One kind of skinny person eats when and what they feel like eating during a day, using a mix of their natural body signals and their minds.

The other kind of skinny person laments over what they eat, feels deprived, but still eats what they “should” be eating.

I want to be the first kind of skinny person.

I want to make my food choices the same way I buy clothes. I want to look at my options, ogle over some, dismiss others, and ultimately find just the right thing for my particular body.

I used to be the second kind of skinny person. I consciously and unconsciously counted calories. There were good foods and bad foods. It was about control, avoidance and deprivation.

What I want is for eating to be a series of delights all strung together. I want it to be satisfying. I want it to not be a struggle.

But, I am skinny no longer. ‘Even with the fierce conviction and strict rules in my head I am overweight.  (Probably because of the rules.)

I have quite a bit of weight to lose both for my health and for my vanity.

I want to use my coaching tools to lose weight without the drama.

I want to lose weight without the resistance.

I think that my coaching tools, which have healed me in so many ways, can heal my body too.

As I am on my weight loss journey, I will be sharing with you my wins and losses. I’ll let you know what works and what doesn’t.

My challenge is overeating. Yours might be your career or a relationship or shopping or drinking. I hope my journey will give you insight into yours.

This first step is awareness.

I am aware that resistance is a force, like gravity.

What you resist persists.  I am aware that I was forcing myself to eat the “right way”.

I am on a quest to change what my body wants, rather than resisting it’s current wants.

I am aware that I am on a journey to change my life and that changing how I think about my life will lay the groundwork to change my fuel.

Should be interesting.

For those of you following my blog posts for a while, you may know that my daughter has had debilitating fatigue that has grown increasingly worse for the last three years. She has dropped out of all activities, grades have plummeted, we cut her class schedule down to two classes… you get the picture. Not a life you want for your child.

We finally got a diagnosis on Thursday! POTS. I know, not a great acronym, but you get what you get. It is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Plus, she has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

So, that’s all just FYI.

What I want to talk about is her reaction to the news.

Frankly, I was expecting a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Dr. Lapp is a Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia specialist.

But in addition to fatigue, her symptoms include flexible joints.
Velvety soft skin. (It really is! I pet her like a fine velvet clutch, and use the words, “my pretty”.)
Heightened senses.

Her reaction?

“All those symptoms sound like I am a super hero!”

Wow.

It sure could have been a huge “poor me” or flat out fear.

It is incurable.
It might not ever get better.
She might not be able to get through a whole day of school. Or college. Or work.
She is tired because her heart races like she is running a marathon16 hours a day. (I did jumping jacks for two minutes just to bring my heart rate up to what hers is sitting.)

She will have to change the way she lives to follow the protocol.

And she feels like a superhero.

Once again, she is my role model on how to think like a superhero.
Her reaction has greased the way for my mind to focus on the success rate in bringing POTS teens back to a functioning energy level. (60%)
I keep marveling that the first step of protocol is to eat salty snacks, drink sports drinks, and put her feet up.  How easy and painless is that!

You go, Supergirl! I am blessed to be your Mom.

What’s one way in your life you are like a superhero?  (Try taking the thing that seems the worst, and see if you can flip it to be your superpower.)