Category: Weight Loss Transformation

Amplify the Good

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You decided to take some steps to improve your health, that’s something to celebrate. If you’re watching your diet, moving more, getting preventive visits in with your doctor, taking vitamins, buying organic, or just taking a daily supplement it all counts! Time is a real bully when it comes to establishing healthy habits because the ultimate goal may seem far off – for real. But… it’s the work we do today that brings it closer to tomorrow and that’s for real too. Time goes by either way so what are you going to do? Listen to that negative self-talk? Don’t do it. Listen to me instead, and I’m telling you, you’re amazing! Whatever you’re up to today, keep this verve going. Stoke it like a burning fire that motivates you to keep making the choices that will serve you and your goals. You got this.

Make your own rainbows.

The Holidays

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It’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and today was my last day of teaching for the week. It’s 8:40 pm and I’m in pajamas. On TV, a newish holiday movie is playing that is attempting to kindle that old Hollywood charm but is (sadly) missing the mark. Instead of watching the show, I find myself thinking about my weight loss journey instead. It’s been a long stretch between posts, so here are some things that are going well:

  • I’m on a 277-day streak for food journaling
  • I’m also on a 41-week streak of working out every day.
  • Every day I drink 64 ounces of water and take vitamins.
  • My gratitude journal is almost completely full.

I have really garnered some momentum on my journey and that makes me feel pretty great. Now that the holidays are here I am reflecting on what I want to achieve. At my last Weight Watcher meeting, we discussed having a strategy for Thanksgiving. At first, I thought I’d pre-track everything that I plan on eating, but now I don’t think that’s the way to go. I’m going to treat it like any other day. I’m going to eat what I want, track it all. What I’m doing now is working so I think I’ll just keep doing this.

To anyone taking the time to read this post, I say, let’s take on that attitude of gratitude, as we lift our glasses, and say,” Cheers to us!” as we keep becoming the best versions of ourselves.

Eat Happy

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Lisa, my Weight Watcher coach, enlightened me about the importance of eating happy. In other words, eating the foods that I love, and in a just right portion for me. Eating happy… is what sustains a person when losing weight, and (I think) is especially important while on a long weight-loss journey. On the surface, it seems so obvious – like duh eat foods you love. In practice, however, it is really sage advice.

A Day in the Life of a Weight Watcher

My sister and I did our Saturday morning ritual. We take turns driving and picking up (Dunkin’ Donuts) coffee for our Saturday morning meeting, and this week it was my turn. Occasionally after the meeting, we take a quick trip up to Trader Joe’s as we did today. I bought a bunch of hard-to-find items and left with two bags of groceries.

By the time I got home, I was pretty hungry and this is what I ate,

5 SmartPoints: 3 for the crumpet – 2 for the guacamole – 0 for the Greek Yogurt & Fruit

I enjoyed both, the food and the atmosphere in my dining room. I am happiest when I eat a variety of foods and the presentation of the food is also important to me. I tried to be strategic, I love carbs so there is the crumpet, and it’s worth all 3 Smartpoints to me. The guacamole offers healthy fats as an alternative to butter and is only 2 Smartpoints. More importantly, I like the way it tastes; although in truth, I wanted fresh avocado but none were ripe enough yet. The non-fat Greek Yogurt was full of protein, and (as we discussed in our meeting today) is sure to keep me from getting hungry again for a while. The pomegranate seeds are the variety and add a nice texture when mixed together with the blueberries.

As I write to you now reflecting on this small part of my day, I realize there is another layer to eating happy, gratitude. Food has been something I have taken for granted over the years, and now I see it as something to be deeply valued. Eating happy is another expression of self-care and a vehicle for the betterment of my health. So I will pass on Lisa’s phrase to all of you readers, do yourself a favor, eat happy.

Positively Visible

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Who doesn’t love instant gratification? Getting what you want when you want it, is the best. This statement is more than an opinion, it reflects the true nature of the human brain. We have a genuine bias for getting an immediate reward. For many, bad habits thrive on instant gratification, and, over time, that can lead to a negative outcome. Dessert every night is appealing but (that will most assuredly) impact a weight loss journey. There is no joy in foregoing dessert but it will have a positive impact on the ultimate goal – losing weight. It all seems very unfair

Here is a tip to share that may remedy unhelpful habits. Making your day-to-day helpful habits pleasurable in some way. James Clear says, “Pleasure teaches your brain that a behavior is worth remembering and repeating.” (pg. 185 Atomic Habits) and I have to say, I have found this to be true…

  • This pill case is the cue to take my vitamins.

I like the colors of the pill case, and I enjoy unscrewing the top one and moving it to the bottom after taking my vitamins. This is an easy-to-do habit that gives me a little boost. I like the little pun on my lunchbox, it makes me smile. Closing the rings on my Apple Watch is very motivating to me, and I really like getting special badges. I enjoy spinning, and I like to join challenges on my Peloton. It makes me feel like I’m in a class, and the personal reward is to complete it.

All these small habits are defining who I am, and I am a person who lives a healthy lifestyle. I am not at goal (yet) but I’m already living the lifestyle. Making healthy habits both positive and visible is a game changer. Try it for yourself.

A Birthday Wish

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If you know, you know, gaining back weight is hard. I think it’s very important to try to make sense of why this happened to me. I regained 74 of the 94 pounds I lost over the span of five years. This is a hard post to write, so why do it? Why be so vulnerable in such a public space? I want my story to be about resilence not failure, and I want to evolve. I also need to understand why it happened. Sharing these blogs helps me to reflect, and a weight gain story isn’t that unique. Lots of people struggle with weight gain and maybe if I take the risk and put myself out there others will be inspired do their own work of uncovering their why.

Looking Back to Go Forward…

I am at a mid point in my weight loss journey, I have another 35 pounds till I reach my goal, and my intuition tells me that it’s time to take a look back. When I reached my weight loss goal last time, my motivation was all about turning 50. I wanted to look and feel my best, and I did it. I felt really amzing, I was really proud of myself. I did maintain my weight loss for a long time, until COVID happened. Then two of my most reliable habits were taken from me: going to Spin classes, attending in person Weight Watcher meetings. Everyone was home doing jig-saw puzzels, drinking, and eating. Old habits set up shop and I let myself be oblivious.

Regaining the weight was a slow process. Life events my coping strategies made it so easy to lose touch with my body. My “lockdown” was to set up house in my head and live there taking the rest of me for granted. Does that make sense to any of you? I was going along slowly gaining for a long time and it felt almost annoyomous. What I mean is while my weight fluctuated up and down (with a long term trend of going upwards). Just last year, my friends at work were complimenting my weight loss. They would remark about how great it was that I was maintaining the loss. I wasn’t maintaining it – and I knew that, but I ignored that it was happening.

By the winter of this year, the jig was finally up. By then there were no complements about me maintaining weight loss. To the outside world, it was obvious I wasn’t. On the inside I was feeling physically and mentally sluggish, and my confidence was taking a beating, I certainly wasn’t happy with my appearance. Everything to do with food had felt like it once had, overwhelming. It became very clear to me that I could no longer ignore my problem.

Early one morning, I stepped on the scale and to get reacquainted with reality, I thought to myself, “Now you know.” This was quickly followed by an onslaught of negative self-talk. My inner voice was all too happy to share her opinion about how I had let myself down, “You gained back so much weight! How could you do that? You knew it was happening. What’s wrong with you? You are practically starting over”. I realized that if I was going to do this; “Again!” (there she is) and have a of shot of being successful, I’d have to figure out how to quell that inner voice.

The Body Remembers…

Muscle memory refers to the body’s ability to reproduce a move without giving it any thought. So if you are a person who has lots of experience doing yoga, playing golf, or even riding a bike your body knows the script. This is the best analogy I can think of to descibe how I felt after my freak out session about my weight gain. I decided it was time to say goodbye to my negative inner voice, pack my bags and move out of my head and trust myself that I could indeed make weight loss happen again.

Strategy #2 Living As If…

Starting over was hard but something that helped me was to live as if I was feeling confident with my habits even if I wasn’t. That negative inner voice kept opening windows in my head and shouting down to me, “This is too hard!” When that happened, I would play this little head game. Let’s say a thought pops into my head like, “Ugh, I don’t want to drink any more water.” Another thought bubbles up, “This is just what you do. You are the kind of person who drinks 64 ounces of water every day. Now drink up.” I would act as if this is the total truth, and eventually it actually does become the total truth!

In a lot of ways, I’ve already arrived. What I mean is, I’m not wishing I were living a healthy lifestyle I am living it. And, yes, I have a way to go before I hit goal, but I’ve got this. Healthy living is becoming part of my identity. With this change, I feel like I can be more flexible when some other life event comes along and messes with my systems. I do want to lose weight but more than that I want to hold onto feeling physically better and mentally freer.

It’s very likely that I’ll always need to be warry of negative thoughts. Pictures will happen, feeling inadquate will happen, and there will definately be low days in the future. My big work is to learn how to manage that negativity. This strategy of living as if, is teaching me to understand that what I do in the long terms matters a whole lot more than what I think in a fleeting moment.

My Birthday Wish…

Today is my birthday, and I’m old enough to realize that I have so much to be grateful for already. In a real sense my wish has already been answered, because just being alive is the crown on my head. So here is my birthday wish – I’m sharing it with anyone reading this post at any time: “I wish that we would all believe in the power that we all possess to change ourselves for the better.” We can do it together.

Weight Loss Strategy #1: Taking Reflection Breaks

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Sometimes, a weight loss journey brings real insight into how to improve a person’s quality of life. Other times, it can be fraught with disappointment and stress. I have been on the receiving end of both of those scenarios. Taking some time to reflect may be the missing piece to a weight loss puzzle. So, how is your weight journey going? Are you experiencing either of those extremes? Are you somewhere in the middle?

Right now, I am in a good place. My habits seem to be serving me well, and I am losing weight. I’ve lost, 31.5 pounds since January. Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit hungrier, so I’m making sure to eat higher-protein snacks like almonds, pistachios, or Greek yogurt. That seems to be helping, and just asking the question: “Is anything blocking my weight loss efforts?” helps me to stay flexible and responsive.

I am encouraging you to really dial into your own weight loss journey. If you are genuinely interested and approach it with some curiosity about what is (or isn’t) working engagement is sure to follow. You are worth all the effort, and I hope you never forget that as you keep moving forward through life. So let’s do this, together.

Phone a Friend

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A friend sent me today’s cover image. She is traveling with her husband in their RV across the country. Driving on highways and local roads gives an intimate perspective of the land that air travel cannot give. They are experienced RVers who have done this every summer for many years. They know the ropes for how to pack, they can calculate how long it will take to get to their destination, and they know where to make reservations for the better campgrounds. They have an understanding of how this process works, and so they have clear expectations for what will happen along the way.

Knowing what to expect and having the capacity for doing what needs to be done, makes a successful journey possible. This thinking works for weight loss too. For so many of us, we know what to do to plan for successful weight loss, and yet we stop ourselves from actually taking the journey. Why? A reason might be because although we get close we never make it to the ultimate destination. Another reason might be that we reach the weight loss goal but can’t sustain it. Yet another reason may be that something significant changed in life, and now the systems to achieve a healthy lifestyle had to change.

Where are you on your weight loss journey right now? Maybe you’re all packed up and seeing the sights. Maybe you had to take a detour and are figuring out your new route. Maybe you took a pit stop and now your vehicle won’t start, you’ll need the tools to fix it. No matter where you are on your weight loss journey, please believe that you are the one who holds the keys. You are the only person who can decide what happens next to you.

When thinking about all the possible scenarios that could inhibit weight loss if you find yourself in the worst situation; like you’re stuck on the side of the road, your tire is flat and it’s raining... all is not lost. Sometimes, the best choice is to call in help from a friend. It’s true that this journey is one of self-reliance (only you can decide to take the trip) but it doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers. Sometimes the best thing you can do to get yourself moving again is to ask a friend for help.

May Challenge

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Successful weight loss depends on habits. We know this. The problem with habits is that (the successful ones) are repetitive. Wake up, record my weight, put on my Apple Watch, fill my water jug, and get my lunch… did I lose you yet? Wait, don’t stop reading, this post will get better, hang in there with me.

This is all the good news… I do appreciate my habits, they are in synch and doing what I need them to do – I am losing weight. I am down 5.5 pounds just from April 1st. The “number” is feedback just one part of the process. The thing I’m even happier about is how I am feeling. I have good energy, and I am doing something to take care of myself.

Read Atomic Habits – it is so good!

This is the downside… it takes time to figure out the process. Then sometimes, you figure it out, and then something out of your control forces a change that causes a setback. So sometimes (while you’re doing all the work to get the process in gear) you need a little distraction to keep your spirits high. I work with young children, and I can tell you that there is no substitution for a little novelty to get kids to do things that are hard for them. To that end, I have created a little gift of sorts for you in the May Challenge! Take a look, feel free to download it, and come do this with me. It will be fun.

may-challenge_-getting-to-goalDownload

Weight Loss & Waiting

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We finally got our first significant snowfall, it came just in time to say goodbye to February 2023. Although it arrived late into the season, I think it’s safe to say, that we Long Islanders are just happy it made it before the spring. It’s kind of a relief to see that familiar white blanket because it confirms our expectations – it’s winter, and in the winter it snows.

When it comes to waiting, everyone can relate to feeling frustrated. Especially when what you’re wating for is something you really want… like ahieving your weight loss goal. Here is the thing you’ve got to consider, there is only so much energy you have on any given day, how do you want to use your energy? You might be thinking, “I can’t help it, I am frustrated because weight loss takes so… l o n g!” All I can say to that is, “I hear ya!” Let’s take a moment just to appreciate that weight loss is hard.

You can do hard things. There are lots of ways you can help yourself along the way. So just in case you need a word of encouragement or some tips to keep you going here is what I have to share:

  • Anticipate the best-case scenario, you will reach your weight loss goal.
  • Appreciate the journey by giving yourself well-deserved props you’re doing this!
  • Set small goals as you go and don’t diminish your joy for accomplishing them.
  • The benefit of practicing patience is perseverance and perseverance increases feelings of gratitude.
  • Shift your focus from “the work” to self-care it conserves energy to keep going.

Now I want you to think to yourself, “I got this.”

Predicting the Future

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If the human brain were an appliance would have an extremely high-energy star rating. You’d see that yellow label hanging from it and you’d know you were getting a really good deal. The brain does all that it can to preserve energy. Whenever it encounters a problem it gets to work to problem solve and over time it learns how to deal with the problem, becoming more and more efficient each time. Eventually, it predicts a series of steps to take whenever the problem recurs. You do it without even thinking about it because it is now a habit:

There is a catch… the brain doesn’t care if it’s a helpful habit or a harmful habit – just so long as the problem is resolved. I find this fascinating as I reflect on weight gain or weight loss. We can literally predict our own futures – even if it is on a subconscious basis. But now that you are privy to this information, what will you do? How is your weight loss story going to go? Your habits will predict your fate.

Photo Credit for Cover Image: Joyce Cohn Bolz