Holidays Schmolidays

How many of you are in a panic because the time of year with parties and huge meals are upon us? You feel like you're gonna fail and blow your success with one meal or even on the finger foods at the various parties.

You don't have to be stressed out. Stress can cause excess eating because we use food for comfort. Rest assured that you do NOT have to deprive yourself during the holidays or any other time of the year.

Since I started my journey I have preached portion control. You do not have to skip on the foods you love. 

It's been proven time and time again that if you deprive yourself of the things you love, when you do finally give in you'll give in big time and then you'll feel even worse about that.

Never once, whether it's been the holidays or cheat days, have I ever felt deprived and surprisingly to some I've managed to lose 148 pounds. 

When you're filling your plate at holiday gatherings, you don't have to take large portions of everything. Small spoonfuls of everything you love is fine because once you've nibbled a little of this and that you'll start feeling full and if you listen to your brain, you won't eat until you're miserable. And even if you do, it's just one day.

One meal or even a day of meals of making poor choices is NOT going to sabotage your progess. I can't stress this enough. 

This is from my Timehop 4 years ago:

Four years ago I was saying it and I still say it today. 

So yeah, eat small amounts of the foods you like. Go take a walk afterwards. You do not have to deprive yourself at all. You don't have to gobble til you wobble but please don't deprive yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

There's No Magic For Weight Loss

First, let me say that this post is not to bash anyone who sells the popular weight loss products.

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All day long you'll see posts about this weight loss pill, shake, etc boasting that it gives results like none other. (And you can retire and move to the Bahamas if you sell them, but that's another story!) Pictures are even posted of the fabulous results that people are getting from them. Sure it all looks awesome and seems like the answer to all your weight loss problems. I've even seen a few that say you don't have to exercise.

So suppose they do produce results like those seen in the pictures and promised in the posts. Say you do lose 10, 20, or 100 pounds. Once you hit your goal what do you do? If you stop taking the pills and drinking the shakes, and you start eating real food, eventually you're gonna go back to those unhealthy eating habits and the pounds and inches suddenly reappear.

You wanna know why? I'll tell you. I'm glad you asked. It happens because you never kicked those bad eating habits. You never retrained your brain. Weight loss is just as much, if not more, mental as it is physical. Also, fast results result in even faster gaining it back.

There's also a lot of programs that promise to help you but honestly they're expensive and once you stop eating their prepackaged foods (prepackaged = so packed with preservatives and other bad stuff that they can't be good for you in the long run) you're gonna be back to square one like with the pills and shakes.

I don't include Weight Watchers in this though because even though I've never tried it I believe they're onto something. They've been around forever so they must be doing something right. They do change a little from time to time but I think it's just to keep up with the changing times.

Gimmicks just don't work.

Weight loss surgery is great. I have several friends who have had wonderful success and have kept the weight off. But I also have some who regained the weight and then some because they went in with the assumption that this was gonna be a magical cure. 

Bottomline: train your brain while you train your body!

Water, water and more water

I know it sounds cliche but drinking water is a must. It really does help you lose weight by flushing the bad stuff out of your body.

In the beginning, I gave up drinking anything that wasn't water. I didn't even use those drink mix packets to flavor my water. Nothing but just pure water. I didn't have soda, tea, coffee, Kool Aid or any other drinks for well over a year. Later I discovered that something to drink that isn't water will not ruin everything. 

Like food, everything in moderation.

And I include diet drinks in this too as a no no. Just Google why diet sodas are bad for you. Along with what you'll find when you Google, I tend to get migraines after drinking diet sodas so I just stay away from them.

Water is just plain good for you. Check out this article on WebMD: http://www.m.webmd.com/diet/features/6-reasons-to-drink-water

Now coffee, that's a different story. I do have my two cups every morning, I don't deny that. You wouldn't like me if I didn't. 😉

Good night all. I'm gonna leave ya with a selfie collage from last night.

Everyday Isn't Going To Be Perfect

So you wake up with the best of intentions of working out and eating healthy. But soon you discover you've got a sick child (insert life problems here) and it's off to the ER. You're there for hours and by the time you leave you're too tired to cook much less workout so fast food it is.

You may not experience this exact scenario, but in day to day life you're gonna get thrown curve balls. Guess what? It's okay! Tomorrow is a new day! It's a new day for healthier choices.

Don't beat yourself up about it. 

I have a friend on Facebook and My Fitness Pal who keeps me so motivated. Everyday she posts something along the lines of "it's a new day to make good choices." She's so right!she has no idea how much her posts inspire and motivate me.

If you happen to have a day that you've had no choice but to eat unhealthy foods, count it as a cheat day. Since the first week of my journey I've included one cheat day a week. It keeps me from feeling deprived. 

Now I'm not saying go to Golden Corral and eat till they kick you out but if you want fried chicken or a steak, eat it! I have found that if I satisfy that craving, it keeps me from overdoing it if I put it off for too long. And like I said, tomorrow is a new day.

You also need a rest day. Your body needs it. While hardcore workouts are good for you, they can be bad on your joints, especially if you fall in the over 40 category like me.

Just remember tomorrow is a new day!

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Bonus tip: use a website like My Fitness Pal to keep a food and exercise diary. It helps a lot. When you hit those plateaus that I mentioned yesterday, you can go back and look to see what you might need to change.

Be prepared for injuries, plateaus, and other setbacks

First off I want to send some magic healing dust to my friend, Kristin, who is having surgery today. I hope you heal up quickly so you can get back to kicking butt in the gym soon!

Many times I've talked about how great the Leslie Sansone Walk DVDs are. And I still believe that her Walk DVDs were and continue to be a big part of my success. One day, about 6 months into this journey as I was doing a walk DVD I felt a horrible pain in my right foot and heel. I tried to keep going but I had to stop. I ended up going to the ER and the diagnosis was plantar fasciitis. To this day I continue to suffer with it (off and on) and a heel spur.

Injuries are gonna happen. But that's not your bodies way of telling you that you should give up. You just have to give your body time to heal. 

Plateaus. Plateaus are when you get to a certain weight and just hover there for weeks. I've hit them several times during this journey. Like injuries, they're gonna happen. I think that your body gets used to the diet and exercise and falls into a rut. What has worked for me is bumping up the calories slightly just to give your metabolism a little kick start. By an increase in calories I don't mean that you should eat cheeseburgers daily. Just bump it up a little and you'll see results soon.

We're humans and setbacks are gonna happen. If you're out in the working world, there may be times when you're putting in long hours at work. If you're a parent, kids get sick, requiring all of your attention. You may have a loved one that needs your help through surgery or an illness. Something may happen along the way that will require your undivided attention. It's okay. When things go back to normal get back to business.

Knowing these things will keep you from being disappointed or too hard on yourself when it does happen.

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Today's bonus: This is a somewhat simple 30 day challenge that me and a few friends are doing. Today is day 6 for me.

I'm definitely feeling it in my thighs today! And the thighs are just where I need it right now.

Don't Lose Weight to Look Better

So many times when I've posted progress pictures on my personal Facebook I've gotten comments on how great I look. That's awesome! And I have to admit that I do look better than when I weighed 375 pounds. But that's not the reason I'm on this mission.

My health had gotten pretty bad. I was in the early stages of heart disease, I was borderline diabetic, my cholesterol was high and I just felt like poop. And the icing on the cake is that I was only 38 years old. I wasn't ready to die.

I was always tired. I never felt like playing with my kids. My biggest goal for the each day was to get stuff done for the day so I could do my favorite activity: sleep. 

But that's not living- that's dying. 

So I started this journey. And not at one time, even though I was embarrassed by my outward appearance, was my looks the goal of this.

Excess weight puts a strain on every organ, joint and bone. Imagine how hard my heart had to work to pump blood through my 375 pound, 5' 4" body. I'm really surprised that my knees didn't just give me a two week notice. 

Now that I've lost 146 lbs, I can climb stairs and not have to stop to catch my breath. I can sit in the floor without having problems getting back up. I can even jump on the trampoline with my kids. Also, I'm no longer borderline diabetic! The list goes on and on.

Yes, I do look better but I think it's because of the new healthy me glowing from the inside out and that's just a bonus of better health.

Beauty is only skin deep!

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Today's bonus tip: don't use the scales as your only measure of success. Take measurements of your neck, chest, waist and hips and retake them monthly. 

Transformation Tuesday

Here's a few recent pictures

March 2009, June 2011 & November 2014

Three months can make a difference. From August to November this year.

Doing it for you

I'm sure at some point before I began this journey I thought that I definitely needed to lose weight in order to attract someone to date. Back around the time all of this began on July 6, 2010 my mind was filled with so much negativity because of my weight and the health problems that the weight was causing.

Four years later I realize that I am the number one reason for this lifestyle change. For once in my 42 years I'm putting ME first.

As much as Mark and my kids love me, and will benefit in many ways from a new healthy me, they don't have to live inside the prison of my unhealthy (mentally and physically) body. 

I'm doing this for me and you should, too.  You're so worth it! 

I'm willing to bet that you gained weight and became unhealthy because you put other people's needs, feelings, etc ahead of your own. When we put ourselves on the bottom of the totem pole, our health suffers. Make yourself your first priority.

And you know that saying about if you can't love yourself, how can anyone else love you? There's a lot of truth to that. When all of these changes for the better started taking place, I started really loving me. And you know what happened? I met the man of my dreams and we're building a life together.

Do it for you and everything else just starts falling into place.

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Today's bonus: don't hide from cameras! You're gonna want pictures of yourself for proof (even if it's for yourself) of your progress. 

10 Things You Must Know

I've said many times in the past an I'll say it again: I'm no weight loss expert or medical professional. But I'm always willing to help based solely on my experiences.

If you're just starting your weight loss journey, I think there's some things you should know. And I'm NOT saying any of it to discourage you. I really wish someone had been this honest with me in the beginning.

Starting on Tuesday, I'm gonna blog each day about my top 10 things you should know. Here's a quick rundown:

10. Do it for you. Sure, you owe it to your family, kids, significant other to be the healthiest version of you but make yourself the number one reason for getting healthy.

9.  Don't do it to look better. Do it to feel better. Beauty is skin deep but when you're healthy, you glow from the inside and that's just beautiful.

8.  Be prepared for injuries, plateaus and other setbacks. To be blunt, shit is gonna happen and it's ok. Let your body heal if you get an injury, re-evaluate and shake things up if you plateau. 

7.  Know that everyday isn't going to be perfect and that it's 100% ok to have a cheat day now and then. I honestly believe that's why I really haven't had to deal with a long lasting plateau.

6. Drinking water and pretty much all but giving up sodas, even if they're diet, is gonna help you BIG time. A soda now and then is fine and we won't even talk about coffee.

6.  Know that there are magic pills, shakes or other gimmicks. Do you really want to take those diet pills or drink those shakes the rest of your life? (Not included in this is weight loss surgery because it's a wonderful tool if it's medically necessary)

5. Get rid of all the negative in your life, people included. They're only gonna destroy you. I'm not saying end all of your lifelong relationships but only keep those who support you close. A support system is essential. And expect haters.

4. You have to move to effectively burn the calories you consume. No couch potatoes.

3. Weight loss is nearly if not as much mental as it is physical.

2.  Set small, attainable, realistic goals along the way instead of one big frustrating goal.

1.  Realize that this isn't a "diet". This is a lifelong healthy lifestyle change.

Come back on Tuesday where I'll start with a break down of #10!