Falling with style...

My fiancé and I love visiting old cemeteries. Yeah, we're kinda creepy like that but we've seen a lot of interesting graves during our adventures.

Yesterday Mark and I went exploring at a cemetery that I had no clue exists even though it's only about 5 miles from where I grew up. We hiked through briar patches and other rough terrain for what seemed like forever. After 1.25 miles we finally found the old cemetery. Very interesting little spot.

On the walk back we decided to bypass the briars and go a tiny bit further into the woods. The walking was a lot easier since we weren't having to work ourbwaybtheough a lot of undergrowth. And then this monster of a hill came into view. 

I was already tired and sweaty (even on a cold January day) so the thought of my clumsy butt having to climb it made me want to lay down and have a temper tantrum. I wanted to kick and scream and cry. 

But you know what? I did it. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.

So why am I blogging this at 6 am? Because what comes us must eventually come down.

When we reached the top of the hill I realized that in order to get to the car, there was one last obstacle: the other side of the hill. I'm not so clumsy going up a hill but going down the hill is another story. There were pine needles and lots of fallen leaves which we're hiding some pretty big rocks.

Now this next part happened so fast that I'm not really sure how it happened. I remember that Mark was a few feet ahead of me saying how I should kinda come down sideways to keep from sliding so much on the pine needles. And then I figured out my own way down. 

As I was about to start my descent down the hill, I basically sat down (not meaning to) and slid. It was almost like sledding in the snow. It was fun and I laughed all the way down the hill, even as I slid under a fallen pine tree. At one point I was afraid I was going to knock Mark down but he cleared the path pretty quick.

Oh, but why am I blogging at 6 am on a Sunday morning? Because every inch of my body is in some sort of pain. My ankles are swollen which is nothing new. My left wrist got all silly yesterday thinking it could save the day and catch me as I sat down. Pretty sure it's sprained. And there's lots of other random aches and pains.

But Mark said the look on my face was priceless. The feeling that you have as a kid, sledding in the snow was brought back for a few minutes, and I burned calories. So it's all good. I'll survive, let my boo boos heal and do it all again soon. 

Five years ago when I started this journey I never would have imagined surviving the adventures that the new body and better health would allow me to survive. And it's only going to get better.

2015

So, I've been at this weight loss thing for 4.5 years. When I started this journey I had no idea that I would still be working on getting to my goal weight after all this time.

Was it a waste of time? No, not at all. When I started this I weighed 375 pounds. As of my last weigh in, I've lost 143 pounds. It definitely hasn't been a waste of time. 

Do I have any regrets? Yes. I regret not starting this effort many years ago. I really hate that I've spent most of my adult life as a morbidly obese person. But you know what? The rest of my life is going to be spent as a healthy person.

I've hit some snags along the way. I've had several injuries that have kept me inactive. The day before Christmas Eve, Mark came home and I was gonna help him bring stuff in from the car that he had bought while Christmas shopping after work. I stepped out onto our front porch. My left leg went forward but my right leg decided it wanted to go behind me. I landed on my leg, with my back landing on the doorstep. I sprained my ankle and had other boo boos. My ankle still swells daily.

And illnesses. I've had more than my share of those. Just in the past 3 months I've had the flu twice. 

But the biggest snag was losing my willpower. If you've followed my progress over these past 4.5 years, you remember how I never backed down, I had a ton of determination, I just got out there and did it. I lost it though. And I want it back. I miss it and it belongs to me. 😉

I do have new inspiration though. A date hasn't been set yet but Mark and I are getting married. You already know that but it's my new inspiration. Mark sees me everyday in this body but on the day that we say "I do" I want to look better than I've looked my entire life.

Yes, I've said since day one that it's not about looks, it's about my health. Well, it still is but now it's so much more. 

And no, to those of you picking this post apart, he's never once complained about my looks, weight, etc. He loves me 100%, 24/7, 365.

Let's do this!

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.