My Support Network

Hello!

Supportive people are a must for successful weight loss.  We all know the type that assist in making  us get fat: critical, hypocritical, mean, selfish people who help you gain weight.  The mean stares, comments, and general judgement of the person who is fat, can cause an obese person to go over the edge, and for me, well it drove me to eat, drink, and lose myself in depression.  I thought there was no way out.  I drove myself to desperation for a change.  So, I changed.  Not without those I love, though!

My family is an immense support, and they ones that aren't I have avoided like the plague.  My stepmom is at the forefront of my weight loss.  She's active, happy, and always encourages me, pushes me, and has kicked my butt hard!  However, she does so only with love, and to accept that, you have to be mature enough to admit you are sick and need help.  That is the hardest part of being obese.  Admitting it.  My daughter is so proud, and she is very attentive, so when I am with her, I feel like a million dollars.  Sisters are an infinite source of support, mostly because as women, we have all struggled with weight issues.  One can never be too thin, (so say many) and even if you are thin, it is never enough for people.  Those that want to will make you feel inadequate just because they can.

My Uncles, of which I have a handful, are immensely helpful with long walks when I see them, and they send texts of encouragement, emails, phone calls, and visits.  My husband is on board, and has lost 85 pounds himself.  We need to be healthy to live out a life together.  My parents have died; my father died at 37 from a heart attack, and my mother at 62 from alcoholism (another reason to quit drinking), and I have had the shadow of death around me since I was 15.  Some family always told me I would die like my father if I didn't lose weight.  Scare tactics don't work, they only make you feel inadequate.

I have a ton of friends that are extremely supportive, from those I see and talk to frequently, and many friends on social media.  One of my student's moms teaches the Zumba class I go to, and is always making me protein drinks before we go to Zumba.  My friends keep me walking and talking.  I did not let people know I was losing weight till they noticed, because it sets you up for failure.  If you announce you are dieting, then expectations are set.  If you don't meet them, then you feel like a failure.  Been there, done that.

I wouldn't be where I am today without support.  It takes a village.  I believe that those who truly love you can be supportive without judgement, because their love is stronger than that.  A good base of those you trust will be better than strangers in a circle, telling all about their problems.  Seriously.  That's just depressing.  Let's not talk and wallow.  Take action!  Just Do It is a good slogan.  Don't give lip service to changing your entire life.  Go with gusto and get it!  Only action will get the results you want.

Water Water Everywhere!

Hello!
Water is essential to life.  We have all heard that, but it is true.  The average adult is made up of 30%-65% water.  That needs to be replenished, with water!  We drink a lot of things during the day, but nothing we drink is what we need.  We must have water as a matter of life, and when you fill up with coffee, alcohol, soda, or energy drinks, you are doing a great disservice to yourself.  How do you drink water all day?  Here's how I do it:

I bought a cup.  It holds 36 ounces.  I drink a total of 5-6 of those big cups of water daily, even when I work.  I do end up in the bathroom several times a day, but I've told myself that it is simply what I have to do.  Filling up with water before eating does help.  I learned that in Weight Watchers, the six times I tried that one!  Ended up gaining each time I went on it.  Anyway, water is the most essential thing we need - even more than food.  When you think about it that way, then you will naturally gravitate to water.  I hated drinking water until I found the ultimate flavor enhancers.

Water drops are my friend.  The lovely flavored drop are sugar free, you don't have to squirt much out of the bottle to achieve the desired flavor, and they are a lot cheaper than soda or beer.  In my fat life and fat thinking, I would drink a 12 pack of soda a day and beer.  It was a tremendously unhealthy lifestyle.  I was constantly thirsty, and my body was in a state of despair.  It was dying!  When I came home from the hospital last year after surgery, I started on the drops.  My favorite flavors?
Raspberry Lemonade and Strawberry and Watermelon.  Yum!

I have about 3 coffees a week.  That's recent.  I drank a load of frappes and frappucinos per week, and now I only treat myself or need a wake me up some days that I tutor.  Got to be awake for the kiddos! I drink soda once a week, if that, and only Dr. Pepper or Root Beer.  I used to be addicted to Diet Coke (see above), and I hate the taste of it now.  I prefer the two I mentioned, and if you are going to eat or drink, make sure it is something you really want.  I rarely have alcohol, as I don't keep it in the house.  All of it was hard to give up or cut down on, because we like what we like, and we get stuck in ruts.  Break out and decide what you actually want.  Think about it before you decide.  Really want that last beer?  Is soda that important?  For goodness sake, it will melt the acid off of a car battery, so what makes us think it is good for us?

Let's all do ourselves a favor, and give our bodies what it is thirsty for!

Up tomorrow?  Support from family and friends.  Join me on my journey!

Exercise! Fun!

Hello!  Today has been awesome so far, as I went to Zumba this morning.  When I got home, I went swimming.  I'll do some bedtime yoga tonight to relax and sleep well.  I never would have thought of exercising three times in one day, but think about it: all my exercise for the day is only one hour and thirty minutes long.  It's really only a fraction of your day, and if you are serious about losing weight, the exercise gets to be addictive, fun, and not like work at all.  Really.  I couldn't even think of exercise a year ago.  However, I started by just walking, and I worked myself up to a day like today.  I can't do all this every day, but you would be surprised at how you can put it in your day if you want to.  It is a frame of mind you have to put yourself in.

My stepmom encouraged me to walk a lot.  We go shopping, to the beach, walk around her neighborhood, and to Friday Fest nights, where we would shop, walk, and talk.  Having someone who you trust and can talk to really makes the "work" of getting in shape easier.  I will talk more about supportive people around you in another post, but you get the idea.  Visiting with family and friends and taking a walk with them to chat is one of the best things you can do.  I find it to be relaxing and fun.  You begin to concentrate on the person, and not food or alcohol.

I have found that a routine of the same exercise to be boring and depressing.  You have to do it.  It is work.  I hate machines like the treadmill or elliptical.  As my Uncle Frank has said, "Why don't you simply walk outside?  It's a lot more interesting than a machine."  He's right.  I don't know what I'll do for the day when I wake in the morning.  I just build it into my day.  It is called living.  Life can't be spent at home, sheltered from the world, eating and eating.  That's what big people do.  It's what I did.  Get out and enjoy life!

Whatever you do to improve your health, just make it interesting, fun, and a challenge you want to meet.  I have to jack up my exercise now that I have plateaued.  I also need to add muscle building, as I am very, very soft!  UGH!  That's just part of losing weight, but frankly, I am working out to get rid of fat and wrinkles.  Lots of loose arms going on, flying about.  Losing a massive amount of weight causes extra fat, skin, and not so pleasant body areas that just won't ever be like when I was 20 or 30, or even 40.  I am 51 now, and I need all the help I can get!  If you need some motivation, e-mail me!

Up tomorrow, water water everywhere!

Step One For Weight Loss- Food!

Hello, Everyone!  There are five basic steps to my weight loss:

1. My relationship with Food
2. Exercise
3. Water
4. Support
5. Mindset

Today is about my food choices and how I eat are fundamental to losing the weight.  Now, I eat anything I want, and I'm finding that I am naturally, over time, choosing healthier options.  When I don't choose a healthy option, I eat a very small amount.  Portion control is my secret.  Never thought I would be able to eat a handful of chips or a small bag of caramel M&Ms!  However, a little satisfies me.  It seems that following what I want to eat, instead of denying myself, I drop it faster.  I just eat in little amounts, grazing throughout the day.

It took me a long time to get my stomach to this stage of eating.  I need to be really hungry when I eat.  I have a formula.  It's called the Who-What-Why-When-Where- and How food plan.

Who I eat with is important.  I choose only people I feel comfortable around to eat.  Eating should be enjoyable.  I remember the days of eating celery in the kitchen, while my family was eating in the living room.  No way to love food!

What I eat is important, of course, so I make sure I have plenty of good things to balance what junk I do eat.  There is no typical day for me with food, because the situations of life change daily, and that's one reason I think diets are too rigid.  You have to be flexible with food.

Why I eat is an important question to answer.  I don't eat anymore because of boredom, any current emotion I'm having, or for any other reason than the fact that I am hungry.  That's the main reason I wait to eat.  I have to make sure that I need to eat.

When am I eating?  All day long.  I don't put meals at a set time.  It's too rigid.  You may not be hungry at mealtime, so why eat?  We, as Americans, do a load of eating when we aren't even hungry.  We clean our plates, because our mothers told us to.  Well, you can either waste your waist, or waste the food.  Better yet?  Don't make a large portion.

Where am I eating?  I like a calm place to eat.  I deal with enough stress and anxiety, so I need to eat when I am calm.  Why?  I'll shovel it in if I don't.

How do you eat?  Fast?  Slower?  Are you the first one to finish dinner?  Do you graze when you cook or clean-up?  I eat very slow, enjoying conversation.  Food will always be here, and our loved ones won't.  I'd rather make visiting the main attraction, and not the food.

So, that's my eating.  If you can answer these questions for yourself, and change your relationship with food to a healthy one and not a toxic one, you will most surely find success.

If you really want to know WHAT I eat, stay tuned …
What's up tomorrow?  Exercise!

100 Pounds Down Without A Diet!

Diet again?  Dieting has always put weight on me!  When I began to lose weight a year ago, I realized that I did NOT want to choose a "Food Plan."  I cut portions instead - drastically from what I did eat.  I moved out of the chair and onto the beach, the pool, the streets for walking, and I decided to make exercise part of everything.  Move, I say!

People have told me my entire adult life to cut portions and move more.  Simple, they say. Well, it took 25 years to get here, but I am telling you, it is easier than you think.  Depriving yourself as part of a diet is not the way to go.  I eat anything I want, seriously.  I have the cake, the candy, and any other sweets I want.  I drink an occasional soda, which I gave up 8 years ago, but that's when I drank them like water.  Now, I drink water like water! HA!

I had lung cancer last year, and I had a lobe removed.  It scared the hell out of me.  I decided to try to cut down on food, and I had to walk to build up my lungs again.  I was terrified that I could not breathe.  I couldn't walk to the bathroom without oxygen.  I never want to go back there.  It was very unpleasant.  I simply had to make a decision whether to live or not.  I chose life.

I would like to take you on my journey at this point.  I have another 80-100 to lose.  Don't know what it will look like when I get there, so that is the range for now. I will rev up my exercise, since in the past month, I have plateaued.  I am beginning Sunday Zumba, and yoga and swimming during the week.  We'll see!

In this blog, I will share my tips, strategies, and anything else I can think of to help someone else.  It can be done!  Stay tuned for more tomorrow.  Join me and subscribe-- Veronica