exercise bikes.

You can see them in above picture.  I got two, so my kids could exercise along with me.

And notice how they're placed in my office!  Thus, they're *always* there….and I have *zero* excuse *not* to use them.

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2.)  I made sure to put said bikes in front of my computer monitor.

This ensures that I can zoom to YouTube or Nostalgia Critic or what have you, choose various playlists and educate/entertain myself for 20 minutes at a clip.

That means my exercising is *not* boring.  Win!

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3.)  I continued to eat healthy.

I learned back during my Fab Fit Mom days that dieting just doesn't work…because once you go off that diet, unless you've trained yourself to eat well, you'll just gain all that weight back again.

So at least I'm not pouring in empty and useless calories into me body.  Woot!

Which brings me to the point of this post.

If I, a handicapable woman in her 40s, can take ownership and control of her actions….why on earth can you *not*?

I firmly believe that if you take ownership of the fact, you're fat because:

• You eat too much
• You exercise too little
• You take lousy care of your body and health

You can then give yourself permission to *change* where you are.

There is no dishonor in admitting, yep!  I screwed up bigtime with my eating and exercising habits!

But you're truly selling yourself short if you treat yourself sooo pathetically that you continue eating yourself into the grave.

Yes.

There *are* some folks who genetically tend towards being fat.

But I'm not talking about them.

I'm talking about the zillions of other folk who simply eat too much and sit on their rear too much and then blame everyone except themselves for their situation.

The plain fact is…if you don't do anything, you'll end up in worse and worse and worse condition. 

You'll get fatter and tire more easily and then fatter and dare I say, larger and huger and …. and there's no good end whatsoever in sight.

In other words:

You *own* your fatness and lousy shape.

But not only that…

You also own the ability to change it for the better.

You.

Nobody else.

If I, the all-powerful soon-to-be-unable-to-walk Mother Unit, can change *my* future, you can too.

Because after all….don't you deserve it?

I think you do.  You really do.

Grow strong,

Barbara Ling