I’m not talking about giving up as in quitting.  I’m talking about how every time someone asks me what I’m doing to lose weight, they say “Oh, I don’t think I could give up (insert whatever carbilicious thing you can think of here).

I don’t like to think of this way of life in terms of having to “give up a lot”. I like to think in terms of having traded it in for something better. I’ve also learned that there are foods I like now that I thought I hated before. I guess getting all of that sugar and starch out of my system kind of allowed my taste buds to reset to a place where I can really enjoy the sweetness in vegetables that I never liked in the past.

Literally, in the past, the thought of brussels sprouts made me want to hurl. Now, I eat them at least once a week and LOVE them. So I’ve discovered and learned to love so many foods that I was not able to enjoy before because I traded in the carby starchy food for something else. I also traded it in for more activity, for being able to fit into the booths at restaurants, for being able to sit comfortably on an airplane without nasty looks from the person in the seat next to me, for being able to hike up to a gorgeous waterfall that can only be reached on foot and that I would have never seen otherwise.   I traded it in for the ability to run if something chases me.  Zombies may look slow, but wouldn’t you rather know you could run if you had to?  Looking at it like that, I think I was giving up SO MUCH MORE the way I used to eat.

I realize a lot of this is about semantics.  But those of you who “know me” know that for me to continue this, I’ve had to do a lot of self talk and keep myself mentally in the game.  It’s these subtle little word shifts that help me with that.  No judgement intended toward anyone who really feels like they are giving up a lot of their favorite foods.  I just want to encourage you to not focus on that so much and see that there are multiple ways to look at this to help you get through the really tough, tempting times.

Happy trading!!

~Christie