Getting your brain in shape is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because it also involved me getting my body in shape as well.
It seems like a, well, no-brainer, to think if your body is in check, your mind will be working on all cylinders, but it’s not that simple.
For years, I’d tried to get Worth the Weight (now Weighting for Mr. Right) published. I had a bit of success to only lose that momentum because the publisher tanked or the agent who requested my manuscript never returned my calls or a whole stack of rejection letters.
At least, the rejection letters got nicer as I got better, but I couldn’t get my manuscript into good shape. Something was missing and I had no idea what.
Late last year, I stepped on the scale and weighed a whopping 230 pounds. That’s amazing considering I’m only 5′ 3″. To add insult to injury, when watching the college football games that Thanksgiving, I realized I weighed enough to play college football. Something had to change, so I began to look around for answers.
I didn’t want to do diet pills because, quite honestly, they scared me. Extreme diets and exercise had worked before, but in a limited time frame. I had kids, laundry, husband, etc. I had no problem with working out but what kind of workout? I didn’t want to donate my time to something that was simply a waste of it.
For support, I had found a great group online called Mamavation that was run by a mom, Leah, who’d shed 170 pounds between her first and second child. She had this weekly web show that had guest speakers on and she offered give-aways and a huge support group that helped each other.
I loved it, but I knew myself well enough to know I needed that and more.
One of my friends, Stefan Pinto, a former overweight office worker who’d lost 60 pounds and became a model, said I could be a part of his pilot program and all I needed was my camera phone.
“O.K.” I figured it was for before pictures, but what I found out was he wanted me to take a picture of everything I ate or drank. Everything.
With the accountability factor in full swing, my Mamavation group right behind me, I started becoming far more mindful about everything I ate or drank.
No more mindless eating. You want to eat that donut? Gotta take a picture of it.
Want a double chocolate mocha?
Take a picture and not only take a picture, but post it in the group so everyone can see what everyone else is eating.
Yep, right out there for all the world to see-every stinkin’ calorie.
What happened was I became very, very mindful of not only my eating, but everything around me, my writing included.
Things began to change-the numbers on the scale, my daily word count, what I bought at the grocery store. Everything and because of simply becoming aware of my world instead of just being present in it, goals were being met, finally.
Within a few months of starting, I got a request for my full manuscript for Weighting for Mr. Right and by May, I’d sold it.
Now here we are, almost a year later. I’ve got a book out and I’m 40 pounds lighter.
I’ve started working on the next book, The Weighting Room, and my next phase of my weight/health goals.
Who knows how far I’ll go in 2013?
Please stick around to find out.
