Monday, August 31, 2009 by Becca.

I fell off the wagon this week in a big way.  It all started with a sore throat.  About a week ago I started to get a sore throat so I made sure I got a little more rest and made myself some tea.  I stuck to making healthy eating choices and continued to keep up with my exercise routine.

I maintained that for a few days but by mid week I was exhausted.  I was sleeping a solid eight hours at night but still yawning at my desk by 3pm.  It was a struggle to force myself out of bed and out the door to work in the morning.  My boss told me to stay home but I have been know to be stubborn and had work that needed to be done this week.

So I forced myself into the office all week, which took a lot of will power.  By the time I got home from work, I had no energy to cook or do dishes and no will power left to resist ordering takeout or swinging through the drive thru.  As far as exercise goes, let’s just say the walk from my front door to my car door was looking pretty long.

I’m embarrassed to admit that this week I probably consumed as many calories and grams of fat as I did the previous two weeks combined and moved about as much as a sloth.  So it’s been about a week and I still don’t feel that well which probably has something to do with how I’ve been treating my body for the past week.

Today is a new day and every new day is an opportunity to live my life in a healthy way.  Time to dust myself off and climb back up on that wagon!

Posted in Health, Stress, Healthy Eating | Print | No Comments »

Friday, August 28, 2009 by Dea.

Not only are these both Fabulous Finds - they’re Freebies too!  These are great tasting, healthy eating products that I’ve found.  What better way to try them out than to get them, free, in your mailbox??

First up - NEW Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal.  Click here to get a sample sent to you.  High in fiber, with 100% of quite a few of your daily recommended nutrients, this is a great tasting way to start your morning!

Next up -  Nature Valley Nut Clusters and Trail Mix Bars.  Click here to get a free Trail Mix Bar AND a sample of their new Granola Nut Clusters.  These are great on-the-go breakfasts, or as a quick snack.

Posted in Freebies, Fabulous Finds | Print | 2 Comments »

Thursday, August 27, 2009 by Dea.

We haven’t been using our gym membership at all much lately, so we decided to put it on hiatus for a while and try to do a whole home gym sort of thing.  I already own a spin bike, so with that and martial arts for cardio, we’re set on that front for now.

We need more toning equipment.  With that in mind, I hit the Target fitness aisle.  They had a wobble board and stability disk on clearance ($15 for both, yay!), so I bought them and took them home right away to try them.

I should say right here that although I can spin like a pro, I have absolutely no really bad core strength.  I’ve used both these pieces of equipment before, but let’s just say we need to catch up.

Just getting onto the wobble board left me huffing and puffing.  I was pitching every direction, and though I’m embarrassed to admit it, I broke a sweat within 10 seconds.  I tried concentrating on tightening my core - nothing.  I tried holding onto the wall - no help!  I was amazed at how little balance I have.

Good thing I bought that one - I will get my ten dollars worth if I try to improve my balance.  Thankfully, I don’t feel defeated, only determined to do better.

I’ll have to get back to everyone with regards to my stability disk.  I can barely do yoga flat on the floor, let alone with a partially-deflated ball beneath one foot.  Baby steps.

Posted in Exercise | Print | No Comments »

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 by Dea.

I was having a really rough day.  I sent off my son, my last baby, to Kindergarten without me today.  I also went to Target looking for a bathing suit.  Needless to say, I was feeling really, really bad about myself.  Big, used up, and without purpose are a few things I was thinking.

Then I saw this article.   And I am smiling, and just feeling on top of the world.  I love Lizzi Miller.  She is a supposed plus-size (she’s a size 12, which in my book is an average sized woman, right?) model, and at the age of 20, she’s found such a wonderful mental space.  She is an example of loving yourself being the best state of mind for a healthy life.

She posed in just underwear - with her belly bulge showing.  No airbrushing, no smoothing out her stretch marks.  And she talks about how seeing other women like herself on tv and in magazines has helped her body image.  She’s right.  Seeing her there, looking so normal, so achievable even, helped me to put my own body into different perspective.  I think I might print her picture and keep it for any time I’m bashing myself.

Amazingly, unlike Self, Glamour chose to couple an article about positive body image no matter your size with a picture of a real woman - without airbrushing.  Kudos to them for this monumental step.  Pictures with the words are so much more forceful.  Hopefully, they realize from the outpouring of positive emails and letters that this is how we want to see all the pages in the magazine.

Posted in Encouragement, Body Image | Print | 1 Comment »

Monday, August 24, 2009 by Dea.

I am currently fighting the urge to go into the kitchen and eat everything in sight.  I know I’ll regret it, and I know I’ll barely taste everything I stuff into my mouth.

My younger son started Kindergarten today.  He’s my baby, my little guy, and I am happy that he’s excited and growing like he’s supposed to be.  But I am also so very sad that he isn’t my sweet little toddler.  He has always been my buddy, my sidekick.  And I know that school will be a good influence for him.  He’ll also change, and he’s not my little guy anymore.

It is so hard to not quell my sadness with gobs of cheese and handfuls of  candy.  I dislike such self-destructive thoughts, but I also can’t figure out the correlation.  Why should taking my son to school set off this chain reaction of thoughts and urges?

So I sit, fighting the desire to induce a food coma the likes of which have never before been seen.  I know that this is temporary sadness, but I also know a new sadness or upset will come along.  I hope that fighting back these urges today will either make me stronger in the face of future one, or make future urges less powerful.

I’m sad.  But I’m not weak.  I hope…

Posted in Temptation, Emotional Eating | Print | No Comments »

Saturday, August 22, 2009 by Dea.

I had a really, really vivid dream last night.  It was one of those dreams where it feels so real, you can smell and taste and feel, and you wake up trying to figure out if it really happened.  My dream has meaning, too.  It means I’m way too caught up on food.

I dreamed I was in a bakery, ordering these outrageously gorgeous pastries.  It was so specific, they were pastries made by this order of French nuns in Chicago who sell their goodies at the local farmers’ market to support their charitable works.  Side note - these are the most fabulous bakery items I’ve ever had in my life.   This is why I’ve been avoiding the farmers’ market this summer.  But I digress.

In my dream, I was sampling and choosing some of the most fabulous, rich, decadent foods on this earth.  I tasted it, I woke up with the faintest taste of tart shell on my tongue.  And I nearly burst into tears when I realized I couldn’t have what I’d bought for breakfast.

Yup, I admit it.  I’m nuts over food.  This just proves it.  I can’t decide, though, whether I want a repeat of the dream or not.  I mean, those tarts and croissants were GOOD, but do I want the torture of craving them?

Posted in Temptation | Print | No Comments »

Friday, August 21, 2009 by Becca.

Sometimes being heavier is easier.  It’s hard when shopping for clothes or trying to ride any form of public transportation without becoming extra friendly with the person next to you, but it’s easy sometimes too.  At least, it’s been easy for me in the past.  It’s been very easy to tell myself that I don’t care how heavy I am.  I could tell myself I wasn’t concerned with appearances and that I wasn’t interested in other people’s opinions of how I look.

All of which is true, sort of, on my good days.  What shook me out of my nice little cocoon of denial was my health.  I’ve had some health problems that I would not have at such a young age if I took better care of myself.  So I’ve made changes in my lifestyle and slowly I’m losing weight and getting more fit.

I miss that denial though, more than I miss greasy double cheeseburgers or giant chocolate cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.  It’s hard to look in the mirror everyday and see someone who’s working on bettering her body, hard to give up the security of that bigger sense of self.  I need to remind myself why I started this whole process.

Of course it’s hard, of course there’s a struggle and obstacles to overcome.  In my experience, the easy things in life are rarely as rewarding as the hard ones!

Posted in Health, Encouragement, Body Image | Print | No Comments »

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 by Dea.

About a week and a half ago, my husband bought a frappuccino for the family to share.  This is where it started.  Now, every time I go into our Target, I hear that blender and I salivate.  I’ve had three since that fateful day.

I didn’t need this.  I did not need to be reminded how luscious the whipped cream truly is.  I also didn’t need to be drinking caffeine again.   I basically don’t need to be spending too much money for a drink with too many calories that will cause me to have migraines.

Does this stop me from craving them?  Of course not.  I need to get off this bender.  My waistline and my head can’t afford it.  Maybe writing about it will get me off this kick.  You’d think that, since I will have physical blinding pain as a result, I would be able to stop easily.  Not so much.  The human mind is a terrible, willful thing.

It is so much easier to stay away from things in the first place.  I hadn’t had a frappuccino in years, and after one-fourth of a small,  suddenly I’m this frappuccino addict, driven to find any excuse to hit a Target and get my fix.  Time to detox, I’m afraid.  Must stay strong.  Too bad I have to go to Target for school supplies.  After that, though, total boycott for a couple weeks so I can reset the old brain.

And so I say again - curse you, Frappuccino!

Posted in Temptation | Print | No Comments »

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 by Dea.

We are all unique, like snowflakes.  So why is it we assume that one weight loss plan will work for everyone?

What works for me is to restrict my portions, rather than any one food group.  I’ve tried going the restriction route.  It does not work for me.  I wind up torturing myself by withholding something like, say, carbs, and then going off the deep end a week later, rolling naked in a pile of Snickers bars.  Ok, maybe not naked, we own quite a few mirrors, but you get the point.  I know I just can’t live like that. 

I respect that carb cutting is ideal for other people.  If something doesn’t work for me, I can’t assume it won’t work for anyone.  Somehow, other people do not offer me the same respect.  I have frequented weight loss boards in the past, and people can get very militant about weight loss programs.  I’ve been called names, had my intelligence questioned, just because I didn’t follow a person’s method of weight loss.

I personally think that whatever you do in a healthy way to get to a better, healthier you, is the right way.  We’re all doing things to improve our quality of life, and if one person finds it easier to cut carbs while another does Weight Watchers, who are any of us to say someone is wrong?  We can all benefit from tips and tricks that work for others.  I’ve incorporated things I learned from other people, even if we aren’t n the same “plan.”  So what is your weight loss identity?

Posted in Encouragement, Success, Weight Loss | Print | No Comments »

Monday, August 17, 2009 by Dea.

I think one of the hardest parts of weight loss can be setting reasonable and achievable goals for yourself.  So often good intentions will be wiped out by huge disappointment when a goal that was set too high isn’t reached.  It’s important to avoid high expectations, which often lead to feelings of failure.

One guideline for weight loss goal setting is the 10% rule.  With this rule of thumb, you set your first goal to be losing 10% of your body weight.  For my starting point, that would be 25.3 pounds for my first goal, as my starting weight was 253 pounds.

A goal of 25.3 pounds is a lot less daunting than the full 75 pounds I want to lose.  It is still rather a large number, however.  To avoid feeling like it’s utterly hopeless to lose all the weight I want, I set several types of goals.  The first goal I determine is the total amount I want to lose.  I call this my Long Term Goal.  I want to eventually be 180 pounds.  So this is my Long Term Goal, and that means I have to lose 75 pounds total.  Seeing that large number can create panic, though, so I set my Intermediate Goals.  These are not nearly as large as my Long Term Goal.  For this, I use the 10% rule of thumb.  For other people who have less to lose, this can be a halfway or a third-of-the-way sort of thing.  Anything that divides the Long Term Goal into portions can work well here.

Since I have so much to lose, I find that my Intermediate Goals are still rather large.  I need encouragement and success to keep me going, which I am sure is something that helps any person trying to reach a goal.  So I set my Minor Goals.  These, for me, are 10 pounds.  Each time I lose 10 pounds, I reward myself.  Normally, I buy myself a new top or a pair of jeans.  Reaching an achievement point is a big boost to self esteem.  It can make or break a person’s journey.  This is why setting reasonable goals is so important.

Expecting a body that gained the weight over time to lose it quickly is unhealthy both for your bdy and your mind.  It’s important to maintain a healthy rate of weight loss.  Losing 10 pounds in a week isn’t sustainable weight loss.  And the following week, if you only lose 1 pound, you might feel like a failure and quit.  Which is better - consistently losing 1 to 2 pounds a week, or losing 10 one week and 1 the next then quitting and gaining it back?

So be kind to yourself.  Set several types of goals, small, medium and large.  Reward yourself in different ways each time you reach a goal.  And in regards to time limits, be reasonable and don’t expect more than a 2-pounds-per-week loss.  Remember - a journey of 100 miles is not finished in a short time.  And you must take the first smaller steps in order to get to the finish line.

Posted in Tips and Tricks, Encouragement, Success | Print | No Comments »