There Are 7 Less Pounds Of Me To Love

A few things have changed around here in the last 10 days or so. Actually it’s about 7 things have walked out the door. They are POUNDS!!!! I have decided I’m sick of eating useless calories and laying around like a beached animal waiting to be thrown back to sea. So last Sunday I decided it was time to make some changes. Here are the changes I made.

I uploaded and am using the Map My Walk application on my iPhone. I have created a walking path on the map and before I walk out the door to walk in the mornings I activate the app and walk out. It keeps track of my distance, my speed, my path and the number of calories I burn. So I have a running total of all of that right on my phone. Oh and she talks to me when I hit 1 mile and tells me how I’m doing. The first time she started talking to me I looked dumb because I stopped on the sidewalk and looked around to see who was talking to me. Hey – the app doesn’t make me smarter!

I also went to my Advocare cabinet to see what I had stocked up in there that could help me with my weight loss journey. I have put together 5 products that are kind of combination that I just happened to already have on hand and started using. Here is a brief run down of each of them including a direct link to the information page on my site.

Carb-Ease Plus – It helps to break down the absorption of carbs and fats that you eat. If you want to lose weight but just can’t say NO to some carbs (like me – I love pasta) then this is a good helper. You can eat a few carbs to satisfy your craving and this will help make it a little easier on your system and your weight loss efforts!

Catalyst – This product is a secret weapon to help you with your workouts. Each morning about 20 minutes before I go walking I take a dose of these. It helps you to maintain your muscle mass when you exercise. And it helps to keep your energy level up and repair/protect your muscles. As someone with Fibromyalgia I can tell you that anything that helps your muscles in any way, shape or form is a good thing. It helps you to retain muscle and reduce fat. Somehow this little product helps your body respond more favorably in your workout routine – even if it’s just walking.

Thermoplus – This is another little gift from God in your weight loss battle. This product helps your body convert fat to energy, speeds up metabolism and suppresses your appetite thanks to the oolong tea and sage extracts. All of our products have all natural ingredients.

Fibro-Trim – This product helps to bind up all those nasty fats and flush them out of your system. It gives you a feeling of fullness so it suppresses your appetite. And an added plus is it helps keep your cholesterol in a nice healthy range and it keeps your intestines nice an squeaky clean. Isn’t that a lovely thought?

In addition to those 4 products I am using the Advocare Muscle Gain Protein Shake. This product comes in one of those big tubs of powder or in individual packets. Obviously buying the tub is a better deal economically. I usually make myself one of these after returning from my walk. This way I’m sure that no matter what I eat the rest of the day I know I’m getting a healthy dose of protein to get me going right. It helps to restore your energy supply you just used in working out. And it has a healthy portion of Vitamins C & B6 and Calcium.

The rest of the day I try to eat low calorie foods with more veggies than I used to and leaner types of meats. Oh and PLENTY of water. Yes you will spend most of the first couple of days in the bathroom if you don’t currently drink much water. But about 3 years ago I made a big change in my life and cut out 99% of the soda from my life (I do occasionally order a Coke or Dr. Pepper if we go out to dinner. But I make sure I hold myself at one glass or less). Since I moved from a diet of mostly soda to all water I have truly seen my complexion clear up. I know everyone tells you that will happen but I didn’t really believe them until the last few months I really stopped to notice. My face has been much clearer in the last few years.

Honestly those are the things I am doing. In 7 days I’ve lost 7 pounds. I can’t believe it either, people. But it’s right there in those little digital numbers on the scale in my bathroom. I’m waiting on a new shipment from Dallas (Advocare) at the moment. I do know it’s possible to lose weight without the healthy herbs and minerals in the Advocare products (because I did it 3 years ago) but it’s really nice to have a little help in those bottles. If it helps me then it will help you too. I’m clearly the laziest person on the planet. But this process is helping me to get up and move. Well, all of these plus some Spark. And that’s a miracle all on it’s own.

Shrinking Jeans Challenge

Ok – I’ve been sitting around doing nothing for months upon months. I lost 35 pounds in 2009. In 2010 my dad was diagnosed with cancer and suddenly it was no longer about me and my health. It was all about my dad and his health. I let myself go and spent many hours on the road between here and Ohio and sitting in hospitals. I completely let myself go right back to where I was. I gained every pound right back again. I’ve been saying “when I lost 35 pounds in 2009….” for 2 years now. Last summer I did decide to once again start making healthier choices with my eating. Since June 2011 I have RELOST half of those 35 pounds. Yay me! But now I am stuck. I currently weight 5 pounds more than I did when I was 8 months pregnant with Michael (I say 8 months because that is when he was born). That is not acceptable.

I’ve ignored it. I’ve avoided mirrors. I have a large range of clothes in my closet. I am halfway between the fat clothes and the skinny clothes. I quite honestly disgust myself. I need motivation. My motivation in 2009 was a weight loss contest Ron was having at his office. They were doing a Biggest Loser contest. They weighed in each Tuesday. While I couldn’t legitimately participate I did so here at home. I kept up with his employees progress. At the end of the challenge I had come in second place out of all the employees. Each Tuesday I weighed in and I kept a chart on the kitchen wall with my progress. I wrote down my actual weight before/after and my +/- for that week. I kept that chart up there the entire time for God and everybody to see. It was humiliating at first – everyone knowing how much I weighed. But then it became something to be proud of to see those numbers going down down down. I think that was my motivator at the time.

I’m not competitive for myself – put me on the sidelines of one of my kids’s games and that story changes for them. But competition doesn’t really matter to me. But that time it all worked. I’m not sure what it will take this time to light a fire under me. But I want it lit! I want something to push me. I’m considering rejoining the activities over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. They have a lot of various challenges going. Maybe some of you are in the same position I am in. Their current challenge is

It actually started the end of March and runs through May 9th but I’m gonna jump in anyway. The check in for this challenge is Wednesdays. I’m gonna get started.

They also have a running challenge. At the time I had to stop exercising in December 2009 I had just started running. I had to have foot surgery and have a damaged tendon removed – which put me on crutches and out of action for quite a while. I would one day love to run a marathon. My best friend does that. I’d love to run one with her sometime.

So there you have it – the ugly truth of my laziness. I know I can’t possibly be alone. I REALLY want to make a change. My kids graduate in less than a month. I’d love to lose 5 pounds by graduation day. I want to challenge myself to do that. I’ve done it before – I can do it again! Who is with me? Who wants to shrink their jeans with me?

LET’S DO THIS!!!!!

Success and Failure – Which Do I Choose Today?

I think this post is gonna be a mix of good news and bad news. Don’t worry – it’s not good news or bad news for you. It’s about me. Isn’t it always? I was thinking of trying to be funny today. But my mood is kind of dark and cloudy so I don’t know how funny my sense of humor would actually be. And sense I have no idea what I’m gonna write until the letters appear on the page…well, we’ll just have to see. I much prefer when I’m funny. Well, all of that has absolutely nothing to do with either the good news or the bad news. I won’t charge you extra for those few sentences!

Ok – let me give you some hints…I’m a middle age woman (I’m secure enough to admit that)…I live a sedentary life…I am addicted to junk food…I hate to exercise. Have you guessed it yet? Yes, this post is gonna be about my weight. I know that all of you have been wondering every single day if today will be the day I write about my weight. Well, congratulations!!! That day has arrived. But if you have NOT been wondering that then that tells me that you don’t read my blog regularly. We’ll have to address THAT matter at a later time. (Don’t you hate when someone says “we’ll talk about that later”?)

One day in May of 2009 I woke up and decided THAT was the day I was gonna start losing weight. Seriously, that’s how it happened. It’s never happened to me before. I was quite shocked actually. It did help that everyone in Ron’s office was beginning a weight loss challenge that day. I competed along with them. My progress just didn’t actually count with theirs. (Although I should say here that if my numbers HAD counted I would have come in SECOND place! SO THERE!!) I am not a competitive person by nature. To tell you the truth if it comes to me competing with someone else I’m happy to just go ahead and declare you the winner before we even start. (However if it’s my kids in a soccer game THEN you better watch out!) So I was a little surprised that I got into the competition so seriously with everyone at work.

I had allowed myself to get to the highest weight I had ever weighed. And I was extremely disappointed in myself. So I changed my eating habits and started exercising (walking and floor exercises at home). By December 9, 2009 I had lost 35 pounds. I could see a milestone number just ahead. I could have gotten there so simply. I was doing so good. I felt good about myself. I thought I looked good. My clothes had smaller numbers in them then I had seen since before I had Michael 15 years before. But somehow in those months of exercising I had damaged a tendon in my right foot which required surgery to be removed. Uhhhhhh, the tendon….not my foot.

Think with me here…I had been exercising every day. I had just started running. I had foot surgery. At the same time my dad was having serious medical problems which later turned out to be cancer. What do you think happened? I”m sure you can guess it. I couldn’t exercise. I was under the most stress I had ever been under in my entire life. What had always gotten me through tough times before? Food! There you have it. I tried my best to keep control over my food intake. But with all that stress that became too difficult. It took about as long to put back on as it had taken to take off.

As the numbers edged back up on the scale I became discouraged and pretty much gave up. I did try getting back in the exercise mode by working with a personal trainer at a local gym. But that proved to be too much for my Fibromyalgia. It wasn’t until this past June that I decided to start paying attention to the scale again. When the scale got right back to that number it was on the day I started in May 2009 I told myself NO WAY!! I have not recommitted to the point I was at in 2009. But slowly but surely the weight is coming back off. Since June I have lost 13 pounds. That milestone I could have reached out and touched two years ago is still pretty much out of reach but at least I am headed the right direction.

I’ve discovered that I no longer have a taste for all those foods I gave up before. That is a huge blessing. I am able to say no to sodas, extra helpings, most junk food. They just don’t taste good anymore. The thing I still need to do is get outside and walk. That’s really the missing piece of the puzzle. I had set myself a goal to lost 10 more pounds by the time we go to a conference mid September. I’m not quite gonna meet that goal but I”m gonna get really close to it.

So there you have it. The ugly truth about my failure and the good news about my successes. That’s been on my heart a lot lately. I wonder if putting it into words and putting it out there for all to read will do anything for my willpower. I hope so! I’m gonna zip over to Things I Can’t Say and link this up for Pour Your Heart Out Wednesday. I could use the support!

The Dirty Word

I have a dirty word that I’ve been thinking. I’ve actually even been saying it for months. I don’t like it. It really just brings pain. But I’ve noticed that after a while the pain seems to dull. There even comes a time when you enjoy it and look forward to it.  But it is truly a dirty word. That word is exercise. Exercise is so important for everyone. It sounds so simple. Take a walk – that sounds nonthreatening, doesn’t it? Do some yoga stretches – how simple is that? If it’s so easy then why is getting started so hard? Why is getting up off the couch so difficult? Yes it hurts for a few days. But if you manage your plan correctly it really can make you feel better.

If you have known me for very long you probably know that two summers ago I changed my eating habits and started exercising. I lost 35 pounds and felt amazing. I felt like a new person. I wasn’t satisfied with the person I was before. I didn’t like me. One day in May 2009 I woke up and just decided THAT was the day I was changing. I kind of shocked myself. I am a status quo kind of girl. I’m average and I’m ok with that. There is nothing spectacular about me. I’m overweight. I have thick coarse hair that is difficult to manage. I’m ok with just doing enough to “get by” usually. Really – I am ok with it. I have always been this way. But something that morning clicked in my head. I got up and put on some tennis shoes and took a walk. I made a weight chart and hung it on the kitchen wall. I read labels. I cut out sugar, white foods and ate healthier. Once a week I weighed in and WROTE MY ACTUAL WEIGHT ON THE CHART ON THE WALL. I was making a change. And you know what happened? Yes I changed in my appearance. But something switched in my head. I began seeing that I could put forth more effort than I thought I could and it paid off. I saw that exercise truly does help my Fibro body to feel better. Eating right can help the pain and fatigue. The doctors have been right all of those years. I had just been telling myself “I can’t” for so long that I truly believed it.

As a result of all of that exercise I tore a ligament in my foot and had to have foot surgery in December 2009. At the same time my dad got very ill. You may remember me writing about it here. I put myself aside during my recuperation period  because I was down to one leg, I let the stress take over and I completely reversed all of my hard work. I went back to my satisfaction with being average. I went back to my negative thoughts. I went back to all the foods that I knew were unhealthy for me. And I stopped moving. And yep, you guessed it, I have gained every ounce back. I am now all the way back to where I was the day before that day in May 2009. I keep waiting to wake up and feel that feeling again. I can still remember how good I felt about myself and how good my body felt. Yet I still choose to stay on the couch. I THINK about putting in my Yoga DVD. I THINK about taking a walk. I THINK about seeing the numbers fall on the scale. But sadly thinking about those things doesn’t make them so. They take effort. They take action. They take a change in thinking. They take gumption. I’ve never been good in the gumption department. But that year proved to me that I CAN do it. It IS possible. I CAN be successful. I CAN be healthy. I CAN take control of my disease and change my body. I’ve done it before and I can do it again.

Now I just need to do it! I need to do it for my body…for my fibro…for my husband…for my kids…for my grandkids…for ME. I need to prove to myself that I can be successful at it again. I need to prove to myself that I can do what it takes to help myself feel better. The Advocare Spark has given me my energy back. Now I just need to put that energy to the right use. I think my body is willing but my mind is weak. I’ll be adding more Advocare products to my regimen this week. They are gonna make me feel even better – I think change is on the way. I can feel it coming. I can see it. I sense my Fibro changing.

I just poured out my heart to you. Do you need to sound off and Pour Your Heart Out as well? Go for it and then jump over to Shell’s blog and link it up.

True Confessions of Honest Intentions

Being part of the Sisterhood of Shrinking Jeans site also means your have to be honest.  Being honest about weight loss is difficult and sometimes humiliating.  It’s also an exercise in vanity or the lack thereof.  But if you have ever tried to lose weight as a part of a supportive community you realize that eventually you are going to have to admit to bad choices.  Sharing the good choices and the good results are easy.  But sharing the bad choices and failures is also part of the deal. Not only is it beneficial for your journey it is also beneficial for those walking the path with you who experience slips on the path.  It’s helpful for all of  us to realize we are not alone and that we are not the only ones who have bad days and make bad choices. 

Call It What You Want – Just Do It!

I have written a lot about the recent Fibro flare I have been in.  Let me say that I have been doing a lot of thinking about various “natural” ways that I can help myself feel better.  This entry will be about a number of those ways.  Just like anything even these things can “hurt” you if you overdo them.  I think it’s also important to understand that these tips can be helpful to everyone whether they have Fibro or any other illness or not.  So I will cover 4 areas: vitamins/supplements, exercise/stretching, massage and hot soaks.

Exercise Regimen – Do Tell!!

Does anyone else work out regularly? What do you do? Share with us what you do. We might pick up on something new that could add to our workouts. We can all benefit from sharing with each other.

I’m a bad girl – I don’t do any cardio consistently. I walk if I am in the mood. I do a mile or two on the bike at the gym if I’m early for my training session. When Stephanie (my trainer) gets ahold of me we work on my arms, upper back, thighs and abs. She mixes it up. Yesterday she added one of those resistance bands. Does anyone have any of those? OH my goodness, it nearly killed me. But I felt like I got more of a workout with that band than I have with anything else. I need to get one of those.

I do a lot of stretching at home. I feel like a lot of the stretches that I do are yoga moves. I’ve been interested in checking out Yoga for a long time now. So the other day I was at the used bookstore (McKays) and found a beginners DVD for Yoga. So, I bought it. I haven’t used it yet. I’m waiting till noone else is home but me because I know I’m gonna look like a fool. So, I’m thinking I will start it when the kids go back to school. Does anyone else do Yoga? Stephanie said I would like Pilates. Does anyone do that? How is it different from Yoga?