Category: Weight Watcher

Past, Present, Future

Just Write2 Comments

The past is your shadow, it is an exaggeration of your shape and form. Sometimes it is light and airy, and other times it pools beneath your feet. The energy you feel inside your body is the present. It’s verve or apathy; calm, or ebullience – it is you right now centered in this moment. The future is the step you take before your foot hits the ground. It’s the freefall of not really knowing what will happen next.

Who you decide to be in this life is up to you alone. If it’s weight loss, a different career, or building stronger relationships that your after, go for it. Don’t let hesitation dissuade you; be unabashedly bold and never diminish your joy. Then make a move to bring others along with you – dedicate yourself to helping others to be more than they thought was even possible. Being a force for good in this sometimes weary, jaded world is the ultimate act of gratitude for this life we get to live.

Goals are Good

Just WriteLeave a comment

Yesterday was a strangely exhausting day. I started this post last night but found that I was too tired to finish it so here we are. The May Challenge was to share a goal with someone. I shared mine with my sister on my ride to work. The thing about goals is there is a right way and a wrong way to go about them. When goals are vague they are less likely to actually happen. You have to have a plan for a goal that you really want to achieve. Here is what I know about goals

  1. Goals are good. They help to focus energy and effort. We all want something and a goal keeps that desire alive.
  2. When setting a goal be very specific. Name the goal, say when you will work on it (like the time of day), and how you will work on it (real action).
  3. A goal needs a deadline. A little pressure to achieve something is not always a bad thing. Just keep it in perspective.

I realize thinking back that the goal I shared with my sister didn’t meet my own criteria. It’s way harder when. goal has to do with something I don’t really want to do but I need to. The goal would benefit me and my family, but I hate the idea of doing it. It only underscores the important role attitude plays when I have to do hard things. I’ll get there, eventually. If you are feeling this way about your weight loss – don’t beat yourself up. But also… do the work reflect on why there is a block.

Today’s challenge is to listen to a favorite song. I have many favorites but lately, I’m loving this one:

The video is weird but the song is great (to me).

It speaks to longing and reflection, and a wish to go back in time to someplace special and intimate. I kind of think about life as walking a trail – where one foot steps forward as the other lingers in the past. I know this is true for me. I am who I was and also who I am becoming.

may-challenge_-getting-to-goalDownload

May Challenge

Just Write6 Comments

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

A Quick Glimpse: My Day

Just Write1 Comment

Drowsy bedhead sipping coffee as the sun slips silently into twilight. The early morning light scatters into the atmosphere it is officially another day. Two sets of clothes sit at the ready, one for work, the other for working out. Down the stairs, all set to go grabbing my green Yeti with a second cup of coffee to go… then a backpack, slinging my lunch over my shoulder, jostling my water jug. I am a woman on a mission…

Later, the front door opens and I step inside the house. I pick up the clothes waiting on the wooden chair in the foyer. Outside the sun still rules high above the horizon. It’s light seems extremely potent at this time of day. My back pack is dropped, I toss the cold packs from my lunch-bag to the freezer and they make a soft thump when they hit the ice maker. I’m prepping dinner in my workout clothes.

I climb the stairs with my dog Sadie following in tow. My water bottle feels lighter as it swings from side to to side with ever step. Sadie lays down under my makeup table, her head rests lightly on her paws, she is my witness to spin class. Thirty minutes later I am back in the kitchen, prepping my lunch for tomorrow. I think about the cooler packs slowly freezing and it’s strange because I realize everything is resetting only to restart all over again tomorrow.

Everyone’s weight loss journey has its own rhythm – the challenge is to learn the steps so you can let those habits lead.

What Works for Weight Loss

Just Write3 Comments

Sometimes you need a little guide on the side when it comes to knowing how to begin something new. This is especially true when it comes to a weight loss journey. There are so many competing ideas, and with it being a 3.8 billion dollar industry it can be easy to get “sold” on something that won’t work for you. Here are my top ten habits that are helping me lose weight:

  1. Daily weigh-ins: this has helped me know my patterns betters and has made me less uptight about seeing “the number”
  2. Drinking 64 ounces of water each day: I notice that when I am hydrated I feel less hungry between meals.
  3. Daily exercise: when I work out I feel better, and since I enjoy spinning and I own a Peloton, it just works out.
  4. Daily food tracking: I am a Weight Watchers member, so I do all of that on my app and it really gives me the structure I need.
  5. Weigh and measure portions: I find it difficult to eyeball a serving. A food scale and measuring cups really help me. I’m not overeating or undereating I’m eating a serving and it helps.
  6. Making healthy foods obvious: it helps a lot to have grab-and-go foods for meal prep. Hard-boiled eggs, cut-up veggies, or low-point/calorie snacks bagged up can make a big difference
  7. Daily reflection for gratitude is more helpful than you’d think: if you decide to focus on all that there is to be grateful for it changes the daily story we tell ourselves. It’s important to enjoy this time on the journey and not just wait for things to get better after weight loss.
  8. If you’re a learner it’s important to intellectually engage the weight loss process: read about health and nutrition to keep your head in the game. If reading is not your bag, there are plenty of podcasts out there.
  9. Plan ahead: for me the meal that’s the hardest is dinner. I use the Paprika Recipe Manager to plan out the week. The great thing is I can send myself the grocery list on the “Reminders” app on my iPhone.
  10. Build a community: having spaces you can share with others really makes a difference. Get a friend to join you on a weight loss journey, be part of a bigger group meeting, and/or engage in virtual platforms. If you are reading this and decide to comment you are making a move to be part of a community.

Here is a little door prize for reading today, this is a great habit tracker. Feel free to download this to try it out. If you would like one of your own here is my Getting to Goal Amazon List. You will find that and some other products that are helping me on this journey.

habit-tracker-getting-to-goalDownload

Don’t You Mind Me: Mindful Eating

Just WriteLeave a comment

Here is a little story about my nephew, James. When he turned four he had one of those big family parties. After he made his wish and blew out the candles, it was time for ice cream cake! He took a nice big slice and proceeded to eat it with a tiny cocktail fork. Each forkful clung to the metal until some eventually spilled onto his plate. Well, of course, there were lots of “helpful adults” on hand to tell him, “You don’t eat ice cream cake with that.” To which he replied without missing a beat, “Don’t you mind me.” and promptly took his cake to eat with his more like-minded cousins. He was hilarious! But now I have to think, was he also wise?

Food is sensory and is meant to be experienced. Want a fun fact? Studies show that we eat less when we hear ourselves chew. (Brigham Young University) It’s a little weird, but it also makes sense.

So what is mindful eating? Mindful eating is an approach to eating that can be a very useful habit to establish on a weight loss journey. Harvard University’s research has shown that “mindful eating can lead to greater psychological wellbeing, increased pleasure when eating, and body satisfaction.” All I know is that when I eat something mindfully, I savor food rather than just consume it.

Sometimes I feel like a hungry lion too.

My present goal for mindful eating is to eat one thing a day mindfully. I don’t think I am ready for a whole meal this way, but I can say – I do enjoy it. I imagine where the almonds were harvested, or I name the sweet and sour notes in my Greek yogurt. Sometimes I look closely at the pistils of a raspberry in contrast to its deep red color. Here is what I try to do to set it up:

  • Be intentional with how I feel when I sit down to eat.
  • Limit outside distractions and make eating an experience.
  • As I eat focus on the sounds I make, name the colors of the food, inhale the smells, and experience the textures on my tongue.

As I close this post and Think back on my hilarious and wise nephew, James, the kid was onto something. There is no right way to eat something you really enjoy. For him, maybe that cocktail fork added a lot to the whole aesthetic of eating ice cream cake. It might be time to lose the “rules” when it comes to food, and just get carried away with the experience of eating food I really enjoy.

Beliefs About Body Image

Just Write1 Comment

Spinning requires good form. In order to get the most out of the workout, and to avoid injury, holding positions (correctly) on the bike really matter. When COVID hit, I moved away from my gym membership and bought a Peloton. I love my bike, it gives me as good a workout as I got at my local gym. Although, my gym offered a terrific community and I do miss the people. But that is a post for another time… I tend to select classes with explicit instructions for form, and I realized that I needed a mirror to help me make sure I was keeping my back flat, and my elbows bent. The mirror helped, and my form is much better these days. But now, I also get a full view of my profile sitting on the bike. There is a definite disconnect between how I am feeling on the inside, “Go me! I am keeping up, even though it’s really difficult!” and how I look on the outside, “Is that what I really look like?” Then I knew that today’s post had to be dedicated to beliefs about body image.

Ugh… Body image can be a challenge for most people at some point. The other day at work, some friends were talking about how hard weight loss is, the sentiment of the conversation went like this,

You know that you’re doing so good, and it doesn’t show for such a long time. It takes so much work before it starts to show. You feel so good inside but then you look the same. It’s so discouraging.

a lunchtime chat

I was thinking about what my friends said, as my internal critic was hammering my appearance. I put my hands on my abdomen and I actually started feeling sorry for my poor body. This is the body that carried three beautiful human beings into the world. This is the body that made it possible for me to get my degree. This is the body that gave my mother a shoulder to lean on when she was sick. It has served me so well, and I have neglected it so badly and allowed myself to gain back weight. Although I’m not starting completely over, I didn’t gain it all back, it’s difficult just the same.

This is hard, but hating on my body image isn’t helpful. Hating my body is an unforgivable, petty thing to do to myself. I am truly grateful for my strong, capable body. I am trying to be worthy of it by giving it the care and attention it needs so I can continue to live my life. No matter where you are on the journey, I encourage you to love your body and to allow yourself to flood it with gratitude for all that it is to sustain your life. Be patient, stay the course, and just be good to yourself every step of the way.

What’s Next?

Just WriteLeave a comment

Yesterday, I was admiring spring flowers during my walk with Sadie. Today, I woke up to a light coating of snow. Surprise! This has me thinking about surprises. A surprise disrupts a pattern, you expect one thing and something else happens – SURPRISE! For so long I’ve treated the scale like a literal platform for a surprise to unfold before me. Step onto it and… surprise! You’re down, “Yay!” Your up, “Agh!” In my mind, I would think, “I did this or that, and now I have an expectation for how things are supposed to go.” But hey, sometimes the pattern is broken and there is a surprise.

Whether it’s a good surprise or a bad surprise is not the point. A surprise is a momentary blip. No different than the snow that was there in the morning and gone by the afternoon. It’s what happens after the surprise that really matters. It matters because that’s the part where I get to decide what will or will not happen – next. This is a process, and if I stick with it, over time, I will achieve my weight loss goals. Believe it, and it will be so.

This is not a surprise – eating breakfast is becoming a habit. That’s also the point.

It Worked!

Just WriteLeave a comment

Yesterday I set an implementation intention to work out before work. I wrote it down taking care to note the behavior, the time, and the location. For some reason, when we write down our goals with that degree of specificity we usually meet them.

It felt great to get a workout in before work and that I kept my promise to myself. I battled the candy again today and I was victorious! When I got home from work it was unseasonably warm and took my dog for a walk around the neighborhood. In short, it was a very active day.

Spring is almost here!

Doing the Work

Just Write1 Comment

I got a text from a friend who is also on a weight loss journey. This is how it went:

“Up 1.2.”

“Only down 14 now. Was at 20. Ugh.”

“Ok. What’s your goal this week?”

“Lose weight.”

“Fresh.”

“What are you going to do to make that happen, small goals.”

“Nothing.”

“Think about it commit to one thing.”

“A little self-care.”

I get how my friend feels because today was a struggle for me too. Again, with the candy bowl within reach all day, to say nothing of the bag of candy that was right behind my desk. For some reason, I was also hungry all day. I could keep complaining, but who wants to hear any of that?

Sometimes, when the journey gets hard, you need to recognize when you need some help. Whether that relief comes by texting a friend, or permission to give yourself a self-imposed “time out” for self-care – it’s ok. There is no one right way to do this because weight loss is hard. Tomorrow is another day.