Real Life Obstacles You Can’t Help

There are real life obstacles you can’t help that can interfere with your health “process.” Whether you’re a pro at this or just getting started, we all are impacted the same by these “real life obstacles.”

Sickness

Whether your own or someone elses close to you, sickness can totally throw your whole routine off. My child has been sick now for about 2 weeks. At first, it was sniffles, then it was crying out in the night that kept me from being able to get my sleep, then it was doctor visits that interrupted my work/lunch schedule, and of course my attention, as it should be, was completely on him and not on me.

Well, maybe I should rethink that. My attention should be on him enough to provide for his needs, but in providing for his needs, I should have been making sure that I was providing for my own nutrition and hydration. I didn’t eat breakfast. I was just so focused on him. I wasn’t eating my snacks and forget about drinking water. I think one day, I may have finished the day with like 20 ounces of water. BAD, BAD GIRL! I know better than that. I have to be sure that in the future, I take care of me, too.

Travel

A friend of mine has been having a time getting on track and staying there because of travel. Some of the travel has been for fun, but the rest of it has been for work. Being away from home can definitely throw you off your game, but in her case, it may actually help her. Since she always feels the need to cook for hubby, which often derails her own goals out of sheer exhaustion at the end of the day, she finds herself eating the same things he is eating. He loves good, southern, “comfort” food. For some reason, he’s able to eat pretty much what he wants, but she isn’t able to do the same without paying for it on the scale. Being away from home will give her some time to get some of her plan in place. Maybe if you’re traveling for work, you can use it as an opportunity to get on track also–and use that workout room!

Be careful for those pitfalls of “special” eating when traveling. I think it’s important to pick 1 day or one meal for a couple of days that’s special. If you’re on vacation an entire week, those “special” days can set you back months of weight loss if you treat every day like a special eating day. It won’t feel all that special in the end.

Company

Oh, well look who’s coming to dinner. A lot of times, these special drop in moments end up at a restaurant. When you have a lot of different people to please, it’s much easier to do it with a menu that can offer variety. It would be really easy to cast blame on not being prepared for eating out, but you’re not new at this. Unless it’s a completely new restaurant, in most cases it isn’t, you know that menu and know what you SHOULD eat.

When this happens to me, the longer I sit, the easier it is for me to make the wrong decision. I actually start mentally preparing myself before we get there and try to order first (then I don’t feel the peer pressure). My mother-in-law and I went to Outback Steakhouse when we took a road trip to Whole Foods (my first time, and I loved it). I asked her if she would mind if I told them not to bring bread to the table. Fortunately, we have a lot of the same health goals. She agreed. We both chose wisely.  We were able to make good decisions, eat good food, in an awesome restaurant. It can be done.

It’s much easier when everyone has the same goals, so if you get a chance to pick your lunch partner, pick wisely. If you don’t get a chance to pick, be the first to order, so everyone alters their order based on what you got, instead of you altering what you need to get based on what they ordered. Yeah, you know we all do that.

Loss

The loss of a loved one through death or divorce/breakup, loss of a job, loss of a friendship, loss of an ability such as walking, sight, hearing, etc…the loss of anything of value in your life can COMPLETELY derail your health goals. During this time, it is MOST imperative to stay on course at all cost. I know that is really a lot to ask, but your decision to workout will release endorphins which will contribute to a happier feeling. This is really important because you are most likely experiencing depression at this point. You need those endorphins doing what they do best.

Eating well and sleeping well will also help you to remain strong enough to make it through this time. It is really easy to want to crawl under a rock, but DON’T. This is when you need to do the opposite–RUN INTO THE SUN. Literally, that is a good idea. Get in the sun! The vitamin D that you get from the sun will help to improve your mood. Call a friend and go for a walk. Try not to isolate yourself during this time. If necessary, seek help from a pastor or therapist. Prayer and meditation is also very strengthening. This too shall pass.

So if you find yourself experiencing real life obstacles you can’t help, you don’t have to let it totally derail your health/fitness goals. Stay strong. Be the example. Take care of you.

Maintaining Healthy Behaviors

For those who have recently started their weight loss journey, don’t be disheartened if you aren’t able to jump right into a Whole30 goal (or something similar). I’ve been on my journey for 7 years, and I’ve just reached the point I needed to be in to be successful. Now, that’s not to say it will take you 7 years, but there are steps that need to be taken to prepare your mind for such a goal. 

Rid Your Life of Negative Self-Talk & Mindless Eating

Over the course of this seven years, I have battled negative self-talk (which took a long time to make part of my regular behavior) and worked on ridding my home of processed foods. When I started my journey, my time was invested in research. I have learned A LOT about the body, nutrition, exercise, and how hormones can make or break a goal. Of course, this seven years hasn’t been a non-stop journey. I had a major problem with mindless eating. I read the book French Women Don’t Get Fat, and it really helped me look at my mindless eating. I also started looking at food as “is this worth it,” which helped me just completely cut some things out.

Research and Implement

I have read a number of books on eating plans, and have identified that low carb eating is most effective since the body burns carbs before fat (I want it burning fat!). When I started this journey, I had a major carb dependency. Heller/Heller helped me a lot. I read two of their books, the one I remember the title to is The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet – The Lifelong Solution to Yo-Yo Dieting. I read Rick Gallop’s book on The Low G. I. Diet. This helped me lose enough weight the right way to get my hormones working correctly, and I was able to get pregnant. My journey got REALLY serious after that. I realized my eating DID have a lot to do with how my body worked or didn’t work. I had always blamed PCOS on my weight gain (and it does contribute but only as part of a cycle), instead of blaming my weight for my PCOS diagnosis. My ability to have a baby totally showed me that what I put in my body was what was MOST important! It could change the diagnosis in a lot of cases.

I have consumed almost everything Lyle McDonald has written on the subject of Training the Obese Beginner. He is totally incredible! I learned more through his blog posts than throughout my entire journey! My most recent change of course was the Whole30 (which totally changed my life) and then continuing with mostly a Paleo way of eating (with some deviation, but not sizable nor consistent). I am reading It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig (creators of Whole30), which has caused repeated outbursts of “ohhhhhhhhhhhh” and “wooooow I didn’t know that.” Totally awesome book! 

Fitness & Accountability

I started keeping a video blog on YouTube (which has been deleted in the midst of a relapse, but I’m going to start another one) of short videos on how I felt after working out with Tony Horton’s Power90 (I really like him) and Chalene Johnson’s Turbo Jam, what I was and wasn’t able to do, which was helpful in keeping me accountable and was encouraging to others. Now, my fitness program is all conclusive. I am a member at Curves where I get cardio, strength training and the accountability of an awesome coach–along with an awesome support group of other ladies pursuing the same goal of great health.

Turning Meltdowns into Behavior Modification Plans

This is just an abbreviated version of my journey. There’s been a lot of crying, screaming, cussing, throwing brushes at mirrors in self-hate (I’m just being honest), binging because of clothes not fitting (as if that was going to help at all), did I say crying??? Yeah, it’s not been a fun road, but with each of these meltdowns, I have been able to use my psychology and behavior analysis education/background to talk myself through it. Cool down. Realize that I made choices to get here, which means that I can make choices to get back to where I want to be, and develop a plan for getting there. I realize not everyone has this education and background, which is one reason I’m writing this blog. I’d be happy to help you with a plan if you find you need help. Just comment, and we’ll exchange email addresses.

Plans are just plans, though. They aren’t to be rigid. They should be living, which means that they should change with you as your life changes. As my behavior modification plans for myself began to change to meet the new challenges in my life and as I implemented the new knowledge I had acquired, I started seeing success. I’ve reached goals and blown right past them. I have started making what I have learned a part of my everyday living instead of doing it for only a time and going back to the way I once lived. 

Make a Permanent Place for Success

Making a home for success in my life is what I have done. I have always treated it like a visitor in the past. It came and then it would go. I don’t want success to be a visitor. I want to maintain the healthy behaviors that I have learned and implemented. They are here to stay, and now, are also a part of the way I run my home kitchen for my family.  Success is a permanent part of my family now!

Have you been able to maintain the healthy behaviors you’ve been trying to add to your life? What has worked for you?

Changed My Mind About Exercise – Past Tense

Little did I know that finding “the right fit” for me in an exercise program would be what changed my mind about exercise. Yesterday afternoon, the time of day when I am generally struggling to stay awake (something that went away throughout my Whole30 challenge), I caught myself thinking about my workout. I wasn’t thinking, “Oh no, I have to workout,” but instead I actually thought, “Man, I can’t wait to go workout today!” THAT is what I needed. Note: My decision was Curves–even though they close at 7 p.m. (5 p.m. on Friday) and are closed on weekends. I’ll explain more on why in the post.

So what helped me reach that point?

Number 1 reason without a doubt was my success with the Whole30 plan. Note: I haven’t traveled far at all from it. As a matter of fact, I haven’t really changed anything at all. I do plan to add some things back. I just haven’t yet.

Number 2 reason, I really thought through all of my options. There are a number of gyms in town that I could have chosen, and if I was already active, I would have most likely selected a location with a CrossFit group like Anytime Fitness or one with lots of challenging classes like Sweat Fitness. When making my decision. I had to evaluate where I am right now. That type of plan is leaps and bounds ahead of me (without a personal trainer) right now. I need something very structured where someone will be there to correct my form and where I can find “community” with others like me. I know there is community in these other gyms, but again, they are in a different playing field than I am right now.

Number 3 reason, I truly want to change my fitness level. I actually didn’t get to workout yesterday, but I realize I should have just turned on a workout video and completed a video, even though it isn’t the same as the strength training I’m doing at Curves. I wasn’t in the mindset to workout, and I shouldn’t have let that interfere with exercising. I’ll have to work on preventing the emotional from impacting the physical. Back on track though, I have a new goal. It is to have 30 workouts to match my Whole30 success. Then, I’ll set a longer goal after that.

Number 4 reason, I want to feel that “I CAN’T WAIT TO GET TO THE GYM” feeling. I know it won’t always be like that, but I’ll settle for it being that way part of the time. It’s much better than shuttering at the thought of exercise.

So why Curves considering the drawbacks of time, it is very structured. The equipment is double resistance, I’m not sure if that’s the official term. But you get resistance when you push and when you pull. At my current level of fitness, it is a good workout for me. I know that won’t always be the case, but for this year, it will be the workout I follow. We will reevaluate in the 10th month to determine if we proceed, or stay for another year. Also, it is like interval circuit training. Everyone changes stations at the same time. It helps prevent boredom.

Another reason I chose Curves is because they weigh and measure you once a month. They set goals with you. They help you follow your plan to reach those goals and will help get you back on track if you get off track. To me, it is as close to having a personal trainer as it can be. I guess in a sense, they are personal trainers, but more on the goal accomplishment side instead of the physical.

So, here’s to feeling good about working out (whether at Curves or taking a walk or doing a video). I have battled self-sabotage like you would NOT believe during this decision. I will write on self-sabotage next. It’s a post all in itself. Sometimes the biggest stronghold is YOU. I know for a fact it has been that way with me.

I’d love to hear from you. Have you ever been to Curves? What type of exercise plan do you like, if not Curves. Share your experience with us in a comment to this post. I’d love to hear from you. Bye for now.

Whole30 10.5 lb Loss So Far – 20 Overall

Ok, I wasn’t going to weigh for 30 days as Whole30 suggests, but the doctor’s office weighs you and writes your weight all over everything. I even told them that I wasn’t going to look at the scale, and not to tell me how much I weighed. They didn’t tell the doctor that apparently, and she was like, we’ll you’ve lost 14 lbs since you were last here. Well, that number sounded great, especially since I hadn’t been there in like 2 years, which means I had more gain that they didn’t have on their records. My peak was 330. So, when I noticed the amount 310.0 written on the doctor’s form, I was pretty excited! I’ve never, NOTE THE WORD NEVER, experienced that much weight loss.

I am very excited to say, here’s my current weight. Notes on the Whole30, today starts my 3rd week of Whole30. I average 1400 calories or so a day, generally eat 3 meals a day. Seldom eat a snack, but occasionally do: nuts, fruit, or another protein.

Dietbet Weigh-in

 

GA STATE ROUTE 330, HERE I COME!!!

I want to bike or walk THIS highway because at my highest, I weighed 330 lbs. This is GA state route 330. State Route 330 is a 6.1-mile-long state highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels through rural areas of Barrow and Jackson counties. 

I want to give something else with the numbers 330 my attention–that would positively impact my life. It’s in north GA, so there would be inclines too. I am WAY out of shape. I may have to walk it first, and it may take me all day to do it, but it’s a goal. I need to just consider my time frame.

How would you go about preparing for such a goal? I’m thinking I need to plan it to be during a cooler time, so that gives me some time to prepare my body. I guess one good thing to do would be to go up there and drive it to see what I need to be expecting.

Yeah, ROAD TRIP!!!

Giving Up Hiding! Hi, I’m Margie!

Hi, my name is Margie, and I am the author of this blog. This Whole30 challenge has opened a window and let some light into the hidden places of my mind. It has just been 5 days since starting my Whole30 challenge, and already I am having some clarity on how I should be approaching these food demons.

I have hidden behind anonymity for over a year now, and this isn’t the first time. There were blogs before you. It is my desire that this be my final blog. The one that will go on to help and inspire others to do the same. Hiding doesn’t really accomplish anything. It may make you FEEL safe, but once you take a step outside, you still have to deal with what you were hiding from.

I just posted my blog publicly before over 1K people who live mostly in my community. I think I have hidden because of my weight–fearful of what others would think if they read that at my highest I weighed 330 lbs (at least). Well, it isn’t like they don’t SEE me. They just don’t know the number and knowing that number, does not change who I am. Well, now they can see it, but they can also see my burning desire to do something about it, and the journey that I take (and have taken) to overcome the thoughts and fears of my past that have become monsters that make me hide–covering myself with layers and layers of fat.

It is time that I approach life head on. No preparing in advance. Living in the now, for today–not hiding at home preparing for what COULD happen a year down the road. THIS IS TODAY…I AM MARGIE, AND I AM WORKING TO SHED A WHOLE PERSON.

I really appreciate your support. You have no idea just how much I will need it over the course of this journey.

Post Thanksgiving Mini Success

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving season. This year my goal was to still lose 1 lb during this holiday season, and while I didn’t reach that goal, I am still celebrating that I didn’t GAIN, so far. I charted a .2 lb loss this week. Something I am very thankful for.

I did choose things I love instead of eating a lot of everything just because it’s there. When you eat food that someone else prepares, it is virtually impossible to calculate the calories unless they did that for you. Of course, no one did that on Thanksgiving. I just made my best guesses, and wow, it is really easy to go over 1500 calories. If you look at the caloric intake of a couple of the things you eat each day, you’ll realize what I mean.

So, here’s to still charting a loss of any size during a holiday season! Next week, my goal has been reset for a minimum of 1 lb. I’m taking on this week, and not looking back to the week passed. There’s nothing that can be done about time that has already passed. I can only do better from today and on. AND TAKE MY MEDICINE! I’m truly bad about staying on track with meds after having my baby. You go 9 months without taking anything, so it’s difficult to get back on track.

Let’s get our head back in the game. If you didn’t lose what you wanted, or maybe even you gained, don’t look back. Just start from today and shoot for 1 lb per week. This is a perfect time to start our Triggers series, since we’re going into the biggest trigger season of the year.

Keep following me, and if you’re knew or need the refresher, look back at the first series to get ready to jump into staying Trigger free.

Giving Thanks for a Successful Thanksgiving

I didn’t have to prepare much for Thanksgiving for my own family this year. We spent Thanksgiving with my grannie and extended family. I made lemon bars, fortunately, not a vice of mine. One bar was enough for me.

It was actually surviving the day without completely undoing any and all work I have been doing to lose weight that I am happy about. I am down 6.1 lbs for the past 2 weeks, and I am wanting to keep that momentum up. If you notice my little statement at the top left of my blog, you’ll see that when I started this journey, I weighed what…317? and then there’s a note increasing that number to a minimum of 330 because I didn’t really know what I weighed since Wii doesn’t go over 330. Apparently, it wasn’t much over because the next week I was back in business. I think that was the best experience EVER! It totally got my attention.

Well, my weight is almost back to that starting point. This week’s weigh in (that I need to update in the widget) was 319.9. Just 2.9 pounds, no make that 3 lbs because I want to be UNDER what I was when I started. If that takes 2 weeks, then that is fine, but it IS going to happen and I WILL keep going with losses EVERY WEEK there after. That is my goal! A minimum of 1 lb per week.

So, I went into this Thanksgiving with a strong mind. I would find my favorite things and stay away from triggers. I didn’t feel any “trigger” this year. Very nice! I didn’t overeat. I am very proud to say that. My calories probably went over my goal for the day just because I have no idea what my family puts in their food, but I was ok with going over this one day, as long as I ate good things and not all junk. I had string bean casserole (2 portions), dressing (2 portions), greens (they were very good), a little turkey, a taste of chicken and dumplings (which could have been a downfall but they weren’t seasoned the way I make them), and I ate about 1/2 of my plate and gave the rest to my husband. Oh yeah, a deviled egg mixture and one of my lemon bars (I stayed away from the coconut cake and the oreo cookie cake). Water to drink–in in the presence of 100% tea drinkers. (my #1 downfall in drinks–southern sweet tea!) A total victory!

Thanksgiving was 100 days of water only drinking. WOOHOO!!! And I can definitely tell a difference. I feel good. I’m not nearly as tired as I used to be. I actually even have a hard time going to sleep at night. I just need to put that energy to work. Well, I just wanted to share with you how things went yesterday. I hope your day was a victory for you, too. I am hoping for great news on Monday. I will try to report back then.

Shooting for 1 lb loss a week for a yearly loss of 52 lbs

I decided that all of the plans I had been trying weren’t working for me. I just needed to return to what I know works and that is counting calories. I strive for 1500 calories to shoot for 2 lbs a week, but be content with 1 lb per week.

The first week was an awesome win of 4.9 lbs.

This week was tougher because of some food choices I made, but I still won by logging a 1.5 lb loss this week. YAY!

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

How to Accept Need for Change : Recognizing the Link between Lifestyle and Health Condition

How to accept the need for change includes being able to recognize that there IS a link between our chosen lifestyle and our current health condition. While lifestyle can include a vast number of things, for the purpose of this post it is defined as the way we eat and move.

For years (and I still do), I have asked the question, how does my body know how many calories I am eating? It’s not like a gas pump that knows how much gas has gone into the tank. There isn’t a dohickie thing that you can wear that counts the calories as they go in like a Pac-man game (if there was I would buy it). I felt like if I didn’t know how many calories were going in my body, then my body could be tricked into believing I hadn’t eaten as much as I had. I know better of course, but it’s just the way I FELT. My head understood the process, but my behavior didn’t.

As the years crept on, I would start hurting here and there. Oh, it’s just a sign of aging, I would think (except my mother doesn’t complain of it and she’s 20 years older than I…my grandmother may not even complain about the same things and she’s 40 years older that I am). Oh, well I slept wrong would explain the back woes, and I stayed up too late would explain my chronic fatigue (and I do stay up too long). I snap, crackle and pop more than Rice Crispies on a world tour, and why would I EVER think that it had anything to do with the way I eat. After all, my body doesn’t really know what I eat.

After LOTS of reading and research on how the body operates, and how it is able to determine the value of what we eat, even if it doesn’t know exactly what it is, I finally decided to be honest with myself. After all, kidding myself only hurts me. It doesn’t make the scale reflect any less. I don’t look any thinner to those around me. (I may be able to mind meld them to believe I am thinner. 😉 ) I can now say it, my body hurts me because I have hurt it CONTINUOUSLY over and over again. If someone continuously hurt you, wouldn’t you be in pain regularly? Even if you attempted to hide the abuse, your body would show signs of that abuse over the course of time.

Mine is.

I have treated my body so badly that I am hoping we haven’t reached the point of no return. Just as in human relationships, there is a point where pain will cause a split that can’t be repaired. Fortunately, our bodies are more resilient than our relationships. We can’t let the fear that we’ve gone to far stop us from trying. Just like human relationships that we beg and plead for forgiveness committed to never giving up, we have to be that way with our body.

A very wise friend of mine tells me over and over, “Give your body what it needs, and it will give you what you want.” I would just be like “yadee yadaa, yadee yadaa,” but she is so right! I have experienced a huge victory after only losing 5-7% of my body weight once (that’s not a lot of weight, but the victory was awesome!). I know that it is possible for the body to forgive.

So, can you make the connection between your lifestyle and your health condition? Can you go to your mirror (literally not figuratively) and say to yourself, I accept that I have hurt you…I accept that I have abused you…I want to change and do better for you…I realize that my eating and movement habits have caused you to hurt, and I don’t want to hurt you anymore. I want to care for you, protect you, and give you a chance to add many years of playing with the kids, sharing time with grandchildren, beating the guys at football, being comfortable in front of the mirror and those you love, and enjoying every day of your life.

If you can humble yourself enough to be honest with yourself (and eventually those around you as well), you will have a better chance at accepting the need for change enough to truly make a difference in your decisions.

You have your assignment. Should you choose to accept it, come back tomorrow and read the next step toward fulfilling the acceptance needed to move on.

Hope to see you here.

How to Survive Morbid Obesity: Step 1 Accept the Need for Change

After writing my first post on How to Survive Morbid Obesity, I wigged out a little bit. If you’ve been following my journey, then you know that I have been battling to lose weight for quite some time, but since August 5, 2013 (see the widget on the left menu) most recently I restarted my journey will a new commitment to succeed at any healthy cost.

I totally have Step 1 down pat. I know for a fact that for a very long time I have accepted the need for change. I KNOW that I NEED CHANGE! I have made changes in my life, but unfortunately, I haven’t found the proper combination for me.

If you are going to survive morbid obesity, you MUST be honest with yourself. I remember the days of avoiding the “F” word…FAT. I wasn’t fat. I was “healthy,” or at least that is what I told myself. My blood pressure was good. I didn’t have high cholesterol. My sugar was stellar. My doctor actually told me (around the weight of about 290-300 lbs), “I don’t know what is wrong. All of your numbers are good. I don’t know why you struggle to lose weight.” There were plenty of reasons why I wasn’t losing weight, and I don’t think her telling me what she did really helped me. In fact, I know it enabled me for a while.

Honesty. It is crucial to good health. Yes, being honest with others is good for your health too, but I’m talking about being honest with yourself. Denial is not your friend. If you can’t look in the mirror and say with sincerity, “you have gained WAY too much weight, and it is time to GET REAL,” then you haven’t truly accepted your need for change, and you are apt to continue to repeat the same struggles over and over again until you do.

Trust me! I know it’s hard. It’s a process. Owning your weight gain is your first step to recovery. It is your first step to survival! Begin working on the truth in your mind first. Think about what your diet consists of. Don’t pat yourself on the back so hard for that healthy breakfast that you completely overlook all of the unhealthy snacking that you do throughout the day and late night. When you were eating unhealthy things was there someone there forcing you to eat it? You made a choice right? Yeah.

Look, I’m not beating you up, and I don’t want you to beat yourself up. There is a difference in accepting responsibility and self abuse. Don’t self abuse. It is terribly destructive to goals! In a healthy way, accept that there are things that you could have changed that you didn’t or haven’t that have led you to a life of morbid obesity. Accept that the road is going to be long and hard, and the thin and fit people around you are not to blame. Accept that you may not be successful 100% the first several times you attempt to survive morbid obesity, but you keep trying again and again.

Hey, my journey is going to be a long one. I have bounced back and forth between awesome decisions and really terrible ones. You are not alone in your journey. I invite you to join me in mine. Having someone to talk to and be accountable to DOES help the process.

If you haven’t reached this first step, keep trying. This could be the beginning of a promising journey for you. I wish you the best of luck! The next step is coming soon.

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.

Always Thinking of Food, Ughhh

It seems that since I have determined in myself to lose this extra fat girl that I’ve been carrying around, food has been on my mind almost 24/7 (except when sleeping and even then I dream about food sometimes). Fortunately, this preoccupation with food has been in a good way.

I have been searching websites for recipes that are non-dairy/non-meat recipes. Because it closely resembles the Vegan way of eating, I have been searching Vegan recipes as well (although, I would not consider myself a Vegan–not even a vegetarian even though I will not be eating meat). I am not saying that I will never eat meat. My plan is to greatly reduce the amount of meat that I eat to nearly none (excluding fish/seafood), with an occasional meal including meat (my hope is to find locally raised meat with no history of abuse).

I’m not going all crazy on either point, but I am making strides in a direction that will improve the quality of food that comes into our home and into our body, while not contributing to the commercial misuse and abuse of animals. I know my family won’t change the world by abstaining from meat produced in such commercial businesses, but I will at least know that we aren’t contributing to such mistreatment.

I thought I would share with you a really COOL Vegan dish. Vegans don’t eat eggs, so creating a vegan “fried egg” was really interesting to me. Check this out! Really cool, and slightly scientific. Enjoy!

If you happen to have some favorite vegetarian or Vegan recipes you would like to share, PLEASE DO! I need all the help I can get. 🙂

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.

A Creepy Realization…

I told you in my first post that I am going to be very transparent in my posts, so let’s get personal!

There are certain things that I just cannot stand feeling. One of those things is when I have gained so much that a fat roll touches other fat! If you’re overweight and have these “rolls,” you know what I mean. There’s a crease in the skin and eventually the roll grows enough that it reaches beyond the crease to touch the skin above or below it. EWWWWWWWWWWW! I can’t stand it! I have to say that this could very well be why I am not any heavier than I am now. It could be one of the things that moves me to action.

As if that wasn’t creepy enough, I was taking a shower, and I have a creepy and heart-wrenching realization. Grant it my shower is narrow but that fact doesn’t help my mind. I started washing my hair and my arms touched each side of the shower. I do this thing…it’s a silly measurement thing. I stand in the shower with my hands next to me (open, thumb at my side and pinkies to the wall) to see how much room I have before they would touch each side. I was almost in tears with the realization that there is nearly no room left. If I continue to gain, my hands will touch each side.

As a fat person, I have all kinds of ways to measure myself against others. You may do some of these, too. When my husband is driving, I notice how far his belly is from the steering wheel, and when I drive later and my belly almost touches it, I’m saddened. When I am sitting in a doctor’s waiting room chair, and I look around at everyone else and see someone who hangs over each side, I catch myself feeling each side of the chair to see how far I am hanging off.

The realization that you are FAT is a hard one to make. Used to, I would avoid that word. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like it, but I have come to grips with the fact that not saying the word doesn’t make me any less fat. Not getting on a scale doesn’t keep me from gaining weight. Squeezing my behind in jeans a size too small doesn’t mean that I am truly that size.

Reality. It is necessary to accept reality in order to be honest with yourself and move on to do something about it. I started my journey by creating this blog and the FB page. You may be starting your journey by following mine. Whatever helps you is what you need to do.

As for me, I will keep measuring myself in these crazy ways. One day, my fat won’t hang off a chair, and my hands won’t even be close to touching the walls of my shower. My belly will be a safe distance away from the steering wheel, and there will be no rolls to touch one another. 🙂 When I get to that point, I will keep on going. I want to be healthy. Fit. Not just so/so fit, but seriously fit. I know that giving up my current lifestyle of ease will be hard to adjust to, but I believe I can do it! You can, too!

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!

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.