DAY 181 My Current Plan in a Big Nutshell

Hi Journal & Friends,

I was blog-visiting yesterday, and landed on one site that set me to thinking. It's a wonderful blog by Vickie, at Baby Steps V.  (her blog is now private) She has reached her goal weight, and been in maintenance for about 4 years. That made me think of Mary, at Chronicle of Mep's Reconstruction. She, too, has reached her goal and has been in maintenance for about 4 years. There is so much to learn from them!

(Edit to add: Oops, Mary has been in Maintenance for 2 years. My mistake. But that's still pretty darn good! And she can now be found at Wistful Nebulae.)

I have such a long way to go still... it is hard for me to imagine saying "oh yeah, I've been at maintenance for 4 years"!  I appreciate being able to benefit from the wisdom and lessons these Maintainers so generously share. I don't want to forget that I am still ON the journey... I am certainly not an expert, and I SURELY don't know it all! 

I am still learning... tweaking... making course corrections along the way. I want to be teachable, and open to suggestions and corrections. 

So what I am about to share is just where I'm at NOW. Who knows, it might change topsy-turvy by next month! LOL!

Here is what I'm doing, the simplistic version (in my first two or three months of this blog, I covered these in more detail).

A large portion of my program came from Dr Phil's book, The Ultimate Weight Solution. I have added to it to meet my needs and preferences. 

The program I cobbled together for myself covers these areas of health:

• Spiritual 
• Mental 
• Emotional 
• Physical 
• Nutritional

For SPIRITUAL health: I recognize my Rock, the source of my strength is God. Many times I have felt like giving up on this long journey, but He never gave up on me. So, here I still am, resolved to NEVER QUIT. 

My spiritual input includes things like Bible reading, talking to God, church, and great music, great books and great internet sites. I don't shove it down anyone's throat, and this is not a "Christian" weight loss blog. That's just the way mine is... and it's fine that others approach it differently. I welcome everyone with open arms, and respect their right to their own beliefs. 

But bottomline, for me, even though I don't talk about it every post, God is my Rock, my foundation, and my source of strength.

For MENTAL health: The battle is won or lost between the ears! As we think, so goes our life.

I try to get motivational, encouraging input EVERY DAY. It is SO easy for me to lose focus, and I need to be reminded every single day of my goals, of my WHY. 

I love to read success stories. I have a group of women on this same journey that I am committed to... and go blog visiting regularly. I cherish the new bloggie friends I have made! 

I believe it is crucial to have POSITIVE input. One favorite quote is: "Don't join an easy crowd, join a successful crowd where the expectations are high and the payoff is great." --Jim Rohn

For EMOTIONAL health: Yep, I WAS an emotional eater. I am changing that. I used food as a "drug of choice", for everything. What I want to use it now for is NUTRITION, for regaining health. 

Dr Phil's book has an excellent chapter on emotional health, titled Healing Feelings. I highly recommend Dr Phil's book: The Ultimate Weight Solution. He put together a comprehensive program that covers it all, in an easy to follow format full of action-oriented steps, covering seven major components of permanent weight loss. Lots of programs cover some of them, but he put it all together in one book. I still read from it often.

For PHYSICAL health: For me, this refers to movement...exercise. When I started at 460 lbs, I could only lay in bed and do exercises to music on the horizontal. When I went anywhere, it was in a wheelchair. 

Now, I have progressed. I am on a mission to strengthen my legs, and get my mobility back. I have a condition in which my muscles and connective tissue are susceptible to injury, but have decided that is no excuse! I exercise carefully, 6 days a week right now. I have exercise DVD's, a mini-trampoline, resistance bands, and my little pink dumbells. And I plan on mastering my hula hoop soon, too! In my imagination, I am an "athlete". LOL!!

For NUTRITIONAL health: This one is all tied up with the others. Boy, did I have issues with food and diets!! Been on a gazillion "diets" since I was ten years old! So, for me, I KNEW I just could NOT do another "diet" approach. 

I wanted a permanent change, the "lifestyle" approach. Not a diet you go ON, then later OFF, and regain all the weight. So, my main thing in this area is: whatever I do, it will be for life. 

This time around, I cut out all sugar and flour. Reason: they set off crazy cravings for MORE of the same.  That has been the single most useful thing I have done in the food category of my journey. My goal is to eat healthier and more natural, lots of fruits and veggies, lots of water, lots of "superfoods", and normal portions. Still working on all that. :-)

Being overweight all my life, I was WAY off base as to what a "normal" portion was!! To help me reign in the food, I added calorie counting in November of 09. That was the second most helpful thing I did. I was shocked at how fast it adds up! But tracking the calories has been so helpful in teaching me what normal portions are, and keeping me focused and aware. It's a tool, and one I appreciate.

Of all the aspects of this journey, I really believe that after the spiritual foundation is in place, the most important is the MENTAL. What we think, what we believe to be true, determines how we feel and how we act. And that will make or break our journey.

Overall, I just want to be the person I was meant to be. 

From Dr Phil's book: "The past is over. The future hasn't happened yet. The only time is now." 

My verse for today: "There is no rock like our God."

My quote for today: "By persistence the snail reached the ark, too." --Spurgeon

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

DAY 180 Perfect 10 Update & Pink SissyBells

Hello Journal & Friends!

It's the halfway point in the 10 week Perfect 10 Challenge! 

I was sooo excited this week about my progress... I couldn't wait for today to post my update. :-)

My goals: to exercise 6 days per week, doing 3 days to a DVD, and 4 sessions on the rebounder.  Results: accomplished.

The part I was excited about: for the FIRST TIME EVER, I used cute little 1 lb pink dumbells while doing one of the exercise sets on the DVD!! I did that all 3 days this week,  and made it the whole song. My muscles were pleading for mercy, and I would have stopped had it been real pain that would re-injure my shoulders. But it was just muscle fatigue, so I PUSHED. I AM STOKED!! Arnold would be proud of me and my girlie girl dumbells! LOL!

Now the fact about me that you don't know:

Before we were married, I once loaned Jim my car to take out another girl!

Yep, you read that right.

I met Jim at church when I was 26 years old, and he was 28. I had a thing for him from the second I laid eyes on him, but he didn't know I existed for several weeks. After that, we were "just friends" for several months.

During our "friend" period, his jeep broke down, and he borrowed my car to take another gal on a date. My family and friends were aghast! But look who's smiling now...in the end, I'm the one that got him. :-D

I strongly believe that part of the reason it worked out for us was because I truly wanted him to be happy... to have the best for his life, even if that didn't include me. That is what love does... it gives. It was not an easy, flippant decision, but it was heartfelt and genuine. And in the end, he came back to ME.

From Dr Phil's book: "Get off your duff and get moving."

My verse for today: "Love is patient, love is kind...It is not easily angered."

My quote for today: "If you would be loved, love and be lovable."--Benjamin Franklin

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

DAY 179 Looking in the Mirror, the 4th & Final Part!

Hi Journal & Friends,

This will be the last one, I promise! :-D

It finally clicked for me!

I have been mulling it over all week, and yesterday as I was doing my exercise, it clicked... this idea of how I had been interpreting Pressure all my life... thinking of it as a negative.

In case you have a LOT of time to kill and missed them, here are the previous parts to this epic:

Part 1 

Part 2 

Part 3 

Anyway, a couple of days ago I realized I needed a ONE word response when the idea of pressure arose in my mind. My little acrostic is nice: SAS, Strength, Achievement, and Spunk. But... it was too LONG for an instant response.

THEN... I remembered that I had decided to look at my husbands resistance to my efforts to change as an OPPORTUNITY to get stronger (I wrote all about that way back here).

And THEN... I remembered that when I started my blog, I knew it would be a bit of "pressure" to commit to posting daily. But I called it Good Pressure, knowing that it would help me stay focused.

And THEN... I remembered that is exactly the reason I joined The Perfect 10 Challenge that South Beach Steve started... it would provide "good pressure" to keep me exercising, even when I didn't really feel like it.

I had been using this idea quite a bit already and didn't realize it! This idea of looking at things as opportunities, which is a positive, rather than thinking of them as a negative. 

That's when it clicked... finally...oh happy day!

So I actually had been using a limited version of this approach. All I needed to do was spread my wings and FLY! 

AND I GOT THE VISUAL IMAGE I HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR! 

The eagle spreads out his wings and catches the thermal drafts, and soars! These are rising currents of warm air and updrafts. The eagles don't have to flap like crazy... they glide along, using the turbulence. They climb high in a thermal, which can take them long distances with little effort. Then they soar on down to catch the next updraft, and repeat the process. From victory to victory! 

I finally get it. I was like an eaglet, just learning to fly. I want to have the courage to catch that updraft, and ride the winds! I need to spread my wings and catch that next thermal, and just be bold and get out there and FLY! 

I want my response to Pressure to be one that interprets it as  OPPORTUNITY.

From Dr Phil's book: "By changing the way you think, you can change the way you feel and act."

My verse for today: "They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings."

My quote for today: "Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new." --Og Mandino

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

DAY 178 Looking in the Mirror, Part 3

Hello Journal & Friends,

Oh noes, part three?!!

Well, in case anyone has time to kill and missed parts 1 & 2, here they are:

Part 1 

Part 2

Now on to the spellbinding Part 3, ha ha ha:

I've spent years working to resolve past issues. I learned that "enduring" them doesn't solve a thing. They are still there, sending out subtle signals, and my response to that was to disrupt the signal by eating, so I wouldn't have to face it, to feel it. 

The answer was to RESOLVE them, once and for all. Then put it to rest... make peace with it... learn from it... forgive and let go... whatever it took.

I was applying this principle from Dr Phil's book, The Ultimate Weight Solution: 

"This key unlocks the door to emotional control so that you can quit looking to food for the answers to your emotional pain... heal your feelings so that your eating behavior is no longer fueled by harmful emotions."

Okay, that takes care of the past. But...what about ongoing life?? New stuff that comes up... pressures and stresses of life? I still felt that old pull to use food as my escape valve for current stuff. 

That is where Dayne's post comes in, offering a different perspective. I had dealt with the past, but was still struggling to handle the present. I've made it this far, but at times came perilously close to the edge. 

Dealing with the behavior--the desire to overeat--after the fact is one thing. I've tried to do that most of my life!

But this new way of thinking would help remove a lot of the desire to overeat before the fact... by changing my perception of pressure from a negative into a positive. Instead of running from it by eating, I would not feel that need, because I would now think of the pressure as a positive thing.

I would embrace it as an opportunity.

One of the quotes I like from Dr Phil's book says: 

"One of the most critical ways to stop this behavior is to change the way you think and how you interpret events in your life. What you think determines how you feel."

I've read that one for YEARS. But it never ocurred to me to apply it to how I see the overall concept of pressure. I would apply it to specific events at times, but not the general, all inclusive concept of PRESSURE. 

I had it stuck in my head that pressure was "bad", was negative, that "I don't like pressure". So, of course it caused me stress, and of course I did what I usually did in response to stress: I ate.

This must be getting redundant and boring to some by now. But for me, I am still rolling this around in my head, trying to get a firm grasp on it. It still feels "slick"... I don't have a good handhold on it yet. But I am determined to get there. 

When asked "When Pressure Puts A Mirror To Your Face... What Do You See?"  I want to see Opportunity. I am determined that my new response will be a positive one, seeing Strength, Achievment, and Spunk.

From Dr Phil's book:  "Denial is a dangerous filter."

My verse for today: "The Lord is near."

My quote for today: "There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."  --Will Rogers

Edited to add: If anyone is interested in the whole train of thought, here are all four parts to this epic: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

DAY 177 Toon Tuesday & Bunnies

Hi Journal & Friends!

Oh boy, it's Toon Tuesday again. :-D

A few years ago I started a painting... got as far as the finished drawing on extra large drafting paper, and a small color study. I never finished the painting... I'll explain in a minute. But first here is the color study of a small portion of the larger design. Yep, I was still into bunnies back then! (click to enlarge)

The name of the painting was to be either "Tree of Life", or "Hearts Desire".  It was inspired by an ancient proverb:

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

But... it took me a long time to figure out why I never finished it. I would think... "Oh it's so big, and I am so busy".  Or... "I have to do this other project first"... or..."I don't have time".

No. That wasn't it. It was because I didn't WANT to work on it. 

It bothered me... stirred up painful emotions. It reminded me that I did NOT have that longing of my heart... to lose the weight and get my life back!! So I avoided it. 

Here are some of the sketches that went along with getting ready for the painting... I even had my color palette all picked out! (click to enlarge):

I have one other project that I am involved in, that I am excited about... but after that, I am feeling as though I just might like to go ahead and finish that bunny painting!  I have a feeling it will not be as subdued as this little color study. It will probably be bursting with color, energy and passion.  Gee, I wonder why?? :-D

From Dr Phil's book: "By changing the way you think, you can change the way you feel and act."

My verse for today: "The end of a matter is better than it's beginning."

My quote for today: "Color in a picture is like enthusiasm in life." --Vincent Van Gogh

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

DAY 176 Oh So Close Monthly Weigh In

Good Monday Morning to Journal & Friends!

On some good advice from other blog buddies, I decided to switch to reporting monthly on my weigh ins. That's today! 

So for day 1 of February: 351

That means a total loss in January of 7 pounds. I was aiming for 8, but I'll take it. :-)

I REALLY want to get to 350! It's been a goal of mine for... twenty years??!!! It's a hurdle I want to bust through.. it's a psychological thing.

It has to do with walking triumphantly into the doctors office, and holding my head up high as they walk me down the little hallway to the little room. And you KNOW where the nurse always stops on the way to the little room, right???

Yes, at THE SCALE. The scale that wouldn't weigh ME, because I was too heavy. But the nurses don't look at my chart, or THINK, and instead always stop at the same scale that only goes to 350 pounds... and they cheerfully chirp out "let's get your weight today."  And once again, I say no thanks, I'll pass. And they insist. And I am forced, yet again, to explain to them with embarrassment that the scale won't go high enough to weigh me, and I must tell them what my home scale said, instead. 

I am DONE with that humiliation!! Never again! 

I am looking forward to the next doctors visit, whenever that is. I can't wait to go down the little hallway and stop at that scale. And feel like any other patient. Normal. Able to use normal equipment, like anyone else. I may not be at my goal yet, but this is a tiny milestone that I have looked forward to for years with eagerness! 

Did you ever think you would WANT to get weighed in front of people??!! LOL!

From Dr Phil's book: "Your interpretation of the event, not so much the event itself, is the real trouble maker that gets you so worked up."

My verse for today: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee."

My quote for today: "The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." --Chinese proverb