Will and intention.

Habit: a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously.

Habit Formation: Habit formation is the process by which a behavior, through regular repetition, becomes automatic or habitual. The average time for people to for a habit is 66 days with a range of 18–254 .

Let me think about that for a second....ok, time up. I am 35 years old. For about 16 years of my life I was being given my food, with little choice to how much I could eat and ALWAYS limited to how much junk food I could have.

I am not sure that I have talked about my childhood memories of being given M & M's. My mom and dad that the Tupperware plastic bowls that came in faded colors of yellow, pinkish orange and green. I vividly remember both my mother and father telling me that I could have M & M's as long as I ate all of my dinner, which I did of course. Then, when I was given one of those Tupperware bowls, I was told I could only have enough to "cover the bottom of the bowl". It's an interesting thing to look back and remember. When I really think about it, my parents always portioned my food, ALWAYS. I wasn't able to gorge myself. I could have junk, but it was always limited.

How smart my parents are. And to think, the word glutton was used all the time in our household. My father would always say, "Don't be a glutton." As a child I didn't understand that term fully, but it was used frequently. So how the HELL did I grow up to just want to eat everything I could? Well, I know I have mentioned this before: I became a teenager with a job, and bought my own food. That's what happened. My parents couldn't tell me how much to eat, because they DIDN'T buy it! It was mine, I didn't HAVE to share it with my 3 brothers, 2 sisters or with them for that matter. I could eat as much as I wanted because it was MINE.

So, I began the habit of eating overeating, which led me to using food for comfort and ultimately being addicted to eating. I have lived more of my life, at this point, with portion control. I wasn't until I was 27 years old, only 11 years lacking portion control, that I started to take back my life. The problem is that once you have been doing something for that long, it's hard to go back to the old way. I have been struggling for the past 8 years of my life to get back to just covering the bottom of the bowl with M & M's. It's hard. As an adult, no one can control you, there aren't consequences like when you were a child. No one is going to send me to my room or take away my television and phone privileges, or tell me I can't go outside and play, or take away my toys. That is the reality. As an adult, you are responsible for you own actions and unless you are breaking a law, no one is going to arrest you for you bad habits. Wouldn't that be funny, being arrested for overeating?? LoL, they think the jails are overcrowded now?????????????

Bottom line is you need to have will power and good intentions to change any bad habit. Somehow over the past 3 months, I have dug deep down inside and found that girl that was there 8 years ago when I began my weight loss journey at a size 22. I have been able to control my eating habits through weighing my food everyday and my exercise routine by telling myself I will be angry if I miss the gym. Losing weight is a battle that I am willing to fight now. I have been using all of the tools in my toolbox to push myself to the limit. Hard work is paying off and I am not willing to give up the progress that I have made. I was measured the other day...the scale shows that I am still up 1.4 pounds, BUT I lost 4.5 inches in 4 WEEKS. I am not starving myself, I am not working out for hours a day; I am eating about 1800-2000 calories a day and working out for about an hour and a half. Lean and mean, that's my goal. I just want to see those inches melt away. I have set goals for myself, and I am not going to let them slip away!

"Don't dream it, be it."