I've been quiet on the blog because I'm feeling at a loss of words to describe what's going on for me. I'm in another plateau. My last drop in size was late June. I don't track my weight loss or my plateaus, but I recently became aware of a pattern in my thinking after my last plateau: I quickly forget I dropped an entire size.

Following my friend Aime's advice, I read the blog from the first entry backwards, to remember my weight loss journey and where I've been. I was looking for inspiration to shake me out of my "boo hoo I am at a plateau again" mood.

I only read the first and second entry before I realized focusing on size can be just as frustrating as focusing on the scale. Neither is an accurate measure of weight loss. Scales can vary, depending on whose scale you're on, and sizes are all over the place, depending on the brand.

In my 9/25/11 entry, I wrote:
  • When I started this journey, I wore size 30/32 tops and pants and I couldn't fit into anything in the women's section of JC Penney or Macy's. 
  • Last weekend I bought a Macy's 1X blouse and it fits perfect. 
  • Yesterday I wore a size 20W front-zip pants (hand-me-downs)
Those statements were all true, but here's the truth about my size clothes today:
  • In June I bought my first dress and it was a size 20.
  • In August I bought two dresses at Lane Bryant (yes, I said I would never go back, but if the shoe fits....). One dress was a size 14/16 and the other was a size 22/24. Both fit beautifully.
  • The clothing in the women's department in Macy's are mostly too big (yes, I went back there too), but there are a few items that fit.
The moral of my story, and my lesson learned: not all sizes are created equal. This is not like any other diet, including how the weight comes off. This journey has been steady: Drop weight. Hold. Appetite increases. Weight drops. Hold. Repeat. Sometimes I forget that this is the process, that my body is healing when I am a plateau, and that if I just keep doing what I'm doing, I will get to my ideal size. It is working. I sometimes get impatient.

When I look at the photos of me below side by side and a year apart, I have definitely lost a ton of weight. I know this, but in the day to day of things of life, it's easy for me to forget where I was, even just a few weeks ago when I was one size larger.
Sept. 2012 (14/16)
Sept. 2011 (4X)


What about you? Can you relate to any of this?
September 07, 2012
There was a recent photo posted on a Facebook group called I <3 to Run (I heart to run) that's worth taking a look, as almost 35,000 other people have viewed it. Jackie is obese and yet she runs triathlons. She used to weigh 415 lbs, and while she is still obese, the day after her photo was taken as she ran the triathlon, she did a  5k open water swim.
Jackie is running a triatholon in this photo
Check out Jackie's photo, story, and read some of the positive comment and see if you are inspired to exercise. What are your thoughts after seeing her photo and then reading the comments and her response.
August 30, 2012
This comment was posted by Anonymous in response to the Sweets posting. I am publishing this to bring it to the top page so they can get some support and suggestions from us:
I had been on this program for 4+ months and about 5lbs to my goal and I'm not as strong as you I have had ice cream twice in two days! (I'm very ashamed) the second time it made me very sick for hours.

Any suggestions on how I should move forward from my Bad decision?
August 22, 2012
I subscribe to a number of positive and motivating newsletters and one article I read this week asked "what was your light bulb moment that made you decide to lose weight?" I decided this is a good time to pause and answer this question.
Light bulb with plant; source: McFarland, Pyle & Stone
Two years before I started this journey with the Key Hypnosis, I attended one of those presentations on weight loss surgery with a couple friends. Mainly I went to support my friend who is diabetic. I wasn't thinking about the surgery for myself (or so I told myself), but I had been curious about the process and this gave me the opportunity to support my friend and take a closer look at this option. After the presentation, I was clear I would never take that route.

A year later, I was thinking it might be my only option, but before I took any steps in that direction my friend ran into an old high school friend and her sister. She said they looked incredible and had lost a ton of weight through Julie. My friend signed up right away and told me about it. While I was on the wait list, I went to another hypnotherapist, but by the second appointment, it was clear to me that process wasn't going to work for me. Right about the same time, the call came from Julie's office and I scheduled appointment for the end of January (2011).

We were all excited about the program. My friend started with Julie a month before me and Aime was on the wait list for a couple months after me. This program, as you can read from my postings, has been an incredible journey and a good fit for me. I won't write for my friends on how Julie's program worked or didn't work for them; each of us had a completely different experience with Julie's program. I'm grateful for my friend that she found this program and that she told me about it.

In looking back, I don't see where I had a light bulb moment before I started the program. However, I've had many light bulb moments along the way, as I understand the way food interacts with my body and as I've learned the concepts of this program from Julie.

What about you? Did you have a light bulb moment that put you on this program?

Resources

Articles I enjoyed this week:
Some of the newsletters I subscribe to (all free, but you need to sign-up):
August 21, 2012
This comment was on an earlier post; I'm posting it as a new post so more of you can see it and respond:
Hi! I am having my first session with Julie on Monday and I am so looking forward to this new beginning!

So as I sit here at work I have been reading through these threads to get a feel for what to expect going forward and realized that I need to clean out my "snack" drawer here at work before I leave today. Gone are the snacks that I kept at hand just in case my breakfast and lunch aren't enough. No more Fiber One bars,Quaker Oats oatmeal packets or 100 calorie popcorn bags. But what about my V8 cans? Is V8 juice allowed? Is any alcohol allowed (no, not at work although some days. . . )

And, am I really reading all these posts and the comments on her site correctly? Women going from a 20-22 to a 10 in 6 months is common? I have 100 to lose and although in a tight 22 now, my most comfortable size was 12-14 (I am 5'9" so that size is probably right for me.

I'll definitely be back, and most like ask to be a contributor. I tend to like to share =D

Wish me luck!!
Abundanceismine August 17, 2012
August 17, 2012
I've always been curious about people who consistently stay the same way and always say no to desserts. I wondered if they didn't like dessert or if they were health nuts who didn't eat sugar. Today, I think the later is closer to the truth: they were health nuts. Today, I am a member of the health nuts club; I don't eat sugar.
This is what sugar looks like in my life today: sugar snap peas; yummy.
At my high school reunion last weekend, I noticed that my response to being asked if I would like some desert has changed. The answer is always the same, "no thank you." What's new is how I feel when I say no to such offers. I don't feel deprived. I don't stare at the sugary deserts and wish I could. I don't think about the dessert for days to follow. I just say no. Inside, I feel the same way I feel when offered okra; I have no interest.

I'm not sure when this switch happened, but I had my first awareness that desserts just didn't appeal to me at my reunion when the desserts came to us on large silver trays and again at the end of the evening when asked if I wanted to take some desserts home. Both times I felt repulsed at the offer.

Sugar no longer knows my name. I don't crave it. I don't miss it. When I see something sweet I don't feel sorry for myself that I "can't have it." I may pause for a moment and look at it's beautiful presentation, but the pause is not for one moment a contemplation about eating it or not eating it. I credit this change to Julie's suggestion: nothing sweet to the lips.

Last night I had dinner at Thai Place with my friend Cordia and for a moment I looked at her diet soda and paused. This was curious to me, as I never really liked the taste of soda and I was not much of a soda drinker. It was an odd moment, but I realized was it wasn't the sugary drink that called to me, it was the was the bubbles and the lemon and lime. I get this when I drink seltzer with lemon and lime, so the moment came and went, but I appreciate I was able to pause and understand what was going on in my mind in the moment. Again, I was appreciating the presentation.

It's natural to crave sugar in the summer, as nature produces sweet fruits and veggies. I  admit I have had a sweet tooth from time to time this summer; sweet corn to the rescue. Siggis yogurt helps too; even if we can only have it twice a week. I'm not sure Siggis yogurt fits into the sweet category, as it's more tart than sweet, but it does the trick. Making Popsicles with it works too, but I have to watch my fat intake on those days. I don't have it every week and in fact sometimes weeks and months go by when I don't have the yogurt.

Last night I was talking to a friend about this program and she asked about having sugar with coffee. "I gave up coffee for three months" I told her, "and then I had a cup of coffee with foamy milk and I was able to drink coffee without sugar".

What about the rest of you? Do you sometimes have a sweet craving? What do you do when it happens? Have any of you found you no longer desire sweets?

Here's a fun quote by Jay Leno:
Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average. Which means you've met your New Year's resolution. -- Jay Leno
August 14, 2012
I made gravy today! Yup, that's right, gravy!!


Weeeeeell, maybe it isn't officially gravy because there were no lumps in it!!


Anyway, I was cooking chicken thighs in a small bit of canned broth - Swanson reduced sodium beef broth. As they were cooking I got a craving for gravy on them. Hmmmm, what to do...


When my chicken was done, I cooked it without the skin, an old habit of mine, I just pull the skin off and throw it away, I took the thighs out and left whatever was in the pan in there. I added the rest of the can of broth which was maybe 1 1/2 cups, and added 1/2 cup whole milk. Started that on a gentle but steady boil. Added a few shakes of McCormick grill mates Montreal chicken seasoning and a few shakes of a generic chicken seasoning. Cooked it down to less than 1/2 of what I started with. Was smelling good and the tastes I was taking were GREAT!


When it got to less than half I put some in my plate, not as thick as I wanted but good. So to the rest of the pan I added 2 heaping tablespoons of sour cream and whipped them in. A bit more thicker. I ate my serving. Went to check what was left in the pan as noticed as it cooled it became thicker. It is nice and thick now, a good gravy consistency.


Next time I make it, I won't add the sour cream, I will just let it sit a few minutes and go from there.


My gravy craving is gone and I stayed on program!!!










August 09, 2012
It's Thursday morning and I'm getting ready for work, but before I head out the door - I'm looking for motivation to get back into exercise. It's times like this that I listen to my inner Nike voice just do it! In Greek mythology: Nike was a goddess who personified victory. I like her story, so I'll pull motivation from her as well as the sneakers named after the Greek goddess Nike.
Goddess Nike at Ephesus, Turkey.
Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory.
Source: Wikipedia
Since completing my six-week mini-triathlon (and my vacation) I stopped exercising. I walked once this week, but my body wants more exercise. Although I have to say, when Aime and I walked the parameter of the campus at lunch earlier this week, I marveled that it only took 25 minutes and neither of us were having trouble breathing going up the steep hill. In the past, this walk was a much slower pace and it would take us almost an hour. I hadn't brought my gym equipment, so I walked outside even though this meant wearing sandals instead of sneakers. It was quite hot outside, but I knew this walk was just what I needed. I feel so much more energized when I exercise and I wanted an energy boost.

So this morning, before I hop into the shower and start the fast pace of my day, I have my gym bag packed and waiting at the top of the stairs where I will trip over it if I don't pick it up. No excuses today. Plus, it's going to be 90 degrees out there today, so I need to be in the gym instead of walking outside. I know that I will reap the benefits once I get started and for the rest of the day. This isn't just about this one moment of asking myself "do I exercise today or put it off one more day?" It's about how I want to feel for the rest of my life. I love feeling good and exercise helps set the tone for how I'm feeling.

It's the same when I make food choices - it's not about the moment - it's about a lifetime of choices. Healthy choices make me feel good every time. Just like exercise, I don't regret making the healthy food choice (staying on program vs. having something "just this one time") and that choice spins off more energy for me. Staying on program is the same as staying on my exercise routine, both give me energy and I'm much happier with myself for making the positive/healthy choice later that day and in the morning.

What about you? What do you do to keep yourself motivated? What do you do to get back on track when you've strayed from your exercise routine? What do you need to do get get started again - or for the first time?
August 09, 2012