Tag Archives: Carbohydrate

It’s All a Matter of Perspective…

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No, duh right?!

Seriously, isn’t it easy to lose that priceless thought process when life throws it’s slings and arrows our way/weigh? When the scale pulls it “evil overlord” prank, we have an argument with someone we care about, the dog gets sick and we’re hit with a big medical bill and we scour the furniture for change to help pay for it, etc.

The Buddha isn’t the first to say that life is suffering. It’s painful to be born, all the most important lessons in life are usually learned the hard way, and I can’t count the times I’ve swallowed lemon juice instead of lemonade. You, too right? But there is a way out of suffering and it’s not some amazing spiritual awakening or giant light bulb over our heads.

I’ve found that no matter how bad the depression is, how hopeless I feel about ____, how worried I am about money, the future, the cost of tea in China, as long as I remember my wife’s advice about perspective, I know I can get through anything. It’s a simple question: Did anyone die or lose a limb? If not, go ahead and cry and get upset, then sit down and breathe. Then either get out pen and paper or call a friend and you’ll be surprised how quickly you’re able to get at least the basics of a game plan. This is absolutely not to minimize how tough things can get, just to help put it in perspective.

That includes a slower than planned weight loss, awhol motivation, and getting sick and tired of working out so hard and not seeing hoped for results.

And, as someone who’s been through the “yes” to the perspective question – it’s the hardest to get through, it takes for many a lot of time, and a lot of help and support, but each of us is stronger than we could possibly believe. The kernel of the superhuman capacity to overcome literally anything life throws our way is within all of us.

At this point you may be wondering the point of all this: easy, if you, like me, took the holiday weekend off from our particular weight loss / activity journeys, no one lost a limb. No beating up ourselves for that 2nd hotdog or excessive use of puff pastry! Once again, get back up and on the elliptical! I’m behind you 100%!

Celebration Time, C’mon!

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You’re Invited to the “Virtual 1 Year Celebration” of my Weight Loss Journey!

Please join me for a bit to enjoy virtual cake, virtual ice cream, virtual balloons and party favors, and, my favorite, virtual martinis and cosmos, to celebrate my 1 Year Weight Loss/Life Transformation Anniversary!

First, thank all of you for your support during this amazing, challenging, and oh so rewarding time. You have helped me so much with your following, comments, and encouragement “on the weigh”. And if I can do this, and keep working toward the main goal of losing the rest and then maintaining/thriving for a lifetime, then so can you!

A Quick Recap:

Here’s a very quick recap of the positive changes from the start point to today.

1 Year Ago – April 14, 2011

  • Weight: 278.8 pounds
  • Classification: Morbidly Obese
  • Clothing Size: 28 Women’s, 3X Women’s
  • Activity Level: Sedentary (butt glued to couch!)
  • Social Life: Almost non-existent, rarely left the house, isolated
  • Diet: Awful – high in sugar, fat, salt, fast food, bad carbs, very little fruits/veggies
  • Cholesterol: High in all the Bad Ones
  • Blood Sugar: Pre-Diabetic (in the danger zone)
  • Mood: 3-4 full episodes a month, depressed most of the time – A MESS
  • Sleep: 12-16 hours / night

A picture is worth a thousand words:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY – April 14, 2012

  • Weight: 205.2 pounds (74 almost 75 Pound Loss!!!)
  • Classification: Moderately Overweight
  • Clothing Size: 16-18 Women’s, XL/1X Women’s
  • Activity Level: ACTIVE (4 sessions at Gym, 1 Hatha Yoga Class, 1 Exercise Meet-Up – every week!)
  • Social Life: out at the gym, friends at yoga, weekly motivational/exercise/social meet-up, out and about almost daily, blog/email/even talk on phone – Huge!
  • Diet: 160 degree change – mostly lean meats, chicken, fish, veggies, fruit, good carbs/grains, still struggle with fast food and sugar/fat bombs but major change
  • Cholesterol: All in Normal Range
  • Blood Sugar: Normal Range
  • Mood: 1-2 episodes a month, managing depression, snap out much more quickly
  • Sleep: 8-10 hours / night

A picture is worth a thousand words:

(And that’s from 2 months ago! But the changes are about 10 pounds down so it’s close enough.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I can do it, coming from being barely able to walk a block or climb a flight of stairs, sick and tired all the time, and chronically depressed – So Can You!

So let’s Celebrate wherever we are in our own “Weight Loss Journey’s” and be proud of our accomplishments, every big and every little, one of them. I would love to hear your stories in “Comments” and to see pics of your “before” and “now”s. Celebrating is more fun when we do it together!

Here’s to staying on track, meeting our goals, and thriving, a little bit every day “along the weigh”!

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One Sure Fire Way to Lose Weight…Have A Party!

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Unless your house is spotless, and even then, having a party or event (we’re having a “Pampered Chef” Brunch) is a terrific excuse to go on a calorie blasting deep clean!

Doing the extras like Murphy Oiling furniture/cabinets, dusting everything not nailed down, scrubbing your bathroom and kitchen like there’s no tomorrow (and that includes picking up and moving things and inside as well as outside of appliances), vacuuming, mopping, and windexing every mirror and pane of glass not only works up a sweat but there’s a good chance it will show up on the scale as well. And don’t forget to count all the walking doing errands, cooking, decorating, and setting up.

I cleaned for 3 hours yesterday and lost .2 but that was with carbs at 2 meals – a fruit protein shake for breakfast and hungarian chicken over whole wheat pasta for dinner. I cleaned for 6 , yes 6 hours today and so we’re treating ourselves to pizza tonight. Since I cleaned off I don’t know how many zillion calories, that’s just fine.

The trick is not to sabotage yourself AT the event. Plan what you’ll be eating (and drinking) ahead of time and slip in lower calorie items where they won’t be noticed like in dips with a heavy side of veggies, some lower fat cheese cubes, sparkling water with lime/lemon, the ideas are endless. There are a ton of terrific food sites online with lower cal/carb appetizer, drink, and buffet recipes. And if you spend more time chatting, mingling, checking food / drinks, and maybe some dancing depending on what type of gathering you’re having, you’ll have less chance to be tempted by the “spread”. (Will try to take my own advice here!)

So I’ll let you know how our event went – and my weight as well. And you know you don’t need a party excuse to do a “deep clean calorie blast”, but it is a whole lot more fun!

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“On the Ball” Week Challenge – Day 6

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“On The Ball” WEEK CHALLENGE – Day 6

(1 to Go!)

Day 6: “Accountability Check-In“:

  1. Today’s Weigh In: Goal: 1.5 pounds loss/week – Start: 208.4, Now:  208 – .4 Pound Down From Yesterday! Result: exercise and watching diet helped
  2. Diet: LOW CARB DAY– 1st: protein+carbs (oatmeal w/protein powder), 2nd: protein+veggie+little carbs (chicken salad+little bit of carbs), 3rd: protein (leftover roasted chicken), 4th: CARB – 1 small slice angel food cake, Water: (12) 8 oz glasses!, No 5th Meal – avoiding the late night peanut butter
  3. Exercise: 1 hour of strength/cardio in the am, 15 minute session in PM
  4. Stability Ball: 2 hours, Result: think it helped

Take Away from Day 5:
Yesterday you got to enjoy the rant of “Bipolar Lara”and that’s always such an inspiring pick-up! (Just kidding – but at least you know I’m a real person.) Did struggle yesterday but doesn’t everyone? This isn’t easy for any of us and it’s critical to radically accept that fact and then move on. But in spite of that, still did 2 workouts, got in water, and watched diet, well at least did a better job. Read over the wonderful, supportive comments from during the week and wanted to thank everyone for cheering me on. Let me quickly return the favor – all of you are so strong and brave in your own journeys, you continually inspire me – thank you!
And for those of you who either went out and got a stabilizing ball or dusted yours off, here’s a terrific tricep exercise to do while you’re sitting on the thing anyway. You will need 2 hand weights of your choice.
Enjoy your Day and Check in tomorrow for Sunday’s Results!

On the Ball Week Challenge – Day 3

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“On The Ball” WEEK CHALLENGE: Day 3

Day 3: “Accountability Check-In“:

  1. Today’s Weigh In: Goal: 1.5 pounds loss/week – Start: 208.4, Now: .2 more lost- 208 .(2-loss, 1.1 to go!) Result: STILL OFF TARGET by .2 (from Day 2) – Need an additional (.2) on another day to make up.
  2. Diet: Carbs 3 meals out of 5 – 1st: carbs+protein (2 eggs/little ff cheese, 1 small pancake), 2nd: protein+veggie (large salad w/chicken), 3rd: protein+carb (protein/carb smoothie), 4th: CARB HIT BIG TIME – hit the bakery for 2 well chosen treats-it’s High Carb Day after all!, 5th: protein+veggies (small pork chop/mixed veggies), Part 2 of 5th: carbs+fat+sugar – 1/2 bakery Eclair, Water: (1) 8 oz glasses!, Result: Way off target, trying to shake things up, Lost .2!!
  3. Exercise: 1/2 hour of walking (shopping), skipped workout – will do Thursday. Result: a bit of cardio
  4. Stability Ball: 1/2 hour today, Result: Off Target, more tomorrow

Take Away from Day 2:
Maybe I’m not eating enough calories based on my activity level now??? Yesterday ate some serious bakery goods and didn’t do much of a workout except lots of walking. Sat on my butt in the afternoon and late into the night working on two different projects.
And still lost .2 pounds!
Lesson: Giving my body a break after the “laptop nightmare” week of stress looks like it gave it a small “restart”. Eating fewer treats and/or working out a bit might have increased the weight loss, but not sure about that. Needed the time to recover and I think pushing it would have pushed me over the depression edge I was teetering on all day. Will check with the trainer about this but think it will help keep the weight loss going after have completely worn myself out.
It’s frustrating when Life doesn’t go as scheduled and I felt like I was letting myself down, and you guys, by not sticking to “The Plan”. But I still lost weight and feel much better today. Sometimes, you just have to throw “The Plan” out the window for a day!
Check in tommorow for Tuesday’s Results!
Yes, you thought you were safe, but NO,
“Geek Girl” is back!
– For a mental jack-slap on the realities of how food gets from Point A – Origination to Point B – Your Plate and the incredible changes in what, how, and why we eat what we do (the obesity pandemic), read “The End of Overeating. Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” by David A. Kessler, MD. His background is impressive – Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Admin under 2 recent Presidents, Dean of both Yale and University of California Med Schools, and a Harvard grad. But, most importantly, he himself struggled with obsesity and that pushed him to investigate the American “food priming industry” and pull back the psychological curtain of how we are manipulated into eating foods that make – and keep – us fat. Also, this isn’t his first “go round” – he took on the tobacco industry prior to this fight. For a “science” book, it’s an easy read: every chapter has been a short, easily digested punch to the gut. I like to keep you all on your toes with a bit of cool science every so often, but this book is important. Check out a chapter on Amazon – it’s accessible and you’ll never go into a Chili’s again!
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On The Ball Challenge – Day 1

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“On The Ball” WEEK CHALLENGE

Day 1: “Accountability Check-In“:

  1. Today’s Weigh In: Goal: 1.5 pounds lost – Start: 208.4, Now: 208.2 (.2 loss, 1.3 to go!) Result: On Target,  but need to average .2 loss daily.
  2. Diet: Carbs 2 meals out of 5 – 1st: protein+veggies, 2nd: veggie+carb smoothie, 3rd: oatmeal-carbs+protein , 3rd: lemon chicken+asparagas (protein+carbs), 4th: hummus+handful of carrots (some protein+5gm carbs+veggies) Result: Off Target, too many carbs today!
  3. Exercise: 1 10-minute yoga workout in AM. Gym – total 1 hour, 30 minutes strength training in arms, back, core, legs, then about 30 minutes doing cardio intervals. Result: On Target
  4. Stability Ball: 2 hours today, Result: On Target

Check in tommorow for Tuesday’s Results!

 

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Running From…CARBS

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A Gerbel On A Wheel:

For those of you who don’t know, per my trainer’s recommendation, I’ve been on a Carb Cycle eating program for the last five months. Sort of.

Some days I’m able to stay with the “5 small meals/day” with varying numbers of meals that can contain carbs. But most days it’s very hard. Sugar and fast food call their siren song. Too large portions of even the good stuff: steel ground oatmeal, brown rice, corn, red potatoes.

After limited cardio for the last three weeks, it’s been a see-saw on the scale. Worked out like a fiend yesterday but still went up almost half a pound.

I have 2 “No Carb” days a week, break days with no workouts to allow my body to reap the benefits of the previous days careful diet and exercise. This is what those days feel like:

Dragging all my weight and food related issues behind me, each step a struggle, pushing myself past imagined limits. Falling down and getting back up again. In it for the long haul, as long as the good days outnumber the bad, that’s my definition of success.

So if you’ve had one of those days and feel the weight of the long road you’ve walked dragging behind you, know that tomorrow will always be a brand new opportunity to start over. To track your calories, watch your carbs or whatever you’re doing, and get in even 5 minutes of loving movement. To take a moment to reflect on how far you’ve come, what you’ve accomplished, and be grateful for the journey. You’ve done it, you’re doing it, and you CAN do it! We can do it together.

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