Frequently, you read about me hitting a milestone of some sort or hear me encouraging you to create a support group of your own, but allow me to show you another side of my weight-loss journey.
This morning as I was walking to my office from the gym, conveniently located in the same building, I passed the Chick-fil-A in the food court and my mind began to swirl with temptations. “Oh a Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit would be good, you haven’t had one in soooo long. Hmmmm… Chicken-minis could be gobbled quickly with no one ever knowing.” I sped up my walking to put as much distance between myself and Chick-fil-A as I could. Thinking something along the lines of, “get behind me Satan!”
Arriving to my office I realized that I just could not shake this sullen mood I was in and needed to reach out to someone in my “support team.”
I quickly chatted a friend, “I am gonna be honest... struggling a bit today and I gained 2 lbs. last week. I am in one of those moods where I just wanna be home lounging with my family and eating some good ole comfort food from Nana’s kitchen.”
To which my friend responds, “I understand, let me try to encourage you a bit. I remember those times you used to walk around with a cane. And yet, that was a lifetime ago. To think, you are off of almost (or all) of your old medicines. You can breathe deeply. You can even run! How cool is that?” Pausing for emphasis, I am sure to allow me time to ponder the rhetorical question and then he continued before I could respond, “I know that down times come, but all of those foods won't make you feel better. You may feel good for a moment, but then it will be pain the next time you work out.”
My friend then shared a personal story from his own fitness journey, he is what I would describe as a dedicated runner, “When I ran my trail 5k a couple of months ago, my time was nowhere close to what I wanted. I was so disappointed that I went home and ate a bunch of trash. Even though cooler heads prevailed, I set myself back needlessly.” After sharing his own story, he then concluded with this, “I'm sorry that it has been a rough week or so. And you will have more in the future. But just imagine what your 200 pound self would say to you in these moments. You know that guy. The one that can run a marathon and scale mountains. That guy. You. So keep your head up. We all love you!”
My mind began to swirl with different emotions and thoughts. “What would my future 200 lbs. self tell me in this moment?” “How would he react to me wanting to eat comfort food (my drug of choice) to supposedly soothe my soul?” I know exactly what his reaction would be. It would be anger for setting myself back from achieving my goals and turning to my old ways to deal with my problems. After having that thought, I felt the chains of temptation fall off and the struggle I was having disappeared. Now my future self gets to have pride that instead of turning to my old ways, I turned to my support group and overcame the struggle I was having.
Sometimes you have to rely on the strength of others to help you to find the courage to confront the challenges life brings you.
Joshua "Bubba" Wade
No Fluff. All Buff.
Fitness. Wellness. Lifestyle.
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