This last week I have been pondering a lot about being overweight and who's fault it is that so many people are fighting so hard to lose weight and why so many fail. I am not claiming to be any sort of an expert at weight loss in fact I have a pretty lofty weight loss goal that I am fighting to attain at this moment. What I discovered about myself is that I may have initially become overweight based on my upbringing and eating more comforting foods then healthy options but after a while it becomes my choice to stay overweight. I can play the blame game for as long as I want but eventually I had to take responsibility for my body. I have grown up in a home with parents who were not super fit so I think that I just automatically set my eating habits to auto pilot and just ate whatever I wanted without really considering what was going into my body. Please understand I have absolutely AMAZING parents they raised me with amazing values and I am very well adjusted adult. The thing is just that my parents weren't very health conscious. They never forced us to be apart of any athletic programs and didn't require us to replace an unhealthy snacks with healthy ones. So I would have to be honest and say that I blamed them for years for my weight issues but after being out and on my own for almost eight years the blame has to inevitably fall on my shoulders. I had to start taking responsibility for my actions, but where to begin? How do you go from being a health food HATER to a health food EMBRACER? Or how do you make some changes to your life without hating yourself? How do I change and begin to make the right choices with food?
See a nutritionalist. Most gyms have them on staff these days and they can inform you how to eat and not HATE yourself doing it. My husband and I met with a nutritionalist this last month and she put to rest a lot of our eating misunderstandings. A lot of the things we enjoyed eating we could still enjoy just on a different scale.
YOU HAVE TO CHANGE. I have a strong belief in God and I'll admit sometimes I come to him as if he is a magic Genie rather than a source of counsel. I can't tell you how many nights I would lie awake and Pray "Jesus, Please help me make healthy choices for my life. I want to live to see my grandchildren. Please Lord I made a lot of eating mistakes today. Please don't let me die and let me try again tomorrow. Please Lord let me wake up tomorrow looking like a swimsuit model and I will start eating and living better." Well Clearly God did not make me into Victoria's Secret material overnight. What God did do is respond to me one night while I was lamenting with one of my very overdramatic prayers. He basically put it in my face. "YOU HAVE TO CHANGE" Me? God I think you might have it wrong. I am giving you full control to do whatever you want as long as I don't have to do anything about it. So after this epiphany/God moment I realized it was time. My husband and I sat down and discussed the changes we needed to make and committed to support each other in these new changes we would have to make in our lives. We agreed that whatever life throws at us that we would stay committed and keep each other accountable in eating and exercise. Please understand My husband and I weren't going to be featured on a dateline special for overeaters Anonymous but we still weren't doing the best we could with our eating. We realized that we didn't want our children to grow up with weight issues and also realized that with our daughter turning two that this is when she would be watching to see what kind of decisions we make for ourselves to guide her through her healthy life. So we began eating six small meals a day which are protein focused.
Everything in Moderation. Eating six SMALL meals a day is very different from how we have always lived. We recently were eating only two meals a day and two very carb loaded meals a day. We thought we were doing our bodies a favor but it turns out we were doing the opposite. Our bodies were basically planning a mutiny while we thought eating less frequently would help us lose weight. When you eat six small meals a day you are keeping your bodies going. It's like ensuring you have enough gas in your tank to get to work, home, the grocery store, movie theatre, and so on. You fill your gas tank so you wont be stranded on the side of the road angry. So feed your body six SMALL meals a day to keep yourself sharp, awake, focused, and alive. Be sure to heed the word small. If you eat six LARGE meals a day you will most likely end up worse then you were before.
SUPPORT! Create a support network for yourself with people focused on their weight and people who aren't afraid to call you out when you are about to eat six McDoubles because you had a horrible day. Build a network and be accountable to someone.
Disable your enablers. You can't rely on enablers to keep you focused. You don't need to go defriend anyone you just need to keep people around you who will tell it like it is and not invite you over for a food fest every day and say Carpe Diem.
Keep track of what you eat and share with someone. If you have to tell someone everything you ate right down to the last peanut you will think twice before making as many bad decision. You will want to be proud of your health decisions and not embarrassed that you ate all of your kids Easter candy while watching the voice last night.
Read the nutritional information. Don't be misinformed by what the bag says. If it says Low-Fat that usually means it is low calorie and HIGH carb. The higher the carb the higher the scale.
Hopefully I have given you plenty to think about this week. I will add more ideas next week but I need to stop writing before this blog becomes a short novel.
FOOD DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK.
Yoplait Greek Frozen yogurt bars. We discovered these bars and they are AMAZING!!! They are a delicious healthy ice cream bar. Only 90 calories and higher protein then many desserts you will buy in the store. We love them! We get the honey caramel flavor and have fallen in love with them. So go out buy and enjoy a truly Guiltfree dessert. :)
Weight Loss to date:
Drew 14 pounds
Jon 14 pounds
Thanks for reading and Stay Sexy America,
Be true to you.
With Love to you,
Drew
See a nutritionalist. Most gyms have them on staff these days and they can inform you how to eat and not HATE yourself doing it. My husband and I met with a nutritionalist this last month and she put to rest a lot of our eating misunderstandings. A lot of the things we enjoyed eating we could still enjoy just on a different scale.
YOU HAVE TO CHANGE. I have a strong belief in God and I'll admit sometimes I come to him as if he is a magic Genie rather than a source of counsel. I can't tell you how many nights I would lie awake and Pray "Jesus, Please help me make healthy choices for my life. I want to live to see my grandchildren. Please Lord I made a lot of eating mistakes today. Please don't let me die and let me try again tomorrow. Please Lord let me wake up tomorrow looking like a swimsuit model and I will start eating and living better." Well Clearly God did not make me into Victoria's Secret material overnight. What God did do is respond to me one night while I was lamenting with one of my very overdramatic prayers. He basically put it in my face. "YOU HAVE TO CHANGE" Me? God I think you might have it wrong. I am giving you full control to do whatever you want as long as I don't have to do anything about it. So after this epiphany/God moment I realized it was time. My husband and I sat down and discussed the changes we needed to make and committed to support each other in these new changes we would have to make in our lives. We agreed that whatever life throws at us that we would stay committed and keep each other accountable in eating and exercise. Please understand My husband and I weren't going to be featured on a dateline special for overeaters Anonymous but we still weren't doing the best we could with our eating. We realized that we didn't want our children to grow up with weight issues and also realized that with our daughter turning two that this is when she would be watching to see what kind of decisions we make for ourselves to guide her through her healthy life. So we began eating six small meals a day which are protein focused.
Everything in Moderation. Eating six SMALL meals a day is very different from how we have always lived. We recently were eating only two meals a day and two very carb loaded meals a day. We thought we were doing our bodies a favor but it turns out we were doing the opposite. Our bodies were basically planning a mutiny while we thought eating less frequently would help us lose weight. When you eat six small meals a day you are keeping your bodies going. It's like ensuring you have enough gas in your tank to get to work, home, the grocery store, movie theatre, and so on. You fill your gas tank so you wont be stranded on the side of the road angry. So feed your body six SMALL meals a day to keep yourself sharp, awake, focused, and alive. Be sure to heed the word small. If you eat six LARGE meals a day you will most likely end up worse then you were before.
SUPPORT! Create a support network for yourself with people focused on their weight and people who aren't afraid to call you out when you are about to eat six McDoubles because you had a horrible day. Build a network and be accountable to someone.
Disable your enablers. You can't rely on enablers to keep you focused. You don't need to go defriend anyone you just need to keep people around you who will tell it like it is and not invite you over for a food fest every day and say Carpe Diem.
Keep track of what you eat and share with someone. If you have to tell someone everything you ate right down to the last peanut you will think twice before making as many bad decision. You will want to be proud of your health decisions and not embarrassed that you ate all of your kids Easter candy while watching the voice last night.
Read the nutritional information. Don't be misinformed by what the bag says. If it says Low-Fat that usually means it is low calorie and HIGH carb. The higher the carb the higher the scale.
Hopefully I have given you plenty to think about this week. I will add more ideas next week but I need to stop writing before this blog becomes a short novel.
FOOD DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK.
Yoplait Greek Frozen yogurt bars. We discovered these bars and they are AMAZING!!! They are a delicious healthy ice cream bar. Only 90 calories and higher protein then many desserts you will buy in the store. We love them! We get the honey caramel flavor and have fallen in love with them. So go out buy and enjoy a truly Guiltfree dessert. :)
Weight Loss to date:
Drew 14 pounds
Jon 14 pounds
Thanks for reading and Stay Sexy America,
Be true to you.
With Love to you,
Drew
Hey lovely lady! Loved your blog...you are so right! Today I actually saw a sign saying 'come see our nutritionist '...then I saw your blog. Hmmm take a hint Deanna? Perhaps... ;) love ya!!
ReplyDeleteLove you girl! You can do it! If you're ready to make changes go for it! If not ease into it! :)
DeleteHa ha! I know! I was Leary at first bc I was convinced it would be eat seaweed, broccoli, and fish lol. It was the opposite! Eat protein (meats, cheese, nuts) I can handle protein!
ReplyDelete