Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Pushing through

  There are times when progress slows.  I am so pleased with my results and so many people have been so complimentary that I feel that my focus was slipping.  I mean, I've already lost 20 pounds, and I already look a lot better.  Why can I just leave good enough alone?  Because I still have a long way to go.  And I am thinner, not thin.  Not even "normal"  (I guess we all knew that!)

  So, yesterday talk about Tumamoc Hill came up. I didn't want to get up at 4:45 to go with my friends, so I suggested that we go last night, right after VBS.  Sounds crazy, no?  Sure was!  But hike it we did at 10 pm.  Eileen, Keeara and I made it walking, Neil ran/walked.  Favi made it to the top even though she didn't want to!

  I saw some weight loss this morning, and a renewed desire to keep on keeping on.  To push through complacency.  Sometimes when you are tired and discouraged is just the time to push through to the next level!

Friday, June 24, 2016

The Cost of Days Off

I have the power to choose.   I am not bound.  If I want to take a day off or a week off that is my choice.  It does not make me a loser or a failure.  What I am bound to is the consequences of my decisions.  We all must pay the piper and face the music.  Seems like it takes a day of being good to counteract one day of not-so-good. 

I took "off" for 5 days.  Totally my choice and totally worth it.  My consequences? Lost time.  You see, I did "gain weight".  I put those words in quotation marks because to gain 5 pounds of fat, which is what the scale said, I would have had to have eaten 15,000 extra calories.  In five days.   I don't even know if that is possible!  Still, that's what the scale said.

After a week back on track, I am now where I was the day I left.  So in reality, I did not gain nor did I lose any weight.  What I lost was time and momentum.  Two weeks of opportunity to lose weight.  Again, that was my choice.  Some folks are so pumped about their weight loss that continuing to diet while travelling is worth it to them.  They don't want to lose momentum.  That is their choice, and we all have the freedom to choose. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Hitting the reset button

  We went to Lancaster, CA, for the Spiritual Leadership Conference last week.  It was great.  We also spent a day at Disneyland.  That's 2 and a half days sitting in a conference and 2 full days in a van. And on top of all, we ate good!  Neil and I had dinner one night at the Storyteller's Cafe at the Grand Californian and it was so nice!  Love, love, love Craftsman decor.  I want to live at the Grand Californian!
Needless to say, setbacks in weight loss were made.  Not too bad, but I am back on track.  I am so glad that I had a good time and enjoyed some delicious food.  It's all about long-term weight loss and management.  It's about getting back on track.  It's about not freaking out or feeling like a loser.

For almost everything, there is a reset button.  Did I fail at something last week?  I am only a failure if I let last week's failings to become a new habit.  Today is a new day.  I can be what I need to be today.  I can be obedient to God today.   I can focus on God today, regardless of yesterday.   Now, maybe I did something sinful, and I need to come to a place of repentance before I can move on, but move on I  can. 

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Dealing with people who are losing weight

I must admit, this meme stung.  It's not that I am fishing for compliments, it's just that this losing weight thing is a big deal.  Being fat is horrible, no matter what anyone says. Just because they make prettier clothes for big gals does not mean that I look good in them.  Losing weight is hard.  If it were easy, everyone would be thin!  It takes a great deal of effort to stay focused, because my natural tendency is to eat without thinking about it.   I like to go out to eat.  I like to cook.  I like to feed people tasty food.   I like reading about new recipes, and I like watching cooking shows.  I don't really like exercising.

I have only been successful in weight lost twice in my life.  I have dieted on-and-off so many times unsuccessfully so many times, I can't count them.  If you could have a heart-to-heart with any heavy person, they would tell you of the struggle.  They would tell you of the jealousy we feel when you tell us that you've never been overweight, and you eat whatever you want. They would tell you how frustrating it is when someone talks about their miracle diet.  They would tell you how frustrating and discouraging buying clothes is.

  So, if you have a friend or loved one who has found a way, please be patient. Please encourage them.  They may have a long journey ahead, and they want so desperately to make it. Pray for them!  I talked to several folks the other day who really need to lose weight for serious health reasons.  Let me tell you, even the fear of illness does not make weight loss any easier!  Like I said, if it were easy, we'd all be thin.

  Be an encourager.  Please.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Finally!


Yay!!!!   I have lost 20 pounds in a little over 4 months.  Here is what I have learned:

1. For me, eating the same food I always eat, but much less, is the key.
2. Even though I still eat the same foods, I have noticed that my cravings for sweets has diminished.
3. Not eating past 6 pm is really helpful.
4. I don't exercise for weight loss, I do it for strength and general fitness
5.  Most people are genuinely happy for me, and I thank them for their support.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Kidding myself

  Dieting takes a great deal of focus.  You have to be vigilant about what you eat all the time.   When you are am at-home mom, you are surrounded by food and food prep a lot of the day.  Sometimes I envy those who go to work and are not tempted at all with food.  Sometime I wish my kitchen had a door I could close off!

   I haven't lost anymore weight, because I think that I have not been honest with myself about how much I am actually eating.  That is a major component of my "diet plan", being able to honestly assess overeating.  Not that I am overeating, I am just not eating less enough to drop the weight.  
Exercise levels are still really good.  

   I didn't want to blog about staying the same weight, but accountability is really important.   One of the most successful weight loss programs is Weight Watchers.  I think that it is because of the group interaction.  I don't know who all is reading this blog, but you are my group.  I will share my successes and my setbacks.  (Notice how I did not use the word "failure"!)

 Some days I am really pleased with my progress, and some days I am bummed about how far I have to go. 

Friday, June 3, 2016

Progress and a Milestone

                                      Wow! Don't I look thin in this photo?   Jk

   As of today, I have lost 19 pounds.  In the moment, the progress seems slow, but considering that I started on February 2, 2016, it's fast enough for me.  That is 4.75 pounds per month. Happy, happy happy!


  This is also a Milestone.  You know that quote "I wish I was as thin as the first time I thought I was fat"?   I now weigh just under what I weighed on that day, about 16 years ago, when I went to yet another doctor for help.  When he told me how much I weighed, tears welled up in my eyes, and I couldn't keep them from spilling onto my cheeks.  He prescribed fen-phen which was coming to an end of its popularity at the time.  I took it for a month, and it was great. I think I lost 8 pounds that month.  Unfortunately, fen-phen isn't good for you, so I stopped taking it.  It was at this same time that someone sent me the Weighdown Diet book and you know the rest.  Sadly, over the next 15 years, I gained the weight back and more.  Now, on the way back down, I am where I started, that day in the doctor's office.  It's a bittersweet moment and a time for me to reflect.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The importance of Getting Back on Track

     Failure.  It's such an ugly word. Nothing can ruin your frame of mind like failure. We fear that others see us as failures.  We see ourselves as failures.  Our culture worships success.   Yet, for so many things, success is hard to define.   

    In dieting, success is weight loss.  But what if you are eating properly and exercising and still not losing weight?  Are you a failure?  What about when you overeat for a meal, or a day, or a week.  Are you a failure?  Failure to me is not overeating, but of giving up.  As long as I recognize what I am doing, and take steps to get back on track, I am succeeding.  Everyday is a new day to do things the right way.  Today I can have a good attitude, today I can make the right choices. God is a God of mercies and he gives them to me new every morning.  So, I think I can extend that mercy to myself, and start over, as often as necessary, to the glory of God.