Showing posts with label non-scale victory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label non-scale victory. Show all posts
Exercise helps you to lose weight. Exercise is good for your health. Blah, blah, blah. We know all this, but many of us struggle to start exercising or to continue with our exercise goals. What if you didn't need to decide every day should I exercise, but instead you just do it because you made the commitment? What if you no longer had to debate with yourself every day about doing it or not doing it? End the debate. It's exhausting and doesn't make you feel good, especially if you decide not to exercise. Make the decision once and then do it every day (or at whatever frequency you chose).
I could not walk this reservoir in a size 30/32. Today I walk here 4-5 days a week.
I took this photo on my morning walk, which I get to do weekdays, yes at 6am, with my friend. When I was a size 30/32, this walk, that I loved, was something I had to give up because I couldn't walk the 4 miles around the reservoir. I couldn't even do part of this trail because of the steep hills at the entrances, because I was afraid of falling down, and because I could hardly breathe going uphill. When I added exercise to my life again, this was the first place I went to walk/run. At first, I couldn't cover the whole circle, but I kept at it and eventually I could. This was a big non-scale victory.

Robin had questions about exercise and how to get motivated to exercise:
It seems every one here is walking or working out. How do you do Zumba? I can't seem to get the steps to fast! How do you all do it? How do you get yourself moving? Motivated? Please help me!
You ask great questions and I'll respond to them, but first there are a couple observations I want to make and I have a couple of questions for you...

It sounds like you're in a panic about your weight loss journey, so I encourage you to:
  • Stop right now and take a deep breath.
  • Take a long breath in and slowly exhale. 
  • Repeat three more times.
Are you measuring your success with the success of others? I've been guilty of this from time to time and I know I'm not alone in thinking this way. This kind of thinking brings on self-doubt, which is not a good place to be, but here we are just the same.

The choice is ours: stay in self-doubt and allow those feelings to bring our weight loss journey to a halt or push past those feelings and continue our journey. We get to choose: move forward or move backwards, reach our goal and live our lives to the fullest or quit and live our lives wishing we could do this.

Part of the journey for many of us is to experience this self-doubt, to question why others are losing faster than we are, and to ask ourselves why we aren't losing as fast as others. When we're in this questioning stage, we're at a turning point on our journey, one which we may encounter many times along the way, when we stop and ask ourselves the question "why aren't I losing as fast as others?"

Behind the curtain, the real question we may be asking is "can I continue to do this?" or "should I continue?" or "is this sustainable?" Perhaps what's really going on inside is that we are having doubts about reaching our goal size. At this point, we're often close to another drop in size and if we can get beyond this point we will feel incredible when it passes and we're no longer questioning ourselves.

This is the point where we need to stay the course the most, to push away those feelings of self-doubt. This is the moment to reflect back on this same kind of moment when we didn't stay the course and how we regretted it later.

This is also the moment to also reflect on the moments like this that we pushed ourselves through the moment and how great it felt when we did.

Don't make this one of those moments of regret. Make this one of the many moments you can look back on with pride at how you pushed yourself through this moment. All these moments are what add up to your success and the propel you to goal size. Stay the course.

Weight loss is not the same for all of us, as there are many variables in each of our lives. Some start heavier than others. Some are older. Some have carried their extra weight for a longer time than others. The bottom line is that time doesn't matter. Do you best every day to stay the course and you will reach your goal. If someone told me it would take more than three years for me to reach my goal size, I don't know that I could have done this program. What I do know today, is that it doesn't matter how long it takes and that I feel good every day I choose to stay the course.

Motivation to exercise comes when you decide it's time for you to get moving. I remember at a refresher Julie told the woman sitting next to me "if you don't exercise, it's going to take you a really long time to get to your goal size." It was nine months later before I would take those words seriously and started to exercise.

For me, exercise first took shape when I downloaded the couch-2-5k app. I was going to a conference and I decided ahead of time I would use the treadmill each morning of the conference. In fact, I was on my way to the airport and I had driven about a mile away from my house when I realized I had not packed my exercise clothes and I turned around to go get them. At the airport, I told my co-worker I would be joining her in the gym each morning. I made the decision and then took steps to see my commitment through. The first morning of the conference, I went to the gym at 5am, I stepped on the treadmill next to my co-worker, and I turned on the c25k app and did my first workout.

I quickly realized I needed a goal to keep me inspired, so after returning home I registered for a 5k. There was just enough time for me to finish my c25k training before the race day. What helped me was that I solicited a friend to train and to run the race with me, but there were many times that I had to run by myself.

You asked about Zumba - Zumba is a blast! However, every time I went I felt that everyone else was doing so much better. I couldn't bend or move like they did. In other words, I was judging myself and I was in my own way. Once I got out of my own way, once I stopped comparing myself to everyone else in the room, I was able to enjoy myself. I haven't been back to Zumba, but it's not off the list of possibilities, it just doesn't fit into my priorities at the moment.

Right now my focus is walking 10,000-15,000 steps a day and to train for a 5k race in Dec. I made the decision to do this race once and now I'm following through by taking the steps (training) to reach my goal. There is no debate on "should I" because I'm committed.

In the end, it is only you who can motivate yourself to see your exercise goals through. Apps are helpful tools and having a walking or running buddy is wonderful, but it is on each of us to do this for ourselves, with our without friends or apps.

Make the decision what you want to do for exercise. Make the decision once and then take action each day to stay the course. If you take on too much, adjust the plan. This isn't failing, this is learning what's possible for you right now. Adjust your plan as you need, but don't get into the debate about exercising or not exercising. Choose once and then stay the course.

Hmm, this is sort of like what we do with this program right? We choose to follow this program and there's no further debate. Take the debate out the equation for staying the course on this program and with your exercise plan.
September 18, 2014
Losing weight has helped me overcome a number of fears. But what about looking ahead? What fears arise when I look ahead in my life and all I can see is empty space? I've been working on this piece for a few months. Over time I added and deleted stories about how losing weight has helped me overcome fears, but the piece didn't feel finished. A recent life transition has given me the final piece to this story.
Photo by Theresa
The one thing about empty spaces--their very existence seems to send a message that you are ready for something new to arrive. - Martha Johnson Why Not Do What You Love
The Ice

Last winter I was walking on ice when suddenly I realized I was walking really fast--on ice. Walking on ice was a big challenge for me when I was a size 30/32. One freezing cold January day, more than a decade ago, I stood frozen in the middle of a hill on a side road. I was literally frozen. I could not move. The road was solid ice and I was afraid to move. No--I wasn't afraid to move--I was afraid of falling. I was afraid I would fall and not be able to get up. I couldn't budge an inch. Suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere, offered me his arm, and escorted me to the other side of the road where the ground was flatter and the snow was softer. He disappeared as quickly as he appeared and I never saw him again.

It's a great feeling no longer fearing that I will fall. I don't know when this change happened, but it was a great discovery to realize I have one less fear in my life.
Long Pond, Richmond, RI.
The Hike

At the end of May a couple of friends invited me to join them on an 8 hour 7 1/2 mile hike. My only hesitation was a project deadline a few days before the hike. Not wanting to make a promise I wasn't sure I could keep, I told them that I couldn't commit until the week of the hike. Meanwhile, I asked for more details about the hike and that's when fear hit me. There was a long list of details, but the first two freaked me out:
  • Waterproof hiking boots or trail shoes REQUIRED!
  • You will need to be reasonably fit to enjoy this hike. That said, if you engage in a normal level of activity, you should be fine. The first mile is very strenuous however.
I'm confident that I'm in the "reasonably fit" category, but I didn't have hiking boots. I told myself, There's no need for me to freak out, I can buy waterproof hiking boots, but what do they mean by strenuous? Slippery trails? Muddy trails? Rocks? I can do this! I told myself. I am not afraid! 

It was not feat that kept me from going to this event. After learning there were no bathrooms on this all day hike, I decided this hike wasn't for me. After seeing this photo a friend took along the hike, I was even happier with my decision.
This snake is a fear I have that I can live with.
The Hill

It was a gorgeous Sunday morning. My friend and I hiked walked about a half mile from the lake house through the neighborhood to the Mohegan Quarry. At the beginning of the trail lots of tails were wagging at the dog park. A few minutes later, the trail took us over a half dozen rocks, where skunk cabbage announced we were crossing through a wetland. We never saw another person after that until we crossed back over the wetland. It was incredible walking the sunlight dappled trails all by ourselves.

I looked up at steep hill we were about to climb and I realized I was hesitating for a moment and then remembered: Oh, I can do this! Sometimes it isn't until I reflect back and realize I just did something that I used to be afraid of doing, but I'm not anymore. This was one of those times. I had to remind myself that I no longer needed to be afraid of going up a hill and that I would be just fine when the time came for me to go back down the hill.

Two hours later, at the foot of that same hill, I turned and looked back up the hill and smiled. I hadn't hesitated for one second about going down that hill. It was only when I reached the bottom that I remembered my earlier hesitation.

It was the memory my body has of such hills that made me hesitate. My body remembers how physically challenging hills used to be for me. Today I look at this photo and ask myself what hill?
The hill. Photo by Theresa
Empty Spaces

My big transition that I mentioned a few weeks ago: I was laid off from my job. I see the empty space (the transition) as an opportunity to dream big and to change my life yet again. I'm not afraid of the empty space. Yes, there are moments when this feels scary, but I tap those fears away the same way I tap (push) away urges for foods that are not on program. Successful methods that work in one area of our lives can be applies to other areas. Tap, tap, tap!

My weight loss journey has prepared me for this transition. I've changed my life in so many ways since starting this program. All those non-scale victories built a strong foundation and not having to deal with all that extra weight is a big bonus.

After more than three years on this program, my autopilot is to set to healthy eating and exercising and that's exactly what I've done through this transition. Not once did I think about meeting up with my old buddies Ben and Jerry or going on an eating binge. Instead I spend my time networking and envisioning my new life.
Seize the moment to step into the unknown and be not afraid.
Photo and quote by Theresa.
What about you? What challenges are going on in your life that your weight loss journey has helped motivated and inspire you to take on? Tap away (push away) your fears, whatever they are, and keep moving forward. You can do this - you can do this program and when your life gets interrupted, you can stay the course because you have this.

All those times that you felt it was "hard" and you pushed through the tough time and stayed the course - those moments can help you push through other challenges you have in life. Tap, tap, tap!
August 12, 2014
As I sit at the foot of my bed on my cedar chest petting my kitty, I realize I would not have sat here eight sizes ago. Eight sizes ago I was too afraid my weight would break the cedar chest. But not today. Today I sit here without hesitation and focus only on giving Ginger kitty my full attention, which she appreciates.
Ginger kitty
It is in these brief moments of time that I appreciate changes in my life that I hadn't noticed before. I refer to these moments as a non-scale victories. In this moment, I pause to appreciate the size I am today and I'm happy right where I am in this moment.

I've experienced a gamut of non-scale victories as I dropped weight. Being able to sit with my legs crossed was a small victory compared to running a 5k. Both are on my victory scale.

I didn't run around to all my friends and announce:
I can sit with my legs crossed!
I can sit with my legs crossed!
I can sit with my legs crossed!
I wanted to, but I didn't. Instead, I posted that experience to this blog, because I know many of you can appreciate this kind of non-scale victory.

Today I embrace my size.

Today I will stop focusing on wanting to be a different size and use that energy in other ways.

I am not giving up my desire to reach my goal size. I give time to that in my visualizations and then I focus on other things in life. I no longer live in-between where I am today and where I want to be--I live in the moment.

What about the you? Have you had any non-victory scale moments lately? I'd love to hear them.

This video sheds light on embracing your size. I hope it inspires you the way it inspires me.

February 19, 2014
These past few weeks, I am hungry all the time. As weird as this sounds, I believe this hunger is because I'm always cold. You see, feeling cold is new to me. When I was a size 30/32, I was never cold. With this kind of hunger happening on a daily basis, I'm asking myself this question: how do I know if I need to push through the hunger or just put on a sweater?
Brrr, I'm cold all the time! Photo by Theresa.
I started to answer this question about a month ago, when cold weather crept in and I started wearing vests and layering my clothes. When I first came to Western Mass, in 1996, a friend told me the best way to survive winter is by wearing vests and layering clothes. That Christmas, she gave me a vest from L.L.Bean, but after trying it on, I exchanged it for something else. It felt too bulky, too warm, and was it not the fashion statement I wanted to make. Layering clothes was something I could not understand, because I was always hot, even in the dead of winter. All that changed this winter, when I began to feel cold even indoors. My friend was right: wearing vests and layering clothes are the best way to survive winters in Western Mass. And guess what? I love wearing vests and layers of clothing!

Hmm, is this a non-scale victory: being cold like normal people? Yes it is!

To help push through my hunger, I did a lot of tapping (mentally pushing thoughts away) and a lot of meal planning. I made more new dishes last week than I have in any month (or two) of the 3 years I've been following this program. I've been mindful to vary my menus. I fed my hunger beast lots of meat and seafood. I cooked foods rich in flavors and spices. I made hearty soups.

This isn't enough, I need to do more. I need to push through this hunger in a way that allows me to drop another size and to reach my goal size. If I want to reach my goal, I must evolve my program, to follow the rules closer than ever before, as if my life depends on it - because it does!

The next step in my evolution is to become more mindful of what I'm eating. Julie teaches us to eat when we're hungry and to stop when we're full. She also teaches us an average portion of protein is about the size of the palm of our hand and to eat veggies bite for bite to our protein. Fat is allowed on this program. We can have mayo and butter. We can even have deep fried foods and blue-cheese dressing. We are asked to be mindful of these concepts when we eat and to remember our goals.

Yes, we can have mayo, butter, fried foods, etc., but we must be mindful of how much fat we're eating, as too much will in fact slow down our weight loss. Too much food will result in weight gain.

The hunger I've felt these past few weeks has made me realize, I have not been mindful enough of my portions or the amount of fat I eat. This changes right this moment.

It's time for me to learn how to listen to my body, to understand the difference between hunger and cold, to be mindful of what I'm eating, and to remember my goal. It's time for me to remember to visualize my goal size.

It's also time to get back to the gym. Exercise isn't about the routine of exercise, it's about giving our bodies a workout so we feel better today, tomorrow, and for years to come.

How about you? Are you ready to push through your hunger? What can you do today to strengthen your resolve to reach your goal size?

This TedTalk video (Sandra Aamodt: Why Dieting Doesn't Usually Work) speaks of mindful eating, and supports much of what Julie teaches. Sandra encourages us to learn to understand our bodies' signals, so that we eat when we're hungry and stop when we're full, and to avoid distractions while we eat, so we can let our body decide when we should be done eating.

Sound familiar?

I found this video inspirational and I hope you do as well.


January 11, 2014
Anyone who has ever expected a child and gone full term can relate to the comment "I can't see my feet anymore"!

Well, when you are a size 26/28 woman, you have to just about bend totally frontwards to even get a glimpse of your feet. And there is no precious baby at the end of the feet-less journey...

See where I am going with this!

This is another non-scale victory for me:
I have feet! I can see my shoes without being an acrobat!
Only someone who has been morbidly obese can appreciate seeing their feet without bending forward.

Another non scale victory happened to me this week...

We went camping.

We don't have a big fancy camper.

Well if you don't have a big fancy camper, that means you do not have a big fancy bathroom.

You have a bathroom the size of a closet with a toilet stuffed in there somewhere.

It's no fun when you don't fit in the bathroom!

I fit! 

I fit in the closet bathroom and I fit comfortably--with the door shut at that!

I am seeing my world through different eyes lately and I love this!

The little non scale victories, AHA moments in my life make this journey so much fun.
August 25, 2013
Anyone who has ever worn pantyhose will know what I am talking about! Now, try being 100 pounds over weight and put pantyhose on. Sorry guys, but this post will make more sense to women!
Photo source: deviantart.com
You start at your feet, pull them tight, pull them up to your calves, then come the thighs, this is hard, you lift one leg like giving it strength, then lift the other, you twist and turn and pull the pantyhose to get them up and over the thighs. Then comes the hips and belly, at this point you become a contortionist!

You bend at the waist to gather more of the pantyhose. You pull, tug, twist, bend, groan, jump, jiggle and whatever else you have to do to get those dumb things on.

I was so out of breath getting those dumb things on. And I certainly didn’t want my dear husband to witness my pantyhose jiggle!

So I started wearing knee highs. Oh dear! To me that is such an old lady thing to do, but I could not deal with the pantyhose dance.

Instead, here's what I would do: I would buy control top pantyhose, cut the legs off and wear the pantie part with the knee highs. Not a pretty picture at all!

Last week, I realized my new church skirt needed pantyhose and not knee highs, as there was a small slit on the side that would look hideous with knee highs under them.

I bit the bullet and went to buy pantyhose.

Immediately I wondered What size do I get? I had no clue. The size charts all go by your weight and I don’t know how much I weighed! So, I did the best I could and some old habits do not die quickly, I got control top.

I got home and pulled them out of the package.

WOW--they look so small!

Oh dear, will I get them on? 

I didn’t want to do the secret dance, but I had to wear them with my skirt! So I started...
Feet OK.
Calves OK.
Thighs OK.
OK? Wow!
Hips and belly, oh my--they went on without too much dancing.
The next thing I knew, I had them up and on--and I wasn’t out of breath!

I didn’t have to dance to get my pantyhose on! This time I didn't have to be a contortionist!

Wow, oh wow--this program is really working for me in more ways than I knew!

Pantyhose, who in the world invented them?

Well at least now I know: I can wear these dumb things and they fit me right!

Another non-scale victory for me! LOL!
April 23, 2013
I  went with a friend to a Boston hair salon in March 2010 and I spent a lot of time and money with poor results: a horrible new hairstyle. What I realize now is that I was focusing my energy in the wrong place. A new hair style would never lead to the real change I wanted in my life. The real change I was seeking, came to me while following Julie's program.
Left: January 2013
Right: March 2010
These changes came from the program, but I had a big part in this change too. There were promises I needed to keep, rules I needed to follow, and I had to keep out of my own way to let the process work. Recent comments on this blog inspired me to write about this important aspect of this program: rely on yourself - you have the answers to your food questions.

Julie teaches us everything we need to know and how to train ourselves to stay on program. If you don't know the answer about a specific food, go quiet for a few moments and think about what you heard in class. I often ask myself "what would Julie say?" Using questions from those two comments, my though process would be to think along these lines:
Can I have hummus? Hmm, what is hummus? Beans. Beans are dried. Oh yeah, we can't have dried foods. Okay, no hummus. What else can I have?
What about coconut creamer? What is it? Half-and-half isn't allowed, so this probably isn't either. Also, since I don't read labels, I'm not able to really answer this one. Better skip this item. Milk (in any form) is a freebie, so I'll stick with milk. 
I'm still having the urge for sugar. Do I blow my progress if I eat one lil chocolate. Will I stop losing? Oh yeah, I agreed not to eat sugar. Julie says that when I have sugar, my body wants more sugar. A trick she taught is to push the thought of eating sugar back each time it comes to me. [Remember the visuals she did when she talked about this.] The more I push back on the thought, the weaker it gets. Focus on protein for a few days and this craving will go away.
Kefir is loaded with probiotics it's like liquid yogurt. It's a healthy choice and I keep it to a minimum. Oh, yeah, we're not allowed things that are "like" yogurt, we're only allowed (two per week and only with a protein) the brands Julie told us about. I really want the probiotics, so I'll look for them in another form.  [See recommendation by Nutrition Now PB8 Probiotic Acidophilus.]
If you find there are too many things that you don't know if they're on program or not, you may consider going for a refresh. You don't have to wait until you are completely off program to go in to see Julie again. I went to see Julie to continue learning the program and sometimes to get an extra boost to help me before I went on vacation. At a refresh, you can learn, once again, what's on program, what's not on program, and why certain foods are not good for us to eat.

There are times when I want to know how much weight I've lost. What is wrong with weighing yourself? A few things come to mind:
  1. We promised Julie we would not weigh ourselves. 
  2. Our body wants to know how much weight we've lost so it knows how much to gain back. If we don't know how much we weigh, then we're less likely to gain back that weight. 
  3. Like sugar, when you push back on urges to get on the scale, they will go away and most often a weight drop follows. Visualize the motions that Julie does when she talks about pushing back thoughts of sugar or going on the scale.
  4. Isn't reason number three enough to keep you off the scale?
I too have been caught up in the idea to weigh myself on the one year anniversary date. As the date of my second year on program approaches (1/29/13), those thoughts surfaced once again. I shared my well thought out thesis, of why I should get on the scale, with one of my friends. She reminded me of how fatal knowing that number can be and I came to my senses before getting on the scale.

I don't post a list of program foods on this blog for many reasons. One reason is that Julie encourages us not us to think so much about the program. The thinking process I described above is about retraining our brains rather than getting caught in our heads. We need to re-program our brains to this new way of eating and we can find the answers within ourselves. We learned all we need to know if the first classes we took from Julie. Another reason I don't post a list of foods: I don't work for Julie and such a list may cause legal (copyright) issues.

This way of eating is expensive. When I talk to my healthy friends, I find that their foods, which of late are quite similar to what I'm eating, are expensive too. Healthy food costs a lot more than package and fast food, but not eating healthy foods puts a big price our bodies. The high cost of eating well is more about government food pyramids and marketing than anything this program sells. Our economy drives the cost of food. It is wrong that healthy foods cost more, but if you do some research, you'll see why many of the "pyramid" foods are not good for our body.
 
January 22, 2013