“I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. Just Today. And I’m going to try this for a year to see what happens.”
This is katiebird’s commitment, as stated by her every day. As I was lurking on BoomanTribune, I read a post by her about this new blog that she had created, for people who had weight & health issues, and I was drawn in. I started reading the messages every day, and found myself intrigued by the simple – yet effective – message that is the Commitment. At the same time, I wondered how such a commitmentwould apply to me. Surely I’m not that out of control, that I would need to make a commitment every day? As those first few weeks of Eat4Today went on, I read but did not act. Until I read Puget4’s post about depression, and realized that I was spiralling downwards myself. I was unsure of my path in life, and was eating whatever unhealthy foods I could get my hands on as compensation. Over a course of about 6 weeks (unfortunately including a few weeks after reading that post), I put on between 7-10 pounds – knowing that added just to my misery.
However, somewhere along the line the idea of the commitment started to seep in. So I finally decided to get myself an account on this site, and start my own commitment – to drink 2L of water per day, and not eat between meals. It has worked, though I’ve strayed from this commitment more than I’d like – Chalk that up to not being the most mature of 25 year-olds. 6 weeks later, I haven’t gained any weight, and my clothes do fit better than when I started. Most importantly, I’ve come around to a new way of thinking about myself & my weight issues. For too long, food has been my crutch, my balm to soothe a myriad of issues, my means of celebration. I love food, whether it’s the taste of something new or the taste of old favorites, but it is no longer the default state. I understand now that this will be a life-long challenge: getting to and maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle. More importantly, this issue (disease?) is not my identity anymore. And that is what my commitment means to me.
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[...] I learned something important yesterday — that it isn’t just ‘my’ commitment any longer. Since it wasn’t possible for me to do it myself, I sent out a plea yesterday asking a couple of our regular commenters to post their versions of The Commitment.o And two of them, monalisa and Puget4 responded, posting their heartfelt stories of what The Commitment means to them. [...]