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On tonight's episode of The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels makes a really interesting point.
She says that you can be so afraid of your success that you sabotage your weight loss, thereby insuring that you won't be successful. Do you agree?
I certainly know that it is safe to keep the weight on, to stay heavy and virtually invisible as you've always been.
Discuss.
So I'm relying on you.
Spring time seems so far away. The rain for the past three days has been depressing. It's cold and damp and I'm tired and I have a billion excuses.
So, share with me. Do you have a great recipe you want to share, a new exercise, or a way around a challenge? Have you successfully avoided the temptation of the Girl Scout cookies (I think I am the only person in America who doesn't like them) or hot buttered popcorn?
Me? I'm hanging on until the temp warms up, and trying not to comfort myself in food - a definite struggle for me.
You know, the responses that you all gave to the Happy Weight below were interesting. Lots of you felt that the numbers were good for you. Some of you were shocked that you were below that number and felt that where you were was better, and some of you felt that the calculated numbers were way too low. I don't know if I buy it or not. I will say that my numbers came out right where I am now, and this is a weight that I've been able to maintain for 10 months, with eating a treat every once in a while, not feeling as if I'm deprived.
I don't know if the calculations work on men, but I tried them on my husband and he comes out to 154, which I've seen him at and he looks emaciated. Try it and see what you think.
Now, I want to know your weekend fitness plans - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Firm committment gets it done, eh?
Friday I will be at the gym at 5:30 and do 45 minutes heavy weight work. After work I'll do an abs dvd, and walk on the treadmill in the afternoon.
Saturday I have capoeira. After class I always stay after and do 20 minutes of pushups and sit ups.
Sunday I plan to run.
You?
I was reading an interesting article in Self magazine this month. Termed Calculate your happy weight, it speaks of women trying to get down to unreasonable weight levels and being completely frustrated at their lack of success. The tone of the article reads that we should aim for a "happy weight" and it will be easier to maintain. So, I thought I'd put my own numbers to the test and see what it revealed.
66 inches x 66 inches = 4356 x .031 = 135 (This is your weight at a body mass index of 22)
This number will give you your happy weight. Mine is 134, and my weigh ins flucuate between 131-134.
How did you do?
I went running on Sunday. When I put my shoes on, they felt weird. A few steps out of the house and I was already complaining. This was unusual.
When I first started walking, my feet hurt and I had blisters everywhere. I suffered through, padding my feet with bandaids and covering the blisters with moleskin. I kept on, even though my feet were covered with sore spots. When I finally made it to the running store, I discovered that I was wearing shoes that were more than a size too small, and the wrong socks.
I wasn't sure that I bought the sock thing. Socks are socks, right? I assumed that it was a sales ploy, but I really liked the store owner, who had spent close to an hour with me, trying to get shoes that fit exactly right. So I sucked it up and bought two sets of these. One pair was my favorite, with the letters PMS on the back and the words "Don't mess with me" on the bottom. I quickly became a convert to good socks, and I bought several more pairs during the past year. The cool designs help, but I am a big believer in these socks.
This is my essay on the topic A Letter to my Body for the Blogher initiative.
Dear Body,
You rock.
I have been completely and totally amazed at what we've accomplished together this past two years.
Twenty six months ago, I was a couch sitter. Walking around the block caused my asthma to flare and forced me to sit on the curb for fifteen minutes until my pulse returned to normal. I abused you with whole milk on sugary cereals, brownies with ice cream, twice daily trips to Starbucks, and gallons of sugar soda. You, my body, were in complete disgrace. You were full of aches and pains and in many ways, very much older than my real age. You were tired and run down and seemed to be set on the road for a shorter life.
Hearing that I was now known as the "fat one" left me embarrassed of your double chins, your hefty thighs and your belly rolls. Yes, you'd done a wonderful job for me - six healthy pregnancies with only minor complications. I decided that I'd start to treat you better. In the beginning it was all about becoming a smaller size, but slowly my focus has changed and now it's about being strong. A strong woman.
You have taken every challenge that I've thrown at you - kickboxing, boot camp, punishing pushups and situps, 200 pound leg presses and even heavier squats, running for miles and learning to do back flips - all with very little complaint. Even when I've failed to prepare you properly and caused injury, such as when I tore your IT band and broke your toe - you healed quickly and with very little reminder of the injury. Yes, you've gotten slimmer and quicker, tighter and firmer along the way, but that's not the best part.
You've helped me to realize that bodies are for doing, not for looking. You were created to help me DO. You helped me to see that the number on the scale isn't the most important thing, but the real value of you, my body, lies in the strengths that are found inside. The strengths that help me face the fears of not being able to do those difficult tasks, the strength to shatter those roadblocks and put on the boxing gloves and go for it. Even when I'm so scared that the tears prick my eyelids, I can still find the strength in you to push through the tough times.
We've done a tremendous job together, coming further than I'd ever dreamed. With your help, we'll stay strong and do things that I can't even imagine today.
I'm looking forward to it!
Love,
Carmen
This is my entry for the Boca Burger/Blogher giveaway
2007 was a banner year for me. I met my 75 pound weight loss goal in April and was able to keep the weight off all year. I competed in 8 5k's and a half marathon, overcame a torn IT band and a broken toe, and was able to add in heavy weight work with a trainer and Brazilian martial arts classes, both three days a week. All while working two part time jobs and raising six kids with a husband who works 15 hour days. I've definitely come a long way, baybee.
There is so much more to do, though - more to help me live a healthier lifestyle, more to challenge me and stretch me and really make a difference in my life. That's why I've decided to challenge myself by adding in a Total Defense class two or three days a week. Total Defense combines sparring, Thai boxing, stretching, cardio, heavy boxing bag and pad work. This class will be more difficult than anything I've ever tried. It scares me silly.
But scaring myself is part of living a more healthy lifestyle. Being a fat person was safe. Being lazy and hanging around on the sofa meant I didn't have to work hard. Living a healthier lifestyle means constantly looking for ways to pry myself out of the dark hole where I was hiding and get out there. Total Defense will force me to work harder than I ever have in my life, to stretch myself, and really, that's what it's all about.
No one believes me, but I'm totally serious when I say that.
i may have dropped enough dress sizes to make up a new person, but I still feel exactly the same. When people comment on my weight loss, I say "thank you", but inside, I wonder if there is someone behind me that they are addressing.
One of the really strange things is that when I weighed almost 80 pounds more, I thought that I looked pretty good. I held myself well, had good posture, and dressed well. I may not have had much self confidence, but I apparently possessed a LARGE pair of blinders. Looking at pictures of myself, I could see that I was heavier, but I certainly didn't feel like a bigger person. Well, except when someone who had always been heavier than me told me that it was great to see that I wasn't always going to be the thin one. Then, and when my daughter's classmates made fun of me - those were the times I felt big.
Like Mel, I often have the wildy inappropriate urge to ask people, "Hey, what size are those pants?" I actually did this at work one day, to my extremely thin coworker - only to be shocked almost to death to find that we wear the same size. I was stunned, she wasn't. She said it was apparent to her.
I'm trying, I'm really trying. It's so hard, though - all I want to do lately is curl up and sleep. I have no desire to get out there and run, although when I do so, I feel so much better - and not so guilty.
So, I decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and signed up for an 8K next month. I ran five miles last week, so I know that I can do it, but I'll need to work a little bit in order to do it in a reasonable time frame and not be the last person across the line.
What are you working on?
Three years ago, if you had offered me a bowl of oatmeal, I'd probably have turned up my nose. I didn't like it, terming it "gelatinous mush". If I DID deign to eat it, I'd heavily doctor it with about 1/4 cup of real butter, a couple of heaping spoons of brown sugar, some cinnamon, and then I'd drown the entire thing in either half and half or heavy cream.
Today, the thought of that much fat and sugar is enough to send me into a coma.
I have had oatmeal daily for two weeks, voluntarily. Plain Irish oatmeal, topped with a handful of fresh blueberries and another handful of dried fruit mixture - cherries, cranberries, golden raisins and dates.
Is there a dish that you've made over, or completely recreated to make it more healthy for you? Are you stunned, as I am, that you find yourself looking FORWARD to the healthier version, more so than the unhealthy?
