Holiday Lessons

I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long. This is something I learned through the holidays. I’ll share more as I go. For those of you who haven’t been following me from the beginning, I completed my first Whole30 food elimination program in July (read more about Whole30 here). It was the BEST experience of my LIFE. It changed my perspective of food.

First of all, I’ve never said “no” to anything for 30 days (well, ok, yes I have…I did eat seafood only as meat for a year, so I said no to all my favorite meats years ago). I have never been able to say no to sugar for that length of time. I had full intentions of repeating the great experience of Whole30 Oct 1 – Oct 31. I had stayed relatively close to the Whole30 way of eating from July – October. I started Whole30 on Oct 1, but having lived on the fence from July – October, I was not completely invested in completing the entire month and didn’t make it past week 1. I should have continued because I was NOT prepared for November and December.

By the time November came along, I had allowed myself sugar occasionally. I did well through Thanksgiving, but I began baking, a side job of mine, and then sugar slowly crept back more and more. I created all types of sweet treats for myself because my sugar cravings were back FULL FORCE. I was TOTALLY off the wagon the whole month of December. I learned that it takes approximately 4 months of living on the fence to completely undo the behavioral success of Whole30. Fortunately, it didn’t eliminate what I had learned. If I could do it once, I could do it again!

Having gained some weight I lost in July/August back, I was totally invested in a January Whole30. I knew if I was to get back to that great, new perspective on food, I would have to get back to Whole30. I am now on my second round for 2015. I learned in 2014 that sugar is much stronger than I am, and I need longer than 30 days without it. My plan is to maintain a Whole30 diet at least 90 days (well, 3 rounds with a 1 day break in between each). I would like to never add sugar back, but I don’t know how realistic that is.

Fortunately, I have learned that I love so many healthy foods, and I love shopping for them. I feel so strong when I am checking out, pulling each healthy item out of my cart. For others who have lived a life of obesity, you may understand why I would enjoy this. It’s a major emotional victory!

Now that you’re caught up on my mysterious disappearance, I’ll get back to blogging. Hope you all have had success with your New Year’s Resolution.

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!

How to Survive Obesity: Identify Triggers

Well, the first of the year is here, and maybe you’ve set a weight loss goal. My goal for this blog is to continue where we left off last year, which is Identifying Triggers. We have covered How to Survive Obesity: Accept Need for Change (please read back through those posts if you haven’t already). So let’s get started. NOTE: If your triggers aren’t food related, list whatever they are.

I didn’t set a weight loss goal for a New Year’s resolution because it isn’t just something I work on at the beginning of the year. I have been working on this goal what feels like the better part of my adult life. Fortunately, the more I learn the more hope I have. I have identified my need for change and all of of the steps that come along with preparing for change. Now, we need to identify food triggers.

Food triggers can COMPLETELY derail your efforts. I’m not referring to an “opps, I gained 2 lbs because I ate a trigger food and got of track for a week.” I am talking about, “I gained 15 lbs because I ate a trigger food and got off track for 2 months.” We each have foods that are our our kryptonite. It is up to you to identify which ones are yours. It is IMPERATIVE that you identify which ones are yours.

To make a truly honest list, think back to all of those times that you fell off the wagon. What was it that caused your fall? It may be a food category like CARBS, or it may be very specific, Mac/Cheese. Be honest with yourself and try to identify as many as possible.

Next week, we will review our food triggers. Use this week coming to make a list of foods that make you feel weak in the knees. Foods that make you eat more. Foods that make you feel guilty. Foods that you just shouldn’t eat at all because you get too far off of your plan for better health. Make the list, and we will categorize them next week.

See you stronger next week.

How to Accept the Need for Change : Enlist Family Support

This is the last post on how to accept the need for change. In this post, we will cover the importance of enlisting family support. It is so important to have a strong support system when you are attempting to make such a huge change in your life.

Think about it. If you are morbidly obese, most likely, you have been overweight a great portion of your life. You became morbidly obese by not accepting the need for change, and NOW you have accepted that need for change, and your life will look much different than it does now.

Whenever a morbidly obese person begins to make changes in order to shed the years of unwanted weight that has been dragging them down, it isn’t something that is planned for 90 days. Power 90, while an awesome program and great if you’re going to use it back to back for multiple sets of 90 days, won’t help you reach your goal in 90 days (unless of course your goal was to workout 90 days in a row and to that I quote Tony Horton the creator of Power 90, “Press Play Every Day.”)

If you aren’t morbidly obese, perhaps you are the friend or family member of someone who is. Let me tell you that the measures you take to lose weight that work for you each time you need to shed the weight you’ve added on, won’t work (at least as fast) for your loved one. If I could say something to those family members who wish their loved one would lose weight, I would say, “Put on a fat suit for a month and live. See if you feel like changing anything except shedding the suit which you can do in a flash. Your loved one has to live in that suit.”

This IS NOT going to be an easy process. Your loved one is going to come face to face with so many realities about him/herself during this journey, and they are going to need you. There will be times they will want to hide under a rock, and there will be times they will want to dress up and be seen. YOU NEED TO BE THERE FOR BOTH! They need you!

They DO NOT need you to be judgmental. They DO NOT need you to tell them what they should or shouldn’t do. If you’ve never been there with the same set of issues, you don’t truly have a clue what they need to do anyway. You need to just be there to say, TOMORROW IS A NEW DAY. YOU GET TO START ALL OVER AGAIN!! DON’T LOOK BACK. ONLY LOOK FORWARD BECAUSE THE FUTURE IS ALL THAT MATTERS.

Be ready to help pick them up when they have worked out 6 days a week with Tony Horton doing Power 90, making HUGE changes in their food choices and don’t lose a significant amount of weight. They need to be reminded that there are changes being made inside the body that can’t be seen yet, but their hard work IS paying off. It takes a while to get over being abused.

I didn’t really intend to speak directly to the loved ones, but hey, if you don’t know how to address them about your need for their help, then give them the link to this article and let them read it. The work isn’t all for them though. You have to be strong enough to step up and say, “I need your support.”

On my birthday this year, I sat with my family and had a serious heart to heart. I told them, starting today, I will only drink water (excluding milk and occasional 100% juice). No sweet tea. No Diet Dr. Pepper. Not even Crystal Light additives to my water. They could have said, “ok here we go again,” but they didn’t. I was determined to succeed. I looked to my husband and said, “if I text you saying to bring me a drink home, you better bring home a large cup of ice and a bottle of water.” I went on to tell each of them, “I will likely contact you and BEG for you to bring me a Diet Dr. Pepper, but if I do, please bring me crushed ice.” (It’s what I have learned helps me get past the need for a soda. That and a really strong breath spray, which will kill your craving very fast.) I succeeded. He brings home large cups of crushed ice when he wants to be sweet and surprise me. I haven’t had anything except water since. It was a small battle toward winning a HUGE WAR. Drinking water makes me want to eat healthier. I’m sure there’s some physiological reason for that.

So, today’s homework. Who is your support system? Make your calls or better yet, call a meeting and talk to them all at once. Let them know that you may likely fall on your face several times throughout this process, after all it will likely take a long time to get to the point you want to be (that’s ok–the time is going to pass anyway, so why not be working toward what you want to be.) Be sure you let them know your weaknesses, and how they can help you. Remind them that you don’t need them to make healthy choices for you by changing everything around you, BUT they don’t need to sabotage you with making things they know are triggers for you (so be sure to discuss your triggers–we will be covering Triggers next week).

I know you can do it. We can make this journey a successful one. Just remember, it’s only the future that matters. Who cares what you DID? Look at what you are yet to do. THAT is what is of importance. I, too, am here as support for you. Comment and share with me what your plan is. I look forward to being a part of your journey and having you be a part of mine.

This is the end of “How to Survive Morbid Obesity: Accept the Need for Change” the 1st portion of the series “How to Survive Morbid Obesity.” Next in the series, “How to Survive Morbid Obesity: Identify Triggers.”

 

 

How to Accept Need for Change : Create a Written Plan & Post It

When considering how to accept the need for change, creating a written plan is very important for success. It isn’t just having a goal. I think we are all very good at setting a goal like “I want to lose weight,” but that isn’t an effective goal. It’s too broad, vague, and leaves too much wiggle room.

For example, if I set the goal “I want to lose weight,” my outcomes (measurable results of the goal) would be very difficult to measure. What do I measure? For starters, weight, but what else other than weight? According to my goal, there is nothing else to measure, so what happens? We are permitted to continue on and on in our pursuit, and in five (5) years we are still “wanting to lose weight,” yet are at the same place we were when we started. If you want to see a perfect example of an ineffective goal, look at my weight loss widget. Even though I am the queen of goal setting, I obviously wasn’t all that serious about losing yet because you’ll see how my weight ping pongs along.

So how do we fix that? How do we create an effective goal? We need to answer the basic questions that we ask about anything we want to know about.

Who: me (you)

What: Lose weight (broad); Lose 2 lbs a week (short term/ongoing); Lose 5 lbs (short term); Lose 150 lbs (long term)

When: Before a special event (broad); For each Weight Watchers meeting (short term/ongoing); within 3 weeks (short term); with 2 years (long term)

Why: This needs to be specific. To fit into a new outfit for a special event is one way to be specific, but that’s not the “important” point. For those who have a lot to lose like I do, this is going to be a “journey.” It is really easy to forget the “why,” if you aren’t specific enough. My reason is to add as many years to my life as I can to LIVE and THRIVE with my husband and newest addition to my family, my son who is just 15 months old now. For some people, it may not be as worrisome to think of the future, but for someone who is morbidly obese and 41 years old, it is VERY worrisome because of the medical conditions that I can add or worsen by not considering it very serious! While my “Why” is somewhat specific, it isn’t specific enough. I need to add something that can actually be measured. A blood work panel and doctor’s suggestion of ideal weight FOR ME will work.

Where: In this particular case, it will be a goal that will be active no matter where you are (including at your favorite restaurant, so don’t forget that). There are no “free zones.”

How: This will vary according to your body type, medical condition, and amount of weight to lose. This would be a great time to go for a check up with your doctor. Tell them in advance it is to discuss a weight loss plan and ask them to schedule you a full blood panel before your appointment, so you can discuss which plan would be best considering your numbers. P.S. Ask for a copy of it. There’s a lot to be learned from this document.

So we just finished the planning phase. Now, we will use that information to create our goal statement:

241Lady is going to set a short term/ongoing goal (which is easiest to make adjustments to as needed) of losing a minimum of 1 lb per week (52 lbs/yr), effective immediately with 2 meals a week being “cheat” meals until I reach a weight my doctor and I agrees to be healthy (I’ll fill this in after my appointment), and definitely not until I have reduced my need for any prescriptions currently being used for conditions that are related to obesity such as chronic fatigue, thyroid dysfunction (at least lowering it as far as possible), diabetes (same here), etc., for the purpose of improving health in hopes of lengthening life span to experience my son grow up and start a family of his own (and to meet my grandchildren). This plan is effective everywhere I go (vacations included), following a low glycemic eating plan and incorporating increasingly challenging exercise to improve cardio and respiratory endurance.

Now this statement could be posted as is, but it’s a little difficult to see the important points. Be creative in how to correct that (or just a basic list):

Who: 241Lady

What: Lose min 1 lb/week

When: Effective immediately until Doctor agrees to end

Why: Extend life expectancy and enjoy life with son/family

Where: Everywhere, even vacations

How: low glycemic diet, eating 5-6 very small meals a day, with 2 cheat meals a week, exercise for purpose of cardio/respiratory strength and endurance

When you get your plan written out and rendered down to brief, yet concise, statements, print it out and post it where you can see it. Make yourself view it by setting an alarm on your phone and maybe put dates and checkmarks to show when you read it. This is just to constantly remind you of your goal. You’ll want to do this at least once per week.

Another reason for posting it and requiring a weekly reading is for adjustments. You may find that your plan isn’t working and you need to change something. You’ll want to give yourself a good month to get everything going before making any big changes, but after that time has passed, if there hasn’t been some changes in what you see and feel, then you need to tweak a few things. Those tweaks may not change your written plan, but they will change the way that you accomplish it.

Ok, so that is the goal for the week. Write your plan and post it. I want to hear from you. You’ve been so quiet so far, and I know that you’re out there reading. Please comment if only to say, “I’m going to try this.” I would love to know that you’re out there. Hope to hear from you soon!!

Related articles

• How to Survive Morbid Obesity: An Introduction
• How to Survive Morbid Obesity: Step 1 Accept the Need for Change
• How to Accept the Need for Change : Get Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired
• How to Accept Need for Change : Recognizing the Link between Lifestyle and Health Condition

Strike a Pose. This Week’s Challenge.

People who have 100+ pounds to lose generally also have a great deal of emotional baggage that they are carrying around with them. As part of our program, our challenge this week is to “Strike a Pose,” and post a confident photo of ourselves to our secret group.

This challenge came about as a result of conversation about mirrors and feeling the need to hide from them. There are a couple of problems with not confronting the mirror. One problem is that we will ignore the fact that there is a weight problem needing to be controlled. According to a person’s body type, it is possible to gain nearly 20 lbs before your clothes force you to deal with the problem.

Secondly, avoiding a mirror can make you become disconnected with yourself. Before you know it, other people have seen you more than YOU have seen you. You begin to feel ashamed, lonely, and a number of negative adjectives. It is important to remain connected with the strong, confident you who is a beautiful person. Once you begin feeling as if you aren’t beautiful, weight becomes even more difficult to lose. It’s almost as if you feel like you don’t deserve anything good.

We are going to work on taking that confidence back. All of these ladies are awesome women. They each excel in their professional lives. They are caring and giving, and they deserve to feel confident. I don’t expect that because they will take time for themselves getting ready for a photo, snap a photo, and post it to our group that a brand new perspective will result. I realize this will be an ongoing process, but it is a very important step toward embracing the beautiful person that they each are.

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.

The Starting Point…

Body mass index chart (Photo credit: IITA Image Library)

I was thinking maybe my starting point wasn’t all that clear, so I want to be sure to make it clear. I’ll just be simple in my explanation. Although, I REALLY hate seeing this in print.

I currently weigh 317 pounds; 58.0 BMI.

When I was trying to find out how much I need to lose, I just divided that number in 1/2. 158.50 pounds is what I was left with. Well, I was curious to see what body mass index (BMI) that would be. The BMI is what health professionals use to determine if you are in a healthy weight range. This is the graphic I posted on my first post. If I lost 1/2 of my weight, my BMI would be 28.9 which is just 1.5 points away from being “obese.” Do you read this the way I do? Even losing 1/2 the weight, I would STILL be considered nearly obese.

According to the National Institute on Health, I need to weigh no more than 136 pounds to be considered “Normal” weight. The BMI for this weight is 24.9. I am sharing all of those numbers with you because as I lose, I will not only be keeping up with weight loss, but also BMI. So I need to lose 181 pounds in order to get there.

Wow. For some reason, after typing those numbers and sitting here looking over them, I don’t feel panic. I actually feel at peace. I don’t know if that’s the calm before the storm, or if I am truly ready for battle. I will own this and say, I AM READY FOR BATTLE! If I had a shot gun in hand right now, this is where it would go CLICK, CLICK!!!!! Bring it on!

Ten Reasons I Want To Lose Weight

An old friend of mine had me to do this years ago. I have rewritten these reasons SO many times. What is funny is how they change as I get older and wiser. They are in no particular order.

1. To be more flexible and more mobile.

2. To gain the use of the many outfits in my closet I haven’t been able to wear since 2003 or before. Fortunately, I’ve always chosen the classic look.

3. To physically feel better.

4. To emotionally feel better.

5. To give my son a good example to follow.

6. To accomplish this goal that has seemed to evade me for so long–proving (to me) I can!

7. To reduce the need for any type of medication.

8. To increase my life expectancy.

9. To feel more comfortable when in a seat (in the car, doctor’s office, etc).

10. To feel more comfortable in my skin.

What Does Two for One Mean?

So you may have run across this site because you are looking for a good deal. Generally, that is what 2 for 1 indicates, but not here. Here it refers to my weight, divided by 2. I literally weigh more than two people of healthy BMI. As a matter of fact, I am on the border of being 2 “obese” people in one body. I am actually 2 “overweight” people, and I want to change that.

THIS IS MY JOURNEY. It is going to be a very honest and transparent journey. Maybe you’re on a similar journey, hey, let’s travel this lonely road together then. I encourage your comments. If you have a similar blog, include your address, and I will share it with my readers as well.