"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,
anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." ~ Anonymous

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Weigh-In ... Hot 100 Update #1 & Pictures

Today's Weight: 194.5
Loss/Gain: +0.5 lb.
Total Loss So Far: 36.5 lbs.



Things went pretty well this week considering TOM showed up a couple of days ago. I had moments of chocolate snacking, but overall my eating wasn't as bad as some months and I'm grateful for that. I was a little bummed with the gain, but I know it will come off this next week. It figures this would happen on the first week of the challenge. :)

I made a change to my emotional goal for the Hot 100 Challenge and I think it will work better with my busy schedule.

Speaking of the challenge, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this challenge at first because it seemed like one more thing to have to think about. Now that I've spent a little time visiting some new blogs and still working on my own goals I am glad I joined. The challenge itself and seeing others who are following along with their own goals will give me something to help me stay focused during the holidays.
So now for my results...

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week. No. Gained 0.5 this week, but not too upset considering the mother nature reasons for it.

ACTIVITY GOALS:
  • Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. Only 3 days so far, because I took Wednesday off due to severe cramps. However, my husband and I are going to a fair tomorrow which will most likely entail lots of walking. That will bring me to four.
  • Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives me time for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym. Working towards this. I jogged all three days I exercised this week so far. :)
FOOD GOALS:
  • Drink at least 64 oz of water daily. Done.
  • Journal all my eats and drinks and stay within my calorie goals daily, with the exception of one high-calorie day that I allow to throw things off a bit. I'm giving this a yellow, because I think I had two days that I was way over. TOM showed up two days ago and the munchies preceded it over the weekend.
EMOTIONAL GOAL: **I've decided to make my emotional goal the goal of visiting one new blog each week. Connecting with others on this journey is the emotional support I need at this time. I don't have time to visit blogs and focus on the Beck book, so I'm switching it up for the challenge. Done. This week I visited Less of Me - More of Him.

HOLIDAY GOAL: Only one or two "foo-foo" coffee drinks from Starbucks the week I am visiting my mom in November. I will stick to regular coffee and cream the rest of the weeks. Done. I went to Starbucks twice this week and only had regular coffee both times. Was kind of like, "Oh, wait I'm not having that until I go visit my mom." on one visit, but it wasn't a major struggle to just get coffee. YAY!

So, overall it wasn't too bad and I'm content with how the week went.

Lastly, I've updated my progress pictures since it's the end of September and I finally showed a loss since the last time I took pictures. For new visitors to my blog. I maintained from April to August, and finally started going down in September. :)


I hope you all have a great weekend. I have some fun plans ahead and will catch up with everyone on Monday.

Thursday Thought - Just Do It

Here's a little thought for Thursday that I heard on the radio while on my way to jogging this morning. K-Love was having a morning interview with Dr. Kevin Leman and he finished up what appeared to be a conversation about finding the new you by saying, and I paraphrase...

"What would the old you do in this situation? Now, what would the new you do in the same situation? You need to do it, whether you feel like it or not."

I know I'll be working on keeping this in mind throughout my day. Have a great day everyone! :)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

First Steps

I was catching up on Diane's blog this evening and this post on Exercise and Fear really caught my attention, especially the last paragraph:


Diane speaking on fear of exercise when she started her weight loss journey at 305 pounds.

Leaving the comfort of the house took some courage. I walked in the early morning, just before daybreak, so my neighbors couldn’t see me. That morning, thighs rubbing together like sandpaper, I walked 10 minutes away from the house turned around and walked 10 minutes home. Slow were my steps but they would prove to be some of the most important first steps I would take for the rest of my life. Day after day I put aside my feelings of insecurity and walked out the front door. Every day I exercised I put a check mark on my calendar and watched as the calendar filled up and my body shrunk. Overcoming the emotional fears of exercise took courage and perseverance, but the results were worth every hard moment.

It brings me to a recent exercise fear of sorts I had.

Yesterday I met my friend to jog at the park. This was the first time for us to jog together. She kept telling me how slow she was, but I knew I was slower still. I gave her the go ahead to leave if she needed to speed up. She didn't think she would, but it was only a minute or two before she realized she would have to. I was fine with that because I know that I jog really slow.

Yet, while I'm very aware that my personal best jogging rate of 4.5 mph is slow watching her slowly get farther and farther away from me was a brutal realization of just how slow I am. I felt like a turtle-whale ..... huge and jogging so slow.

It was the first time in a long while that I was embarrassed of my attempt at running. I saw her going on at her easy pace, not fast by any runner's standards, but still faster than me. I was proud of her, because I knew she just started running last spring.

At the same time I was a bit miserable. I missed my treadmill at the gym, where I could feel strong and fit jogging along next to people running at a "normal" pace. Instead I felt every heavy, slow step. Every heavy breath seemed to be as loud as if I was breathing into a megaphone. I didn't like it at all.

Then I realized something.

As I watched my friend shrinking out of my sight I remembered that she is 50 pounds lighter than me, and only five pounds over my goal weight. Suddenly she became my hope on that tortuous jog. If I kept going with this plan of exercise and my weight keeps going down, then someday I'll be jogging along like her.

I'd like to say that it made the rest of my jog a breeze but it didn't. I still struggled and felt like a turtle-whale. I was glad I went, but it wasn't only until tonight after reading Diane's post that I realized I can overcome the fear of getting back out there on that trail to run. I may be slow, but these are my "important first steps" that will lead me to success in my health for the rest of my life.

In fact, before ever reading Diane's post tonight, I had already made a date to jog with her again. We're going to the same trail tomorrow, and I will do my best. One. jogging. step. at. a. time.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

New Socks!!

Early in the summer I bought these nice, thin, low cut socks to wear with my tennis. They seem so fresh and light and I loved them. Then I started jogging again and began having a problem. My foot was seeming to slide in my tennis shoe. Hhhmm....weird. I would tighten the laces, but then my shoes felt too tight.

So, I asked my new running friend if she had a sock preference and she said she's found that Academy actually has some good socks to offer, for a general sports store. Now, I know Tricia has the best information I've come across on running wear, but for now I need to settle for something that isn't $10-$15 a pair.
I went to Academy, bought a 3-pack and jogged with them last week for the first time. They are so comfortable! I love how they are just thick enough to keep my foot fit snug in my shoe, but thin enough to be light and airy. I've loved them so much for all of my workouts last week (there were 3 pairs a pack) that I went back and bought more yesterday.

Someday when/if I'm jogging miles and miles regularly I may invest in "real" running socks, but for now I'm very, happy with these. Goodness.. the the fact that I bought special socks, "real" or not, makes me feel like a real runner already. [grin]

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Hot 100 Challenge 2010

****My apologies for posting this late, but my computer was being used over the weekend.**

I decided to join the Hot 100 Challenge over at Log My Loss. I did this last year and it was pretty successful. Having just finished my commitment to reading The Beck Diet Solution this is good timing.
The purpose of the Hot 100 Challenge is to set goals that will help you stay strong and even achieve some excellence in your health the last 100 days of the year. Below are my goals and I will be updating how I did on them each week with my weigh-in on Fridays.

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week. I will only weigh on Fridays.

ACTIVITY GOALS:
  • Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. :)
  • Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives me time for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym.
FOOD GOALS:
  • Drink at least 64 oz of water daily. This is hard for me to do as the weather cools.
  • Journal all my eats and drinks and stay within my calorie goals daily, with the exception of one high-calorie day that I allow to throw things off a bit. (Think flex points if you've ever done Weight Watchers.)
EMOTIONAL GOAL: Focus on one or two thoughts from the book The Beck Diet Solution each week. I will focus on concepts that were harder for me to grasp in one day, and even repeat concepts over the weeks if I need to.

HOLIDAY GOAL: Only one or two "foo-foo" coffee drinks from Starbucks the week I am visiting my mom in November. I will stick to regular coffee and cream the rest of the weeks.

I will also commit to visiting one new blog from the Hot 100 challenge each week to encourage them. (Thanks to Lori for this idea, I thought it was great and copied her. [grin] )

So, though I was late in getting this post out, I will tell you that I have already been following my goals since Saturday.

To those that stopped by my blog on Friday and Saturday to check on my goals, thank you so much! You're already an inspiration and great encouragement.

Have a great week everyone!



Friday, September 24, 2010

Weigh-In ... Beck Diet Solution Week 6

Today's Weight: 194.0
Loss/Gain: -1.5
Total Loss So Far: -37.0 lbs

First off, you know I'm beyond thrilled with a loss again. This is the lowest I've been on my weight loss journey to date, and I think it's been about 4-5 years since I've been this close to 190. Woo Hoo!!

This week instead of weighing myself every day I only weighed myself two or three times. I wanted to see if not weighing myself daily would make me pay more attention to what I was eating and writing down instead of seeing if a mess up made the scale go up the next day. I think it helped a little, so I'm going to continue that this next week.

Now, on to the deeper thought I wanted to share today.


On Saturday, August 14th, I recommitted myself to my weight loss journey. If you're new to my blog you can read about it by clicking here. Below is the list of tools I committed to using to commit to my weight loss journey once again.
  1. I have decided to follow the six-week program from this book "The Beck Diet Solution". CHECK
  2. I will journal all of my food, drinks, supplements and exercise in the DietMinder food planner. CHECK
  3. I will use my iPod touch to help me find calorie counts, calculate things, etc. CHECK
  4. And I "had" to have a cool, new pink (breast cancer supporting) lead pencil to write in the book and food planner. :) CHECK and I think it really made it more fun to journal, well maybe. I'm into cute pens and such. (giggle)
On August 14th I was 200.0 pounds.

Today, six weeks later, I am 194.0 pounds.

I have lost 6.0 pounds since my recommitment. That is an average of 1.0 pound a week and I am very pleased.

Over the course of the past six weeks I have learned a lot of cognitive therapy, or thinking, tools to help me in my weight loss journey. I've learned so much that I think I am not going to stop with it here. I am going to continue reading it each week, but sticking to reviewing one or two concepts per week as I continue on my weight loss journey.

To sum it up:

  • I will focus on the concepts that were a little harder to grasp in one day and give myself a week to work on them.
  • I will continue to journal all of my food.
  • I will continue to use my iPod touch to find calorie information, etc.
  • I will continue to use cool, pink lead pencil!
And last, but definitely not least......

  • I WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE WEIGHT!
Have a great weekend everyone! I will. :)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Make It A Priority

Yesterday, as I was running some errands during my lunch break from school I realized that though I'd been on the go a lot lately I wasn't exhausted. I know this is mainly due to my change in health - eating better and getting regular exercise - and I'm so grateful.

It's another one of those benefits that makes all the effort worth it.

I have to add that getting my rest is vitally important as well, though it's something I struggle to get enough of. Each person requires different amounts of sleep and I am an 7-8-hours-a-night girl. When I take the time to get to bed, or am willing to put off some things to get to bed on time, I feel so much better in the days that follow. When I don't get my rest I feel like I'm dragging and not like the healthy, vibrant person I want to be.

So, today I'd like to encourage you to make your health a priority by following some basic rules that are becoming more and more cemented in my life:
  • Taking care of what and how much you are eating. Track your calories or food choices for a while if you aren't sure where you're going wrong. It will help, I promise.
  • Get some exercise in each week. I don't workout six days a week, but I do try and get a good, solid, 30 minute, sweaty workout in at least 3-4 days a week, more if possible.
  • Drink that water. Yes, I added this one for free. :) It will help you be in top shape for your workouts...trust me. (I'll write about my dehydrated workout later.)
  • And get that rest. Your health is important. Getting an appropriate amount of rest is vital to your health. If you only need six hours to make it through a day, then that's fine. We are all different, but that doesn't mean we don't all need rest.
Believe me, I understand the duties of wife, mother, working woman and the fun of hobbies too, but something I've really come to learn is that when I take care of the few basic guidelines I've outlined above I'm in better shape to handle all my duties and even my "play" time.

I'm not at all into the whole "me time" mentality that many people have. You know, that attitude that gets abused so that everything and everyone has to cater to the person lacking their "me time". However, if life takes all my time and I no longer have time to worry about my health, then everything I apply myself to will suffer the consequences.

I have to make my health a priority in my life. By doing so I will be able to continue enjoying full days that do not zap me of my energy. How about you?

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Beck ... Week Five

Well, I'm five weeks into The Beck Diet Solution and this week has been a little different. Honestly, first of all, I have been pretty busy all week and I felt like I ran through each day's chapters rather quickly. There were truths in there that I had to really think about, but I didn't have the time to give them full attention. So, I have decided that I will be continuing to read and reference this book well past the next week and the technical "end" of the program. I will need to come back and take maybe a week or two to really implement some of the techniques.

Having said that this week was dealing with handling difficult food moments, such as:
  • Eating at a party or celebration. Will you eat whatever you want, or will you choose according to the plan you're following? I had this experience last weekend with two different birthday parties. The first one I ate according to plan. A light lunch and only one bite of a cupcake simply for the purpose of tasting my friend's new frosting recipe. It was perfect and I was very happy with my decision. Sunday I ate a little more at the party and then had the cake incident later that night. Not the best way to handle things, but Sundays are always a little different and I would've been fine with what I chose to eat at the party had I not eaten more cake and junk later that night.
  • Alcohol consumption. This was by far the easiest chapter for me...because I don't drink. :) At all. Never have, never will. I've cooked with wine once or twice, but that's it. It was nice to have a chapter that wasn't a huge challenge, for once. I can't imagine having to battle the love of brownies and an alcoholic beverage while losing weight. Oh, the calories....
  • Emotional Eating. This is something I was already on my way to dealing with, so it wasn't so hard for me to address it this week. My emotional eating problem is boredom and avoiding tasks. I am not a so-depressed-I-ate-a-half-gallon-of-ice-cream girl, more like I'm a so-happy-to-be-enjoying-the-food-and-friends type of girl. A happy eater, so since "happy" is also an emotion I fall in this category very well. I'm learning to either, step away from boredom by reading a book for a few minutes, or making myself get to my task, whether or not I want to instead of munching on food to avoid it. This is still a work in progress, and I have a feeling that it always will be.
So, there are a few things I reviewed and/or learned this week. As I said earlier, I am planning that as I finish up the book this next week I'm going to begin attacking one or two chapters per week in each week following, instead of per day. I think this will allow me to give more than one day to a topic that I might struggle with more than others. Then I can successfully get those new habits and ways of thinking some time to sink in for good. :)

Have a great weekend!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Weigh-In ... Beck tomorrow

Today's Weight: 195.5 lbs
Loss/Gain: -1.5 lbs.
Total Loss So Far: -35.5 lbs

I had to work today, but let me tell you that I was walking on clouds all day with this 1 1/5 pound loss!!!! It's the lowest I've been so far on this journey.

WOO HOO!!

I will come back and talk about what I learned from The Beck Diet Solution Week 5 tomorrow. I wanted to post this in the morning, so you could all have a happy moment for me today, but here it is none the less...when I actually have a few moments.

G'nite for now.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Jogging NSV


Tuesday I jogged a mile in 12:56. This is a personal record for me.

I also jogged for 30 minutes straight and the majority of the time my pace was 4.7 mph. I slowed to 4.5 for a bit and that was wonderful. "Slowing" to what used to be my fastest pace was a wonderful feeling.

WHEE!!!

Today I was having moments of wondering if I'll ever lose the weight, so I decided to remind myself of the awesome, VERY HARD, yet spirit lifting jog I had yesterday that also lead me to a non-scale victory in my weight loss journey.

It's truly a BIG victory for me to be sure and I shall dwell on it in those "will I ever??" moments this week, because I can honestly say that I never thought I'd see the day I'd jog for 30 minutes straight. :)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

My Nike Plus Adventure


Did you know that when you buy running shoes that are Nike Plus capable that you have to buy the little transmitter to put in your shoe?

I did not know this until last Friday night.

We have new military friends that just moved to town. He has run a marathon and she has gotten into running and ran her first 6 mile race this year. They eat healthy are quickly becoming good friends of ours here.

Being that he is so into running I asked him if he knew anything about Nike Plus. I got out my running shoes (that I bought two months ago) and my iPod touch and told him I couldn't get it to work.

He asked me if I bought the transmitter, chip thing to put in the shoe.

HUH?!?! What chip? Transmitter? No one told me about a chip or that I had to buy anything else besides the app to sync my shoes to the iPod touch. When I asked a kid at the Nike store about it he told me to "Call nike.com." (Yea, I kid you not...CALL a dot com...another story for another time...)

Anyway, back to the story.

"Um, yes", he replies as his wife is agreeing with him, "there should be a little chip, like a transmitter that goes in the sole of one of the shoes. Let's look."

Sure enough inside one of my shoes is the symbol for the Nike Plus and when I pull out the insole there is the compartment for the transmitter .... with nothing inside but a piece of foam to fill the hole.

LOTS OF LAUGHTER HERE!!!!! :D

I reminded him I am a blonde and had no clue.

The funniest part of this is that when I got the shoes I downloaded the app onto my iPod and then proceeded to spend an evening hopping around the dining room, jogging around the house and more trying to get my iPod to sync with the shoes, but the iPod kept saying that it could not locate the Nike Plus. I would hop and try and hold my iPod close to the shoe to help it pick up a signal. Finally I gave up and haven't given it much thought since then.

Um, remember that song "Here's Your Sign" ? Well, that's how I felt last Friday night as we all had a good laugh at my Nike Plus mishap. So, go ahead and laugh...I sure did and am still giggling as I type. :)

I'm not sure if I'm going to go get the Nike Plus transmitter, but at least I know now that mine isn't broken. LOL

Have a great day!

Monday, September 13, 2010

I Gave In, But I Won't Give Up

I ate cake again tonight after dinner. *sigh* I wasn't too thrilled with myself, though not just because I ate cake, but more because I ate it (A) without knowing if I had the room in my calorie budget for it and (B) I ate it out of the cake box, standing at the counter and it left me very full and upset that I gave in to sweets when I know they are not the most helpful in a weight loss journey.

It wasn't a huge piece of cake, but size doesn't matter when it's not something that I need at the moment. Eating out of the box is usually the first sign to walk away from it and I didn't. I just gave in. Darn it.

My gut feeling is to be so vexed with myself. I knew better and I just let myself go without even stopping to think. *sigh*

I still need to read my Beck chapter for yesterday and today, but I decided to read blog updates first. I'm glad that I did. I'm serious when I say that weight loss blogging is like a continuous Weight Watchers meeting for me. I can hop on at any time and find the encourage, direction and words of wisdom I need to keep going.

Lindsay over at Prior Fat Girl was the one who brought the inspiration to me tonight. She shared a moment of vexation in her weight loss journey, but she wisely started off with this quote:

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” ~ Frank A. Clark

Amen! :o) Reading about her vexation reminded me that we are all going to have rough moments in our weight loss journey. I tried to encourage her that she's not alone in this and I was once again reminded that I will not give up. I will push for continuous effort and I know that will help me "unlock my potential" and reach my goals.

So much has already changed for the better in my life that I know I can succeed. It's simply a matter of not giving up every time I give in.

Now I'm off to read my Beck chapters and get to bed. Have a good night and if you've read my double posting today, special thanks to you! It's been a get-it-out kind of day in the weight loss world of My New Ending.

G'nite!

Habits, Rules and What To Do

Twice yesterday I found myself in this food situation: I was faced with an opportunity to eat and didn't want it.

The first time was when I stopped at Starbucks to purchase a gift card and decided I would treat myself to a tall non-fat white mocha with no whip cream, iced.

I wanted this drink, but at the same time I didn't. It was weird. It's like I really only wanted a little bit of it, but really I didn't want to spend the calories on it. I ended up sipping on it for the next hour and throwing out about the last quarter of it when I realized I was fine and really didn't want to finish it.

My second situation of not wanting food was after church in the evening. As I drove home I pondered what I would eat for the usual after-church snack and nothing sounded good. I thought to myself, "I'm not even hungry. Weird."

For the next almost two hours I battled with this, wondering around the house doing little things, meanwhile picking a bite of this, "Nope, don't want that." and even heated up a Weight Watchers snack, took one bite and threw that out as well.

Finally, I went and read in bed, realizing that we were home earlier than normal and maybe that was why I wasn't really hungry yet. Usually I eat a larger lunch on Sundays and by the time we get home I'm ready for a light snack before bed. Not last night. I was home and very much not in the mood for food.

There was birthday cake from my son's birthday, cupcakes from my friend's birthday on Saturday that I hosted, leftover pizza and Thai food from lunch, and the aforementioned Weight Watchers snacks, but nothing sounded good.

I didn't know what to do with myself. Not eating something is so out of the normal for me and it was strange.

I'd like to say that I stuck to that, but after reading a book I finally found myself getting a little hungry and decided to eat a slice of cheese pizza and a small 8 oz. cup of Pepsi. At the time I knew it wasn't the healthiest thing, and I knew it was too late - 11:15 pm to be exact - to be eating, but I was a smidge hungry and it sounded perfect.

I went to bed happy and not too upset about my choice. On the way home from church I had told myself that I didn't want pizza because the grease always leaves me feeling yucky, but I was feeling fine since I had just eaten cheese only pizza.

However, today I am thinking that I really need to learn how to handle these moments. I'm excited that I'm finding myself not wanting food, but I'm also still a little unsure of what to do when those situations arise.

Dr. Beck would say that I should've read my response cards and then obeyed my rules for myself. Well, as I was eating the pizza I wondered if I should make myself a rule to not eat after 10:00 pm, so that I'm not tempted to eat something "bad"? hhmm.... it has me thinking...

In the course of your weight loss journey did you/do you find yourself in a similar situation? Do you have certain rules for yourself? Or did you have certain rules that you followed more strickly during the weight loss portion of your journey and found later you were able to be a little more slack on them when you were in maintenance?

I'm looking for a little shared wisdom here and I thank you in advance to anyone who is willing to share.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Weigh In - Beck Diet Solution Week 4

Today's Weight: 197.0
Loss/Gain: -1.0 lbs
Total Loss So Far: -34.0 lbs

I'm happy with being down one pound considering I didn't give it my all every day this week. It puts me back where I was two weeks ago, so that's kind of a bummer, but I will press forward and it will come off eventually. At least it's no longer 200.0!! :)

This past week with Dr. Beck has really got me thinking. It was a week of dealing with sabotaging thoughts and how to combat them. There was a lot of journaling and writing that I haven't had time to do to the full extent. I have read my daily chapters, and made response and reminder cards as needed, but there's a journaling project to do that I need to start a.s.a.p. so I don't fall behind.

The concept is to write in a diet journal what you are thinking every time you want to eat something you shouldn't, or overeat, etc. Those are the sabotaging thoughts that you have. For example, without even writing them down I know some of mine are:
  • It's just one bite.
  • It doesn't really matter.
  • The food's there and I'm so drawn to it...oh what the heck.
  • I'm not hungry, but I have room for this in my calorie budget today.
  • I know I shouldn't, but I don't really care right this moment.
  • I'll make it up by eating lighter the rest of the day.
Ever had thoughts like these?

Well, the point of writing them in the journal is to later sit down and take time to figure out how to handle those thoughts, how to set up a plan to stop yourself from giving in to them. She shares a process for this, so you're not left figuring it all out on your own.

It sounds time consuming, but I think this is something I'm really going to set time aside to do. I do not have a problem knowing if I'm truly hungry. My problem is usually telling myself no when I know I really don't need the food. Yes, I admit it. I often eat, and overeat at a meal, even when I know I'm not/no longer hungry. I've learned that eating when not hungry, even if you have the calorie room for it, is still wrong, but that's another subject for another day.

So, I think I'm going to leave my little journal on the counter and every time I want to eat when not hungry I'm going to jot down what I'm feeling at that moment. I won't analyze it then, but just observe what I'm thinking. Then I can sit later and figure out what needs to change in my thinking to battle these non-hunger moments of desire for food.

I'll let you know how I do with this over the next week. In the meantime, I need to get myself to the gym and get on with a busy day ahead.

Have a good weekend blog friends and thanks for checking in. I'm still here, still working on my weight loss goals and still pressing on that I will reach my goal someday.

Happy Friday to you! :o)

Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day

I hope you all had a nice Labor Day. We enjoyed some time with friends at a nearby lake. I took along a couple pounds of strawberries and some cucumbers cut up in lime and salt to keep things healthy, but I must admit to eating too many cookies.

Oh my. I ate a little too much of stuff today, but I'm okay with it.

I've done well over the weekend so far and I look forward to getting back on track. It's got me thinking though....I need to learn a better way to handle sitting around playing games around all the food. hhmm...

Definitely on my list of "things to learn how to handle" in my weight loss journey. :) Meanwhile, I'll get some sleep and start back up bright and new tomorrow. It was a fun day of swimming, games and food and I enjoyed myself a bunch and tomorrow is a new day!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Weigh-In ... Beck Diet Solution Week 3

Today's Weight: 198.0
Loss/Gain: +1.0 lb
Total Loss So Far: -33 lbs.

I am not surprised with this gain and decided not to let it bother me. I am down from earlier in the week, so I'm pleased with that. The brownies are gone and I am leaning towards deciding that I really can't eat any of those right now, because even one bite leads to a binge of sorts for me.

I'm already feeling back on track and grateful that I didn't gain more during TOM.

As for what I've learned from The Beck Diet Solution this past week...

  • Quit fooling yourself! Yes, that would be me...I've fooled myself many times into think that just one bite is okay, or I can lose the weight and still eat anything I want whenever I want. I've even fooled myself into believing at times that I can't lose weight. This was a good wake-up call for me.
  • No Choice. To prevent unplanned eating (snacking while cooking or out of boredom, desserts brought to work or a function that I didn't make room for in my calorie budget, etc.) I need to remind myself that I don't have a choice in the matter. I will make a set of food rules and then stick to them. Sticking to those rules will help me not have to deal with "Should I or shouldn't I?" or "Maybe just a small piece.." etc. I will remind myself, "No, this goes against your rules for losing weight, so not today." and then walk away.

Am I putting these things all into practice already? Kind of. :) I'll be honest that I am still working on my rules and I haven't ruled out any foods completely yet, though brownies are sure taking the #1 spot right now. My main rule is to stay within my calorie budget daily and get at least 3-4 days of exercise in a week.

I might set up some more strict rules in the future, but this wasn't the week to do so. :) This week I did well to read my Beck book daily and follow the prompts, journal all of my food and get some exercise in. Sticking to those basic things helped my week go from worse to better, so I'm grateful for that.

As I finish up here I'm reminded of the little train who could, "I think I can. I think I can. " Here's to a nice weekend wherever you are and another week of losing ahead for me. :)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Blog Awards

I was honored to be given this award by both Whitney at Getting Healthy
and
I Said So... at For Real, This Time! :)


The Rules:

1. Post who gave you this award
See above... Thank you, girls, for brightening my week by sharing this blog award with me.

2. State 10 things you like
In no certain order.....
1) Snail Mail - I still love to write and receive mail through the postal service.

2) Digital Scrapbooking - A new take on a craft I've loved for years.

3) When my husband laughs - especially if I made him laugh.

4) Cooking & Baking - I am really enjoying cooking with fresh vegetables now...I feel like a gourmet cook when cutting up fresh produce.

5) Chatting with a friend over coffee - I'll even take a good phone call chat while I sip coffee.

6) A rainy day and sipping coffee while reading a good book on the couch.

7) A fresh cleaned house - so invigorating and relaxing all at the same time.

8) Blogging - it's becoming a vice on some days. :)

9) Morning and after school time with the kids - The girls leave and return an hour before my son, so I'm getting some special quiet time with each of them this year and greatly enjoying it.

10) The sweat and feeling of euphoria after a jog - So far there is nothing like it and it makes me feel so accomplished and confident that I can do anything!


3. Give this award to 10 other bloggers and notify them with a comment

I am going skip this one this time around. Feel free to visit all the blogs I follow, because they are still blogs that I check regularly and that inspire me to keep going on this journey.

Have a nice day!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Why I'm Doing Beck Diet Solution

I'm 20 days into reading, and following, the book The Beck Diet Solution. Today I was reminded why I am doing this six-week program as I read over some reminder notecards I've been writing along the journey.

It had to do with why I should sit down to eat. The helpful response to tell myself when I don't want to sit down and eat was:
"Get used to it! Your way hasn't been working. You need to realize that some habits need to change if you want to reach your goals."

That's about it in a nutshell. My way wasn't working the greatest and I knew I needed something to help me get on track as I recommitted to my weight loss journey.

I came across this book at Barnes & Noble, and having heard of it before, I flipped through the book for about twenty minutes to see if it would be worth my time to read. I saw my own struggles and thoughts on the pages and really felt this was the tool I needed to get with the program and start losing weight again.

It hasn't been easy, but I'm slowly but surely finding myself making better choices and enjoying it. Many of the topics are not new to me, but they are spoken of in a straightforward manner that I appreciate. I am also offered suggestions each day on how to combat the "sabotaging thoughts" that come along during the journey.

When I started this book I committed myself to doing whatever was suggested for each day. There is only one suggestion I'm not following exactly as laid out, otherwise I've kept with following the program every day. I've only had two days (this past Fri and Sat) that I didn't read my daily chapters, but boy I sure caught up on them on Sunday. I couldn't go any further like that and I decided Sunday that I would not skip another day if it was at all within my control.

Reading The Beck Diet Solution daily and following the prompts is helping me to stay focused on my weight loss journey. It's taking up my blog time on some days, but for now that is worth it to me. I look forward to all I will continue to learn through this book, because...well, my way didn't work so well most days, so why not give it a try, right? :)