Jack Canfield - Chicken Soup for the Dieters Soul: Inspiration and Humor to Help You Over the Hump

When we move out of the familiar here andnow, we set in motion a series of events that,taken together, bring about changes at the veryroot of our being.

Joseph Dispenza

There was a time in my life when everything was completely out of control. I was considered morbidly obese at 290 pounds, my marriage was horrible and I was a diet junkie but still gaining weight on every fad that I tried. Looking back, it is still difficult for me to pinpoint how I got myself into such a rut, but it is quite easy for me to explain how I broke the cycle that kept me in the downward spiral that had become my life.

At thirty years old, I felt way too young to be my mother, yet there I was, weighing 290 pounds, unhappy all the time, in debt, lonely and eating for comfort. I so desperately wanted my life to improve and laid my hopes on the belief that once I lost weight, everything would! In an attempt to solve all of my problems, I went on every popular diet that I heard aboutfrom the cabbage soup diet to the lesser-known cantaloupe, tuna and Diet Pepsi diet. Each diet left me overweight and disillusioned certainly not the outcome I desired. I resigned myself to the fact that I was destined to be fat, lacked any willpower and would likely fail at any diet that I ever tried.

One day in 1994, while opening the mail, I came upon an envelope without a return address. I opened it, read it and discovered that my husband was having an affair. It was like being punched in the stomach, but the pain didnt go away. An argument ensued and I rushed out the door, needing to get awayyou know, to get something to eat.

I headed to the closest gas station to buy a candy bar and there he wasthe man who would facilitate my change in destiny! As I got out of my car, I gave my sweatshirt the obligatory tug, pulling it down so that it covered my butt and thus hid my fat from the worldor so I thought. As I walked toward the attendants window to get my food fix, this man leaning on the side of the building, drinking something out of a tattered brown paper bag and wearing clothing stained with soot and grime, loudly observed, Girl, you got too much food in you! Not just a quiet observation, mind you, but very loud and heckling. Repeatedly and more loudly my tormentor kept up his chanting. Everyone, even the attendant behind the bulletproof glass window, was laughinglaughing at my fat and me. I took my candy bar and quickly retreated to my car as he got one last comment in: Damn, girl! I was beyond humiliated.

Enough was enough. Too much food in me! Ill showhim, I thought as I sped off; giving him a parting gesture as I spun my wheels like a bat out of hell. I quickly opened up my Mounds bar and sought solace. Strangely, comfort wasnt to be found that nightnot in the coconut and chocolate, not in the ice cream that I ate when I got home, and least of all, not when I took a good look in the mirror.

He was rightand it hit me hard. He hadnt meant to be cruel, but he was being honest and called it as he saw it. Sure, other peoples comments could be construed as mean-spirited, but not this mans. He didnt make fun of me, he didnt call me fat; no, he simply stated the obvious: I had too much food in me.

I took a long look at myself and at my life that night, and I realized what the problems really were. It wasnt my husbands fault that I had gotten overweight; it wasnt my parents fault; it wasnt the teasing; it wasnt anything that anyone else did to meit was every bite of food that went into my mouth that didnt belong there.

From that day on, I quit thinking that simply losing weight would change me and improve my life; I realized that if I changed my actions, in time my life had no choice but to change! From that day on, I quit putting too much food in me. It was very easy for me to identify a few foods that I had way too much of in me; after all, I was eating at least a half gallon of ice cream a night. That seemed like a good place to start.

My weight loss did not happen overnight and my life didnt improve overnight; but, rather, over a series of many nights, days, weeks and months I made consistent small steps in the direction of a healthier lifea well-balanced life! I literally started by changing one habit, which led to changing one more habit, and so on, which wasnt overwhelming and was very doable. I gave up my ice cream vice, busted fast food, started cooking and eating with my children, stopped eating in the car or in front of the TV, and started to read labels and learn about the contents of what I was consuming.

I also started getting some exercise. After I lost fifteen or twenty pounds, I joined an aerobics class. After I lost about fifty pounds, I became comfortable and more confident in myself and I started to work out more often. I began taking step classes and performing muscle-strengthening exercises. I started walking around the park with my children and playing with them in the playground.

Over the course of the next fifteen months I lost over 130 poundsalmost exactly two pounds per weeka healthy pace by all standards. My productivity at work improved, my attitude was vastly more positive and my life was finally pulling out of the downward spiral. Sadly, my marriage did not improve despite the fact that my body did. For so many years I thought that losing weight would change everything in my life and my marriage. My husband was a very nice person, but together we didnt work. Each of us had different interests and desires for our lives, and it became clear that my weight loss wasnt going to change usonly how I looked.

Each day is a new page in my journey, which began with a homeless man, my guardian angel, who opened my eyes, gave me a dose of reality and shocked me into changing my life. It worked!

Julia Havey

The family is the essential presencethe thingthat never leaves you, even if you find you haveto leave it.

Bill Buford

Its too early, too cold, too hot, Im too tired, the wind is blowing in the wrong direction... whatever the excuse, Id try anything to get out of exercising! But my daughter Kate wouldnt fall for any of that. Cmon, Mom, shed say. Youll feel better after you get out there and move.

Sometimes wed go to the gym together. It was always so much easier to pound that treadmill when I saw she was sweating right beside me. Sometimes wed play tennis. I wasnt any good, but she kept hitting those balls to me, never losing patience. And at least Id get a lot of exercise chasing the ones that went over the fence or into the woods. Good job, Kate would say. Wasnt that fun? And you know, it was when we did it together.

Last fall, though, it was time for Kate to go away to college. I was happy for her to have such an exciting opportunity, but I missed having her around. At least now I wont have to worry about anyone dragging me out there to exercise, I thought. But do you know what? I missed that, too.

At home, things just werent the same. My husband worked hard at the office all day, and when he came home, he wanted to relax and unwind. The last thing he wanted to do was run off to the gym. And my fifteen-year-old son was active with soccer, basketball, and baseball practices and games. There was no one left at home to force me to push my body in ways I naturally tended to avoid.

Since I wasnt sure how to motivate myself, I ended up doing nothing. I worked from home, and pretty soon my only exercise was rolling my office chair from my desk to my computer screen and tossing wads of paper into the trash can. I did dive for the phone when it rang, though. That was when Kate would call from college.