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Self-Deception and Lies We Tell Ourselves

I read this powerful account on the Engine 2 Diet blog this morning. It is the personal story written by a once-obese woman about the lies she told herself about how she would quit over-eating and lose weight. It is such an honest accounting of the struggle she had with overeating and obesity.

I find such stories of personal struggle with weight and health issues that result in ultimate success with the adoption of a whole-food plant-based diet just so motivating. In the world we live in, if we just go with the flow we all end up with weight and health issues. For me at one point I was overweight and had high cholesterol. At just 20 lb overweight I started to feel tired and found it difficult to get up when I had to get down on the ground for some reason; I had to start pulling myself up and using my arms instead of just my legs. Climbing the stairs was difficult. I can only imagine the fatigue and difficulty people experience who are obese. My story comes nowhere near this the struggle and ultimate success detailed in this amazing account from NATALAE2 on the Engine 2 Diet site, where she recounts all her lies and self-deception:
When I was on a chronic diet, I always found myself telling myself the same lies. I don’t know if I knew they were lies, the truth is that I was so good at deceiving myself that  I’m not sure if I truly ever knew the truth. And I still find myself going down some of these dangerous thought patterns. I know where they lead me to. I used to binge, a lot. I used to to start with something innocent, a thought, an idea, and before I knew it I was in a full blown binge...For years I went through this battle though, this fight with myself, and it felt constant. Frankly, it was exhausting. If I’m being honest, it still at times can be exhausting. There are days in which I wish I could get a break from thinking about food, or the battles I happen to have with food. So today, in full transparency I thought I’d share some of the lies I tell myself (or more accurately have told myself in the past)...
I’ll start on Monday. I can’t even begin to tell you how many “Mondays” I’ve had in my life. Mondays in which I promised to start all over again. And this would be the pattern. I’d decide to eat whatever the heck I wanted for the weekend. I’d live it up. I’d intentionally eat EVERY single thing that I thought I’d miss for the rest of my life. I’d binge to the point of throwing up most of the time. And then Monday would come. And I’d feel awful (physically, emotionally, mentally). I’d feel so down about myself for binging all weekend that I’d end up not really wanting to move or even attempt to eat healthy. I’d start maybe with a good breakfast, an ok lunch, and by dinner I was eating the leftovers from the weekend. And promising myself that I’d just start the next Monday. And I’d do the same thing, eat as much as I could until the new start date.

I’ll start on the first. This was much like my Monday starts...

You can read NATALAE2'S full post at the Engine 2 Diet website here:
http://engine2diet.com/the-daily-beet/lies-i-told-myself/

Note: You can always find the last post for the Engine 2 Diet's "Daily Beet" blog in the blogs section at the bottom of my blog.

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