Goodbye June, Hello July!

What I learned in June

I learned about experiencing setbacks on your health journey. I define a setback as an experience in your life that over takes your focus on health. My setback came in the form of losing my grandmother this month. During this time I ate a lot of fast food and junk food. My initial reaction was to do a reset. My focus was on my weight. Whenever I feel that my life is out of control I focus on my weight. By focusing on my weight I ended up trying to do an extreme detox. I had a plan to eat soup for dinner for 24 days, among other things. I experienced a recoil effect from the deprivation and I was reminded of why it is important that I have after dinner snacks as I found myself binge eating on sugar. I am grateful I had this experience of dealing with a setback in my journey, because it helped me face my fear of back sliding on my journey. In the back of my mind there was a fear that one day I would return to my former ways and regain all that I had lost. Through the experience of dealing with a setback I learned that my fear will never be realized, because I am gaining the skills and knowledge to never be the same unhealthy person ever again. I learned that I can always get back up. I learned that the proper way to do a reset is to simply focus on one or two healthy habits and build your way back into your normal routine. I learned you should expect to struggle and that you should not beat yourself up. The two habits I focused on were my daily walks and eating a healthy breakfast and lunch. In a few days I was able to go from not taking any walks and eating doughnuts for breakfast to walking daily and eating veggie burgers and fruit for breakfast and lunch. I also learned that for me when it comes to detox plans my limit is no more than 3-5 days maximum.

This July I am looking forward to continuing to keep up my walking routine, adding back in some strength training. I got a brand new set of weights from 3LBs to 15LB’s. I will be taking the stairs more and doing squats. I plan to use a paper journal to keep a food diary that is not focused on calorie counting, and to record my thoughts and feeling’s each day. I am also making the choice not to focus on weight-loss, but to focus on maintain healthy habits and the weight-loss will naturally follow. I have designed my own simply filling foods list with foods that are best for me on my journey. My list basically includes fruit, vegetables, beans, soy products, brown rice, low-fat snacks, and I am trying to stay away from trigger foods and junk foods that are high in fat. I am doing weekly meal planning and daily meal planning. I will be eating lots of veggie patty’s with vegetables, brown rice or potatoes, beans and rice, salads and other special meal idea’s such as veggie fajita’s.

CLM

June Plan Update! No longer a WW!

I have decided not to continue with Weight Watcher's.

The main reason is that along my journey I had decided not to watch my weight. My focus has been on making a life style change, developing healthy eating habits, a regular exercise routine and working on loving myself. Weighing myself weekly is just not a part of my journey. I also want to develop, build and maintain healthy eating habits. The Weight Watcher's tools, of the database of food and the point system, do not take me directly where I want to go. I do better with just a set of healthy guidelines to help me make healthier choices each day, rather than a system that would turn me into a food accountant. Even if I was to become a food accountant, I would rather count calories than points, since the majority of labeled food displays calorie information, even fast food places. I did like the support of the group meetings, but again I would rather be in a group that discusses wellness rather than program jargon.

CLM

PSA: This Just In, " A COOKIE IS STILL, A COOKIE!"

PSA: This Just In, "A COOKIE IS STILL A COOKIE!"

Almost no one would think they could eat cake in the middle of the day, for just any old reason, but we trust cookies. Cookies have become an every day snack. They are thin and light, easy to carry, have a long shelf-life, and we are convinced that they are pretty much harmless. Even a person who stays ten feet away from soda and juice at all times will not think twice about biting into a cookie. The COOKIE has become the treat that we have gotten use to after our lunch time meals or as an afternoon or late night snack. Even is we eat desert, should we really be eating it twice a day? What makes the COOKIE even more sinister is that you can rarely eat just one, unless of course the cookie is the size of your face!

Even when we have finally come to our senses and admitted that COOKIES are the DEVIL, we fool ourselves with the LOW-FAT COOKIE, THE SUGAR-FREE COOKIE, THE HIGH FIBER COOKIE, THE VEGAN COOKIE, THE GLUTEN-FREE COOKIE, etc. No matter what the package say's be warned that a COOKIE, IS STILL A COOKIE!

Unless you want to end up like the COOKIE MONSTER, a big giant blue thing, well maybe you won't turn blue like him, but any how, just treat all cookies the same. Remember that the best defense is a good offense. Keep the house a COOKIE FREE ZONE! Just Say No, in the grocery store. Check your cart and remove items at the check-out if you have to. Do not buy value size packs of cookies, you do not need to STORE COOKIES in your home or your BELLY! Unless there is NUCLAR WAR COOKIES will still be around.

And if for some reason you really do want to bring home a pack of cookies, why don't you just add all 24 cookies into your weight-loss tracker and stop kidding yourself!

CLM

So Long May!

The Month in Review:

1. My family was in town for a visit and during the visit my grandmother had a fall and was hospitalized. This caused major stress and I experienced a phenomenon I coin, "Bi-polar Eating", in which I eat healthy for part of the day and then eat crazy junk for the next part of the day, and continue this trend throughout the day. In the past I only ate one way, which was totally out of control.

2. I also got the stomach flu, which was horrible. I lived of a strict diet of Gatorade and Crackers.

3. I uncovered my gluten intolerance and have been on a gluten free diet for the latter part of the month, doing a complete overhaul of my food plan.

4. I rejoined Weight Watchers and have attended several meetings.

5. I have just finished my sessions with my trainer, in the Get Fit/ Stay Fit Program at my job. I had been strength training twice a week and no longer fear weights! I did my check out assessment after several months in the program and my blood pressure is lower and I am down 10 pounds bring my latest weight to date as of 5/29/2013 is 257 pounds! I am happy to have broken out of my plateau!

The major lessons I have learned this month:

1. Nacho's (tortilla chips with cheese) are not for me, this food is difficult to portion control and I can binge easily on this food.

2. Low Carb Living is not for me. I need fruit, vegetables and even starch.

3. I must not give up treats and snacks. I can find a happy middle ground.

4. Setting a weight-loss goal of no more than 2 LBS a month works for me. That is if I set a goal at all!

CLM

Hello May!

First let me shout for joy that I made it through April! I am so looking forward to this month. My primary goals this month are to continue walking with my walking group three days a week. To continue my twice a week strength training sessions. To track what I eat this month, so that I can be honest about what I am putting into my body. To focus on eating small portions. To keep junk food out of the house. To focus on popcorn, pudding, and frozen fruit bars for after dinner snacks, along with tea, hot chocolate and gum. I want to make sure that I am eating a veggie burger with yogurt for breakfast and lunch every day, including weekends. I want to make sure that I am taking a morning walk on the weekends. I want to continue to eat healthy meals rich in vegetables for dinner Monday-Friday. I will allow myself two fast food meals twice a week on weekends, chipotle, taco bell, subway, but I will try not to buy desserts from there. If I want to treat myself to a dessert while I am out, I will choose frozen yogurt. I want to continue to journal my feeling daily. I am hoping to have a strong month as I fight each day to stay on track and recover from April's damage.

CLM

Good Bye April!

I am saying a farewell to April. This has been the hardest month of my journey to get healthy! I have faced the ultimate challenges and distractions. I have had a hectic work load with my family being in town. I have been a caretaker for my grandmother and during that time I learned to put myself dead last. I would resent putting myself last and feel trapped, and then I would turn to junk food and binge eat. I have had a ton of binge eating episodes over the last two weeks and my family has been back around and I have felt myself slipping into my old pattern of putting myself on the back burner. I have kept up with my exercise this month, my strength training and my walking, but I fell off any type of eating routine. This month was a struggle and one that I just had to get through. The two lessons I learned this month, is that I must put myself first or pay the price of resentment and binge eating. The second and the most important lesson I learned was to never give up on myself even if I am having a bad meal, a bad day, a bad week or in this case a bad month. As long as you don't give up you cannot fail. I am happy to get back on track for the month of May. My plan for  May is forth coming.

CLM

Two Weeks to the End Of April

It feels like this month has lasted forever. I faced many challenges this month from my family being back in town to a ton of assignments at work. I have been on the go non-stop. There are some things I have done well this month. I have kept up with my weight training sessions with my personal trainer. I have wanted to quit at times as my life felt so hectic and I wanted to take some thing off my plate. What I have learned by pushing through with my twice weekly sessions is that after I train I feel so calm and relaxed. I never new lifting could release my stress and tension.

I have also kept up with my walking routine, really enjoying walking with my walking group at work. I have prevented any foot injuries that almost crept up.

I did track toward the start of the month, but I quickly abandoning daily tracking. My eating had been some what out of control over the last two weeks. I have been able to recover by jotting down what I eat on index cards, writing in my journal daily, especially my emotions. I have also written inspiring messages on index cards and set small goals for myself.

At this point in my journey I do feel ready to treat myself better by eating healthier foods. I am focusing on cutting back on flour and sugar products, and eating more fresh salads and fresh fruit. I am trying to fill up on fruits and vegetables. I feel that the only way to beat my addiction it to make some permanent changes to my eating habits, so I am cutting back on cheese, flour and sugar. I will check back in at the end of the month to see how I have done.

One salad down today and one more to go!

CLM