I used to have to tell my story to anyone who would listen. “Hi. My name is Orna and I used to be obese.” I guess I felt that if I told them, they would judge my current body less harshly. Well, guess what? That “story” is just that—a “story.” It isn’t who I am. It does not define me. What defines me is who I am inside and how I choose to live my life, and the people that I trust to be in my inner circle. (Not because they were born in it but because they earned that place.) What doesn’t define me is other people’s opinions or judgements. Or inadequacies. My childhood was filled with pain, sadness, and self loathing, and I turned to food for solace. Then cigarettes. Then alcohol. When I turned 50 in October, 2020, I decided to stop self-medicating and started working on healing that pain from the inside so that I didn’t have to live in shame or fear any longer. I feel free in a way that’s difficult to even describe. I am finally comfortable in my own skin and I’m ready to tell you the actual truth. In 2015, as a part of my marketing efforts to relaunch my website and social media presence, I wrote a book; more of a pamphlet, really. In truth, that book was not authentically me. First of all, there are never “7 Secrets” to successfully accomplishing ANYTHING, much less weight loss and better health. I now realize that I was still hiding and protecting myself. Ironically, that mistake spiraled me back into the cycle of shame that I was trying so hard to help others avoid. What if they discover that I’m a fraud? What if they see that I don’t look like the super-skinny, retouched person in the book? What if they knew I had switched from food to wine? For that lack of total honesty, I apologize. The true solution to a weight problem is love. Self-love. Family love. Friend love. And if you’re lucky enough to find it, unconditional love from a partner. That is the real answer to how I managed to keep off 75 pounds (give or take a few) and have become a completely different person. Being loved by my amazing husband, Sam, exactly the way I am. […]
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