Laura: Why This Blog and My Weekend Progress

Why this blog?  Maybe so I have a public accounting.  Ha ha ha!  Maybe that's part of it, but truthfully the biggest part is that I totally believe there's strength in numbers.

I think it helps knowing that I'm not alone, that there are others who act and react just as I do at times.  Maybe knowing this, I can quit beating myself up about some of my actions and just keep on going.

I'm not the first person who has decided there's nothing "decent" for breakfast so I'm going to have toast with six pats of butter on it (two pieces of toast, that is... not six pats on ONE piece).

I'm not the first person who went shopping while starving and totally cleaned out the snack food aisle.

And I'm not the first person who said I'm too tired to make dinner, what fast food place is on the way home?

But if I let any of these stop me from picking myself right back up and getting on the health wagon, then I'm just using them as excuses. 

One fall does NOT mean the game is over. 

So yeah, I did have toast with butter for breakfast today.  A lot of butter.

A few years ago, I would have said, "Oh well, I've already blown it.  I'll just eat whatever's around today and I'll start my healthy eating tomorrow."

Um... yeah, we know how well THAT works.  Tomorrow never actually happens because IT'S ALWAYS TODAY.  But the diets that start TOMORROW are so much easier to stay on.

So TODAY... for the rest of the day I ate a lot a fruits and vegetables along with some grilled salmon for lunch and soup for dinner.

I also went to the park with my kids and we played catch for an hour or two.  Since I suck at catching, I burned a lot of calories chasing after the ball I kept missing.

I'm not going to worry about what I'm eating tomorrow or the next day or the next week or the next month.  I only have to think about today.

I can eat healthy for one day, right?

And then tomorrow, all I have to do is eat healthy for one day, right?

:-)

Marina's Mission

My name is Marina and I am glad for the help and support of this group.

I am a happily married mom of a lovely daughter who will turn 14 soon.  My life is filled with good things and happy events. 

Why I have been unable or unwilling to control my weight is a source of much frustrated internal conjecture on my part.  I have no tragic story of early childhood damage, and yet I can watch the TV program “Heavy” and see myself in each of the participants to one degree or another.

I weigh about 120 lbs more than I should and have been overweight since college (a long long time ago).  I have reached the point at which I am not only uncomfortable exercising (which has been a problem all along) but am now uncomfortable doing some of the things I normally have done.  That’s some serious de-conditioning! 

Last week (coincidentally a day before the post in the LE Bathroom) I made a commitment to myself to DO SOMETHING about it rather than just feel sorry for myself.  I’ve only taken baby steps so far but I am working on it. 

So far I have shared my goals with my family (and now you).

The treadmill has actually seen some use (walking only so far, but walking at an uncomfortably fast pace. Yay!)

And yesterday I spent the day cleaning and purging the kitchen of some things I no longer welcome in my life.  I am not swearing off any particular foods but I do acknowledge that pre-prepared processed foods only SOUND like easy fixes and don’t fit with what my body needs.

Laura’s model is what I’m aiming for.  Moderation without craziness.  

I feel my biggest challenges are:

1.  Moving my body is uncomfortable.  But I know the only way to change that is to actually MOVE.  I’m working on it.

And

2.  Time.  After work, I have always in the past found excuses not to make time for myself to exercise and/or prepare healthier foods.  This must change. I have been robbing myself and my family of lifetime not just time in any given day.

It is my hope that this support group will help so that I have a place to report back both my accomplishments and my struggles. 

Yours sincerely and with hope,

Marina

Jill's Deal

I turned 50 this year  :\

In my late teens through my 30s I was at a healthy weight (110-118) and active. Exercise was a regular part of my life, plus I walked everywhere.  I started swimming in college and went from struggling to swim 10 laps (probably took 45 minutes including all the rest time in between laps) in January to swimming a fairly quick paced non-stop 40-45 minutes by June.   I loved swimming!  I loved the feel of the water, the sound it made and the pleasure I got from propelling myself through the water.  I discovered swimmer's high (just like runners high) - all those endorphins coursing through my body. After I graduated college, I added weight training to my routine.  I was fairly regular with working out 3 times a week and swimming 2-3 times a week (I feel tired thinking about it now) and I ate quite healthfully - lots of fruit & veg along with protein and carbs, including the occasional cookie, candy, bowl of ice cream (occasional being the operative word).

Somehow over the years the exercise fell away and the weight came on board.  In the last 10 years, I've gained 30 pounds, which is substantial for a 5'2" frame.

So here I am in the Healthy Bodies Blog!  I have started swimming again and am trying the South Beach diet for the first time (worked very well for my sister who is doing it with me now).  I think I'm a carboholic, so if it helps me break that pattern - yay!  I purchased a Groupon for a one month membership to a gym 2 blocks down from my office that I need to activate.

My goal is to lose 33 pounds and get back under 120, renew my love and commitment of exercise, feel better, and feel better about myself.

Cheers!

Laura's story

Hi, my name is Laura and I’m not always in control of my eating habits. 

Sometime last year, I decided (for the 435^th time in my life) that I needed to get serious about losing some weight.

I’m tired of being tired.  Carrying around an extra 70 pounds was surely making me tired.

So now I’m 35 pounds down and 35 more to go.

How’d I do it?  First let me tell you how I didn’t do it.

The things that didn’t work for me (that I tried) included:

South Beach diet

Counting calories

Weight Watchers

The Paleo diet

The Flat Belly diet

The Alkaline diet

Eating what I want but exercising like crazy

Watching what I eat, but never exercising

… and a hundred other ways of trying to lose the excess baggage.

Last year I decided I don’t need to spend my life making lists of what I can and can’t eat, taking notes of my every activity and calorie, adding everything up at the end of the day (or several times DURING the day) and calculating it all against my BMI.

Yes, I want to be in control… but that kind of thing is just overly controlling.  I’m smart.  I *know* if I’m putting something decent into my body or not.

So for me it came down to these simple principles:

1) Eat when you’re hungry

2) Stop eating when you’re satisfied

3) Drink an appropriate amount of water

4) Opt for whole grains

5) Cut out refined and overly processed foods

6) Go easy on the salt

7) Move your body when you can

8) Have good food on-hand at all times

Let’s break these down:

1) Eat when you’re hungry

I make an effort to notice if I’m really hungry or if eating because I’m bored or stressed instead.

2) Stop eating when you’re satisfied

Also known as “portion control”, this is a biggie.  The amount of food that is heaped onto the typical American dinner plate, at home or in restaurants, borders on the obscene.  Keep in mind what a serving of meat is, for example; it’s the size of the palm of your hand.  You know those teeny, tiny cans of tuna you can buy that are so cute?  That’s 3 ounces… which is one serving.  If you aren’t hungry, stop eating.

3) Drink an appropriate amount of water

I don’t measure or count how much water I drink in a day, but I do try to think about drinking water when I can.  I don’t drink anything else except herbal teas.  Might have some fresh squeezed fruit juice on a special occasion, but the bulk of my days never sees soda, juice, coffee or anything else.  Don’t forget that sometimes when you’re thirsty, that is mistaken by you as hunger… so make sure you’re always hydrated.  Also, water helps keep things moving in the body… you want things moving.  No one wants a static body. 

4) Opt for whole grains

This one is huge. I’m rather fond of carbohydrates and rice and white bread were faves of mine.  Interestingly enough, it hasn’t been that hard to switch to whole grains.  They have more flavor, less goes a longer way, they have more nutrition and fiber, and it’s been my experience they are important for evening out blood sugar levels.

5) Cut out refined and overly processed foods

KISS or “keep it simple, stupid” is how I like to eat now.  The less my food is manufactured, the better.  I don’t even like recipes with a lot of ingredients, even if they are healthy.  For me, eating foods in the form closest to their essence is best.  For example, rather than apple juice or apple pie, I’d eat just the plain old apple.  Rather than fish with cream sauce, I’d want just the fish, maybe grilled with a sprinkle of lemon juice.  The simpler, the better.  Rather than canned, frozen, or boxed foods (which usually have preservatives, fewer vitamins, and more sodium), try finding that food in its raw state… or foregoing it altogether.  I also cut out refined sugars and mostly get my sugars from fruits now. 

6) Go easy on the salt

I am a born salt-aholic.  Knowing this, I try to steer clear of soups (have yet to find a low-sodium soup that didn’t make me gag).  I do find that, just like sugar, if I go for awhile without overdoing it, I find that a little goes a long way.  Also, instead of salting my food during cooking, I find I use less if I salt it at the table, instead.  I’m learning that lemon is a great salt substitute.  I drizzle it over my vegetables in the place of butter and salt.

7) Move your body when you can

Okay, here’s my weakest link. I don’t like to exercise.  Rather than make a plan where I have all this stuff scheduled out and then find excuses not to do it… leading to a feeling of failure and futility, I just “move when I can”.  I opt for stairs when I can, I walk a few blocks rather than drive when I can, I go out onto the tennis courts once in awhile.  Little things.  I currently walk an hour a day 3-4 times a week and I think that reduced my blood pressure.  Yay!  I’ll add other things, maybe some free weights, eventually.  But for me, it’s a little bit at a time.

8) Have good food on-hand at all times

I don’t deprive myself of food.  If there’s something I really want, I eat some.  SOME… not all or a ton or five servings.  Having a taste of something also keeps that “I’m depriving myself” feeling at bay.  But I also know myself well enough to know I don’t have a great amount of self-control, so I try to keep “those” situations to a minimum by not having unhealthy foods in the house and by having plenty of healthy snacks/alternatives at hand.  My worst times are when there’s nothing easy for me to eat so I go get something easy… like fast food, or restaurant food, or other junk food.  I know I don’t always feel like chopping up a bunch of vegetables just because I want a snack and since I work two jobs I’m not going to beat myself up over the fact that on top of everything else I do I don’t take the time to wash and cut up vegetables.  My solution is to go ahead and buy some of the pre-cut veggies even though they cost a bit more because I’d rather have something there when I need it then find an excuse to go out and get some junk food.

Two things I have heard quoted that struck a chord with me were these:

1) Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels

2) Food is fuel

The “food is fuel” thing really makes me think about what I’m putting into my body. 

And doing all of these things I’ve listed above has made it so that I can be at someone’s birthday party and I can eat one bite of the cake on my plate to see what it tastes like and enjoy it.  I can do that, without feeling like I want to snarf the piece of cake in three seconds and ask for more.

I haven’t yet worked on the principle of eating slowly and enjoying my food.  There’s always room for improvement.  But one thing I think that has changed (and is a huge improvement) is that rather than eating three meals a day, I tend to graze.  I am hypoglycemic and I think this works in my favor.  There is always a small, steady stream of sugars and proteins in my system.  I never get that shaky, “I need to eat” thing going on.  Nor do I get that horrid bloated “gotta undo my pants” thing, either.

Portion control.  It rocks!

I don't worry about some of the high-fat foods like nuts, cheese, and olive oil.  I use these with abandon.  To me, they are healthy and when I eat them I'm not over-doing it anyway.  Moderation without deprivation.

So this is what seems to be working for me, but we are all different and I look forward to hearing what works for others.