You are WORTH It.

I am back on the losing train again, Woo, WOOOOOOOO.

This is typical of my journey. Work hard, not get a lot of results, get discouraged, gain a couple of pounds, come back to it and bam! Something works.  I have not given up in about 10 years of this battle due in large part to the encouragement of those around me like my dear friends Gina, Anna, Colleen, Will, Christine and my indefatigable Weight Watchers leader, Carolyn.

I had a long conversation with my internist about my weight loss journey a couple of months ago. He said that, with my family history of extreme obesity and terminal diabetes, the cards were stacked against me. He also said that I must not give up my efforts. Even if I am maintaining my weight or losing at my typical glacial pace, I am still staving off the health problems that will inevitably come if I begin gaining weight. He pointed out that though I am yet significantly overweight, all my insides are healthy. My cholesterol reading is in the normal range, but could be a lower number; otherwise, I'm in great shape. I exercise more than most "normal weight" people. I have no known health risks outside obesity. He credits that health to my having waged this weight loss battle almost continuously since 2005. Hearing this, I made a decision then and there that I will fight with renewed vigor.

When school got out, I determined to use my time flexibility to build in more exercise and research eating styles that might support me. Clearly it is not just a numbers game for me. Once again, I was drawn to a modified paleo approach to eating. (Here's a good synopsis of it if you're interested). I also set up a spreadsheet to track my intentionality in this quest to "level up my life."  It's not pretty but it's functional and here if you'd like to see it.

These two changes--additional exercise and modified paleo eating--  have made a difference for me! Since our last day of school, June 8th, I have lost 7.4 pounds. It was apparently enough to  push me down a size; my pants, loose at the end of school,  were literally falling off me at at last weekend's ball tournament. What's more, I feel more toned and am so much stronger. I have a fitter frame, suddenly, and I can feel it on the inside! I have not had a weight this low since 2010, and I will soon blow those "lows" right off the charts.  Next time I will post a few awesome resources for you.

This was a lot of personal detail and I have said it all to underline one thing: We must never give up on ourselves. I am worth it; You are worth it. If people around you aren't saying that to you, call me up. I will say it.  (1-512-983-1390) You have time to spend on your health. (Yes, you do.) You have a right to surround yourself with support. You can make choices that are better for you. Small changes can really add up and you can make those changes because you are worth it. 

Here it is again: You are worth it. You are more than a number on a scale. You deserve a life worth living. You deserve a healthy future. You matter.

Please let me hear from you and how you are waging your battle for greater healthfulness. We are stronger together.

2015 Goals and a Plan to Succeed

Hello, out there.

Yes, it has been a long time.  Yes, I've been busy but honestly, not that busy!  I have not posted frequently here because . . . quite honestly . . . it's hard to keep up a weight loss blog when there is almost never any weight loss to report.  There, I said it!

I have my list of "reasons" too -- some real, most excuses -- but that isn't the point, is it?  The point is, I have a commitment to myself to reduce my weight, and by golly, I am going to.

The good news is, I haven't given up. I have managed not only to maintain, but to lose another 12 pounds since school started. I have lessened my effort at times since Thanksgiving but am still on a losing trend.

I have made a big commitment for this year: To lose 50 pounds. For me, that's a lot, as a typical loss ratio for me is about 1/2 pound every two weeks. What I have learned since September, however, is that increased muscle tone and activity can give me the metabolism boost I need to sustain a higher rate of loss.

Frankly, it's going to take a higher rate of loss for me to ever get there since -- and I know some of you can relate to this -- every time I get sick or for some reason lose my focus, I immediately gain 2 pounds.  That's four weeks of work at my normal rate of loss! I can't afford to lose at such a low rate when gaining is as easy as breathing for me!  Okay, that's a little dramatic, but you get the picture.

Anyone who has tried to lose weight knows -- no one ever lost a pound by "planning" to lose. It takes real and concrete action.  Here is my action plan to get those 50 pounds off:

• Re-vamp my daily schedule with planned exercise periods (done);
• Get back to tracking my food to give me the opportunity for course correction;
• Stay within my Weight Watcher's Points Plus allowance;
• Have perfect attendance at Weight Watcher's this year;
• Notice the life-shocks that precipitate poor eating choices and deal with them;
• Get 60K steps a week, plus a minimum of one hour of strength training and work up to at total of 30 min/day (6 days a week) of structured exercise;
• Get a strong support partner on board and keep working with my WW partner.

I think this will be the recipe for success for me. The trick -- as always -- is sticking with it and believing in myself. My last list-item will help with this.

The elephant in the room in all this is this: My last post on this blog was in June; over 6 months ago. At that time I was in a self-made PRT Challenge.  Needless to say, I did not complete the challenge or reach my goals. I allowed myself to get distracted, especially when it got hard.

All I can do from here is forgive myself, learn from my mistakes and move on. That's what it's all about right?  I know I have re-started a thousand times, but what is the alternative? If I'm not forgiving myself and trying again, then I'm giving up -- and that is not an option.  I am quite certain if I hadn't been fighting all these years, I'd weigh 300+ pounds now. I gain weight so easily.

There is some science to help me:  Research shows most people give up their weight loss efforts within a few weeks. Other studies show that people who participate in a weight loss or accountability group are twice as likely to succeed at weight loss.  Additionally, losses of more than 44 pounds are more likely to be maintained than losses of 24 pounds or less. I am planning to get all of these things working for me this year.

What about you? Where are you in your weight loss efforts? What is your New Year's plan?

Love Week - Menu Plan Monday

Happy Valentine's Week!

This will be the first year since we've had kids that I've worked on Valentines Day! It's always been a bona fide holiday around here. As a result, I don't have any big food plans for our day, but I will be making "snack plate" lunches and I am sure some things will be heart shaped!

My favorite this week is the snack plate. I found a cute and fun way to make them portable and I am so pleased that they worked out just as I envisioned.

Valentine's Day Dinner will be a quick shrimp salad because we plan to continue our tradition of Valentine's Bowling after I finally get home from work. I'm sure it will be a beautiful Love Day nonetheless and we have healthy plans for the whole week:

Breakfasts

Steel Cut Oats

Cinnamon WW Pancakes, baked apples

Cheesy Eggs, tortillas

Cereal day

French toast and bacon

Lunches  

I purchased these camping egg cartons to make finger-food snack boxes. They are so cute and the Littles love, love, LOVE them. I have a row each of starches, vegetables, protein and fruit. Not that it matters but this one is oyster crackers, pretzels, and whole grain cheezits; grape tomatoes, carrot flowers and broccoli; white cheddar, pepperoni, and cheddar: blackberries, grapes and blueberries.  Some future ones will contain goldfish, edamame, peas, baby pickle slices, ham or turkey cubes, tamagayoki, and raisins; the possibilities are endless!

Lemony hummus goat cheese pitas, Napa cabbage slaw, apple slices

Egg crate snack plate

Leftovers Day

Egg Salad with greens, bread slices and orange slices

Soboro Bento with turkey, carrots, egg and green beans (Our favorite bento)

Dinners

Roast Turkey Breast, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Peas (Sunday dinner)

Black beans with vegetables and ricotta, over rice and baby spinach

Cheese grits, blindfolded eggs, zucchini ribbons or zoodles, fresh fruit.

Pasta Thursday - spaghetti with meat sauce, broccoli, fruit for dessert 

Shrimp salad, toast and Mamaw's homemade jam

Weight Watchers Homemade Mac-n-Cheese (6), sliced tomato salad

Slow Cooker Brisket, (9)  coleslaw, whole wheat buns, homemade barbecue sauce

Linking up to OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday; check out all the great menus!  The "real food" low-fat menus are hard to come by but I get tons of inspiration from what other people eat.

Greatness

"Nuff" said!

Friday! Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

I have been reading a lot of studies lately that show that Omega 3 and Omega 6 are not only good for heart health and fighting cancer, but play a large role in brain health as well.   So clearly I have been actively working to include more of these foods in my diet (need all the help I can get), but it is a lot of information to digest.  I made a short list of foods I enjoy that are high in these foods so I can remember to incorporate them regularly.  If you need some tips on getting in those Omega 3's, their "mystery" is unraveled here. 

So it turns out that if your teen wants to lose weight, you should probably butt out! The trick to teen weight loss seems to be "going it alone."  A handful of studies have shown that teens who took charge of their own weight loss were mores successful than those "helped" by their mothers.  Given teens' need to individuate, it makes sense.  [I'm sorry I lost the link on this one but when I find it, I'll come back and add it here.]

We all know my Friday title is a bit of wordplay, right?  There really are no tricks to lasting weight loss. But we don't want to be tricked, either.  So I bring you what we've all been waiting for, at last!  What you eat doesn't matter as much as caloric intake;  Here is a study to prove the obvious!  It makes sense to me that certain styles of weight loss will be easier for certain personalities and body types.  Pick the type of eating plan you think you can stick with for life, eat less than you do now, and while you're at it, make some choices to enhance your long-term health.

Are you having trouble getting that water in each day?  Here is some inspiration in and a couple of more good reasons to drink that water:  It turns out that dehydration can affect your energy level and your mood as well.  Try getting in a larger quantity of water next time you're feeling low and see if it helps.   Check out the article for more information.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Menu Sharing

A few months ago my smart friend Colleen suggested I start keeping my menus on Google Calendar, a resource I already use to pieces anyway.  It was a brillant idea and beat the heck out of my former paper and pencil system.

The Google calendar allows me to repeat menu items, so something that is a big hit might get repeated in 2 weeks, whereas something else yummy, but very odd -- like smoked salmon -- might only get repeated every 5 weeks.

What I truly love about this is that each week when I sit down to work on next week's menu, it is already loaded with lots of meals!  Sometimes there will even be 2 or 3 choices for each meal and I just see what "feels" right this week, then set the other meals forward a week or two.

I can now do my menus in 10 minutes where it used to take an hour or more.

This week I was wishing I could have a peek at someone else's menu;  all the kids were sick and craving comfort food; I was looking for fast inspiration!  Today I thought, "Well, why not share my menus?  Maybe they can help someone out when they feel uninspired."

I have done so.  Here is the link to my menu calendar.  It's public so you should have no trouble seeing it.  If you click on "details" you can see a link to any online version of the recipe(s); if I have a photo, it's attached which you can also see under details.  For an example of both, look at the details under my lunch entry for Feb 2, Bo Luc Lac.

Disclaimer:  I only work one week ahead, so menus for two weeks from today will be incomplete and lacking detail!

I would love to see some other folks' menus too!  If you'd consider sharing, please be sure to let me know!  Happy cooking!

(Cross posted to Bright Love)

Willingness and Fear

I did lose weight this week but nonetheless, it's been a tough week.  We started with Halloween then had our first spate of cold weather and ended with a softball tournament.  It was a wonderful week in the life of a family and a very challenging one in the life of weight loss.  Yesterday I ate two donuts.  I know, not the end of the world, but so very definitely not on my plan. 

For me the challenge is all about willingness.  Am I willing to take the extra five minutes to wrassle the jogging stroller into the car so I can squeeze in some exercise while the team warms up?  Am I willing to take time to make my healthy shake while three pre-schoolers are demanding their breakfast?  Am I willing to go outside and take my walk even if it's cold out? 

The list goes on.  It is so easy to convince myself that it will be all right to skip this one workout or eat a donut because I didn't' want to take the 5 minutes to make a shake.  And the truth is that I can do these things but if I do, I'm not keeping my word to myself.  Which raises the question:  Why am I so willing to do things for others but so unwilling to do them for myself?

It boils down to one thing and I don't think the "thing" is fear of failure.  I think it is fear of success.  So this week, I will be making a list of what I am afraid will happen if I finally succeed at getting to my goal weight.  Stay tuned.

Fit Friday: Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Today's tip comes from one of my favorite blogs, Fooducate.  We can take a lesson from our kids:  Stop eating when you are full!  And further, we need to stop making our kids eat beyond that point!  Yes, they will be hungry later.  That's good, right?  Here's the full article for your reference.

The "trick" of the week is actually about avoiding a "big food "trick.  Do you know that the word, "natural" on a food package is practically meaninglingless ? Here is an interesting Food Republic article that explains further.

To top it all off, here is the inspirational story of Alisha, who lost 120 pounds.  One thing that really inspired me was her choice to "start small" at the gym.  She didn't go out and try to run 5 miles the first day. She increased her workouts incrementally as her confidence and fitness increased.  Here is her story.

Have a fun-filled, fit weekend!

Why I Persevere

For the past 18 months or so, I've weighed pretty much the same.  I'm about 35 pounds down from where I started my weight loss journey in the fall of '09 and still have a good 60 pounds to lose, possibly more. 

During the past 18 months, I've stuck with my calorie ranges, I've exercised, I've had extremely limited times of going off plan and those times have been rare, indeed.  I've learned to take a holi-DAY and not a whole week or month off plan.  I've dealt with illness, visitors and schedule changes.  I've exercised as much as 10 hours a week and as little as 2.  I've had 3 visits to the internist to have my thyroid medicine levels checked.  I've adjusted what I eat, when I eat, how much I sleep, how I exercise, and everything else I can think of to adjust.  Still, I basically weigh the same.

You may wonder, then, why I persevere.  The answer is really quite simple: I persevere because I am worth it. 

I am 52 years old.  In this decade, I am setting the foundation for my old age.  I am worth having fresh produce in the house.  I am worth the time it takes to plan, shop for and prepare healthy meals.  I am worth setting aside enough time to exercise and to sleep.    I am worth a long and lively old age! 

I hang in there because in the past 2 years, I have reduced my health risk by 200%.  My triglycerides, cholesterol and blood pressure are fantastic. I eat more fiber than a rabbit. I am a stronger, fitter, healthier, happier person than I have ever been before.  I'm still not athletic, but I am certainly more capable and confident about sports and exercise than I ever was as a thin teen.

I persevere because I want to set a good example for my 5 children and because  I plan on getting a big bunch of grandkids out of them!  I persevere because those who know better should do better and I am one who knows better!   I keep on going because I do believe I will one day overcome whatever is blocking me now and I will achieve my goal.  I stick with it because I have learned so much  that I can never "unlearn."  I persevere because what I am learning is benefiting others.

I am worth it . . . and you are too.  Dream big but work hard too.  One day we will both get there.

September's Last Friday! Tips Tricks and Inspiration

We are still rocking the bentos this week.  Next week, our bentos will feature a "trip around the world" with dishes inspired by India, the Mediterranean, Spain and France, as well as one Asian inspired meal.  This week's bentos all came from my daughter's birthday present, The Just Bento Cookbook. 

This has lead to renew my love with all things pickled, so today's trick is pickling.  If, like me, you get tired of salad, this is a good and low calorie way to change up those veggies.  I came across this yummy sounding Polish pickle recipe on Snack Girl.

Snack Girl's blog is my tip of the week.  She has lots of low-cal ideas for all we snack crazed calorie counters.

Now, for your weekly inspiration.  Yesterday I was tasked with journaling some non-scale related changes in my life since beginning my weight loss journey.  I'm sharing my short list with you, but this week, you are to inspire yourself by doing the same.  Remember, they are not about weight but about the other things.  Here are a couple of mine:

• My whole family eats more healthfully
• I feel happy about what I eat
• I feel strong and fit
• I feel younger in age and have tons more energy
• I have developed my sense of purpose
• I have learned that I am worth spending time and energy on

 Please share your list with me and let me celebrate with you!