What If…. – The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans LLC

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What If seems to be a big issue with me lately so I thought I would address it for today’s post. What if usually takes me down a road I don’t want to get into, but sometimes it is a good path.

The first place I almost always start with when I am asking ‘what if’ is:

“What if I had never thought 130 pounds was fat?”  In this picture (taken in 1995 or 1996) I weighed 130 pounds….I WAS NOT FAT, but I thought I was!!

Why? Because my self-image wasn’t where it should be! I had just moved to Texas from California. I had no friends near me, no family near me and I had a 5 year old son that I was about to start homeschooling! I never took time for me, and I didn’t really like my life.

What if I had never stopped riding bikes 3+ miles a day? If I had continued riding bikes I would never have lost the level of fitness I had gained as a teenager. But, as a young married college student there seemed to be more important things to do with my spare time than ride bikes. I wanted to get to class quickly, so I drove our car instead of riding my bike (even though it was close enough to ride to college from our apartment).

What if I had taken my son biking, or hiking or spent time exercising or doing anything active instead of sitting in our town house lamenting the fact that I was lonely? We would have had some fun times together and I would have gotten my body toned back up. Instead I sat in the house being sad and depressed.

What if when I started gaining weight I had started eating more fruits and veggies and less junk food? I would have nipped the weight gain in the bud and not had the doctor tell me I had better get serious about my health or I wouldn’t live to see my little boy graduate from high school.

What if when I sat year after year watching Biggest Loser eating junk food, I had put down the snacks and had exercised during the commercial breaks? I mean really exercised! Instead of thinking I wish I could lose weight, I could have!!

What if when I started losing weight last spring and summer I didn’t get lazy and stop putting forth the effort that it takes to lose weight? I wouldn’t be sitting here on my couch needing to lose another 35 pounds!!

What if I would stop drinking Coke AND NOT START AGAIN?? I would probably have an easier time losing the weight I know that I can when I’m not drinking it.

I’ve been telling myself over the past few months, I can’t do this any more. I’ve been telling myself that I don’t have time, I don’t have the energy, I don’t have the knowledge, I don’t have the whatever it takes to lose the rest of the weight I want to lose. Guess what? I have been believing it….Now I’m ready to believe that I CAN!! There are not going to be any more what ifs. There are only going to be “I CAN”s.

Do you have some ‘what ifs’ you could ask? What are the answers to your questions? Let’s change our ‘what ifs’ to “I CAN”!! we can change the world (our world, at least) if we will just do what we can today and don’t worry about the what ifs of yesterday!

xoxoxoxo,

Ann

Image source: Pinterest

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