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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 11

Posted in women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, Exercise, My Fitness Pal, Old to New, re-gained weight, Struggle, walking, weight, Weight Loss on May 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Well, here I am, at month eleven of my weight loss blog … and it has been three months since I updated my own ‘progress.’

Sigh … d999b4880f53376b2d4549f2a2fac09a-1

Well, at Christmas time I was down twenty-four pounds, and feeling like I could take on the world! Then the New Year rang in, and the scale did not move … at all … despite good efforts! Sadly, when it did start moving, it was moving in the wrong direction. From the beginning of February until today, I have gained back eleven pounds 😦

Ugh!

But worse than gaining those hard fought-off pounds back, is the reality that my head (the most important part of the weight loss process) simply does not even give a rip! I have reached a new low … weight and health related apathy.

Obviously I cannot continue as I have been, so I did the most motivating thing I knew … I re-read the posts that got myself motivated in the first place.

It was in my post, The Fat Came Back, where I shared the event that made me face the hard reality that I had lost my way, lost my focus, and gained previously lost weight back.

The following were my original goals:

* get weighed every Friday, and only on Friday
(I tend to be addicted to the scales, when trying to lose weight, and I need to work on my obsessive compulsiveness)

* use”My Fitness Pal” app on my phone (or website My Fitness Pal)
(this is NOT an advertisement for the app. I have used it before, and it is an easy way for me to know, not just the calories, but also the nutritional values of the foods I eat. When I use it, I find I will look at the minuscule package of ‘healthy’ cookies for 100 calories, and a large fresh apple for the same, and when I see the nutritional values of each, I make better choices for the health of my body, and not just counting calories).

* walking
(still three bigger (one hour or more) walks each week, preferably on my favorite trail, but added to that, one twenty minute walk each day. The beast is starting to show signs of middle age spread … just don’t tell her I told you, and she could use this too)

* abdominal exercise
(I am still not sure what shape these exercises will eventually take, but my bowl full of jelly must be reigned in. I am starting with twenty-five crunches a morning … before coffee … I need to have incentive)

* accountability
(I am planning one letting it all hang out with you, the reader … heck, I’ve been letting it all hang out visually for all around me for

These are good goals, doable goals, and they are the ones I am returning to, not next month, not next week, but today.

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 9

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged diaBLOG, diet, Exercise, losing weight, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, weight, Weight Loss on March 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I do not normally post on a Saturday, but today is an exception.

And since it is also the Easter weekend, I thought I would include a little chuckle (Easter style, to the right) or two, and a reminder that we do not have to eat forty days worth of chocolate in one weekend, if that is what was given up for Lent.

It has been a month of counting days until Spring Break, followed by days of … well of not knowing what day it is!

Since I have been away for the past two weeks … away from home, from work, from schedules (from close-toed shoes 😉 ), from the scales … I have no idea what I weigh! I know there have been good days, and days that were not so great. But, whether I was successful at eating healthy, or not, I kept recording what I ate at 112aa172e046cbeb0c2c54930f697bc0 myfitnesspal … and I feel that is really a good habit!

So, it is now spring, and the days are getting more bright, and longer.

Our moods are boosted, and our bodies are empowered by natural Vitamin D that we are absorbing!

It is a great time for a walk, a run, a bike ride!

I will let you know how my weight loss is going next month … oh the suspense!

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 8

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, Exercise, goals, losing weight, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, Shaun T, weight, Weight Loss on March 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

More than any loss of pounds, I am excited about how much more physically active I have gotten on a more regular basis.

I walk at least three times a week, for twenty to forty minutes. Finally, after months of physical stagnation and lack of motivation I have gotten my butt in motion!

So, with all this new-found activity, one would think that I would have lost a significant amount of poundage … sigh …

Well the four pounds that I added in January are gone 😀 . It seriously took until yesterday to finally be able to see it on the scales and declare it. Like house guests who came unannounced, and undesired, I thought they would never leave!

So, now it is on to March, and my five pound loss a month goal.

I am realizing that I am going to have to get really focused, both in regards to what I put into my mouth, and what I do to get active.

images-1 Next month I will focus more with regards to the area of food. For now I want to introduce a video. This video is only 15 minutes (truly we all can find 15 minutes each day … or at least 15 minutes three to four times a week). I discovered it on Pinterest, but it comes from an episode of Dr. Oz.

Shaun T is a fitness expert … and he looks the part (sorry ladies, I tried to find a photo of him wearing a shirt, to no avail). He has two exercise programs, Insanity and Hip Hop Abs. I am not sure, but I believe that he is the male version of Jillian Michaels.

What I loved about this particular video is that it is just 15mins. … a small chunk to get started with.

So, though March may come in like a lamb, I am hoping it (and I) go out like a lion!

Shaun T’s Miracle 15min Workout

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 7

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, goals, losing weight, modelmydiet, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, weight, Weight Loss on February 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

So, confession time has arrived …

I have not started the year out very well!

As is often the case, I do very well over the Christmas season, and even as the new year gets started. Then January gets in full swing, the busyness resumes, back to work, rains pick up and the dark of winter seems … darker, now that the Christmas lights are packed away. The winter blues set in, images and carbs are the only thing giving satisfaction.

Over the month I’ve packed on 4 pounds 😦 … that’s a chihuahua!

So, back to the weight loss part of this DiaBLOG!

I am going to pretend this month did not happen and look towards the future!

In the six months of 2o12, I worked hard and lost 24lbs! Although that does not seem like a big amount (I have a friend who lost about 50 in the same amount of time), I am ahead of where I was. So, as I was thinking about that 24lb. weight loss, I found myself thinking, ‘what if I made my goal to lose 26lbs. by the end of the school year, making my total loss 50lbs. after one year of living, thinking, and eating differently?’ So, that is my plan! I want to lose 26lbs. from February to the end of June. That is a goal of losing 5lbs. each month …. very doable!

So, this past month was not so successful, and my goal of walking three times a weeks is still unmet. I did manage to get in a nice long walk each weekend, but during the week has not been successful. So, I will continue on with that goal for February.

This month I discovered a web sight that is kind of fun!

www.modelmydiet.com

If you click the link above, you will see a virtual me, the heaviest I have ever been and the lightest … sigh, how does that happen? If you play around with the details on the right of the page, then click on ‘update’ you will get to see you. It was encouraging for me to see the differences from where I am now to where I was seven months ago.

Best wishes with the month of February!

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 6/7

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, goals, losing weight, myfitnesspal, new years resolutions, Old to New, pounds, prizes, Resolutions, Reward, weight, Weight Loss on January 1, 2013| 2 Comments »

Happy New Year! images-4

The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – month six, we have survived trying to diet through the Christmas holidays and the New Year! Were you able to use any of last months suggested action plans for not blowing all the sacrifice of the months before on piggy pudding?

For me, the greatest weight loss happened within the first week of this month, when I shed four more pounds!

It has been half a year of concerted efforts towards living healthier, and now we are beginning a brand new year, with the pressure to make resolutions. So, are any of you making resolutions? Are they health related?

When it comes to resolutions I have one suggestion, don’t make unrealistic or unattainable ones!

So many of us will set out to lose a huge amount of weight, or to start intense exercise programs only to get discouraged in the early weeks of the process by not being able to keep up the planned regimen. How about making short term goals? Ones that are only one month or one season at a time. That gives us opportunity to reassess our original goals, and tweak where necessary.

It is believed that it takes twenty-one days to break (or start) a habit. This could be why most New Years resolutions are forgotten by the end of January. How about making a twenty-two day plan? Maybe, if sugary treats are your weakness, challenge yourself to twenty-two days of eliminating them from your everyday diet? If exercise is a goal you have, plan out twenty-two days of fitness? And don’t forget to celebrate when you have reached your goal (and I don’t mean at an all you can eat buffet).

Goals with ‘prizes’ for success are great motivators! How about a goal of money for pounds lost? If the road to weight loss is going to be a long one, something like $5 for every pound lost, and that money can only be spent for new clothing, and only after losing ten pounds. If you only have ten pounds to lose, you might want to increase the per pound amount to $10. What a carrot to dangle in front of us, it makes the goal rewarding on two fronts, we benefit from looking and feeling better, plus we get to dress ourselves in flattering new clothes!

Personally exercise is tops on my priority list for this first month of the year. And if I lose just five more pounds, I am heading to my favorite thrift shops for a few ‘new’ pieces to add to my shrinking clothing collection … and I can’t wait!

2013 will be a good year! Lets continue working together to live our lives in a more healthy fashion!

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 5

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, Busy, Change, christmas, diaBLOG, diet, losing weight, Move, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, Reward, Ten Ways to Not Blow the Diet, think ahead, weight, Weight Loss on November 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“ONE is the loneliest number …”
the Beatles

The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – month five! This month has produced (or removed) the hardest fought to get rid of one pound!

The good thing about this one pound loss is that it has put me out of the teens, and I am now twenty pounds lighter! Clothes are feeling so much better, and the ones in my closet that have been gathering dust, due to snugness are now anticipated to be wearable in another five to ten pounds (well, that is just the slightly dusty ones … there are levels of dustiness in my closet that indicate the gradual weight gain over the years like rings around a tree).

So folks, Christmas festivities are just around the corner, and we need an action plan! I am sure that you can agree that we do not want shortbread cookies, nuts, festive beverages and stuffing to ruin our months of effort! So, now is the time, before you are offered, “just one little appetizer,” to think about the strategies you might use to either not gain, or maybe even lose weight in December.

Here are my Ten Ways to Not Blow the Diet:

Food Is Not Reward – No matter how well you and I have done in the past year, cocktail wienies are not the prize
Move – Standing at the party is not exercise. If there is dancing, step out on that dance floor … the worst that can happen is that you look like Eilaine from Seinfeld (see below for a little chuckle).
Quality Friend Time – Cream, fat and carbs. are not the vehicles to meaningful friendships. A visit with a friend over a simple tea, coffee or while taking a walk on a street that provides window shopping are great ways to visit without the additional caloric treats. Spend an evening catching up with each other instead of exchanging gifts, and you will both save money too!
Don’t Always Say No – It is okay to SAY YES TO THE DRESSing, if that is your favorite part of the festive feast. Skip some other part of the meal, or ensure that you are more active that day and the next. Eat what you want, just do not risk not getting back into that little black dress!
Write All That We Eat – Whether you are using a computer program, website, app, or paper and pen, commit to writing down everything that will go into your mouth, every day (yes, Virginia, there is the ability to write it all down on Christmas feast day).
Friend Someone – one IS the loneliest number, especially when we are trying to eat more healthy! Find a friend (NOT a skinny one … that would just be depressing!) that is also trying to eat more healthy, and use each other as daily accountability partners. Two is better than one!
Don’t Overbook – trying to lose weight means be alert to the choices you are making. Don’t allow your holidays to be so busy that you have no time to think and make the best choices possible. Busyness can be our biggest enemy to eating healthy and exercising regularly.
Think Ahead – Before you go to that holiday party, before you go to visit your friends and family ~~before you go to the staff room~~ think about your P.O.A. (plan of action). We are more successful when we take the time to think ahead, and plan what we are going to eat.
Less Is Best – Just because those yummy chocolate truffles are on the table does not mean that you and I need to eat the entire bowl full! If you really want one, eat ONE, and enjoy every moment of it! Multiples do not multiply the enjoyment, only the waistline!
Our Bodies Are Our Home – Lets take care of these vessels we were given to live this life in. I am hoping to be youthful and active as I age, but that does not come from living a sedentary life now. Move it, or lose it … that is the reality we live with in the bodies we have!

Have a Merry Christmas!

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 4

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, Addiction, Change, diaBLOG, diet, losing weight, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, self confidence, self perception, Struggle, weight, Weight Loss on October 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Welcome back to The Weight Loss DiaBLOG! It has now been four months since I started and I am feeling great! Partly because I AM feeling great, and partly because I lost another 5 pounds! That means I’ve lost 19 pounds … about the weight of all of the pics on this post today.

Well lifestyle changing, healthier-getting friends, how is it going for you? I hope that for the Canadians among us, you enjoyed your Thanksgiving feasts (because it is rare that there is only one feast over any holiday). And now, just around the corner is that candy-fest more popularly known as

Halloween.

Halloween always takes me off guard. The day arrives and I have no inclination at all to overdo it. Then the bags of candy get opened and poured into a big bowl, to have easily available to hand out to the kiddies, so I try just one … By the end of two hours I am bartering preschoolers at my front door to get the specific candies and chips that I love the most!

And by the time I lay my head on my pillow I am on a drug-like candy trip.

We could call next Wednesday, the Halloween Hurdle (hoping to avoid the need of a girdle). A day to expect struggle with temptation.

Segueing onto other things ….

Although the weight is coming off, I am still not into a habit of exercise, and I really do desire to make regular physical activity (other than sitting up and pushing up to get out of bed) part of my lifestyle. So, for the next month, my goal in this area is small, but firm, walk twenty minutes, three times a week, and sit ups/crunches five times a week. I know that once it becomes a habit, I will be hooked, and will make it happen … I just need to get the habit started!

I do not mean to sound like a salesperson (and I guess I am not since there is no cost to this) but I really do love the myfitnesspal app. and website. There is never a sense that a food is BAD, or can never be eaten. Instead I am made aware of the cost of all foods. For instance, peanuts in their shells … something I do not eat often, but would choose over chips any day, and love to nibble on them while sitting by the pool (NOT something I am doing in November). If I were to eat them pre-myfitnesspal, I would have eaten about two cups (or more) at one sitting. Now I know that just one cup of peanuts IN their shells has 320 calories! 14 carbs! and 23 grams of fat! So, do I stop eating them? No, but I choose when to eat them, and how much, and I ask myself, “do I really want them?” I feel like I am becoming a more intelligent eater, and that is a good thing!

Well folks, I hope that you are having successes as you pursue a healthier lifestyle. I hope you are feeling better, sleeping better and feeling the joy of pants buttoning up without having to do acrobatics to get dressed. And remember, one pound is more significant than you think … just look at the picture below!

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 3

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, Addiction, Change, diaBLOG, diet, idol, losing weight, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, self confidence, self perception, Struggle, weight, Weight Loss on September 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Welcome back to The Weight Loss DiaBLOG! We have so much catching up to do!

Since we were last together, there is so much that has been going on! For some it has been the end of vacations, the return to school and/or work. If you live in an area of four distinct seasons, the weather is cooling, the leaves are changing, and the days are lessening in hours of light.

I always find that the beginning of the school year is like New Years. It is a time of starting over, creating new habits and making goals for the year to come. In that regard the turn of the calendars to September is a good opportunity to get focused on healthy eating and living.

The start of the school year was like that for me. For one thing I am too busy, too tired and too stressed to eat much!

Sadly, my body thinks it is that of a polar bear, and when I endeavor to eat less it automatically goes into hibernation mode, slows down the metabolic processes of my digestion, and shuts down the ability to shed any weight. So, I eat healthy, I eat less (significantly less) and the scales still do not move south! As a matter of fact, one particular week, I was below my caloric intake every day for an entire week, and I gained two pounds! How does that happen?

The flip side to the similarities I share to a hibernating creature, is that eventually my body has to recognize the obvious, and my body lets go of a pound or two. So, this past month my weight loss was only TWO pounds, but I promise you, it is a minuscule representative of the effort that I put in to dropping it!

I need to give you a success update that (sadly) is not reflecting on the scales of doom, and that is my writing last month about the need to ensure that food is not an idol in my life. The consciousness of this has really changed my habits. Let me give you an example; recently, at lunch, in the staff room, a box of really good chocolates sat on the table. I looked at it, and memories of chocolates past danced through my memory, like sugar plums. Then I asked myself, “do you want one because you really want one, or because they are in sight?” The answer was clear, I was not hungry, I was not even desiring chocolate at that time (a miracle in itself!). So, I passed … and didn’t regret it. Now, if the answer was yes, I would have taken one, and just one.

For me, to take the time to really consider the difference between need and desire, over eating because it is there is a monumental change. There have even been a few times when I have left food on my plate (something our beast was immensely delighted about), and for those of us who grew up under the rule to “clean everything off your plate” that is also a monumental change.

As far as my goals for this past month, I have been recording my intake daily, even when I knew I would be over my daily goals. This has been made easier because one of my co-workers is also using myfitnesspal, and so I have an accountability partner to celebrate successes and share frustrations! I have not gotten to the point of walking on a daily basis, but I am up to three times a week.

Well, off I go, I need to do something about these legs that are looking far too much like a polar bear too!

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Week 8

Eight weeks in, nine pounds lost. Some goals achieved, and some not so much.

As I look at the image to the right, I feel a bit disappointed. Although at four weeks I was seeing my body changing, I really stagnated at that point, as my weight made a climb up and then back down to where it was again.

But I am not giving up!

In the months to come I will return to the Weight Loss DiaBLOG, but not every week. I will update about every four weeks. Doing this will give me the accountability of a month at a time, and will, hopefully, provide greater changes to report.

I am also planning on sharing pictures of changes, and starting to take measurements, with the hopes that I will be encouraged by changes other than numbers on the scales of doom.

I truly love all of your input. The things that work for you can work for others, and the things that frustrate you also frustrate others. With each email, comment, or note I have gotten I have been encouraged that I am not in this alone, but I am part of a larger group of people who are trying to live differently, healthier.

This week, as I was interacting with another blogger about a topic vastly different from weight loss and exercise, I had a bit of an ‘ah-ha’ moment. We were discussing the things in our lives that we have put ahead of God, or in the place of God, and how we are learning about the rightful place of God above all else. For days now, since that conversation, I have pondered food as an idol in my life.

Food is a need for living. Food is pleasureful. Food requires time planning what to have, preparing it, serving it, eating it (suffering heartburn after eating it, followed by poor sleep). Food is very much a part of our every day. Do I spend too much time thinking about it? Do I finish one meal, and start thinking about, longing for the next? Do I live for it? Is it an idol in my heart, my life?

I may have had a eureka moment with this one. I think I need to keep questioning what height of priority I am giving to this beast, and start eating to meet my needs, and not my wants. This will be a work in progress!

For this first four weeks to come my goals are simply to get back on track with recording my foods eaten, and to get walking on a daily basis. Hold me accountable! If you think of me, send me a note and ask how I’m doing. If you see me, ask me if I walked yet today.

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Week 7

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, biking, Change, diaBLOG, diet, losing weight, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, self confidence, self perception, Struggle, Swimming, teen girls, weight, Weight Loss on August 20, 2012| 4 Comments »

This past week started with great enthusiasm to get back to walking, and to eat more healthy. Then I got sick … the walking didn’t happen much. One day when sick I did well to walk from the kitchen for more water then back to the living room to lie on the couch.

So, week seven and I have re-lost the three pounds that I had gained, and am now holding firm … well, actually there is little on me that is firm, but I am heading in that direction!

I was told once that we have two choices as we age, we can either be wrinkle free or thin, but not both. I am opting for the wrinkles (although if I actually achieve my l o n g term goals a little plastic surgery nip and tuck … heck, more like yank and fold … might be necessary).

As we have been experiencing a heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest, food is of little interest to me. I have preferred water, Jumbo Freezies (only 100 calories for a Jumbo one, and no fat), and raw vegetables and fruit. So, once it all digests I expect to be pretty much a stick person!

I am not sure about those of you who are in this lifestyle change with me, but I have reached a bit of a plateau. Not physically, but mentally. I feel a bit like my mental get up and go attitude has gotten up and gone.

What do you do when you reach this point? How do you get the desire to keep going back? I would love your input!

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