2019: The Year I’m Not Talking About My Weight

Let me tell you a little story about a friend (spoiler alert: I’m the friend).

This “friend” set a New Year’s Resolution to lose the baby weight, get in shape, and eat healthy.  She thought she’d accomplish this goal by running a half marathon, and 18 weeks later she stood at the starting line of the race feeling disappointed.  She’d lost a measly three pounds and couldn’t see a drastic difference in her body.  She felt like she had just wasted months of her life chasing after a weight loss goal that she’d failed to achieve.  She felt like a big, fat loser. 

The starting gun went off and she thought to herself, “Well, here we go.  Might as well finish the race since I paid for it.”

It didn’t matter that she’d completed 18 weeks of training without missing a single workout.

It didn’t matter that 90% of her runs were done while pushing a stroller.

It didn’t matter that she cut almost 25 seconds off of her pre-baby pace. 

Nothing mattered because she didn’t lose the weight. 

Let’s jump forward to the end of 2018 (and exchange the “she” for “I” since we all know this is about me).  It was time to reflect on the past year and make some new goals and intentions for the year to come.  My initial thought was “I really REALLY gotta lose some weight this time.” 

Sigh. 

I didn’t feel hopeful and I definitely didn’t feel motivated.  I walked around with the weight of my weight bearing down on my thoughts for a few days, and then one night I realized I had a lot of important things to talk about in 2019. 

My weight would not be one of them. 

Controlling My Talk is Easier Than Controlling My Thoughts

My hope is that cutting out the conversations about my weight will help me change how and what I think about.  Changing my self-talk seemed like a herculean task, so I needed to find a baby step to send me in the right direction.  Making 2019 the year I don’t talk about my weight is a semi-measureable way I can do that.  Eventually, once I’ve mastered my words, I’m hoping I can start tackling how I think about myself.  In the meantime, when I have those precious few moments to chat with my friends or husband, our time together won’t be wasted on my weight. 

Let’s solve some problems. 

Let’s strengthen our family. 

Let’s laugh. 

Let’s educate ourselves.

Talking about my weight?  We ain’t got time for that anymore.

Weight ≠ Health

Not talking about my weight doesn’t give me a 365 day pass to forget about my health.  I will still put miles on my treadmill and pound the pavement once the weather gets warmer.  I’ll try some yoga flows I found on Youtube.  I’ll fuel my body with quality foods.  I’ve got two little humans that need me to stay alive and perform at my best for them. My overall health is an important piece of that puzzle, but my WEIGHT certainly isn’t.  My children need to see me making positive choices and not talking negatively about my body. 

They’re listening even when we don’t think they can hear us.  This year I want them to hear me talking about something else.