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.