Transformation Environment

I shared in my last article the top ways to have a successful transformation in a fat prejudiced society. I feel that each of the steps should be elaborated on, so you can feel comfortable with getting started on your own transformation journey.

Step 1: Join or create a support group.

I have always been a hands on learner and creator. Since the first grade, I have been a leader–always walking around helping others. Put those things together in an adult, and you have an advocate. Advocates want to do something about injustices in the world. The term “world” can be defined as environment. For transformation to be successful, you really need a supporting environment. That is something as an advocate, I decided to create.

So what if you don’t have one? Join one or start one! I have been a member of several groups on FB, and it always seems that the group gets so large, so there is no real one-on-one interaction. You still feel as alone in your journey as you did before joining. So, I started my own. I started with a couple of friends with the same health goals, and over time, I have met ladies online who were on the same journey. Sometimes they are further along in their journey and had advice to share and sometimes, it was day one for the 1,987,438 time. I’ve been THERE.

In starting the group, I have to not only be accountable to myself but to these ladies also. I have had weeks when I didn’t post anything. They would speak up, and I would be able to get back on track. Now, I am firmly on track, and our group is really thriving. I keep my group small because I want to be able to provide one-on-one support to each of them. In providing them with support, I in turn am encouraging myself. It really helps me to help others. It’s more of that “practice what you preach” kind of thing.

So if you don’t have the technical skill to start a private FB group, consider starting a LIVE group in your area, or join one. Look for groups that will be able to provide that environment of encouragement and accountability. Look for groups that have rules for accountability. You don’t need more people who just let you do whatever you want. There are plenty of those people in your life. You need someone who will say, “It’s time to check in.”

Most importantly, be sure the group is an encouraging group. You don’t want to join a group that just sits around and talks about how horrible they feel. You don’t want to join a group that allows negative self-talk. Join a group of cheerleaders. You need to be around people who are going to want to know your goals and want to see you achieve them.

Are you a member of a group I’ve described? I’d like to hear more about your experience in the group. What do you like or not like? What would you like to see more of or less of? Let’s start talking! I encourage your comments.

 

Whole30 Round 2 & Bulletproof

As many of you know, I started adding a few things back to my eating after completing the Whole30. There are some things I will most likely seldom to never eat again in my whole life because I now realize they don’t taste good. I was just drugged (by sugar/salt) to believe that they did.

After adding some grains back, I felt bloated almost all the time. I had several days that I had sugar in ice cream, and of course the hidden sugar in many items like salad dressing, basically everything that isn’t whole. Within 60 days, I finally felt totally out of control again. “It Starts With Food” does discuss the hormonal changes that happen in the body when you eat certain foods, so I am sure that starting my cycle also contributed to what would happen next.  It had been one week short of 90 days of eating well (for the most part) before I went totally crazy and felt something else was making my food decisions for me.

Once I realized I was making these choices while thinking “I know I don’t want this…Don’t order it…You’ll really feel badly after eating it,” and then ordering a LARGE version of it, I WAS SCARED OUT OF MY MIND! I have lost nearly 30 lbs so far this year. I NEVER want to go back to where I came from!! The fact that I felt something else was making decisions for me TOTALLY terrified me.

I literally began praying for God to give me strength to get back in line. I know He wants what is best for my body, mind and spirit, so I knew that I was not alone and could be reassured that He would give me the strength to get back on track. For those of you who have lived my life, you know exactly the terror I am talking about. I have been on a plan before and done exceedingly well only to totally fall of the wagon and not be able to get back on track for months or even years. It is like there’s something else that gets your attention and prevents you from realizing you’re in a bad place, then a year down the road, something reminds you of what your goals were.  You look back only to see a broken promise, last year’s date, and additional pounds on the scale. SIGH!!

Something I learned throughout my Whole30 journey last time was just how encouraged I was by grocery shopping, so I went shopping and EVERYTHING in my buggy was a whole food. NOTHING processed. Almost everything was fresh. For under $100, I filled my oven and refrigerator with fresh veggies and fruit, and the next day, I started my second round of Whole30. I say second round; however, this round may likely not have an end. Just two to three days in and I felt bulletproof again! I’m back! 5.1 lbs came off the scale quickly, so all of that junk that my body was retaining by adding the grains, sugar, and more and adjusting from my cycle–GONE. I am now just .6 lbs away from saying GOODBYE TO the 300s.

I CANNOT sing the praises of this program enough. I had horrible eating habits. I had horrible views of fitness and exercise. Just 30 days changed a lifetime of broken promises and has helped me regain control over what makes me feel good or bad. I am very thankful to Melissa and Dallas Hartwig for their time and dedication to this program and the continuous information that they share with us. I pray that God blesses their work exponentially in every way possible, and I hope to one day become a part of this program in some way. I would love to become involved in the further development of Whole30 and Whole9. I guess at this point, I know I can at least do that by sharing it with you.

If you’d like to read more about my Whole30 experience, check out the category for Whole30. I also will gladly answer any questions, or even help you get ready if you would like to try it out for yourself. Just comment, and we’ll get together on it. Now, off to be social, get outside, and go offline. Check out the Whole9 link to learn more about why that is significant to this post.

Whole30 Plan for Success

I had great success with my first Whole30. Considering the fact I have NEVER had a good experience with any type of change in my eating and I would consider myself addicted to certain types of food, I think my success with this plan shows that anyone can do it.

My suggestions for making your first Whole30 a success are:

It Starts With Food…No Really…It does!
Buy the book “It Starts With Food.” You can buy it on Amazon for your iPad or other Kindle devices for just $9.99. Learn from my experience…even though I was successful, I would have understood so much more, and perhaps would have lost more than 12 lbs if I had read the book FIRST. I started reading it in my last week. Don’t do that. Just get it. Read it! Another MUST READ by the same author is the Whole30 Timeline. Know what to expect physically and emotionally day by day.

Keep It Simple
I am THE QUEEN on analysis and complication! Fortunately, I approached this challenge completely different. I read the list of Whole30 compliant food, and that is what I bought. Simple, simple, simple. MEAT (including eggs). VEGETABLES (they added the white potato–baked only). FRUIT. It’s TRULY that simple.

Don’t even go down any of the other aisles. I ordered my Organic Coconut Milk (I get the 6 pack and so glad I did. I use it in almost everything. It takes the place of heavy whipping cream for me or milk in my Green Thickies) and Ghee (two items that I feel are an absolute must for me–they are so awesome) from Amazon (although you can make it yourself, and I will be doing that and posting the recipe as a post also), so I didn’t even go looking for them anywhere in a store. You can get Coconut Oil at WalMart, but since it’s on the baking aisle, you can get it from Amazon if that would be a trigger for you.

STAY OFF THE AISLES! and check the ingredients NO SUGAR or any sugar substitutes. There are other things to avoid such as SOY and MSG, but just check the Whole30.com website for more on “Can I Have…”

Meal Plans
For those who like to look at meal plans for ideas, I highly recommend following the author of Well Fed and Well Fed 2 (if you’re Kindle subscribers you can read it free). I bought Well Fed 2 for my iPad (another great book for a great price for your Kindle devices). I’m not all that great at following recipes because I tend to just do it my way using some of the core suggestions, but Melissa Joulwan does an awesome job with these recipes. They are meals that she’s eaten herself throughout her Whole30 journeys and the books are really more than cookbooks. There is a lot of information in them to help with a Whole30 or Paleo type eating lifestyle.

Also check out her website for some awesome recipes and articles, one of which I recommend you read before you shop.

Set Your Mind to Succeed & Close Your Mind to Food Porn
It’s 30 days. You can do ANYTHING for 30 days, so just go ahead and tell yourself, this is what I am going to do. End of story. No need for therapy. 30 days. You can do it!

To be successful in that mindset, you need to let something go. Yes, you. If you’re like me and totally love food, your FB, Pinterest, etc is FULL of food porn. Trust me, I know it’s hard. I love looking at those awesome dishes, but it is dangling a carrot when you will be at your most vulnerable. Although I must admit after day 3, I had no problems with saying no, but I still didn’t want to just sit and look through food that I couldn’t have. I would, however, look through Whole30 compliant food which was awesome!

Prepare by the Week
I thought of the meat that I wanted for the week, and on Saturday or Sunday, I would take a couple of hours preparing it. Of course, the time was only in seasoning and browning it. The oven did all the work.

This is also a great time to wrap up several sweet potatoes and cut open a butternut squash (put Ghee and salt on it) and put it in the oven. They all take right about the same time. Try to get potatoes that are all the same size, so they will all be ready together. No lie…within 40 min – 1 hour all of your food for next week will be ready. The hard part will be not eating it right then while it smells UNBELIEVABLE!!

Spice It Up
If you already use spices, then you know how much flavor they add to food. If you don’t use spices, my suggestion is to go buy the basics (the cheap stuff is just as good to me and since I put it on everything, I buy the less than a $1 bottles).

My favorites are:

Sea Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Ground Ginger
Paprika
Cayenne

I actually premix some to just have a quick shaker of my favorite spices. I use the same amount of onion and garlic powder each as I do salt. By ratio, I do maybe 1/4 for pepper and ground ginger, and an 1/8 paprika with a light layer of cayenne.

Of course there are some spices I may use on occasion like celery seed, mustard (wet and dry), and Thai seasoning. I just add them separately because I don’t use them as frequently. Be sure to check the label for sugar or flavor boosters of any kind. They are sneaky and try to slip it past you by naming is some crazy name. You want items in as close to their basic form as possible.

Another seasoning that I find in my local health foods store (also at Amazon) was Coconut Aminos. They are your substitute for soy sauce.

Brown It
One thing I have learned from Gordon Ramsey is if there’s no color, then there’s no flavor. It doesn’t take long to season your meat (most people go light handed on the seasoning–remember that seasoning has to get to the middle of the meat, so don’t skimp–just watch the salt) and brown it in an oven proof pan, and then slide it in the oven to bake (of course you can take it out of the pan and put in an oven safe pan if you don’t have stove to oven cookware). There is a TOTAL difference in taste when you take just 5 minutes to brown the meat, AND it will be SO moist because you sealed the juices in by searing it.

Easy Access
Oh yeah, this is a good place to mention, storage containers and zip lock bags. I know you think you have enough storage containers. I did, too. For some reason, I couldn’t find THE FIRST lid! That’s SUCH a pain in the … you know. So go ahead and buy some stackable containers. My larger ones for meat actually use the same lid for all containers regardless of their size. Awesome. I got some smaller ones too of varying sizes.

Get gallon and sandwich size zip lock bags. When the meat has cooled, you can slice it up into serving size portions and put in the refrigerator for quick meal prep. Large bags are very helpful for cut up watermelon or other types of fruit that you’ve prepared for quick access. This is what will save you when a craving may hit. Have it ready.

Say Goodbye to Cravings
As soon as I reached day 3, I had no further cravings. I passed up free, frozen hot chocolate, candy, all of the fried foods I used to eat, ice cream, hamburgers, you name it, I was able to pass it up–WITH CONFIDENCE. I even baked a cake and cupcakes for a customer without even tasting it (fortunately I trust my recipes). I’ve never baked without baking some for our house, too. It was a challenge, but I was victorious. I didn’t really “crave” it, but it was more about habit. I just pushed past that habit. It was a nice feeling to be in control of it.

Be Prepared to be Pleasantly Satisfied
Have you ever eaten and just felt so — underwhelmed? Not satisfied? You go through the house SEARCHING for that hidden bag of candy? or you just keep eating because you don’t feel satisfied? That feeling will completely go away. After each meal, I felt satisfied. As the program continued, I actually felt FULL. When you read “It Starts With Food,” you will understand how that natural feeling is connected to weight loss and overall good health.

When I finished the Whole30, I went to bed early. I started getting up naturally before the clock. I didn’t feel like I was going to fall asleep after lunch, and I even had the desire to start a workout regimen.  I feel like Whole30 completely changed my life. Besides getting all of my hormones in check, I am now in control of my nutrition and my health. I don’t plan to go far from this platform. I will add some things back, but sugar and junk food in general will not be on the list. Eating clean has become a permanent part of my life. I hope you find the same to be true after your Whole30 experience.

I’m planning my second Whole30 for October 1 – Oct 31st. Want to join me? I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions about my experience that I haven’t covered here, I will be happy to answer any questions. Just hit that comment link and leave a comment for me.

 

Whole30 Day 5 – Feeling My Past Bad Choices

Today is my Whole30 Day 5, and I am feeling my past bad choices today! Big Time! Because I didn’t read the book before starting (and didn’t know what to look for online for the what to expect information), I thought I had a virus. I woke up nauseous and all of the stuff that typically comes along with a stomach virus. YUCK! I missed work over this.

My cousin is reading the book It Starts With Food (while getting the link, I decided to go ahead and buy it for my iPad Kindle app–it was only $9.99, how silly that I didn’t do that before), and she had posted yesterday that she had the “carb flu,” and I honestly thought that she was just feeling the effects of being carbless, but I didn’t realize she was feeling some of this. She didn’t experience the severity of mine, but the website explains that the worse you were with your decisions before the program, the worse your (basically) detox experience will be. Ok, that makes sense. You don’t get a body like this without eating a whole-lotta-junk!

Now, I have completely read what to expect, and I can feel reassured by this feeling. It is an indication that I have made a GOOD decision for my body. It is showing me what a car running on junk gas is really like. A friend shared that analogy with me years ago, but it never really made sense until today. Well, that junk that the car had gotten so use to is running out, and my “car” is spitting, choking and running rough.

On a positive note, I can be reassured that once this is burned out of my system, the good fuel I am giving my body now should really be appreciated and run really well. Oh, I do hope that means a positive impact on my metabolism. I have already started my “cycle,” something I haven’t had in a long time–another impact of my bad eating that has led to infertility in the past. After just 4 days, I noticed the beginning, and by today, I was in full swing. Another “inconvenience” that I can actually feel is a good thing because it means my body is actually working right.

I feel like I can actually carry this feeling around with me (at least while I’m feeling bad, which will pass in a day or so), and wear it as a badge to prove to myself that I can endure discomfort for the betterment of my health and my body. I have always stayed away from anything that made me “uncomfortable” when trying to do something about my weight and health. Rereading that statement, I realize just how STUPID that was for me to do because I am COMPLETELY uncomfortable. That is like the BIGGEST case of self-fulfilling prophesy that I’ve ever seen. Well, it is what it is–THE PAST.

Here we go toward the future. JOIN ME? If you want to start your own Whole30 program, let me know. Buy that Kindle book. It’s totally worth it, but if you don’t, at least read the Whole30 Timeline. It will tell you what to expect now, AND if you scroll down to the bottom of page when you finish reading it, there will be a link to the next step. You can read ahead to see what you will do when this Whole30 is over.

Thanks for following my journey. I’m glad to be back. The house is shaping up, and I am working through some things in my mind that tend to keep me from taking some time for myself to do things like enjoy my blog and post for you. I am worth it, and I am taking the time for me. I encourage you to do the same for you!

Starting Whole30 July 6th

It’s time to get serious!

How to Survive Obesity: Identifying Triggers: Understanding How, Why & When They Impact You

This post will discuss in detail triggers and how, why, and when they impact you. I believe that most people suffer from some form of food trigger. Some triggers are stronger than others. Some people may only suffer from them during certain times of the year. There are even people who don’t suffer from food triggers, and instead, their triggers are human or situational. Those two will be discussed in separate posts because they are quite comprehensive and serious to break all by themselves.

So, let’s talk about food triggers. The best way for me to explain this is to share some of my triggers.

1. Chocolate — sometimes just sugar in general
2. Comfort foods
3. Large portion foods

This is a good place to start with me. Number 1. Chocolate. As a woman, it isn’t uncommon to suffer from a chocolate trigger, but my trigger can spin out of control. I think this trigger is the most powerful at this point in my life. (fortunately, I have dealt with many others and broke them) Sometimes, I can just HEAR the word, and it’s almost like I can smell it. Once I get to that point, it is best for me to get a small candy bar or piece of chocolate and eat it. If I don’t, I will literally eat, eat, and eat trying to kill that craving.

Triggers that have that degree of power over someone will need to be addressed, psychologically, to break the obsession with the item. There are a number of different ways to do that, but for me what was most helpful was only eating chocolate that didn’t contain high fructose corn syrup, which greatly eliminates most U.S. made chocolate. There is just something about sugar in that form that makes it addictive, but that’s another post worth of information.

Another way that I have broken my obsession with items is to keep a can of very strong, minty, breath spray with me at all times. Anytime a craving hits me, I take a couple of sprays, and nothing tastes good with that stuff, so the craving goes away. Eventually, the unhealthy connection is broken. It can easily come back though if you slip up and eat some, so beware.

How triggers impact us is simple. They distract us from our goal. We begin to reason, well this one time will be ok. I’ll reward myself for such good work. There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with some form of your trigger, as long as it is the least powerful in strength. For example, let’s say that my most powerful trigger is chocolate candy, but I’m out of candy, so I eat chocolate pudding instead. Low fat, sugar free at that. I found that I really enjoy it. I can eat the pudding and be ok, but the candy bar will lead to a lot of other binge type eating. It’s like a really bad friend. The one that encourages you to break the law and have fun doing it.

Why do triggers impact us? Some triggers are literally engineered to impact us. Some companies actually hire scientists to tell them how to make their product so good that customers are almost guaranteed to buy it again. This isn’t your fault; however, you can’t use it as a crutch either. You have to take this information and be informed and realize that companies want your money, and they don’t care what condition you’re in as long as it doesn’t blow back on them. You have to decide, “hey, I’m not going to let anyone give me something that’s going to decrease my control over the item.” You have to identify those triggers and acknowledge, “these triggers, in short, make me sick, so I will not indulge in them.”

When is it that triggers impact us? Well, those strong ones can impact us with a quick image on a television screen, or in a narrative as someone is describing a famous meal or dessert. With social media like it is, it can trigger you anytime someone “pins” a unbelievable looking dish on Pinterest, FB and so on. They can impact us around the anniversary of a happy or sad event. Emotions play a huge role in the development of such connections, so we have to be quick to identify the trigger and distance ourselves from them. If social media is a problem, then remove those pages. If it’s a specific friend, then hide their posts from your newsfeed. I’ve had to do that before. Do whatever you need to in order to rid yourself from this obstacles.

One last suggestion, and this really worked well for me. Make a commitment to a specific number of calories and document them daily for whatever period of time you need to until you can do this without posting. If your commitment is 2,000 calories, then you can eat whatever you want, as long as you don’t go over 2,000 calories. When I realized how many calories these triggers were eating up, I started choosing healthier options–those that enabled me to eat larger quantities while satisfying my craving. This works extremely well for me.

I have broken A LOT of triggers. I still have some, and we never stop forming them. New ones have emerged. The plus is that I know what works for getting them under control and not letting them control me. Being mindful of what you’re eating, and only choosing foods that you deem “worth it” will help you form a much healthier set of foods in which to crave.

Take a look at your list and ask yourself, How, why and when do these foods bother me? This week, try a couple different things to bring them under your control. I’d be happy to talk to you about yours if you need someone to talk to. If you’d like to share things that work for you, I encourage you to comment to this post. Until our next article, be mindful and in control!

Wow–it’s been a month! Getting Back on Track

Ok, so this will just be a short post (I know…I always say that, and it ends up being a novel!). Wow, my family got sick. It started with my baby, and then my husband got it. I swear I have been off track ever since! So now, I am sitting down and writing out some goals to get myself back on track. YOU are part of that list.

Ok, so the next series is going to be on Triggers. This time, I have decided to write at least once a week. I wrote every day during the last series, and I’m thinking that isn’t enough time to actually put into action what I am asking you to do. A week gives you time to read the post and actually put it into action.

One thing I would like for you to commit to as well is sharing this blog with others and interacting with me. I know you probably think, “well, someone else will do it.” The problem is that everyone thinks that, and no one interacts with me. Support is important for this type of journey, so if you’re following in support of my journey, then please post and “support me” with your comments. If you’re here to take this journey with me, then write and share your story with me and let’s do this together. This lets you support me and allows me to support you in return.

Ok, that’s it for this post. More to come this week on Identifying Triggers. See you soon!

How to Accept the Need for Change : Eliminate Obstacles

Well after the day I have had today (it’s still officially Sunday at this moment, but will be Monday by the time this article posts), I can definitely talk about obstacles. I have a sick 15 month old. There’s nothing that can throw you off your routine that a child who is sick, especially when they are so small.

This is an ideal time to mention that this article is on how to accept the need for change: eliminate obstacles, but an even better time to caution that not all of lives obstacles can OR SHOULD be eliminated. Obviously, I would never want to eliminate my child’s need for me when he isn’t feeling well. I can, however, attempt to stay on track (even if it means writing my blog post at midnight (and no lie, the clock JUST turned midnight as I typed that statement…cool!) This article is officially Sunday’s post, so you’ll be seeing two (2) posts today, so don’t miss it. Actually, I just realized that I overlooked an earlier post, so I’m actually a day ahead in my posting. You didn’t miss anything though because I can see how I overlooked it. I wrote all about lifestyle and sickness in one article. Oops. Next week, there will be a post per day.

Lord knows that if you could look back at my life as daily blog posts, you would see excuse after excuse of why I haven’t succeeded in my pursuit for improved health. For me, excuses are my main obstacle. I can come up with some good ones, too. It’s strange how I don’t even try to have an excuse, but one will come to my mind quickly. Now, it isn’t uncommon for me to stop myself mid-excuse and say something like, “no, really I have no excuse. Truth be known, I was being lazy this week and not focusing on what I should.” THAT is being honest with yourself and others. If you aren’t going to be honest with others, at least be honest with yourself. Eventually, the other will show through.

Do you know what your obstacles are? Look over your day yesterday. Why didn’t you do what you should have done? My answers would include things like because I was watching television, or because I decided to take a mid-day shopping trip after going out to eat with some friends. There is always something else that you can be doing. Blocking off an hour of time to focus on improving your health each day is the absolute least you can do for yourself and your family. This isn’t just for you, remember. It’s for them, too. They want to keep you around (we hope).

After you identify those obstacles, develop a driving path. It’s just like Google maps. You put in two destinations, and according to what you want to avoid, highways or small towns, your driving plan is developed for you. You need to do the same thing for yourself. How can you navigate your day around those obstacles? The better you get at planning for that drive, the faster it will become second nature to you.

So, your homework is to list your obstacles, and make a driving plan that navigates you around them to your desired location. This really does get easier and easier as you do it.

All my best to you!

How to Survive Morbid Obesity: An Introduction

How to survive morbid obesity? Written by a morbidly obese woman, interesting huh? Well, if there is someone who knows how to survive being morbidly obese, wouldn’t you expect the information to come from someone who has indeed survived living morbidly obese? Yeah. I think so.

Trust me, my advice isn’t going to be how to stay morbidly obese. There are things you can do to increase the chances that you won’t die from morbid obesity or the problems related to it. Yes, you read that right. I decided that I need to stop using the phrase, “live with morbid obesity” because in reality, the likelihood we will live grows less and less each day that we permit ourselves to be morbidly obese. SO, we want to make changes NOW that will ensure when we die that we aren’t morbidly obese. My hope is that ensuring that we die at a healthier weight will mean that we lived longer, happier, and healthier as well. Let’s get this picture right in our head. REALITY! Be sure the picture in your head is of reality. Be honest with yourself. It isn’t easy, but it is necessary.

So, it’s been a little quiet on the blog front, but that’s my fault. Maybe I should see if a couple of the ladies in our group would like to help write for this blog. It would definitely help. I’ll see what they have to say about that. Anyway, our group has grown and then decreased in size. We added two additional members, but I don’t think they were quite ready for our group. As a requirement of membership, active participation is a must. We share very private thoughts and fears, and it is really important for everyone to be equally as invested in such a program. We are back to four (4) members. These ladies are ready!

We have seen a little success in weight loss, and then have seen some ping pong back and forth 2 lb gain, 2 lb loss, or even staying the same. When you have over 100 lbs to lose, there are A LOT of behavior issues to deal with, and we are approaching those head on. It IS NOT an easy process. Much like any addiction, addiction to food for whatever reason (comfort, enjoyment, fear, anger, and a number of other reasons) can be paralyzing to a person’s life. If they feel that no matter what they do the result is the same, then they learn to be helpless. I’ve been there. I understand the difficulty! If it wasn’t for this group of ladies, today, I might have been there again. At the end of my rope, morbidly obese, and wanting to just give up on it all.

So what happened today? Even though I have been struggling since 08/05/2013 to lose weight, I have instead GAINED WEIGHT! I lost a little. Then my weight went up (which reminds me, I need to update my weight widget on the side menu). Today, however, was worse than any other time in the past. TODAY, my Wii was even more rude that usual. Yeah, it always tells me, YOU’RE REALLY FAT AND NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT (ok, well not in those terms, but it does tell me that–suggesting a healthy weight for me to be 119.5 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA). Well, today it told me that my weight had (IN RED FONT) exceeded Wii’s weight maximum which is 330 lbs. So, I don’t even know what I weigh now. I could weigh 330 or I could weigh a little more. I totally don’t understand how with the changes that I’ve been making, but I can be honest and say, my changes haven’t been severe enough because my food choices are still regular choices, although I am only drinking water (34 days straight so far approx 125 oz a day and no junk food, but I did allow ice cream–isn’t it in a class of it’s own? and I also allowed sweets that I make from scratch, which I did just once.

So here I am. I don’t know what I weigh. By next week, I will or someone will need to come help pull me off of the ceiling. So is this it? Is this the end of the rope for me? Is it my wits end? Yes, I do think so.

Read my next post to see what I plan to do about it.  This was an introduction to how to survive being morbidly obese. You will want to follow this series if you are morbidly obese (or perhaps you love someone who is and you want to help them).

Week One Results of Weight Loss Group

As I promised, I am posting our results from this week. Now, keep in mind that this week wasn’t focused on making major changes. The biggest change (which is big enough all on it’s own) was getting our mind set and ready for this journey. We all had slips and falls along the way (and we will still have those from time to time), but everyone is onboard and feeling ready to take on another week one decision at a time.

This morning was weigh in, and our Week 1 weight loss (as a group) is

Getting Started Is the Hardest Part

Yes, getting started is the hardest part of any battle. Fortunately, I did not have to start this battle alone. My journey of one has now turned into a journey of four. We are the Fantastic Four! I am leading the group, leading helps me dig in and be totally focused because I know they are counting on me (find what works for you), and we have been using this week to get used to documenting our intake of food, drinking more water, getting our mind sharp and ready for battle, and identifying our food triggers.

We have set our schedule, and our weigh in day will be Monday mornings. We will be measuring two ways, 1-by scale (using the same scale, the same time of the day each time we weigh), and a snug fitting outfit. We will be documenting how that outfit FEELS on our body as we go. This is for those times when the scale may not show a decrease, but it’s obvious that there was a decrease. Some may use a measuring tape, but I just wanted to keep it simple. Not too much to have to keep up with.

The results so far this week have been good. I’ve seen several photos of meals taken at lunch or supper that were really great decisions. The goal of our plan is to try to make better decisions one at a time. We don’t want to over think anything. Just what is best for us and our body. We scheduled a cheat treat on Saturday this week and planned to eat light, no carbonated drinks and light salt on Sunday in preparation for weigh in.

We are hoping to have some good results. Because we all have at least 100 lbs to lose (each), I explained that no weight loss will not be seen as a negative. We will celebrate the loss of visceral fat from the inside and know that the scale will catch up eventually.

We are also tackling some nasty negative self-talk and emotional hangups. This will definitely be an ongoing battle. Fortunately, my BS is in Behavior Analysis, so I am prepared to help with plans to work through these obstacles.

We really appreciate your support, and hope you will be there for us tomorrow when we post our results. It’s a very vulnerable time, and we really need to know that we have the support of those who may be inspired by our journey. Please leave us comments to let us know you are reading and wishing the best for us.

Meal Planning? What’s that?

A member of Our Weight Loss Journey group has brought up a very important topic in our support group. Meal Planning. I have to say that this is not a topic I have covered much. I will have to do some research to see if there is a meal plan system out there that will work for me. I am the type of person who is a bit A.D.D., so my attention is easily taken off of what I should be doing and is on to something else.  I may start really strong on planning, and a couple of months later I have stopped doing it somewhere along the way and have completely forgotten that I was even supposed to be planning my meals.

So I am going to our readers. Maybe some of you do meal planning for your family. Do any of you have a plan that really works for you that you can share with us? If so, I would love for you to be a guest writer for me on that topic. The way you’ll do that is to write an article complete with links to the appropriate places, and then contact me that you have the article ready. You can email it to me, and I will post it here for you. If you have a blog of your own, you can actually write on your blog, and I can reblog you here, whichever works for you will be fine.

I don’t mind accepting when I need help. The question now is, who of you will help us?

Critical Fat Facts! What the Fat MUST Know About FAT!

Not staying on your eating plan can be detrimental to your weight loss and health, too. Notice I called it an eating plan not a diet. The ladies (yes, plural because we’ve picked up another lady and we’re happy to accept more) that are joining me want to lose a significant amount of weight also. There’s something I want to share with them, AND YOU as we get started.

If you have less than about 10 lbs to lose, completely erase the word DIET from your vocabulary, at least as it pertains to a short duration of behavior change that will result in the desired amount of weight loss you need to be at your ideal weight. Now, I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, and this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a cheat day in our future–there will be 1 trigger free cheat day per week once we get this train going; however, the short diet I just defined will should NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER be a part of a person’s life after they have gained approx. 10 lbs over their ideal weight. For some, that’s high school. For me, that was junior high. Worst yet for the generation coming up now, that’s even elementary school.

Once your body has created fat cells, they never go away unless you have liposuction done (the consequences of lipo will have to be covered in a new post). You can lose weight, yes, and they call that “losing fat,” but in reality, you’re not losing fat. They should call it, “shrinking fat.” The fat cells are emptied of the energy substance that is inside taking up less space and making you appear smaller. You are smaller. This takes nothing away from the weight loss you have achieved. It does, however, mean that you absolutely can NOT have the attitude that you can just diet for 30 days and go off of your diet (like people do who only have small amounts of weight to lose–YOU AREN’T ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE, SO STOP EVEN CONSIDERING THOSE PLANS).

It will be more critical for someone with larger amounts of weight to lose to always stay on their eating plan. Those empty fat cells can quickly be refilled (and once full the creation of new fat cells occur) defeating the entire purpose of a weight loss program, increasing your frustration, increasing your sense of hopelessness, and increasing the chance that you will stay sick, tired, and die sooner than you should.

I’m sorry to be the messenger of bad news. I have almost 200 lbs to lose, so I can tell you that the journey seems very long for me, too. I completely understand how you feel after reading this, but we CAN be successful if we stick to our plan. Once I learned more about fat and have a better understanding about how it works, I can now see that I can’t compare myself to the skinny mini who gained 10 lbs over the course of the year and needs to lose it. The way to go about losing that 10 lbs will be totally different for her than it will be for me! REALITY CHECK!!!

Once we reach our goal, we will be able to develop a maintenance plan that includes foods we love while still ensuring we are eating healthy and not filling any of those emptied fat cells by weighing every single week–addressing ANY weight gained IMMEDIATELY!

SO…don’t feel all blue! I know. It stinks! I wish I had addressed the weight gain immediately once I gained it, or at the very least, at the end of the year when I had a checkup and the doctor said, oh…you’ve gained 5 lbs this year. I should have been like, BAM–LOST IT in a couple of months! We didn’t, so we have to do it now. Join us. We’re on this journey. We’re going to make it by sticking together, sharing ideas, recipes, exercise plan, etc. Having a support group is critical to the success of your weight loss plan, so be sure if you don’t join us, that you will join someone.

Challenge Bombed & Now, I’m Off Track

The challenge was supposed to have at least one other competitor, which was fine with me, but then after I worked out really hard (for Wii Fit) the first day, she wrote me at the end of the day to tell me she wouldn’t be able to participate. I was very disappointed. I don’t know why I put myself in such positions anyway. I really felt like there would be someone else who would enjoy some fun competition.

So here I am, well over a month since my last post. I haven’t been weighing on Mondays. To be completely honest, I just forgot all about weighing and even posting here. I was sick for a couple of weeks and had bronchitis. It’s like I lost my place. So I’m back. Trying to get back on track. I believe I have found an accountability partner, and I do hope it works out. I really need someone who is going through what I am and can be there for me as I am here for her.

Sad news…I’ve gained to 327. I was really frustrated with that number, but here’s a news flash for those of you who don’t know, you can’t eat any old way and expect to lose weight! 🙂 I didn’t weigh this morning, but I’ll weigh in the morning to see if I’m still at the same 327 from last week.

Time is so valuable. I hate that it is just passing me by, and I feel like I’m getting bigger and bigger. I’m still waiting for a fat donation program. There are still lots of people in this world who need fat, and I am totally willing to donate mine!! Let’s see if I can get myself back on track. Welcome to my new friend. I hope the best for us both.

Projecting Goals, Not As Simple As It Seems

If you read my article where I realized I had only gained 5 lbs per year over the course of time (since high school–that’s a lot of weight), you will know that I had done a bit of analysis to see how that was possible. Well, let me be the first to tell you that my analysis was lacking. Apparently, I didn’t take into consideration times when I would eat whatever I wanted and would realize I was gaining weight because of how my clothes fit (or didn’t fit) me. This realization would prompt me to be more mindful, and I would get back on track. There is no way to quantify that. BOO! I like being able to see numbers and follow them down!

I guess I can use numbers by counting calories. If there is anything more boring than counting calories, I’d like for someone to tell me what it is. Grrr. Fortunately, I do use the Lose-It app on my iPhone, and it scans the label and automatically inputs the information. The problem is, I don’t eat a lot of prepackaged foods. I cook from scratch, and I’m using a lot of fresh produce, so there are no bar codes for those. grrr. Oh well.

As for having information to add for fitness, I have an idea for how to get me moving. I think I am going to sponsor a Wii Fit Plus event on my FB page. I know several of those I follow use the Wii Fit, so hopefully they will like the opportunity for a little competition. I have my fingers crossed!

Not Brave Enough – Lost Anyway

Last week scared me. I started doing daily workouts, and when I weighed, I showed a significant increase in my weight. It totally messed up my goal to lose 1.73 pounds a week, and now, I am over 6 lbs behind on my schedule. Well, I’m not going to obsess about that. I want to be brave enough to start my working out again and not stop even if the scale does show an increase for a period of time.

I realize that water intake and retention has a lot to do with whether or not you lose, and I have been trying to work on drinking more water. This is a terribly weak area for me. It is not uncommon for me to go an entire day without drinking anything at all. It’s not really terribly uncommon for me to go a number of days with only a couple of cups of milk. I don’t completely understand the connection between muscles and water, but it seems that I remember there being a significant connection between the two. I need to read more about this connection, and I will share what I learn.

My goal this week is not going to be to lose weight. If I lose, then great, but my goal this week is completely focused on consuming water and restarting my daily Gorilla workouts. I have to be brave enough and trust that working out, eating well, and drinking adequate amounts of water will do the trick.

I have never really understood why I don’t drink a lot. I think most people would think that means I am drinking a lot of sodas or something, but no. In many of these cases, I’m not drinking anything at all. I’m sure that can’t be good for the body, so MY GOAL IS SET.

Exercise Started. Feeling Stronger. Weigh-in Monday.

I have started my exercise. I am using the Gorilla app for iPhone, and I love it. You input the number of pushups you can do, and it determines the level you are on. I could do 15 pushups, so it put me on level 2. Let me tell you, these exercises are no walk in the park. I was sore after my very first day. I am still sore, but I feel stronger. I already feel like my core is tighter. My knee has been giving me a hard time from falling last month, but it doesn’t seem to be stopping me from working out. The negative at this point is form. I know my form on some of these exercises isn’t right, but I know that eventually I will get there.

So just one more day to weigh-in. I had sushi and ice cream this week. I’m wondering how that is going to impact me. Check back with me on Monday morning to see how my weigh-in goes.

Wait a Minute, What About Life Exercise?

You will want to read my last blog post to fully understand this blog post. The blog post is entitled, “Just 5 lb Gain a Year.”

I found that I should be able to lose approximately 94 lbs in a year if I cut back 602 calories a day and workout using a circuit training type workout for 30 minutes a day, every day. Then as the next day progressed, I realized I hadn’t worked out, but I had been physically busy all day long. This reminded me of the fact that there are a lot of things that we do every day that count as exercise. I do realize that this could be a dangerous way of thinking, so I want to add in a way to measure whether I did enough for the week.

As you know, I weigh weekly. This is my way of knowing that I am on track and the my weight is going down. I want to lose AT LEAST 1 lb per week, which would be a 52 lb weight loss in a year. I am definitely on track for that prize, but I would like to lose 90 pounds or close to it which will increase my weekly weight loss goal to 1.73 pounds a week. I will update the widget on my blog (over on the left margin at the bottom) that is keeping up with my weekly weight loss to include my weekly goal target. I am sure some weeks I will lose more and some weeks I will lose less, so this column will let me know that on average I am on target.

So…the measurement I referred to…that will be the weigh-in. When I weigh in, I need to be losing 1.73 lbs a week. If I do not lose that much, then I will need to make appropriate adjustments to my eating and exercise to increase the loss for the following week. Weighing in weekly will give me the opportunity to make those crucial adjustments to my plan. I feel good about it. I feel ready!! I have been eating some wonderful food, and what is great is that the majority of it is healthy food. The other great part is that some of it isn’t healthy food. I am enjoying it in moderation and still losing weight because of the work I am doing in other areas of my life. No need to go all food Nazi.

So what is your part in all of this? Keep reading. Keep “Liking” the posts, so I know you are reading or comment. I LOVE YOUR COMMENTS. It really does help me to know that people are checking out my progress. It makes me more aware. Thank you for the role you play in my weight loss plan.

Note: After updating my Widget, I see I am ahead of my goal!! But I don’t want to let that derail me by making me feel to confident, so I will continue as if I still need to work on reaching my goal. 🙂 I’m very excited!

Just 5 lb Gain a Year…

THIS IS A VERY COMPREHENSIVE POST. IT IS VERY INFORMATIVE AND COULD HELP YOU CREATE YOUR WEIGHT LOSS PLAN. YOU WILL MOST LIKELY NEED TO READ IT MORE THAN ONCE. DON’T JUST SKIM OVER IT AND MISS THE POINT. LEAVE YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS IF YOU NEED HELP DETERMINING YOUR PLAN.

I was talking to my mother-in-law about my son’s weight. He’s 9 months old and considered by his doctor to be “overweight for his height.” We had a discussion about just how ridiculous it is to start such a measurement so young! She agreed that he is in no way a “fat” baby. Yeah, he has a fat roll on each of his thighs, but other than that and a little bit of a fuller face, he is a lean little machine. I’m not worried, and I will NOT permit the negative programming that screwed up my head to be preached to him.

While we were talking, I mentioned to her that since marrying my husband, I had gained about 10 lbs a year. When I go back to my earliest recollection of my weight, which would be 198 lbs in 1991 a year out of high school, and compare it to my weight today on average I have gained just over 5 lbs. a year.

313.1 (today’s weight) – 198 (1991 weight) = 115.1 pounds gained over 22 years

115.1/22 = 5.23 lbs gained per year (on average)

Given there are 3500 calories in one pound, in order to gain 5.23 lbs in a year, I would have to have eaten…

5.23 lbs X 3500 calories = 18,305 calories overeaten over the course of one year. How hard is this to do? Let’s see what it equates to on a daily and weekly basis.

18,305/365 = 50 calories over each day or 1 sugar free snack cup of Apple sauce

18,305/52 =  352 calories over a week or 1 Tuna Melt Sandwich

WOW!! Somehow, I don’t feel like I am such a PIG now! I definitely see how this happened!!! Keep following me! You’ll see it, too, and you’ll see how I will keep from adding another pound to my numbers (even as I continue to lose weight).

Let’s flip this to exercise. I NEVER exercise. Why? Because you work your butt off for nearly nothing! Not to mention, IT’S BORING! I’m referring to the gym type of exercising of course.

According to Fit2Flex blog, you can burn 50 calories in 5 minutes doing 5 simple exercises for 1 minute each. See the link for those exercises. I think I can definitely give that amount, DAILY, to help offset what I tend to gain over the course of a year. Do you see that? If I hadn’t looked at exercise the way I had, I could have offset the amount of weight I was gaining.

The fitness industry wants to sell us all kinds of things, but in reality, what has been said by so many is true! If we exercise just 20 minutes a day 5 days a week, we should prevent weight gain for the year.

Losing weight is a different story! I think this is where we lose our way. I am almost positive this is where I lost my way. I have 22 years of 5.23 lbs to lose, so I can’t just do 20 minutes a day 5 days a week. I need to do that minimum to ensure I don’t continue to gain, yes, but to begin reversing the scale, I have to add more.

How about some math. My brain will hurt after all of this analysis…

Just using the numbers I have so far (which is based on my weight gain according to my metabolism…you’ll need to consider your numbers)…I am only taking into consideration exercise at this point. This will not take into consideration an improved way of eating. This is basically the same, mindless eating pattern that I had over the course of these 22 years.

According to my analysis, it would take me three (3) years to lose the 180 lbs I have gained over the course of 22 years plus the amount to reach normal BMI. In order to lose this weight, I will have to workout 1 hour every day for the next 3 years. Again, this is keeping with the same mindless eating pattern I was in before, which I will not do. I am improving my eating, so this number can actually be reduced. This is just the worst case scenario. This workout isn’t just a basic stroll either. This is the Fit2Flex workout…an hour long, so that is a relatively intense workout considering the duration.

Reducing my caloric intake will have an even greater impact on this goal. If reducing my caloric intake could do half of the work, then I could lose the weight in 1.5 years. It is a lot easier to cut 50 calories than it is to burn 50 calories. Cutting my mindless eating, caloric intake 602 calories a day and exercising 30 minutes a day, every day for 1.5 years…I should be able to reach my goal.

I will review my current eating to determine if I have decreased my caloric intake by eliminating all meat and eating fish/seafood only. I am hoping the changes in meat and dairy that I have made will be enough.

I know this blog post was a little more complicated because it wasn’t one that you could read without analysis. Look, if you want to lose weight, YOU HAVE TO THINK. You can’t just say, ok, I’ll workout and cut back. It’s just not enough to do that. You need to know how much you need to workout and how much you need to cut back. It will take a lot of thought and basic math to come up with your numbers. Take time out to determine your plan.

Ding, ding, Weigh-in Day

Today is weigh-in day.

I lost 1.5 lbs this week.

New BMI 57.3.

My new weight is 313.1.

My goal was to lose 2 lbs per week, so I have 2.4 lbs to lose for next week to be on goal. I am not going to obsess over that. I will continue doing what I am doing because apparently, I am doing something right.

Ding, Ding…Weigh-in Day

There will be two posts today. This weight reveal and the earlier post. Please be sure to read it. It is a very informative post that could change your life. I believe it is going to change mine.

The exact weight that I started with was

316.8               BMI 58

After my Wii weigh-in this morning, my weight is

314.6               BMI 57.5

A LOSS OF 2.2 LBS! (I hear Kermit the Frog shouting “YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY”).

Since the creation of this blog, I have been gathering information. I have started making small changes. No big changes have been made yet. Just with the very small changes, I have lost 2.2 lbs. The changes made so far have been writing daily blog posts, following a group of those like me on FB who have 100+ pounds to lose, reading or watching lots of research on better eating, and that’s about it.

I would say that I have made changes in my eating, but really, I haven’t made any significant changes yet except to be more mindful of what I am eating. I will start this week making changes in that area.

Hungry for Change

To say I am hungry for change is an understatement. I have been hungry for change for a long time. Change isn’t always easy though, especially when it will mean changing behaviors that have become bad habits over the course of time.

Habits such as:

Not eating breakfast

Not drinking enough water (or not drinking much of anything)

Eating mindlessly

Not following a schedule for eating

Not planning meals which results in last minute fast food pickups

Not saying “No” enough

Thinking about exercise but never doing it.

Eating while watching television or while otherwise distracted (which causes mindless eating)

This is the type of thing that could potentially derail me. I see this list, and I know that each of these behaviors should be addressed. I am bad to attempt to tackle a number of them at once. I can’t do that. I need to push away from this article and look at the list targeting the one behavior that would have the greatest impact and work on it first.

In looking over the list, I think that meal planning would probably yield the greatest results. If I plan my meals, then I would most likely follow a schedule, eat breakfast, drink water, and not eat out. Is that cheating? Is that choosing one that impacts many and in impacting many will that be too much change at once? What do you think?

I watched a WONDERFUL video on Hulu.com (I think, or Netflix) called “Hungry for Change.” The video is about three overweight guys (some who you’ve seen in other videos like the guy who juiced for 90 days in Fat, Tired and Nearly Dead), who had each (through different means) taken control of their health without pills and gimmicks. They joined forces to gather research on becoming healthy without having to buy anything different than you would grocery shopping. THIS IS WHY I LOVED THIS FILM. They weren’t trying to sell you anything. No lapband infommercial. Although they discuss juicing, it wasn’t like a juicer commercial.

The moral of their film is to make changes slowly. Even in changing your eating. I loved what one of them said. He said something to the effect of, “Don’t go through your house and throw everything away and go buy up the store in healthy foods. Just start adding healthy foods to what you are eating now. When you go shopping again, start making healthier choices. Don’t try to do it all at once. Your body will begin to crave more and more change, and when it does, give it the healthy options that it’s craving.” It was THE MOST REASONABLE way to look at a healthy eating plan.

Today, I added sweet peppers as a snack and were they good!! I love sweet peppers. We had pizza today, but instead of our typical all the way, we choose an awesome veggie pizza with lots of peppers. It was SO DELICIOUS! Warning, they are a bit watery that way because of the water from the veggies, so they tend to be a little messier.

Are you hungry for change? Do you think you can start adding healthy items to your eating now to make changes slowly? I think it could work for me if I keep my mind on the prize.

Eating Clean? Really??

I have been hearing people talking about “eating clean.” I basically just let it go in one ear and out the other along with, eating for your blood type, eating for your personality, and living off of green juice.

I decided to read a little on the subject, for one–just defining what “eating clean” really means.  Below I am sharing an article on the subject. Basically, it’s eating foods in as close to their original state as possible, avoiding processed foods, and eating lots of fruits and vegetables. It sounds to me like someone just renamed “eating a balanced meal.” Maybe we needed the message repackaged and relabeled to get by all of the old objections we have to eating “right.”

I have decided to try to do this. I already do my shopping to avoid the processed stuff, so adding on for fruits and veggies shouldn’t be difficult. I love them! This will be one of the baby steps. One, step, at a time! Here’s to clean food.

Related articles

• What IS Clean Eating and How Do I Do It? (shareitfitness.com)