Tag Archives | healthy lifestyle

What Do You Believe?

By on July 13, 2010 in emotional stuff, R1P2

A big part of the process I’ve gone through in choosing a healthy lifestyle has been about examining my beliefs.  There are lots of good ones, but many erroneous beliefs that I’ve had to train myself out of.  I realized yesterday that my self-talk (which I believe springs from my beliefs) has changed dramatically over the years.  I thought I’d share a few of my core beliefs about myself, health, fitness, etc. and ask you to share yours with me, too.  Without further ado…

I believe…

…that I was created intentionally and for a purpose
…that I am loved just as I am, just because I’m me
…that I am strong
…that I can do anything I choose if I do the work necessary to equip myself for the task
…that running makes you a “runner” and all who run should proudly claim that title
…that you usually get what you pay for
…that if it seems too good to be true, it usually is, but some things defy that “rule”
…that we’re never closer to a healthy relationship with food than when we’re born
…that we could learn so much from children, if we’d just pay attention
…that people just want to be heard, and if we’d all listen a little more, the world would be a better, more peaceful place
…that poker is not a sport (seriously!)
…that laughter really is the best medicine
…that being healthy isn’t about anyone else but you, inside and out
…that every human being is unique and therefore comparing ourselves to others is fruitless and unproductive
…that we are all capable of living a healthy, happy, harmonious life
…that every moment, we have the power to choose how we want to live
…that helping someone in need (whatever the need) is a better feeling than I can describe
…that there is no truer love than that of a child for a parent/aunt/etc.
…that I have two ears and one mouth, so I should listen more than I speak (thanks, Mom)

That being said, now it’s your turn; what do you believe?  What have you learned on your quest for healthy living that keeps you focused on what’s important?

HCG Update

HCG Start Date: 6/1/10
Starting Weight: 252.5
VLCD  Starting Weight: 255
R1P2 VLCD Day 41: 219.6
Total Weight Lost: 32.9 pounds

Comments { 10 }

Things that Make it Hard

By on February 16, 2010 in Uncategorized

I was thinking yesterday about the many things that make this process, this lifestyle, hard.  Or harder, anyways, than it might be otherwise.

My list of things that make it hard to make healthy choices throughout the day include:

  • Not getting enough sleep;
  • Negative self-talk;
  • Viewing these choices as things I must do rather than things I want to do;
  • Not planning my day in advance;
  • Feeling like I don’t have enough time.

There are lots more, I’m sure – we could all add to that list.  What are the circumstances or feelings that make it harder for you to make good choices?

I am realizing that this process is as much about the big picture as it is about the little things.  We always hear talk about how it’s the weight of all the little choices you make throughout the day that add up into a healthy lifestyle.  While that’s true, it’s also true that taking a step back and looking at your big picture can help you identify things that are getting in your way.

For me, the main thing I can identify lately that I am allowing to act as an obstacle is lack of sleep.  Here’s the cycle:

Not enough sleep —-> Me tired —-> Me hungry —-> Me not working out —-> Me sleeping like crap —–> Not enough sleep, rinse, repeat.

All of the other stuff is important too, and I’m sure there will be times in the future when I identify something else as the big thing I need to do to stay on track.  But right now, sleeping enough is my one big thing.  I’ve been allowing myself to get sucked in to watching Olympic coverage at night.  Or I get home late and feel like I don’t get any “me time” if I go to bed at a decent hour, so I stay up late reading.  Then I snooze the alarm 4 times and wake up groggier than I would’ve been if I had just gotten up the first time it went off.  Then my whole day feels off-kilter, my workouts suffer, and I do the whole thing over again that day, despite vowing to go to bed earlier because I’m so stinking tired all day long.

So that’s my big obstacle right now.  What’s yours?  What’s the hurdle standing between you and making this lifestyle, these choices, feel a little bit easier?

More importantly, how are you going to overcome that obstacle in your life?

My plan is as follows:

  1. Force myself to get an awesome workout in today, whether I feel like it or not. This helps me be tired at night, which makes it easier to go to bed early.
  2. Eat my super healthy planned food for the day, quit eating at 8:30 tonight.
  3. Kick my brother and almost-sister-in-law out at 10pm tonight (they’re coming over for dinner).
  4. Leave the dishes in the sink, brush my teeth, and get in bed right after they leave.
  5. Lights out at 10:30 p.m., alarm set for 6:30 a.m.

What’s your plan?

Comments { 8 }

Weekly Report

By on February 6, 2010 in Uncategorized

Morning friends.  Happy Saturday!  I hope y’all are coming off a successful, healthy week and looking forward to the weekend.  I know I am!  Before I forget, don’t y’all forget to leave a comment on this post to enter my first giveaway ever!  You can also enter here and here to maximize your chances of winning the book.

Getting used to the numbers and charts here yet?  Here’s one for you; it’s a Weekly Progress Report for how I did with my eating this week:

Today’s numbers are a little low for now, since I don’t know how my evening is going to look.  I’m having a sleepover!  No, I’m not a dork (well, yes, actually, I am, but not for this reason!).  I have a niece and nephews who are DYING to come stay the night at Va-Va’s house.  Va-Va – that’s what they call me – isn’t it great?  My name is Valerie and the oldest one started calling me Va-Va instead of Aunt Valerie, and it stuck!

The kidlets love macaroni and cheese, so I looked up a Paula Deen recipe for homemade mac & cheese and modified it to make it healthier.  I’ll use Barilla Plus pasta, low fat cheese, and light sour cream in place of the “regular” versions of all those ingredients.  Served with chicken and veggies, that will be our dinner.  No sleepover is complete without a treat, so I’m picking up sorbet and individual ice cream cups – the kids can choose between them.  I might even splurge and make a small bit of homemade whipped cream.  We’re also baking banana bread, so I’ve left my calories low for the day (already tracked dinner & treat) so I can have a piece if I choose.  Maybe one tomorrow, too.  :)

My workouts this week were pretty great – here’s my summary for the week:

Date                            Day                  Weight        Workout Details

1/30/2010 Saturday 248.6 off
1/31/2010 Sunday 251.4 chores/cooking/lifestyle activity
2/1/2010 Monday 251.4 running/core
2/2/2010 Tuesday 250.6 strength training am
2/3/2010 Wednesday 250.4 running pm
2/4/2010 Thursday 250.6 walking pm/zumba pm
2/5/2010 Friday 248.6 off
2/6/2010 Saturday 247.6 running

As you can see, today’s official weigh-in puts me at one pound below where I was last week.  TOM is here (sorry, guys) and by the numbers I should have lost 2-3 pounds this week.  It’s okay – it’ll come off one way or the other.  My strength training has suffered this week as I’m babying both a sore shoulder and a strained gluteus muscle.  I have no idea why they are sore or how they got that way, but I’ve adjusted my workouts to give them time to heal and will get back to weight training this week as they are both feeling about 90% today.

A Revelation

And just because Saturday’s aren’t complete without something more, I want to share something I realized yesterday.  I was walking over to Subway to grab a sandwich for lunch when I started thinking about the fact that I will be living like this for the rest of my life.  For the rest of my life, I will need to pay attention to what I eat, plan my meals, cook healthy foods, workout regularly, etc.  And when I asked myself if I could do this for the rest of my life, the answer was a resounding YES!

If you read last week’s Saturday post, you might remember that I had a “who am I??!” moment when I realized that I was only going to splurge if I felt like it.  (In case I need to explain why that’s incredible, in the past if I had a splurge coming, I would splurge whether I really wanted to or not, just because I could.)  As I had this revelation yesterday, that I really could see myself living this way for the rest of my life, I had a similar moment.

In previous attempts at weight loss, I either ignored the future, preferring to fantasize that it would take care of itself, or I lived under the illusion that maintaining would be easy once I got to goal.  I refused to consider whether I could make a lifelong commitment to this lifestyle, partly because I just couldn’t see myself making that commitment, and partly because the way I was losing weight was not something I could commit to for the rest of my life – who wants to live life at the extremes?

So this revelation is nothing dramatic or extreme.  It’s just a very settled feeling within me.  Yes, I am eating healthy, planning my meals, cooking more, and working out because I want to lose weight.  But I am also able to look at the lifestyle I’m leading now and, very comfortably, say that I can and will live like this for the rest of my life.  And it’s not a scary, deprived feeling, because the fruits of these efforts – being at a healthier weight, feeling good, knowing I can do the things I want to do and weight won’t hold me back – are well worth it.

This got way longer than I intended so I’ll keep the rest of my thoughts for another post!  Cheers everyone!

Comments { 8 }

What Should We Reward?

By on February 2, 2010 in Uncategorized

Lots of thinking going on lately inside this noggin of mine.  I seem to do this in cycles – some weeks I have to wrack my brain to find a topic to write about!  Others, the ideas spring into my head all day long.

Today I started thinking about rewarding myself for short-term successes.  In line with Beck’s suggestion, I chose the short-term goal of losing 5 pounds, and from there built out a reward “schedule” for every 5 pounds loss.

Now I’m wondering if that’s really the best approach.

Okay, great t-shirt, but that’s not really what I’m going for!

You see, my big, life-long, super-over-arching goal in all of this is not just to lose weight, but to change the way I live FOR.EV.ER.  So what happens when I get to goal and there are no more rewards?  Or what happens if/when I hit a plateau and consider weeks of healthy behavior “unworthy” of a reward?

I’m toying with a new idea and would love your feedback and suggestions.  Rather than rewarding weight loss, I want to start rewarding the healthy behaviors I’ve been consistently applying for the last month.

I’m not sure what this would look like, and that’s where you come in!  How do you think I should do this?  I have a few ideas:

1. Establish a list of healthy behaviors I want to engage in every week.  For every two weeks of successfully executing those behaviors, I get a reward.

2. Establish a point system, where every healthy behavior is worth a certain number of points.  Once I accumulate a certain number of points, I get a reward.

I have a few requirements for my system, whatever it ends up being.  First, it must be relatively easy to administer.  I already spend about 12 hours/week on this healthy living stuff, so I don’t want to add a ton of time!  It should also be pretty simple and not require complicated math or graphing or anything like that.

What do you think?  How do you build rewards into your weight loss process?  Do you reward weight loss or behaviors (or both)?  Do you have any ideas for how I can adapt my rewards system?

Comments { 11 }

Weekly Report

By on January 30, 2010 in Uncategorized

It’s becoming a habit, this “weekly report” business.  I find reporting in on Saturday really helpful for me as a means of evaluating my week and reminding myself that weekends aren’t “off” time, you know?

I had a good, solid week.  My eating was on target, as you can see below (please to ignore the Tuesday numbers):

No, I’m not going to eat only 1,200 calories today.  I’m planning for a splurge, but I don’t know what I want yet.  So I’ve got breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a small snack planned, and will have the option of using the rest of my calories for something decadent and indulgent…or not.  Only if I’m in the mood.

Wait, I’m sorry, sidebar…who the heck am I?!?!  Seriously, people, you have no. freaking. idea. how much that last sentence spells progress for me.  In previous attempts if I planned a splurge meal, then you darn well better believe I was gonna splurge, dammit!  Even if I didn’t really want to.  I can remember moments of eating ice cream out of the pint a whole pint of ice cream (let’s be honest here. i’ve never eaten “part” of a pint of ice cream while alone. with witnesses, it’s a different story.) when I’d think to myself, “I don’t even really want this.  But I can, and I am going to eat it just because I can, because I’m the boss of me and no one can tell me different.”

Never mind that no one, by this point in my life, was trying to tell me different!

I realized something this week, and I can’t remember where I read it or even how exactly the thought was worded.  I realized that many of my food issues stem from a feeling that, as a child, I there I was never enough.  This has baffled me for years because I have wonderfully loving parents and never a moment of my childhood went by when I didn’t know I was loved.  Wholly.  As unconditionally as human beings can.  So where this feeling of inadequacy came from, I can’t guess.  But I’ve also realized it doesn’t matter.  It’s enough to acknowledge it, and do the work to address the way those feelings manifest themselves in my adult real grownup everyday life.

So, okay, sorry for the tangent there.  It’s just amazing to me  that after years of trying so hard to lose weight; after months in a therapists office trying to figure out why the H.E.L.L. I behave like an idiot when it comes to food; that after all this time, I’m starting to figure myself out.  And you know what?  It’s nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be.  And I don’t have to understand everything right now.  But I can choose a healthier, better life along the path to understanding.

Anyways, back to my week.  Slightly better on the workouts, only two “off” days instead of three like the previous week.  I’m going for progress here, not perfection, so I’ll take it.  This weekend, as always, will be a challenge.  I have the opportunity to laze around fro two whole days, but if I do that, I’ll be going into the week with a workout “deficit.”  So I’m making public my commitment to get at least one intense workout in, and one “lifestyle” workout (Wii, playing with my niece and nephews, walking, dancing, etc.).

Weekly Weigh-In

Finally, I’m very happy to report that my weight today is sitting at 248.6 pounds.  Yippee!  I’ll show the progression of my weight below, but this is a loss of 3.2 pounds from last week.

1/23/2010 Saturday 251.8
1/24/2010 Sunday 251.8
1/25/2010 Monday 250
1/26/2010 Tuesday 250.6
1/27/2010 Wednesday 253.6
1/28/2010 Thursday 250.6
1/29/2010 Friday 249.8
1/30/2010 Saturday 248.6

And now, time for one last confession before I wrap up this rodeo.  When I first woke up this morning and peed (sorry, I should have warned you all, this is the TMI part of the post!), I weighed 249.4.  Still low enough to meet my goal of being at or below 249.5 today.  I went back to bed for a short while, had a few sips of coffee, and then…ahem…well, coffee drinkers (and smokers, no I’m not a smoker, but I understand the affect of coffee and ciggies is the same) know what I’m talking about.  I did my business.  Did the doodie.  Number 2.  Okay, people, I POOED.  And after all that, I was down to 248.6.  And you know what?  I’ll take it!  lol  Anyone else play bowel/sleeping/re-weighing games like this?

Have a wonderful weekend!   What’s your ONE THING you’re going to do this weekend to continue moving towards your goals?

Edited for gratitude:

1. I’m grateful for a wonderful evening with friends over last night.
2. I’m grateful for this weekend!
3. I’m grateful for the fact that our budget allows us to buy whole, healthy foods to nourish our bodies with.

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