The Secret to Success

   It is hard to believe that we only have 2 weeks left of the heart challenge.  I hope I have learned enough and am dedicated enough to change my health habits forever.  I think that most of us are feeling a little worried that we may return to the poor health habits of prior days.  One of the Heart Challenge participants had talked to a prior participant from another year and that person had regained all their lost weight.  That felt discouraging but a reality.
   Mindy, our dietician, devoted a large part of one of our classes talking about what determines if someone keeps their healthy habits and referred us to the National Weight Control Registry (google that), made up of 3200+ people that have lost 30-300 lbs and kept it off.   HERE IS THE SECRET:   Basically it comes down to continuing to monitor your food intake and exercising at least 200-300 minutes per week, eating healthy foods.   This is not "rocket science".   You have to stick to your goals 90% of the time and remember that each day is new and a chance to start over.
    I think that all of us that have been part of this have literally felt like we have "worked" our butts off.  We have not been alone.  Each of us has had a great trainer.  I am so grateful to Kaitlin Boston, who has put a lot of time, energy, and thought into her training.  Her encouragement has been invaluable to me.  Traci and Mindy have been great cheer leaders too. 
    I have not learned to love exercise . . . .which is unfortunate, but I like how much better I feel.   My sense of balance is better, I am not having anxiety attacks anymore, I feel more stable emotionally and physically, and I look so much better.  I can wear clothes that I have been unable to fit into for many years.  I have increase my wardrobe by 1/3.  I can run up the stairs without feeling winded. 
    At the beginning of this experience I think we all thought we were in it for 100 days.  Not so.  It never stops!  Hang in there all of you and remember that today is a your day to start new!!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies and the 90/10 Plan

Last Sunday my 15 year old daughter made cookies and asked me to finish baking them.  I did and was so amazed that I was able to restrain myself (mostly because I am also doing the Great Sugar Shut Out for August), and did not eat any cookies or dough.  We froze most of the cookies and I told myself that after I weighed myself on Monday, I would eat all the cookies I wanted . . . . or at least a couple!
Monday came and I was so amazed that I didn't care so much about the cookies and just had my Cheerios with a sliced fresh peach.
Things were looking good until Tuesday after work when I gave in to a package of trail mix (definitely not part of the Sugar Shut Out).  Then my daughter fixed grilled cheese sandwiches that evening, which I haven't had in 2 months . . . . . and I had 2 servings of granola . . . . . .  and I finished the day off with one of those frozen cookies that had been driving me crazy.  When I logged my calories, I was over 2000 calories.  I decided that it was one of those 10% days, where food just got the best of me.  (Well, at least I got it all out of my system - I felt like I had finally DONE IT ALL!) 
It is Wednesday and I am finally back to my 90% plan of following my dietary/exercise goals.  Sometimes it is just really hard!!!! 

Not My Best Week

   This has not been my best week.  I have lost a total of 10 pounds but really struggled for the first 2 days this week with exercising, feeling like I just did not have any energy.  On top of that, I was nearly attacked by a piece of layer cake at a reception, and it was all downhill from there.  Despite it all, I still made it to exercise all three days and to my training session and . . . . TODAY IS A NEW DAY!      That is something I have learned along the way.  If you didn’t have the best day (or days), it is best to just start over with your healthy plan.  Count your losses (or gains) and start over.    I am trying to make a life change, not a 100 day change.

Feeling exhausted

   I have been feeling really worn out this week - mostly because of a busy week, so I haven't gotten as much sleep.  That really takes its toll when you are still trying to exercise.  I feel tired and a little sore.  In the past I have always used food to keep me awake when I am tired, but I just can't do that anymore.  It's not a recipe for success and it shows.

   I have appreciated our nutrition class as a reminder lately.  I used to think this was all about weight loss, but I keep reminding myself that it is not - it's about feeling empowered and in control . . . it's about having better mental health and long term physical health.  Mindy, our dietician spent some time talking about "Intuitive Eating", trying to listen to what our bodies are telling us, instead of emotional eating, which is where I have been for a long time.  She showed us a 10 point scale with 0 being starvation and no hunger pains and 10 being so full you are vomiting.  She said that at 3 (where you stomach starts talking to you - growling) is where we should be making plans for what we will eat and that at 5 (feeling satisfied, still enjoying each bite) is where we should stop.  Since it takes 20-30 minutes for food to get to our stomachs and for the message to get to our brains that we have eaten, we all need to slow down, and really enjoy our food.  I have tried to be more sensitive to myself and it has really helped me.  Planning what we will eat is also really important because otherwise, our eyes just take over, and we eat mindlessly.

   Our nutrition class also prompted me to push myself back towards the "choose my plate" model where half of what we eat is fruits and vegetables.  I may be staying within my calories but have noticed that I have a tendency to move towards carbs that do not fall in either category (like bread and crackers).  I feel like I have more energy when I choose fruits and veggies for my mainstay of carbs.  I can also eat a lot more.

   Hope that helps all of you and that you will find the power you need to make small changes to better your health too.

Running out of protein/fat exchanges

I have been really amused by the other posts of the 100 Day Heart Challenge, finding the same difficulties, but not so creatively expressed by myself.  Since I came back from vacation I have really been dealing with some hunger pangs.  I know that I am eating enough, so I keep trying to tell myself that hunger pangs means I might be burning fat and that I need to just grind it out.

Truly, it has been a long time since I felt hungry.  My brain says it is a good feeling.

Vacation - Dieters Nightmare

Well . . . 10 days ago I left on a family vacation.  I was pretty worried about how I was going to manage my self control eating and how I was going to work in my exercise.  My girls had promised me they would help me stay on track.  You have to know that my parents have a table in front of their couch loaded with chocolate/caramel covered cashews, red vine licorice, peanut M & M's, cashews, and miniature candy bars.  I usually gain 7-8 pounds and take 3 weeks to take it off.   It is a dieters "nightmare"!!!  Besides that, they had giant muffins and Costco rolls because we came to visit.  I finally decided that if I would shoot for the 90/10 rule we have talked about in our nutrition class - 90% good habits/10% not so good.   I knew that I would just lose it altogether if I did not allow myself some treats.  So if I really wanted something, I just had 1!  We were there for 4 days and I amazed myself.  Of all those goodies, I probably ate 1/20 of what I normally would have eaten.  I had 12 cashews, 5 red vines, 2 mini M&M's, 1 chocolate/caramel cashew, 2 single Dorito chips over the 4 days.  I exercised with my dad who doesn't move very fast, so when he was done walking, I did another 30-40 minutes brisk walking without him in 92 F weather and nearly evaporated.  It was a killer!!  Can you believe it?  The chocolate/caramel cashew wasn't even all that good. 
I went swimming with my girls and was able to fit in my swimsuit that I haven't worn in 2 years.  I felt really good about myself.
From there we headed to my sister's for a Wedding Reception.  That was not as hard.  My sister works out at a gym and I was able to get a pass for $10 for 24 hours.  We went at 7:30 am and then the next day at    6 am.  She said she had never had such a workout and had not been able to lose weight, but she lost 2 pounds while I was there. 
My trainer, Kaitlyn was amazing.  I was so glad to have her.  She kept track of me and offered suggestions.  One night our family went to an all you can eat buffet.  I did not do as well as I planned, so thought I would just try to eat celery the next day.  She told me not to put my body in starvation mode - just go back to my plan of well balanced eating.  The day of the reception was not the best either, but I just wrote off the day and got back to work.  It really helped for me to have to record what I was eating and try to stay with my dietary plan using my diabetic exchange method of counting calories.
Well, guess what!  I only gained 1/2 pound in that whole time.  It would have been nice to lose, but it was really nice to enjoy my time.  My girls told me they were proud of me and could see I was really trying.  It also helped them step away from things.  They did not want to take handfuls of candy from my parents house like we usually do.  It doesn't get much better!
Good luck to all of you.  You can be successful!

Survived a family reunion, almost

   Last weekend our family went to a reunion in Moab.  You know . . . .reunion = food!  I had been a little worried about this, and was trying to take precautions.  I found out that the main course was BBQ shredded pork.  No problem . . . I would have the shredded pork, skip the bun and shoot for the whole foods.  It was a good plan. . . and I was really good, just taking a little bit of other foods (pork and beans, tater tot casserole, strawberry coolwhip salad, fresh vegies and fruit).  Coming back for seconds was not such a good idea, nor was the dessert . .  but amazingly enough, when I started to eat the lemon filled cake, it just wasn't that good.  I would have always finished a dessert but only ate half and couldn't eat another bite. 
   My weight on the scale looked crappy the next morning.  It took me 3 days to recover, weight wise. but I did not give up.  I try to tell myself that each day is a new day and that even if I don't do so well one day, I can start over with the good habits I have been working on.
   One thing I have learned is that it is better to stick with whole foods.  I can eat a lot more and commonly still have room by calorie count to eat things I really wanted.  It's a trade off.  Yesterday was the Fourth of July.  I was cooking, so provided plenty of whole foods - salad with lots of veggies, corn on the cob, watermelon.  My daughter had brought a patriotic ice cream cake and I did not want to miss out.  I ate my hamburger with a tomato on it, skipped the butter on the corn, skipped the dressing on my salad, and ate    1 1/2 pieces of ice cream cake.  It was to die for and I was still under the wire for calories.  I did my 60 minutes on the treadmill in the morning, so I felt pretty amazed with myself!!