The 10 Minute Diet (not a crafting post)

Today as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, I came across this blog post titled, “The Unexpected Lesson I Learned From Lying About My Fat Loss Story.” I clicked and was totally amazed and inspired by this article. Read it here real quick, I’ll wait.

Are you back? What did you think? My first thought was, this the the truest thing I’ve read on the internet, especially on Facebook, in a long time. Now some of you may know about my little weight loss journey I’ve been on. It’s more about staying healthy now and maybe losing a couple more pounds, but after today and after what I just did, it’s going to strictly be about being healthy and loving what I got right now.

It really is amazing how posture, clothing, and confidence can change your look. The other day I was talking with my husband about feeling confident. He notices a major difference in me now than the past couple years and my weight hasn’t changed too drastically. But the way I present myself has changed. I make sure to wear form fitting clothes that aren’t too tight, but just tight enough to show off my hard work. I wear pants that are snug around my legs (I love my legs) but that fit me in my waist and don’t make me have a muffin top. And something I did in the picture your about to see, is wear a good bra. That is almost key for helping you look awesome. Get those girls up where they are supposed to be. Your shirts will fit better and look better. Anyway, onto the feelings part.

In the blog we read (I say WE because you did go read it right?), the lady says that it’s crazy to think that that is the same exact body but she usually feels like the one on the left. I cannot tell you how much I can relate to that. Between mom and wife duties and failing to run that extra mile or not running at all, you look in the mirror and think, “Gah! Is this all even worth it?” Even today in one of my groups about weight loss I’m in, I was talking about how the scale can define us. We WANT that certain number and it’s like we can’t be happy with what we have now. And then, BAM! You see a picture like this and think, “Yep! My hard work is totally paying off.”

So without further ado, my photos. My 10 minute diet.

Pretty freaking crazy right? It sure is to me. So here’s what I did. I wear a size 6 pants and in the picture on the left I am wearing a size 6 but it’s a different brand of pants so they are quite snug. I am also wearing a cheap, flimsy sports bra that has absolutely no support. I am not standing up straight and I am not smiling. 10 minutes later (probably less because I can change pretty fast) I took the picture on the right. I am wearing good fitting running shorts, a sports bra that holds those puppies in nice and snug and up where they should be, I’m standing tall and am cheesin’ for the camera. If I had to sum up that second picture…Confident! I am confident with that body. I am proud of that body. I am showing off what running can do.

I don’t know if other people will do this, but I say DO IT! Show yourself that all your hard is paying off and that all you need to do is stand tall, wear great clothes and be confident! Love your body. And give yourself that boost to continue being healthy.

Goals

Even though we are almost to the third month of the new year, I am setting some goals for myself in the crafting world. Numero one, blog once a week. It may seem easy but apparently, judging by the lack of post since late January, it’s hard for me. So here’s to sitting down at least once a week to write something. Someone told me that I could just post a photo and let that speak for itself, and some weeks I may do that, but I do love to write so we will see. Numero two, have at least one painting project per month. Painting is, after all, my favorite art. And when you see this most recent one you will see how much work I put into it. I love it. And so, I would LOVE to try to get a paying gig once a month. But if I don’t, I am going to try really, really hard to paint something for myself. Number three, take more pictures. This one may seem silly because I snap at least 5 pictures a day on my phone, so let me explain. I want to get my “good” camera out and take more photography-type pictures. I decided to the other day and look what happened.

I had some free “alone” time during the evening, the lighting was right, the desert flowers were in bloom, and I took frame-able photos.

And now I’m full circle, back to the more blogging part. I really need to keep this up because while I was scrolling through old photos on my camera, I saw that I never blogged about my anniversary gift for my husband. I also never blogged about my guest speaker thing I did. Grrr! Maybe a reminder would work. I don’t know. But here’s my most recent painting.

A customer saw my My Little Pony painting and asked me to paint Draculaura from Monster High as a gift for her niece. She was so much fun to paint. A lot of work, but super fun.