I Know They Mean Well, But…

I’m sure you’ve run into them.  The people who know the “perfect” diet for you to try.  I’ve run into a few of them lately. People have started to notice my weight loss, and ask me what I’m doing to lose the weight.   I tell them that I’ve lost 10 pounds in one month by eating healthily and controlling my portion sizes, and combining it with exercise.

That response seems to confuse them, because I haven’t called it the “so and so” diet.  They blink, and then say – “You should try Atkins, or the Zone, or (insert any name of diet here)

Now, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate their interest in my weight loss, and their suggestions.  But if I’ve just said that I’ve had success in what I’m doing, why would they suggest something different?  I know that the ones who are suggesting these diets have never had to lose a lot of weight at any point in their lives, and they’re only suggesting diets that they’ve heard about.

Too often in the past, I listened to people who were suggesting this diet, or that diet, and in the end I tried a lot of the diets and systems that are out there – South Beach, Dr. Bernsteins, I could go on, and while I lost weight on them, I never ever felt that they were programs that were changing how I thought about food, and in the end couldn’t sustain the program, and gained back all of the weight (and more).

I’m not criticizing any of the weight loss plans out there (well, there are few that I would run screaming from), and if what you are doing is working for you, that’s great!  Stay with it!

So, to those people who have suggested I try other ways to lose weight, here is why what I am doing is working for me.

Starting weight – November 1, 2010 – 193.4 lbs

Today’s weight – December 8, 2010 – 183.4 lbs

Total Weight Loss – 10 lbs!

Inches lost

• Neck – 1/4 inch
• Waist – 1 inch
• Hips  – 1/2 inch
• Thighs – 1/2 inch
• Chest – 1 inch
• Calves – 1/2 inch
• Total inches lost – 3 3/4 inches

Dress size down from 16 – 14

My goals for this week are:

• Faithfully drink my water each day – 164 – 180 ounces.  I have much better success when I drink all of my water
• Get exercise every day – it doesn’t have to be just at the gym- going for a walk, putting on some music and dancing around the house, etc., as long as I am moving and doing something, instead of sitting and doing nothing.
• Eat more vegetables.  I was really good about this until about a week ago.  I’ve stayed under my calorie limit each day, but on some days there has been very little vegetable or fruit content.
• Make a menu plan – again, did this really well for the first few weeks, but this past week was kind of a “grab and go” type of food plan
• Prepare food to take with me to my part time job – not having a meal plan caused me to purchase meals while at work (while I still chose healthy, they were costly)

I’m doing well with the water, and preparing food etc., however, exercise has taken a bit of a backseat this week as life has been getting busier.  I have been taking walks outside each day, even if I haven’t been getting to a scheduled gym class.  My personal trainer appointment is on Friday, so I’ll know I’ll be getting my butt kicked then!

I’m celebrating my successes, how about you?

Cue the Happy Dance!

My Daily Affirmation

It’s the start of a new week, and the first Monday of December. I can’t believe how fast time is going by lately.  I think that’s partly due to the fact that I have been living without my daily affirmations, or even with clear goals for a couple of weeks.  Days have been slipping past me so quickly, and I feel as though I have been just a passenger in my life the past few weeks, instead of the driver.  That’s got to change.

With the realization that I’ve just been existing and not experiencing, I noticed that I haven’t been saying my affirmations.  Affirmations are something that I’ve used to basically train my mind to visualize things in a positive way and use those feelings to create that outcome.  I’ve used them in all areas of my life, but I can’t remember the last time I was faithful in saying them.  So it’s time to create some affirmations and take that time each day and do them.

During my daily search for information to help me with my weight loss, I found the article “How To Use Affirmations To Lose Weight”.  While it wasn’t anything I hadn’t read before, just reading it again reinforced that I needed to get back to consistently saying my affirmations each day.

One of the first things I do in the morning is turn on my laptop, and then make my breakfast.  So, I’ve added a pop up feature to my computer.  It’s a post it note, and has the following affirmation on it for this week:

Each day I am committed to achieving my goals and ensuring my success.

I’ve chosen this affirmation for this week because I’ve noticed that I hadn’t listed or even reviewed my goals in a few weeks.  I’ve been pretty good about keeping track of my food, and working on the goals that have been a habit, but I know I’ve been missing some of them.When I look over some of the goals I had since starting my journey, there are some that I haven’t been able to get close to, so here are my goals for this week.

• Review my goals each Sunday night, and add a new challenge each week.
• Faithfully drink my water each day – 164 – 180 ounces.  I have much better success when I drink all of my water
• Get exercise every day – it doesn’t have to be just at the gym- going for a walk, putting on some music and dancing around the house, etc., as long as I am moving and doing something, instead of sitting and doing nothing.
• Eat more vegetables.  I was really good about this until about a week ago.  I’ve stayed under my calorie limit each day, but on some days there has been very little vegetable or fruit content.
• Make a menu plan – again, did this really well for the first few weeks, but this past week was kind of a “grab and go” type of food plan
• Prepare food to take with me to my part time job – not having a meal plan caused me to purchase meals while at work (while I still chose healthy, they were costly)
• Blog at least 2 – 3 times this week, not just about successes, but about my challenges as well
• Take Thursday night to spend with my son, playing board games, talking and just being together (it’s his 17th birthday!)

In addition to my affirmation on the computer, I’m going to put these goals on another pop up, so I see them every morning.

Do you use Affirmations, or something similar to help you be successful?  I’d love to hear what you do to keep on track.

Well, that’s it for now – Happy Monday everyone!  I’m off to get things accomplished!

 

 

 

 

One Month Into My Journey…

Wow!  Yesterday marked the one month anniversary of my journey.

It is said that 21 days make a habit, and I think that I had almost gotten there, but this past week threw me backwards. I’m still excited about what I’m doing, and where I’m going, but I feel as though I haven’t been fully on track for about 10 days, and was worried that I was losing my momentum.

I let something that happened (too much to go into here) a week ago Monday sabotage the past 10 days, all except for food.  That I stayed on track with.  I didn’t exercise, I didn’t blog (I think I was hiding from you, because I didn’t want to admit that I wasn’t doing anything).  As a Canadian, I didn’t even have the excuse of being preoccupied with Thanksgiving.

Pretty much the only thing I did on the computer other than read the news and check emails, was play games on Facebook. Damn Farmville, Frontierville and Bejewelled.  I came up with every excuse I could think of to not go to the gym, which bothers me, because I look at it as wasting money. (Great, something else to feel guilty about)  I’m paying for a monthly membership, that for 10 days I didn’t use.

On Saturday, I thought about hiding from my scale as well, but realized that I need to know about the good and bad in my journey, so I weighed in.  Thank goodness I didn’t stop doing my food journal, because that kept me on track. Fully expecting no change or a movement upwards, my scale put a smile on my face.

The numbers went down!  1.2 pounds for the week, total of 8 lbs for the month.

I’m not going to analyze what made the weight loss, I’m going to be pleased.  I will however, talk about a number of NSV’s (non-scale victories) these past 10 days.

1. Even though I was sidelined over an upsetting incident, I didn’t choose food as a comfort.  I did shy away from going out and exercising, and chose computer game comfort instead, but I didn’t totally derail the way I would have in the past.
2. My good friend Terry came over to visit me on Friday, and brought me these lovely flowers. It’s been about 3 weeks since Terry and I last got together.  Now, normally when Terry and I get together, we enjoy a few beers and some snacks while talking and playing cards.  We always have a lot of fun. This Friday, Terry came over and brought with her a fruit platter.  How great is that for support!  She noticed the weight loss in my face, and said that my jeans looked loose. Gotta love great friends and the energy they bring!
3. On Sunday my son and I went shopping.  That was wonderful.  My son is almost 17 and like most boys his age will want to do ANYTHING other than go grocery shopping with his mom. I’m blessed that my son likes to try new foods, and we often experiment with cooking together.  I have to say that going food shopping was a pleasant experience this past week, as he and I looked at new foods and discussed how we would add them to this week’s menu.  We bought marlin and red snapper, two things that I wouldn’t have picked up if he hadn’t been there. If you’ve never tried marlin, all I can say is “wow!”  It’s a very tasty fish, costs less than salmon, and only takes a few minutes on the grill.  After dinner we sat and chatted about a number of things, and my son said to me “Mom, I can see where you’re losing weight, and your face definitely looks different.  I can now see how you would have looked when you were thinner.”  I could have cried.  It wasn’t that long ago that my son had found a picture of me in a bikini from 10 years ago, and asked me who that was.
4. I feel as though I walk lighter.  I don’t know how else to explain this.  When I walk I don’t feel as though I’m clomping along, it’s as though my body recognizes that it’s lighter, and I walk differently. Maybe I’m prouder of how I look, and my walk reflects that?
5. My size 16 jeans hang loosely on me, even right out of the dryer.
6. I can put on my size 14 jeans without laying on the bed to do them up. They’re still a little tight, but not for long!
7. Because of the upsetting incident that occurred, I spent some of my down time over the past week taking stock of my life in a number of areas, and am starting to make plans about what I want to do to make my life more positive, with more passion and enjoyment. (I am planning a long post about this in the near future)

I’m trying not to focus on the scale, but each movement downward shows that I’m on the right track, along with all of these other wonderful NSV’s.

While the month of December and all of its food temptations offerings could present a minefield challenge, I know that with the right mindset, I will do well. And if I have one or two extra little Christmas treats?  I’m not going to obsess over it.  This is a lifelong journey for me, and one or two weeks is not going to throw me off course.  Food journaling has and will continue to be my best defense friend,  and I’m learning to make better choices.  I also realize that I can enjoy the season and all it offers, as long as I choose gourmet over gluttony.

December will also see me say goodbye to the 180’s and start to see the 170’s. This will mean that I will start 2011 at a weight that I haven’t seen in about 6 years.  What a great Christmas present to myself this all is!

I’d like to end this blog, by asking you what your last month was like.  What challenges you had, how you overcame them, and the victories you celebrated.

Enjoy your Thursday and the rest of the week!

 

 

 

 

 

Easily Distracted

An idle brain is the devil’s workshop

Yup.  Distracted.  For two whole days.

Why?   The dubya dubya dubya dot.  (The internet)

Source of great information, but also a source of lots of time lost.

Result?  Well, one good result is I found a lot of really inspiring and interesting blogs – other people who taking the same journey as I am, and other blogs that are just plain fun and funny.

Bad results?  – no workout Sunday or Monday, no laundry done, no dishwasher run, in short, my house right now is in C.H.A.O.S. (Can’t have anyone over syndrome – thanks to the FlyLady for this one!)

So, what I am going to do about it?  Well, Google reader has now become my best friend.  When I find a new blog that I think I would like to read, I’m adding it to the reader, and will read the new posts in my downtime.

One enjoyable distraction yesterday was my lunch meeting with James Erdt. I met James when I signed up at my fitness club.  James is the Personal Training Director there. Have you ever met someone and within minutes of speaking with each other, felt a bond, a connection?  That’s what happened when James and I first spoke. James and I started speaking about my experiences working as a personal assistant to one of the teachers from The Secret, and he told me that his life’s goal is to motivate others, especially youth.   Check out his website  JoyZone.  We both thought that we should meet sometime to discuss how we could work together because he has so many wonderful ideas and projects that he’s working on.

During our lunch, James asked me about my blogging.   I told him that I was really excited that I was getting a lot of people reading it and commenting. He asked me why I was so caught up in how many people visited my blog. That made me think. I’m blogging as part of my accountability in my healthy lifestyle journey, and when I started, I thought that only my friends and family would read it.  Funny thing is, none of my family or close friends are reading it.  Well, I know one friend is, (thank you Margaret). I also know that James read it last night, but if the others are, they’re not saying. That’s okay though, they’re seeing my journey IRL (in real life)

I suppose I shouldn’t really analyze the stats information on my blog, but I guess it’s part of my competitive nature. Friends and family who ARE reading this right now, you can stop laughing.  Please.  I suppose it’s also part of my business and social media background, that checks to see how people are finding my blog.

I want to say THANK YOU! for reading my blog.  Because you’ve visited, I’ve been blessed by your encouragement and support, and humbled by those of you who are sharing your journeys and stories with me as well.  And when it’s all said and done, friends – old and new, virtual or in real life, are the best distraction of all.

When you have time, please check out Scale Junkie She is hosting a weight loss blog hop today.