Day 182 Soup and Ice Cream and Nothing Positive About "Negative Encouragement"

Day 182

Soup and Ice Cream and Nothing Positive About “Negative Encouragement”

Today turned out to be a soup and frozen treat day. I had soup for lunch and then when we visited my grandmas house, Aunt Jean and Uncle Sig had prepared homemade pea and ham and homemade vegetable beef soup. They are amazing cooks! Both were absolutely incredible indeed! Soup is most always a good choice. Now I've had soup before that was not a good choice, like the time long ago when I had that loaded baked potato soup at the steak house. That loaded soup had tons of bacon and cheese and cream and potatoes, but the soup today was all good, and I enjoyed a cup of each. Then we all went out for ice cream! See, I'm not the only one in my family that loves ice cream. Doesn't everybody? I mean come on, it's ice cream! I had a junior size frozen yogurt on a cake cone, completely comparable in calories to the low fat vanilla cones I enjoy on a regular basis. Then later, since I had an abundance of calories remaining, I enjoyed a low fat vanilla cone. I know, I know, sounds a little excessive, but hey, I had the calories coming, and that's how I decided to budget them! Soup and frozen treats, that pretty much sums up my day food wise.

As we approach another weigh day on Wednesday, I'm confident I'll have lost another 7 or 8 pounds. That'll put me over the 130 pounds lost mark, and that feels great. It will not be long before it's 150, then in not long we'll hit the 200 pounds lost mark. I'm excited, but I mustn't get too far ahead of myself. One day at a time Sean. I can't help but get excited because of how wonderful I feel now. I'm really curious how it will feel to get below 300. If I feel this good in the 370's, what will it feel like at 270? I think about this often, did you notice? I can't help it! Talk about a motivating thought, huh?

One thing that doesn't motivate anyone is “negative encouragement.” Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? Negative encouragement is when a person uses negatives in hopes that they'll sting enough to make that person do something about their weight problem. “You're lazy,” “You'll never lose your weight,” “You're a slob,” these negatives do nothing to motivate, they just hurt peoples feelings and reinforce negative perceptions they may already have about themselves. These kind of negative comments can come from great people that really love the target of their remarks. They really do, they would love to see positive changes in the person they're firing these hurtful words toward, and if confronted about the negative comments and relentless negative out loud observations, they would no doubt be hurt themselves, because “hey, I love them, I just want them to do something about their obesity.” I've personally witnessed this kind of “encouragement” and since I have a tremendous amount of experience being morbidly obese, I can ensure you that it has absolutely zero positive value. It just doesn't serve a purpose, at all, not even a little bit. And again, the person dealing the remarks can be a very caring, smart, and loving individual, with nothing but positive hopes and dreams for the subject of their ridicule. Perhaps they've never been morbidly obese, they've never had a serious weight problem, so they don't fully understand the mental perplexities of obesity. If you're the one dealing the remarks, stop it! If you're the one receiving the remarks, don't believe them for one second! You can do this, you have the power within to dramatically change your life forever. Once you truly decide to make the changes, and you make it the most important thing you do, and you work on changing your mind about food, eating, and exercise habits, and you do it everyday with 100% consistency, then nothing can stop you from reaching your goal. Not stress, not emotions, not a single thing can get in your way. How do I know? Because I spent my entire life stuck in the prison of morbid obesity. After countless attempts to break free, I'm just now doing it everyday.

I visited with Debbdimples today! If you're a regular reader of the Myspace version of this blog, then you know exactly who I'm talking about. Debbie is my cousin, and an avid reader of this blog. The myspace blog comments she provides on a regular basis are sincere, often times humorous, and more often than not, extremely informative. Debbie's battled her weight for years. I have to say, she's really grabbed control and now she's looking and feeling fantastic! She's lost the weight and has totally changed her lifestyle in the process. She's a shining example of what is possible. We took a picture together and I'll post it on the blog tomorrow evening.

Another weekend is behind us. I look forward to weigh day on Wednesday and all of the possibilities the new week presents. Let's make it a good one! Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean