Time to Take Stock

Periodically, it's imperative to stop, step back, and take stock of where I am in my weight loss efforts.  It has been 8 weeks that I've been logging my food and increasing my exercise.  In that time, I have lost 10 pounds.  that averages, what, 1 1/4 pounds per week.  Ok, that makes me feel a little better, and can you guess why?  I was being hard on myself, which, of course, I'm very good at.  I didn't think I was doing losing fast enough.  But in looking back, I am now aware that I am right on track with healthy weight loss.  It definitely wouldn't hurt to amp it up some, like tweaking my eating and starting to weight train at the gym and at home.  The point is, though, after 2 months of the effort, I thought I was doing a crappy job of it.  I didn't really realize that my efforts aren't crappy and are having an effect!  I'm happy about this!

I have to continually think forward, though, and what should be my question to myself at this point?  Where are the areas on this journey that can be improved.  I heard in a podcast Cut The Fat Weight Loss * that when a person is trying to lose weight, their diet is 95% of the solution.  And if we don't have a lot of time to devote to diet and exercise in our schedule, then what time we do have should be devoted to diet first.  This was a little aha moment for me, because up until now, I automatically thought that exercise should be the focus is there is little time, and I would burn off any extra calories.  But it makes sense that I should be putting extra time in the planning and the cooking of the right kinds of foods to eat, so there is less guess work and last minute decision making.  

So, the goal for this week is to do some tweaking of diet and exercise.  Specifically, is to plan out my menu so I can shop for the right things, and I'll add my kids brown bag lunches as well, so there is no guess work.  How nice that feeling would be!  In regards to exercise, I'm going to focus on resistance training, which I love!

Now, however, I am going to take a moment, though, to fully congratulate myself for losing 10 pounds!  I am definitely capable of doing it, and doing it to the end!  Who is with me?!?  

*I listen to health and weight loss podcasts for motivation and for reiteration of health information.  The more ingrained it is, the better!  Besides, I used to do a weight loss podcast back in 2007, so I enjoy that sort of media.  

I Just Don't Wanna!

There are days when doing it, any of it, are downright daunting.  With my husband doing well in his job, which requires a ton of his time and, consequently, mine, and the five kids, one of which is a 5 month old, days and nights are nothing but work.  We've gotten into such a cycle of work that this has become the norm.  So what happens?  We feel guilty when we aren't working!  How sick is that?  But it shows us how adaptable and capable our bodies and minds are.  All this working was a slow progression, with the addition of each child, and the promotions of my husband at his job.  We've reached a fevered pitch, and we in danger of burnout if we don't start stopping.

So there are times, and I suppose always will be, when we wake up and say, I just don't wanna do it today! We are most likely depleted in some way, emotionally or physically or both.  Our resolve is paper thin, and any temptation can and most likely will be succumbed to.  So how can I keep the damage to a minimum until my resolve is more sustaining?  Remembering that living healthy is a lifestyle change, and not a temporary state is important.  There are ebbs and flows in life, in every aspect of it.  When it comes to health, on days like this, when we want to give up and give in, I say, just relax about it.  Calmly remember why I'm losing weight and exercising, and what my goal is.  Also remembering how far I've come since the start of the journey.  I have to go back to my motivators and get juiced up again be watching some weight loss youtube videos.

I'm also learning to be honest about how I feel about eating, and about what and how much I eat.  I suppose this is what accountability looks like.  I'm a closet eater, and have been for a long time, and have started doing so with my husband and children.  This is a dangerous habit, especially because kids are really smart, and pick up on my habits, good or bad.  And guess what?  Yep, my mom was a closet eater, meaning, she used to keep a stash all for herself, and I always found it because I always knew where to look.  Anyway, talking about how I was feeling with my husband helped a lot.  I was honest, I told him that I felt like stuffing my face with, well, just about anything, it didn't matter what.  My strength and energy for that moment (actually it was a few hours) was really low, and my goals looked a long way off.  But if you talk to other people about it, they can be objective, and remind you really well of why you're doing it.  Basically talk you down off the ledge.  And it actually worked!  I didn't overeat, I ate within my daily limits, with the help of a midday hemp protein shake.  I'm going to give myself props and say how proud I am of myself!! This is a big hurdle, although I didn't realize it until I was re-telling the tale.  Overcoming the hard days are possible, if you arm yourself ahead of time, because they will come.  Talk to someone about it.  If anyone wants to talk to me on a hard day, please find me on my Facebook page  or Twitter @Beth_Spellacy.  

Luckily, I wrote the beginning of this post on a day that I was tired and emotionally worn out, and not from trauma, just the stress and pressures of everyday life.  Why lucky?  Because I wrote it when it was happening, so it's very real.  I'm finishing it the day after, and I can tell you that the feeling does pass, thank you God!  So I know these days will come again, and I'll be ready.  Will you?

Get Behind Me Sara Lee

It's amazing how my resolve to lose weight and get healthy goes down the tubes when I'm physically or emotionally drained.  So, of course, my intentions in the morning are good, while at the end of the day, I'm ready to throw in the towel, spouting that it's just too much effort.  What do I do for that situation?  Well, since I can't control how I'm going to feel, although I can assume that I'm going to be tired at the end of the day, I can control the food that goes into my mouth.  I'm an end of the day eater, that's how I relax after all 5 kids are asleep.  I do deserve to relax, and I've always thought that eating was a reward.  I have to change that attitude now, which makes me want to cry.  Why?  Because I still want to relax, and in my mind at this point, I can't think of anything that is as relaxing and satisfying as eating.  So I have to break it down and evaluate and plan while my resolve is high.

I have to plan out ahead of time what I'm going to eat when I finally sit down at night.  Eliminating my night time snack is out of the question, I know myself too well.  I would never keep up with it, and I would probably end up binging.  So let's explore.  First thing is to get my head on straight and say my statement, "I only eat a little snack at night".   I must say that to myself in the evenings ahead of time to set the stage.  Since I've already planned out what it is I'm going to eat, and I've made it a good snack, something I like, I won't be scoping out the fridge later on.  I think also adding a hot drink, like decaf coffee (I find it very comforting) or tea added to the snack, would be a good idea.  Then I can sip, and it will last a lot longer than the snack.  The whole idea is comfort at the end of a long day.

I will be trying this tonight.  I'll be making decaf coffee and a piece of cinnamon toast (whole grain bread, of course!) should do the trick.  If this is an issue for you, try these same steps along with me, and let me know how it goes!

Start to Make Health a Knee-Jerk Reaction

I actually remember a time when I was making really good choices in the food i ate.  I also remember that I had no remorse about it, it actually felt great to do so.  Of course, you have to know what choices are better than others in the first place.  If you haven't grown up in an environment that fostered healthy food, then you might need to educate yourself in what exactly the better choices are.  My education has been going on for 25 years, so at this point it's not hard for me to know which foods are good for me and which aren't.  But not all people have received this education, so the education has to start at some point.  How about now?  There's so much information out there in regards to nutrition, much more than in past years, so we have no excuse to not know how to eat.  There might be a why behind why we eat a certain way, but let's put that aside for now.  Having the knowledge, in this case, really does give you power, the power to make good, informed decisions easier.  When we're standing in the supermarket with an thousand cereals staring us in the face, it would be very empowering to know which is the right one, wouldn't it?

So start educating yourself as to the right way to eat.  Start small, of course, one element of eating at a time.  Remember, this isn't conquering why we eat, just what we should eat.  Here are a few beginning concepts to get the ball rolling in the right direction:

1.  Buy whole grain.  This is a big statement, I know, but it can be easy.  White flour turns to sugar in your body very quickly, so you have to stop eating it.  There are so many choices in stores now, there's no excuse.  And it's easy to choose the whole wheat or whole grain alternative to your favorite breads, rice, etc. There are a ton of yummy fiber, protein, whole grain rich breads out there, so no more wonder bread!  Make the statement, I don't eat white bread*, and start buying the brown breads.  This includes english muffins, bagels, hamburger and hot dog buns, too.  It's all out there, so start making that choice instead.

2.  Stop eating and drinking fake sugars.  Splenda is found in a lot of places nowadays.  That, and other artificial sweeteners.  You would think these remove some calories from your diet, but artificial sweeteners are chemicals (plus much more bad stuff) and you really shouldn't consume them.  Doctors tell pregnant women not to eat it, what does that tell you?  Go for truvia, which is a natural sugar from the stevia plant, instead.  It's found in the sugar aisle.  A popular, and easy to find drink to boost your water, is Crystal Light's Pure variety.  And cut down or cut out sugary drinks.  As Jillian Michaels says "Don't drink your calories!".  Start drinking water, cut and dried, nice and simple.

3.  Don't eat a lot of red meat.  Sausages for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch, hamburger for dinner.  You just ate close to your weekly allotment for red meat.  Be conscious of how much you eat.  Again, many times, ground turkey, ground chicken, or soy products (like boca burgers) can be substituted for many red mean meals.  Try it, and remember to add a lot of spice!  Original Mrs. Dash works well in so many dishes.

We all want to get to a point where making these healthy choices will become second nature, without any emotion attached to it.  That only comes with positive, decisive statements, and practice!

*If you look back at my previous post Motion to Motivate, step 5 explains the process of making statements that mimic how we ultimately want to be.  Yesterday, I used the statement out loud, "Don't get a doughnut for me, honey, I don't eat donuts".  And it tricked my mind in to believing the statement was true, that the decision was already made and I didn't need to make it again.  It absolutely worked, and there was no willpower involved.  Very powerful!!

Ok, I know I've been posting a lot of information in regards to the science of weight loss, but now will come real posts on the real challenge I am facing now in losing weight.  There are so many nuances of losing weight and the amount of things that go through my head every day is staggering.  I've think about food and losing weight all the time, all day long, and I have to share some of it with you all so we can build a community and do it together!  Come back and see!

Natural, Calm, Relaxed Discipline!

I'm quickly learning that in order for being slim to be a permanent part of life, it has to be part of your way of thinking. Not an obsession, but a mindset. An acceptance that what is available to us is not, most of the time, what we should consume.

Health and true weight loss and permanent slimness depends on calm assurance of what we know is true: low fat, whole grain, smaller portions, fruits and vegetables, water, exercise. There can be a slight detour to partake of celebration, then a return to healthful eating to maintain health. But that detour has to be controlled and calm with awareness ad consciousness so as not to go overboard. I am aware that I can go overboard if I decide I don't want to enter that realm of health eating.

I can actually see that it's 2 different types of mindset that I waffle between, no accounting for what I eat, no thought as to healthy type of food or portions and very seldom exercise. And usually no motivation accompanies this mindset to be better than the very worst. It's like all or nothing. This is the all side.

The other mindset is the healthy side, the nothing side. But it can't be nothing, because it calls to mind punishment, deprivation, lack of fun, like I don't deserve to eat anything that I like. Did I say PUNISHMENT??

No, healthful eating is NOT punishment! There is not an elite group of lucky people out there who are allowed to eat whatever junk they want in huge portions and can still maintain their health. NO-ONE! The human body is not made that way, it's purely scientific. Our bodies cannot maintain health by eating wrong and not moving. We are capable of so much more than what we expect from ourselves.