Hi,

I was skimming through her book today for a while. She speaks a lot about the "inner remodeling" that goes with weight loss and a life transformation. There were some parts that spoke to me and some parts that were not similar to me.

One thing I have realized about myself, is that if I was 5'10" and weighed 110pounds, I still would not look good enough to myself. Even if I had a make-over by the extreme makeover show....I still would not feel as if I appeared attractive/thin enough. It has taken me a long time to realize this.

I have come to terms with my body being the way it is, sort of. The thing I struggle with the most is my weight. I'm 5' 10" and weigh 156 pounds right now. My goal is to get to 140 and maintain. (I have a very thin bone structure.)

Fortunately I have not become a surgery junkie and tried to make myself mor eof how I want to look. With my appearance, I have selected a few things that I can improve and try to be happy with that.

My body works well. It gets me where I need to go. It is just that I look like a 1986 Ford Pinto when I want to look like a 2008 Mercedes....such is life. I have come a long way because I am learning how to be satisfied with what I have.

Does this make any sense to anyone?

MarSto911

Makes sense...

I had this conversation recently with someone - I honestly don't remember who (sorry - but I have a lot of posts Ican't remember them all ) on how satisfaction with one's self is something that a lot of people strive for... but yet they felt that satisfaction almost equated to standing still...

I'm inclined to agree with that -my own lack of satisfaction with what I see in the mirror and what Ilook like is what keeps me going forward -if I were satisfied with myself -I wouldn't have the need to improve anything...

I hope when I get closer to my goal weight that I will be more accepting of what I see, I'm not there yet, but not be satisfied to leave it as is and always work to improving it...

So - in my round about way -I think there's a difference - at least in my head -- between accepting and satisfication.. I think we should be acceptng of what we see - at whatever stage we're at (and that's tough) but never stop being satisfied and always work on improving ourselves...

I continuously think if this or that feature were different, THEN I would be "ok". Then my intellect makes me feel like a shallow jerk for worrying about it. As far as striving, it can be scary to think I could ever be done. Because that is so much of what my life has been. But I savor the idea of being content. Living in the moment, and wishing for nothing. I can only imagine. Hell, who knows, if I got there maybe I'd be bored!

PS Do men ever feel this way? I mean about the outside, not another degree or promotion.

The thing I worry about, is that I have let things go for so long that; I wonder if it is too late to get my body to a state that after all the hard work will be worth while.

So I think it is more healthy to concentrate on how I feel as the weight goes, and how more efficient my body works.

At the end of the day, we only see ourselves occationally, so if we feel good on the inside, we can feel confident enough to let that show through. People will see us more positively anyway.