Tag: #wellness

Reaching for Better

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Taking stock of how it’s going on a weight loss journey is essential. Reflection unlocks the process in ways that are both revealing and significant because everyone’s journey is unique to their own experience. We can all “do a program” but results will vary as to our level of understanding and practice. The focus of my last’s post was identifying what habits help weight loss. The flip side to this discovery is to also identify what habits are hindering progress.

First Comes What Then How

What habits don’t work? I know one thing that is holding me back is the habit of eating dessert every night. Maybe not every night but certainly most! To be clear, the desert is a low-point option. I am losing weight, but maybe I don’t need dessert almost every night. Maybe desert has become a habit over a desire. Another thing that isn’t helping, is having seconds at dinner without considering if I am really still hungry. Knowing the answer to this question, what habits aren’t working for me, is like leveling up when it comes to weight loss.

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

How can you adjust your habits to improve? One thing I know for sure, nothing good ever comes from admiring a problem so making an action plan comes next. You. might be thinking, “Whoa… I just got to a place where I have habits for weight loss, I am not even ready to make any changes to them yet!” I read a quote recently that really hit a strong belief I hold:

You’re never ready for what you have to do. You just do it. That makes you ready.

Flora Rheta Schreiber, Journalist

Maybe you don’t want to address everything at once. Maybe you want to adjust one habit at a time, either way, taking action to make a change is the critical thing if you’re serious about weight loss. So here is my “how”, here is my action plan for my desert situation:

  1. I am going to eat dessert, it can be any kind of dessert I want but I have to track the points value in my tracker before eating it.
  2. It can be any three nights I want because I want to break the habit of routinely eating dessert.
  3. When I eat dessert I will eat it mindfully. This means I experience the taste of the flavors textures, visuals, and scent of what I am eating.

Here is my action plan for limiting seconds during dinner:

  1. Dinnertime is social for me. I am going to keep pace with my slow-eating husband.
  2. I serve dinner from the stovetop, this keeps me more intentional about additional servings.
  3. I will use the hunger scale
Hunger ScaleDownload

My parting words are here to remind you that you are worthy of the work it takes to reach your health and wellness goals. Keep looking for the good in yourself and in the others within your communities. Together we can all reach our full potential.

Get Tracking…

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The most important thing I do to either lose or maintain weight is to accurately track the foods I eat. WW makes this super easy with the app that comes with membership. I especially enjoy the bar code reader that tells you how many points are in foods. I use it when I grocery shop.

Today’s post, and yesterday’s, Keep Things In Proportion, are like two parts of one whole. Tracking foods works, but I have to be super honest about portion sizes, otherwise I’m just wasting my time. The truth is, most people I meet hate tracking. They don’t want to put in the time and energy to do it, and all I can say is that I understand.

I read an on-line article from, Harvard Health Publishing, Why Keep A Food Diary, and it helped me to think of ways to extend my uses for tracking in ways I hadn’t considered before. The major reasons why we should track were well known to me:

  • It helps to know what you’re eating
  • It helps to know how much you’re eating
  • It helps to know when you’re eating (I could track this better)

If you’re already doing all three things, you’re way ahead of the game. You will lose weight if you track your food it’s a simple matter of awareness and accountability. It’s hard though, sometimes we just don’t want to face it, and we just want that extra scoop of ice cream. When I make the choice to track, I’m gathering data about myself, I’m always blown away at how easy it is for so many of us to put our needs as a secondary thing to others. Tracking only takes a few minutes, and it can be a game changer.

  • WW App
  • 5 oz Turkey Kielbasa
  • 1/2 cup roasted potatoes

Tracking 2.0

If you’re already tracking your food, you may be ready for the next level. According to, the author Katherine McManus, using these lenses for tracking can yield even more good information:

  • Where are you eating?
  • What else are you doing while eating?
  • Who are you eating with?
  • How are you feeling when you’re eating?

So, I’ve created a Google Form, Tracking 2.0, that can help me track my results. You are welcome to use it too. Just save it as your own form and see if it gives you any new insights.

To “Make A Copy” just click the three dots in the upper right corner next to my picture. That will open a menu so you can save your form and access your own data.

I figure if I create this form I can access it through my phone and that will help make this easier to manage. It also could be a big bust, but I’m curious so I’ll just try it and see what happens.

Day Twenty-Five…

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If you are looking for a place to get a nice easy lunch that is SmartPoint friendly, Panera is a great option. The two for two lunch deal was only 5 SmartPoints. I had a cup of the Ten Vegetable Soup and 1/2 Asian Chicken Salad for 4 SmartPoints and an apple 0 SmartPoints. It really hit the spot and and left me feeling good.

  • 1/2 Salad 4 SmartPoints
  • 1 cup soup 1 SmartPoint

I learned about, Mark Hyman who is part of the Cleveland Clinic, and his work dealing with healthy immune systems in a Facebook group, #dailyjounalprompts . Here is his talk if you want to check it out for yourself:

The Secrets to Creating a Healthy Immune System

Molecules in motion they go the way our emotions do so chronic stress is so bad for us. Everyone know it has negative impacts on health. However, do you know about the immunology of joy? Joy improves health, and it’s easy to do. A gratitude journal – yielded these amazing results. The amount of touching that goes on makes us healthier – a hug has profound effects. This blows me away.

More fun facts – Rheumatoid arthritis – there is a genetic predisposition, so gene plus environment equals a result. However, it can be greatly influenced by diet: plant based diets, eating fish, it all has an impact! A meatless Monday – so easy. Activity – moving just a bit more it helps a lot. A common sense approach that sounds a lot like the WW program – it all makes sense to me.

Break it Down…

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What if today was the first day of the journey? This was a strange and unexpected thought I had as I was getting ready for the day. l was thinking about all the ambition and hope that gives me the boost to take on big work. Life is so consuming, so hectic and it’s really easy to to take my health goals for granted. Ironically, taking my health goals for granted, would be a big mistake.

When life gets hard, that’s just when I need to dig in and bring my best self to the table. Eating berries and non-fat yogurt is an act of self-love precisely because it is good for me. It’s something beautiful that I am eating to make me stronger. Going to spin class is the thing that helps me to be strong for the challenges ahead. Working together, these are the actions I can take to run into the fights that life doles out.

We fail because we forget about ourselves. Weight loss, living a healthy lifestyle is becoming a practice I keep, not a means to an end. I couldn’t have had these insights without all the experiences I have had. My perspective is earned and has been shaped by my community. The people I trust and share with on Saturday mornings, and in this virtual space.

My heart is light, and I filled with gratitude and appreciation, and that helps take on the heavy burdens that we all are given. Thank you for walking this path with me, thank you for inspiring me, thank you for helping me to see beyond myself.

Day Twenty…

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The day after Thanksgiving was met with a lot of enthusiasm to celebrate wellness and good health. I missed my 8:15 am spin class because it was so warm and snuggly in bed; however, I did get into the 9:30 am class, and the instructor was amazing. The class offered a high-intensity fun workout and I left the gym feeling fabulous. I am very grateful that I have found an activity that I truly enjoy. I keep thinking about Robert, a fellow #WW member, who shared a study that said people who maintain active lifestyles are more likely to maintain their weight loss. (Click here to read more)

The bagel store was hopping when I got there. I bought three bagels, hard-boiled eggs,  3/4 pound of Boars Head Ovengold Turkey, and a small vegetable cream cheese.  I still have not had a bagel because I am just not ready to give up all the points to eat one. It will happen one of these days just not today. I think if I ate all those carbs, I would crave more and in an effort to do a little post-Thanksgiving detox (as it were) today would not be the ideal day to indulge! So instead…

Featured Image
3 ox BH Turkey; 1 hard-boiled egg; 2 oz cheese, vegetables, raspberries: 6sp

I really enjoyed breakfast. It’s so important for me to eat a variety of foods and that I really like my food. I could have eaten lower fat options for the cheese, but it wouldn’t taste as good to me. I’d rather spend the points on the foods I like to eat.

Word of the Day: Rise

I belong to a community of writers, (#TeachWrite) Teachers Who Write. Each day, Jennifer Laffin sends out a writing prompt into the internet and today I wanted to try my hand. She sent a little push with the Word of the Day, “Rise”.  Being a huge fan of words, I did a quick search and this what I found.

Rise Define

Words of Wisdom

So how do I take this potent word, rise, and apply it me and my experiences? I am not so bold as to think that I am where I am because of my efforts alone. No doubt, I have had to work and sacrifice to be here; however, my rise is like a wave in the ocean. I am brought up by generations of hard work, love, and devotion. Then there is that bit of luck that is thrown in that may or may not be a kiss of divine intervention. I believe in the latter because I believe that this world is more complex than we realize.

I believe the rise is fueled by the embers of a personal belief that burn brightly from within the heart. I believe there is something sacred within each of us that we must stoke with both inspiration and grace. Going into this holiday season, I hope that I may meet that challenge and give more and be more and burn brightly so that I may rise and be worthy of this beautiful life.