Yesterday I witnessed myself emotionally eating. I always wondered what people meant when they said that phrase and obviously I had been doing it for years but never knew. I thought it was one of those buzz words that Oprah invented that would be here and gone in a few years.
It's my beautiful friend Amberlie!
A.K.A Princess Monkey or just plain old Inkie. She is a sweet little doggie that we go to babysit last weekend! We had so much fun and got waaaay too attached to her in 2 short days. She is four months old and belongs to Vince's co-worker Kevin. They went to England for the weekend and asked if we would mind watching her. No problemo whatsoever! Now we are in deep discussions about adopting our own little one. Watch this space for more on the subject!
......I met my Fiancé! My soul mate and my very best friend! Happy Anniversary sweetie love pie! 4 years feels like 4 mins! It's gone by so fast and full of ups and downs and absolutely perfect in every way. I am the luckiest woman alive! Every morning I wake up with you I am as excited as a school girl. I can't wait to spend another day with you doing anything and nothing as long as I am right there beside you.
Even though Kellylyn Hicks has lost about 85 pounds over the last year and a half, and gone from a size 24 to a tiny size 4, she still worries she won't fit into chairs.
While out shopping, she fears that she’ll bump her hip into a shelf and break something. A few years ago when she was heavier, she accidentally knocked over and broke a wolf figurine and had to pay $60 for it.
And every morning when she looks in the mirror while getting ready for the day, she sees her former, heavier self. “My brain says, ‘Yep, still fat.’”
“It's been really hard to change my self-image,” says Hicks, 37, of Chesapeake, Va. “I still feel like I'm this enormous person who takes up tons of space.”
While many people are thrilled when they lose excess weight, not everyone is as happy as they expected to be — or as society assumes they surely must be.
Body-image experts say it’s not uncommon for people, especially women, who have lost a lot of weight to be disappointed to some extent to discover that they still aren’t “perfect.” The excess fat is gone when they reach their goal weight, but they may have sagging skin, cellulite or a body shape that they still deem undesirable. Like Hicks, some even continue to see themselves as though they are overweight.
Some specialists use the term “phantom fat” to refer to this phenomenon of feeling fat and unacceptable after weight loss.
“People who were formerly overweight often still carry that internal image, perception, with them,” says Elayne Daniels, a psychologist in Canton, Mass., who specializes in body-image issues. “They literally feel as if they’re in a large body still.”
Daniels and other experts suspect this may happen because the brain hasn’t “caught up” with the new, leaner body, particularly for people who were obese for many years and then experienced rapid weight loss.
“Body image is a lot harder to change than the actual physical body is,” Daniels says.
'Waiting for the other shoe to drop'
Another contributing factor, especially for yo-yo dieters, can be fear of regaining the weight, says Joshua Hrabosky, a psychologist at Rhode Island Hospital who studies body image and counsels obese people undergoing bariatric surgery.
“I’m so afraid of being that size again,” says Bradley, who exercises three to four times a week and watches her diet to keep her weight in check. She’d like to lose about 10 more pounds.
Even five years later, she still hasn’t shaken the image of her heavier self. “Now I’m down to 155 to 160 and I still feel like I'm at the weight that I was before,” she says. “It's weird because sometimes I'll shop and immediately look for clothes in my size when I was nearly 200 pounds. I always have problems seeing myself in the mirror or in pictures.”
Experts say part of the problem in our body-obsessed culture is that many women — and increasingly more men — have highly unrealistic expectations of what weight loss can do for them. Too often, they think hitting their ideal weight will make them look like a swimsuit model in a magazine, and they’re disappointed when that’s not the case.
People who expect perfection can “get stuck in dichotomous thinking that you’re fat or you’re perfect, and there’s no gray area in between,” says psychologist Leslie Heinberg, who counsels bariatric patients at the Cleveland Clinic. “So if you’re not perfect, you’re ‘fat.’”
'Blind spot' about own body
Heinberg says a lot of her patients who’ve lost large amounts of weight know they have a “blind spot” when it comes to their new body, so they really have to work at believing they look the way others see them.
“It can take years after surgery, after losing weight, for people to really buy that,” she says.
Think of getting a dramatically different hairdo and then doing a double-take upon seeing your reflection in a store window, Heinberg says. “Losing 80 pounds is much more of a cognitive shift than getting new highlights,” she explains.
Counseling may involve challenging distorted ways of thinking about one’s appearance (by studying before-and-after photos, for instance, or bringing out the “fat pants” and seeing the difference in the mirror), learning how to think about oneself in a more positive manner, and working to engage in activities one’s been avoiding.
“You have to look at retraining your brain and understanding that you have been reinforcing this negative image for probably a long time,” says Adrienne Ressler, a body-image specialist and national training director for the Renfrew Center Foundation, which has several eating disorder-treatment facilities around the country.
“We become numb to how mean we’re being to ourselves,” Ressler says.
“We need to learn to appreciate our bodies,” she says. “If we could all look in the mirror and say, ‘Hello, Gorgeous!’ I just think the world would be a better place for women.”
© 2010 msnbc.com
From this article
Good Morning Every body! Here are my final stats:
Alrighty kids today is my last day of the 30 day Shred with Jillian Micheals! Tomorrow I will post my results. It's been hard but I feel stronger than I have ever felt and man that's a great feeling. What are you guys doing to stay healthy?
Today we went to the Corinthia Hotel in Attard to taste the food and wine for our wedding. Here in Malta each venue comes with an asigned caterer and not the other way around. So we loved the venue but would we love their food?
Check it out homies! It's Budha SueSue's b-day today! 29 short years ago the prettiest little baby was born and taken home to live and grow up in Lemington, Ontario. I count my lucky stars that she made it to N.S. and into my life. I would be no where without the strength and steadfast loyalty that my best friend has shown me. I love you so much girl! You are so perfect and special to me and I hope you have a fab day doing everything you love to do!
Ryan and his famous one armed picture taking.
I miss you Ryan! I love you Vince!
Well what do you think? Are silk flowers having a comeback moment? I saw these over at Junebugweddings and I kinda love them! But not as much as I love YOU! ;-)
And this is Nat's dress! They are all wearing dresses from JCrew. Britt and Nat are wearing their dress in dove grey silk tricotine and Delph is wearing pale pink silk chiffon! We are going to ask Ryan to wear a pale pink tie! Oh my gosh can you feel the excitment?!! My bridesmaids are going to be smokin' hot!! I can't wait to see them all together! Ohhhh and I am going to post a pic of Vince's wedding tie too!
This is her dress but not this colour
It's more of a soft pink like the one above
Here is the front view on the model
And the back view on the model
Good Morning everybody! I just got done reading Tony's story at That'sFit. He's just amazing! He did this all on his own while counting calories, food journaling and exercising. He says that he eats what he wants just uses a fork instead of a shovel now! He said when he started walking he couldn't even make it around the block.
.....with Britt's dress. I love something vintage and chunky around her neck with this dress. What do you think? These pretty ladies are from the imensly talented Elva Fields. Love Love Love!!!
Our newest member the blubbly gorgeous Aunt Jane. (here she is excited to board a plane to Paris, October 2009) I just can't stand that smile!!!!!
And of course the pillars of strength Mom and Dad! (here they are having a lovely walk through the Rodin Gardens in Paris, October 2009)
And then there is me, the overexcited health and fitness website junkie! (here I am at my heaviest in India, October 2008)
GoodMorning sleepyheads! This is the hair look I am going for at my wedding. What do you think? I am not hiring a hairdresser. I always feel like they make brides look unlike themselves. I want to look like myself only way better. So do you think Me and Mom and Britt can achive this look for me on my wedding day? Gosh I hope so.
