Never, Never, Never GIVE UP!!!!

I apologize for the lack of support and updates lately.  I am very limited on my computer time and it seems so much of my time is spent on catching up with email and the happenings of the world and life.  So I truly apologize!  How is everyone doing on the No Sugar and No Soda.

I know Kathy has said she has not lost any weight and so after Easter was not going to do it anymore. For me I will continue to do it, because it keeps me from just going and buying candy and then eating it all.  I actually made quite the breakthrough today!!! I WALKED 1/2 MILE!!!

Now I know what you are thinking, Laura ANYONE can do 1/2 mile.....No not anyone!!!  About a year ago I was on a cane and have decided I was going to get healthy.  I got rid of the soda, the sweets, and at the first of the year started walking.  Erika and I were talking today about when we started walking.  It was late January or February.  When we first started, I could barely do the 1/4 of a mile.  But she kept reminding me, BUT YOU DID IT!  Gradually we went from three days a week to five. Today she told me how good I did going around the building and we decided to do another lap!!  Go US!!

If there is anything I can say to any of you about fighting the weight loss battle, it is to NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!!  Maybe the no sugar and no soda is not working for you.  For me it helped me to see habits and how easy it was to grab a candy bar on the way out the door.  Also because I know longer have those things in my midst, I do not snack as I used to. 

This has also taught me PATIENCE!!!  No one can ever know the pain in my legs and knees I tolerate to just be able to walk a few steps a day.  There were times at night that my legs hurt so badly they throbbed.  I would try various medications on them just hoping the throbbing would die down enough that I could get some sleep.  There are a few things I found helped some.  The Lymph Gland Cleanse seemed to help the swelling in my legs some.  I started to take a daily vitamin, Alleve every day and some Glucosamine Chondroitin.  Supposedly this is supposed to help you rebuild the cartilage in your joints.

One of the problems I could feel with my knees, is they would grind when I tried to bend them.  Sometimes my knee would catch and when it would "un-catch" it hurt.  But through all this I decided if I was to ever get better, I had to keep trying.  Today FINALLY I saw some different results.  YEAAA ME!!

I could have never had done this without the support and belief of all of you.  And without Erika and Tiffany!!  You all rock!!!  Even if you feel you need to take a break from all this, just DON"T EVER GIVE UP!!! 

Trials, Struggles and Crashes -- OH MY!!

Hey Everyone....I hope you are all hanging in there and doing the best you can!!  Easter is just around the corner!  For what ever reason this has been an extremely hard month and beginning of year for me.  There is good news....I have begun to walk five times a week instead of just three times a week!!!  Yea Me!!  I am trying to celebrate the little things.

On the flip side of that, my computer  has CRASHED!!!  UGH!!!  I have been using computers since 1988 and this is the first time I have ever had a computer crash!!!  I have very limited access to one in the Family History Center.  Please forgive me for not keeping this blog up....I will try do better once I get a computer again!

Hugs to all and Hang In There!!!  Laura

Feeding Times....Do They Exist?

A few years ago, someone told me their mom had lost quite a bit of weight by changing a few things.

1. Ate cereal for breakfast
2. Had a large salad for Lunch.
3. Ate anything she wanted for dinner with these exceptions:
1. She could not eat after 6 p.m.

I thought this was crazy!!! But thought I would give it a try.  After only a couple of weeks my friend said, "Laura you have lost weight."  That made me smile.  But of course when I told them what I was doing they didn't believe me.  I am not a cereal eater either, but I realized I did like some cereal.

One of the side affects of this I saw real fast, was that I would wake up in the middle of the night starving.  My tummy would grumble like it had not eaten in a week.  I learned that water could quiet my stomach down enough until I could eat in the morning.  I stuck to my guns about not eating after 6 p.m.  On a few occasions I had to politely turned down someone's offer to eat after my dead line.  Some understood but many more let me know how ridiculous it was and tried to guilt me into eating. 

So again, my point here is changing another habit.  Maybe you cannot set a 6 p.m. deadline, maybe it is a 6:30 or 7 deadline.  But just like everything else we need to do in our lives, it needs to be budgeted.  When you don't budget the times, like everything else it can spin out of control faster than chocolate disappears from a chocoholic's hand to their mouth.  In other words, DON'T BLINK.

Find times that work for you and your family.  It may be difficult at first to get everyone together for dinner, but keep trying till you work out the quirks.  It will come.

I am interested to hear if anyone else has set feeding times?

Living In a Perfect Society.....

I was thinking about this morning, if you could have one thing perfect in your life what would it be?

Is it a perfect body?  Family?  Ideal job? Clean house?  Bank account?  What would it be?

This has been on my mind, because I am learning through my life that nothing is perfect although we always seem to strive for that.  But what is Perfect?  Is it what we set for ourselves, or do we tend to gear towards what society thinks is perfect?

Take our bodies.  For me it didn't matter if I was 20 lbs overweight or 200 lbs overweight I was still referred to as an animal.  I have been through all this before, because I was seen as an animal, that is how I saw myself.  Today, I can see how I have lost weight, and whiles others say "Great Job, Laura!"  there are those that look me up and down and then proceed to give me their advice of how I need to go on a diet, lose weight etc.  But it doesn't stop with just our self image.

I look at families.  I remember a family who lived up the street from us my mom would call "the baby factory".  Why? Was it because of the amount of children (who I believe had one or two more than she did) or was it because it was the society standard to go against those with large families?  What about the wayward teenager?  Too many times I hear a parent say, "my child would never do that" or "he is so out of control he is no longer my problem".  Why could it never be your child or why is he/she is no longer your "problem"?

I have had jobs that were great and I loved and believe I even once had the perfect job.  But sometimes things happen in our "perfect societies" that we need to re-evaluate and try again.  The key to all this I believe is not striving for a "perfect life" but to strive for a way that we learn to stand up for what is right for us, not what is popular by society.

I am a BYU Fan and yes I have been "JIMMERED"!  Just when we thought life was getting perfect for BYU Basketball a snafu was thrown into the mix.  The day after making a 3rd ranking in the polls, it was announced one of the players had been suspended from the team for an honor code violation.  Immediately it was all over the news.  What became interesting to me were the people (mainly younger generation) who said, "So what it was only pre-martial sex.  Come to our school, you can drink, party, have sex as much as you want and not be judged." The older generation seemed to give a high five to BYU that they stuck to the rules and everyone is treated the same.  The thing that impressed me the most, was it was the player who came to them and admitted what he had done.  Coach Rose went on to say we put our arms around him to let him know he was loved and to help him back. 

I saw this as a great service of love.  On Seniors Day, Brandon was there with the team on the bench in street clothes.  The fans were behind Brandon, letting him know "yeah we all mess up...you're just being slung through the dirt.....but we are right here for you!" When it came time to cutting down the net, Brandon had to be found to cut down a piece and received a "Standing Ovation (SO)".  The SO was not about what he had done that made national headlines, it was about he did RIGHT that brought everyone to their feet. 

I have thought about Brandon in the last couple of weeks.  He has taught me, "Stand up for what is right, not what is popular."  I apply this to my own life this way.  People do not need to tell me I am overweight, I know that.  But I also learned instead of sitting there and feeling bad about the lecture or "advice" that was given me, I need to speak up for a people that often is looked at as not being strong enough.  That is hogwash, we are strong!!  We just need to stand up and say so!

Part of losing weight is about what you eat, but it is not the WHOLE PICTURE!!  You cannot fix the outside till we fix the inside. That means becoming stronger people!! And it means not letting the words and actions of others dictate what we know is right for us, not for society.

Sometimes we are going to fall, we need to get back up and try again.  Sometimes we are going to let society get to us and question our abilities, we need to get back up and keep trying. So what would I want perfect in my life?  Not sure. I know now that my weaknesses will become my strengths, and I never want to stop growing!  I have decided I no longer need a perfect life or society to live with in, I just need what is right for me. 


Whew!!  Now I feel better, coming down off my soapbox!!

Zzzzzz....How Are You Sleeping?

In the last few weeks I have made a significant change in my life.  As strange as it sounds, I think it has helped in what I eat during the day.  So I guess you can say, that I found a secret weapon to the weight loss battle.  It is called SLEEP!!!  In my younger years, when it came 10:00 p.m. I turned into a pumpkin.  My body would just shut down at 10:00.

In the last several months I noticed with no "set schedule" I went to bed whenever.  Unfortunately I couldn't sleep into whenever I wanted, as there was noise that would awake me. I will admit I got pretty annoyed and ticked off.  I have to remember I cannot go to the "angry and ticked off corner" that is how I got here in the first place!!!

Since we are all about improving our health, let's talk sleep?  Do you get 8 hours of sleep?  Or do you make do on 6?  According to health officials, the 8 hours of sleep our bodies require is indeed a REQUIREMENT not an OPTION.

I found this article from Samantha Gibbons, 10 Lifestyle Changes You Can Make to Lose Weight Naturally
Change #5 Sleep!!!!  She states we need at least 7 hours of sleep on a regular basis because our body needs to repair itself properly.  Also because of being tired we feel sluggish and less likely to exercise.  So what do we do?  EAT!!!  There have been many a times I was in this situation and could not stay awake and so I went to get a candy bar to pick me up.  Did it work?  For maybe 10 minutes and then I needed another pick me up!!! It' a vicious cycle.

 
I do think in today's perfect society we tend to cram too much into our lives.What do you do to get 8 hours of sleep a night or do you?  Do you feel it affects what you eat the next morning?  Your weight loss?  Would love to hear your comments.

Life and Weight Loss Excuses!!

We all do them!!!  I think I lead the pack!!  Ha Ha  Here are some of the ones I found online are and ones of my own at the end.

My parents (ancestors) were overweight, so I am too.  

Great Grandmother

Grandmother

  We have to remember we are the one who chooses our own destiny.  Yes the genes play a part in it, but we are the only ones who can change who we are.  Here are some pictures of my grandmother and great grandmother. When I first saw these pictures, I thought yep I am dead meat!! On the left is my grandmother Grace Linn Moore, and on the right is Carrie Valls Schoenbohm.  I have their same body type!!!  I showed the picture to my manager who said, "Well we know where you body type comes from!"  So yes genes have a big part to play in our weight, but so does alot of other factors.  I am stubborn enough and determined enough to break cycles in my life and change me.

My Family Won't Eat Healthy Food.
We can't expect ourselves or our family to automatically go from eating junk food to eating a healthier diet.  It just doesn't work that way.  We need to find small ways to change our eating habits rather than big ones. I had a friend who used to have one green vegetable for dinner every night.  Those green vegetables varied, between green beans, broccoli, salad, brussell sprouts etc. I had a friend who added one new fruit to her vegetable each week. So think of little changes to incorporate to begin with. This reminds me of a story:

STORY TIME

My brother would easily go through a gallon of milk in a day or two.  Remember how I said earlier my mom used to tell us to slow down we were not going to a fire?  Well my brother could eat. She often said, "he can't be tasting what he is eating." My mom in all her wisdom decided to go with a cheaper milk and see if he could taste the difference.  For about three months he could not.  Then one day, "Mom this milk tastes funny!! I think it is spoiled!"  She tried to explain there was nothing wrong with the milk, it was just a different kind and not the whole milk.  He replied, "I can't drink this stuff it's gross!!!"  I don't think she went back to the whole milk and he had to get used to the 2% milk.

I have never been a milk drinker, although I do like and can drink skim milk.  And yes I can tell the difference between whole milk and skim milk!!  But the point to this whole story is, sometimes we just shove things in our mouths without even thinking about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adding little changes to our food is probably not going to be noticeable.  What small changes can you make to your food to make them healthier?

I Don't Have Time!
Don't get me started on this one!!!   Let's start with lunch at work.  By the time you go out to get lunch, bring it back and snarf it down, there is no time to enjoy lunch or even relax.  But if you got in the habit of making your lunch at night and taking it to work with you, not only would you be saving $$ but also you could relax and maybe go for a walk, or read a book or do something else besides run to get lunch and be stressed.  There have been several jobs where I have taken a 10 minute walk and then eaten lunch. I have mentioned before my water aerobics story and the success I had with it.  I had joined a website that had a message board and most of the replies were positive when I posted my successes. The keyword being MOST!!!  But one lady said, "I wish I had the free time you did to do water aerobics."  Hello did I miss something?  FREE TIME?  I left my house at 6:30 in the morning, worked all day, then drove straight to water aerobics after work, did an hour class, was lucky if I got home by 7:00 pm at night. And I was always early for work, because of parking and the 15 minute hike to my building.  It was all about changing priorities to make time.

I Don't Have Any Support.
I do understand this one.  I have said this before, I do not know what I would do without Erika.  On Monday I was a tad bit later than normal getting to the church and she had begun loading Audrey her daughter into the car to leave.  I showed up just in time!!!  We did our walk around the building.  She is my motivator.  And I have never had anyone like that before to really support me and make sure I go walking.  We could have very easily said, "Let' not do it today" but we were both there so why not do it!!  Do you have a dog you can take for a walk?  Maybe a neighbor or co-worker will go with you. Not take the neighbor or co-worker for a walk, (ha ha) but have them walk with you.  Remember it doesn't take much, you are just trying to change your habits and make small changes that will become bigger habits.


I Am Afraid of Regaining It All.
What is your thought on this?  This has never crossed my mind.  I guess because I have always lost the same pounds over and over.  Ha Ha This time it is going to be different.

All of the above is from the article "Weight Loss Excuses" on about.com.

Here are some of my own thoughts:


What will happen when I get thin?
Even when I have lost weight before, I do not have the mindset in me to think differently when I was thinner. Part of it becomes because even when  I was 20 lbs overweight, I was still referred to as a cow, water buffalo, horse etc. There was a time in my life where I had lots a substantial amount of weight.  I had gotten off a bus and was walking to a friends house when I got whistled at. I hurried to my friends house and it was all I could do to not cry.  Eventually I told my friend what happened and she said, "Laura that is a good thing" but I could never make myself believe that.  So that worries me.  Even if I was to get into a single digit size, I worry how I will be viewed and what would happen.  Whistles?  Name calling?  I don't think I could handle any attention and that bothers me deep down.  I know, I know, there are some deep mental issues inside there.

Failure
Also now, I can blame all my failures to my weight.  When I lose the weight, I can blame my weight anymore for my failures.

Do I Deserve To Be Thin and Healthy?
I have a very dear friend who is Diabetic.  I watch her struggle on a daily basis with her diabetes.  Today I was thinking to myself as I watched her check her blood sugar, why is it she has diabetes?  She is very trim and tiny and watches what she eats -- or at least I think she does.  And yet her diabetes is such a burden to her and her lifestyle.  I have been tested for diabetes on many occasions, and always told the same thing.  There is nothing wrong with me. I know that is not right, but they have to go off the blood work.  So I do what I can now and hopefully I will be able to dodge the bullet.

See for me this is all a mind game.  There is a book I am going to check into that is called:  Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person  I want to read this as I think it will help deal with the issues in my head.

So what about all of you?  What are your excuses?  How are you going to combat them?  Any advice from those who have met their goals and gotten to their goal weight?

Three Muskateer Day....

Now I know what you all are thinking, "Laura YOU DIDN'T?"  Nope I didn't.....I did not give in but I did think about it.  Why?  Because I ran to the grocery store today and Three Muskateers were on sale 2/$1.00.  Three Muskateers are my most favorite candy bar!!! Snickers is close, but I am a Three Muskateers Girl.  Normally they do not tempt me but today I saw the SALE and PICK ME PICK ME sign!!!

I did manage to sneak by them with out one jumping in my cart. Whew!!  Off to Walgreen's I headed.  Guess what I found there?  The king size GIGANTIC Three Muskateer bars on sale for some ridiculous price too!!  I was afraid to go anywhere else!!!

I thought about those candy bars today, but not so much how I wanted one as I was able to pass them up.  I am realizing the sugar does not tempt me so much anymore. But as it has been said here before, often times we simply substitute one thing for another.  Maybe this is not a bad thing as long as eventually we substitute the good things we need in our life for a healthy diet and balance.

So that's all.  I just wanted to let you all know I did pass up the Three Muskateers Today.  Yeaaa Me!!!  And I did make it out walking thanks to Erika ...Yeaaa Me!!!