Skin Brushing: A Love Story

So today is day 6 on my current VLCP on hcg. My total loss is 7 pounds and currently TOM is in full swing. I ran out of drops for a whole day, so the timing on that couldn't have been better.

I have between skin brushing every morning. I found a link with picture instructions: http://greensmoothiegirl.com/articles/healthy-habits/skin-brushing/

It. Is. Wonderful. I had tried it before with the simple "brush toward the heart" instructions, but using these instructions have made a difference I never had seen. My skin is soft and glowing, I'm not at all constipated, and when I do it, I feel so great. Its likemaking peace with my body, every part. Spending a few second just on my thighs, or hips, or abdomen . . . like saying, "thank you, thighs, for supporting me, hips, thanks for supporting my pregnancies, let me take care of you now. Abdomen, you've been through it with the surgeries and babies. Thank you for your hard work."

I felt positive all day. I recommend the skin brushing on so many levels.

Just Do It. Never Quit.

I was reading back through this blog and it is amazing to me how many times I have attempted and how many times I have not completed my goal for a protocol. I have gained a bit of weight and I am above when I first started this. My highest recent weight is 240.

Sounds like all failure, right? Not at all! I have not binged in months. I enjoy getting dressed and even though I still have fat thoughts, they don't plague me like they used to. Although I haven't been eating the most nutritionally, I have been able to eat with less judgment. I feel like this progress equals more than a hundred pounds in terms of my mental health.

In other news, I am on day 5 of another round one. My main goal is a successful phase three. I want to lose at least 50 pounds, but my plan is to keep going until I am losing 3 pounds or less a week and then transitioning to phase 3. I want to do phase 3 with some of the leptin reset principles. And then take a break from dieting and try living before another round.

Feeling good. Make that great.

I just watched Robin's most recent videos and I recommend them very highly. Look up weight loss apocalypse on YouTube. Her channel is both inspiring and insightful. These last two videos really focused on the feeling of desperation around weight loss and what that leads to: extreme dieting, binging, and shame. This desperation is directly connected to consumerism our view of ourselves through the eyes of the media. This led me to think about this: what does it look like to lead a consumer based life versus a production based life? What if there was desperation for creativity and personhood rather than looks and weight?

Consumer based:
I'm not good enough
I'm not beautiful enough (buy to look better)
My house isn't nice enough
My kids aren't smart enough
I need to be entertained/consume entertainment
Artificial relationships which are easy (i.e. Social media, television)
Beauty is scarce, expensive, created
Others are more talented
Talent is scarce
My value is external
My self worth depends on external things

Production Based:
Contentment
I'm good enough
I'm beautiful, I find beauty within myself
My hard work makes my house nice
I use creative means to generate entertainment, conversation, writing, games, knitting, playing music.
I produce the means on entertainment
I enjoy real and meaningful relationships and work to cultivate them
Beauty is abundant and everywhere
I have special talents as does everyone
My value and self worth are my qualities and who I an as a person

Which would you choose? Which would you be desperate for?