Weight Loss Report

True confession: I did not eat a single piece of pie or dessert for Thanksgiving. I wasn't prepared with healthy alternatives, ran out of time or energy to figure out something new, and although I knew it would be ok if I decided to have a piece of pie, I decided not to. I took some free sniffs, remembered how it would taste, and decided that was good enough. :) I was feeling like a maybe a cold was wanting to come on, and didn't want to push it over the edge by eating sugar. (sugar and white flour lowers our immune systems)

I've lost 30 pounds this year, thanks to not eating sugar, eating a lot more raw foods, and getting into a regular exercise plan. At the start of each year, losing less than a pound a week doesn't sound that impressive, but being at the end of the year and being 30 pounds lighter is mighty nice! I would encourage you to go ahead and start now, taking whatever baby steps you can take to make progress. Focus on losing one pound at a time. That's all. One pound at a time. I've been able to cheer every time one pound went away and never came back. That's been so much more fun than times in the past when I held back from cheers until I lost 5 or 10 pounds or whatever. Every pound counts. That's the truth.

My exercise buddy Kim and I started out doing Leslie Sansone walk-at-home DVDs during the summer when it was too hot to enjoy a walk outside. We started with a 3 mile, and worked up to 4 mile walking workouts. As fall arrived, we started walking outside at a local cemetery, which was nice for a change. Now we're gearing up for re-joining our local fitness center, because we both feel the need to add weight-bearing exercise into our routine, plus feel like we will enjoy doing something new.

I never used to enjoy exercise. It took me a long time to find a combination that would work for me. Being honest about what I was really going to do, and what I really would not do, was a key element in helping me get going. Teaming up with my friend Kim has been extremely valuable in the day-to-day doing of exercise. When she comes to the door, there is no question about whether or not I am going to stop what I'm doing and get busy exercising! Thankfully, Kim and I have done well at being to be honest about when we want to crank it up a notch, or slow it down. That's helped a whole lot too.

Now that I'm getting stronger and seeing the results of my little-by-little, day-by-day, pound-by-pound improvements, getting my body moving is more appealing than ever. I'm seeing new options (kick boxing! pilates! running! stretching!) and thinking that it would be fun to see if I can do those too. Eventually, I plan to give them all a try. :)

Know what? I just inspired myself. I'm going to go get myself re-enrolled at the fitness center and get a workout in this afternoon. Bye!

10 pounds gone!

I just had to share my excitement in hitting the 10 pound weight loss mark today, since getting off of sugar in March and increasing my raw foods since then. One could say that I am rather excited! (I also lost 5 pounds from November to March, so that makes it even funnER!)

One thing I thought to myself this morning when I weighed in was that I am so glad that I am always just thinking about losing 1 pound. Rather than being disappointed or reserving my glee, I have gotten to be very happy every time I see that one more pound has gone away.

Losing just one pound at a time is my all-time favorite perspective on weight loss. I highly recommend it! :)

Exercise--Making It Happen

I'm not one to go out of my way to exercise. I'm a person that likes naps, chats, snuggling, books, movies, and too much computer time. But I know I need it. And I've been thinking about making it happen.

I was thinking that if any of my business ventures ever started producing oodles and oodles of dollars, that maybe I would hire a personal trainer to come right to my house to make me get up and do something to get fit.

In the meantime, while waiting for my bank account to swell, I thought about what I really need.

I have finally found some exercise I like to do. Leslie Sansone walk at home DVDs are fun for me. I just lack the internal motivation to get it done most of the time.

So I got an idea. What if I found an exercise buddy that would come to my house and do the Leslie walks with me??

I thought of my friend Kim. Last summer she organized some walking in our town, but I found it tough to get out of the house most evenings, plus I'm a wimp when it gets really hot. So I asked her if she wanted to come walk with me in my family room. And she said yes!

Monday was our first night walking. The joke was on us--

I had a Leslie DVD here from Netflix (been sitting here for a week without me touching it) that I thought would have the 1 and 2 mile walks on it. Nope. Just a 3 mile walk! (and Kim had already walked about 5 miles that day!!)

I had never done a 3 mile walk with Leslie, and don't think I've even done a 3 mile walk on a treadmill, and certainly not in real life. (are you kidding me?!) I wasn't so sure I could do it, but figured if ever I could, it would be with my buddy Kim by my side.

As it turned out, we did just fine with the 3 mile walk, and even got to chat some as we did so. Having someone to talk to sure does help me forget my aching muscles! ;)

I am excited that I have an exercise buddy, and that I have learned that I am strong enough to do a 3 mile walk workout. :) I get to do 2 more 3 mile walks this week, before I go to a music festival with my teenagers and our youth group and who knows how many miles I will walk while there. (probably more than 3 per day!)

On My Mind Today--Weight Loss and Getting Off Sugar

With my first 4 or 5 babies, most of the extra weight came off by the time the child was around 1. (Just in time to get pregnant again--ha!) The last baby is turning six tomorrow. Obviously, the extra weight isn't going to leave on it's own. :/

Thankfully, I'm tall. (about 6') I can get away with carrying some extra weight without looking too bad. But let's face it--weighing 25 or 30 or 40 extra pounds over my ideal weight (whatever "ideal" is...) just isn't too good. It makes my heart work harder than it should. It makes the bulging disc in my lower back complain more than I'd like. And I'm tired of not fitting into clothes like I want to.

This isn't the first time I've thought about this, obviously. I've gone through spurts where I was concerned enough to join a fitness center and go workout almost every day. I did lose over 15 pounds doing that at one point, and I have kept that off, so it wasn't all for nothing. (I also felt hungry and tired all the time, and never got that supposed "high" from exercizing regularly. What a bummer!)

What I've found is a case of conflicting priorities. For instance, I homeschool five of my children. And I'm normally the only person at home with them. How am I going to take time to go to the fitness center every day? I don't want to leave them home alone. And bringing them along with me seems a little too adventurous. (though I have considered getting a family membership, and setting up all of those little legs on stationary bikes and treadmills while I do my thing. I'm sure my workout time would double because of all the interruptions of people tripping and falling on the treadmill, and fighting over whose turn it is to ride the bikes, and whether or not the balancing balls can be kicked or thrown across the room....oy!)

I do enjoy my Leslie Sansone walk at home DVDs, my rebounder, and my Joyce Vedral weight listing DVDs. Somehow, I lack the internal motivation to get those out and put them to use very often. It's too easy to find something else that needs to be done, or get sidetracked. (now I understand why some people hire personal trainers to come to their homes. If I had someone showing up at my door to make me workout, I know it would happen.... I would also like a personal chef to cook healthy meals for us all the time!!)

Another conflicting priorities issue I deal with is one of the ones that keeps me from being a hard-core health nut. And that's the fact that so many fun and nurturing things in life and in our society revolve around food. At first glance (and second, and third...) it seems hard to imagine how to get the same warm-and-cozy mothering in if I'm not willing to make cookies or have birthday cakes. My husband often invites me to have a date night at home, where we watch a movie from netflix and have a "treat." I have noticed that these treats are now happening several times a week, and usually they are not healthy or low calorie. (There is a reason that I do not preach perfectly healthy eating--I would not be practicing what I preach!)

I did manage to lose about 5 pounds over the holidays (how weird is that?!) but I've now gained two of them back, probably thanks to all of my "special" treats that are becoming all too commonplace these days.

So I had an epiphany ;) last night and this morning. Maybe I need to challenge myself to get off of sugar, and get back to the many ways of making treats, date nights, and fun times with my kids also be healthy. (Yes, I should still try to exercise, but right now getting off of sugar completely seems like something that might help me without taking a bunch of extra time.)

It is funny how when I am thinking from within my own issues, things can feel so difficult. "I don't know what we'll eat!" wah wah wah.... But if I treat my issues as if it is one of my class members writing and asking for advice, suddenly I have a whole bunch of truly great ideas for how I could keep the nurturing and fun aspects of eating in place, while making it more healthy. (I enjoy myself as a healthy eating coach a whole lot!)

So today, a decision: I'm going to try to get off of sugar, and use my creativity to have healthy treats that my family and I will enjoy. I don't know if I'm going to be able to stick with it for very long, or how consistent I will be. But I figure it'll be a good series of blog posts to share with you guys, and maybe it will help you get some ideas of some more changes you could make at your house.