Posts filed under 'Weight Loss'
Commentary: Trust
“Adopt a regimen of health, practice moderate exercise, and take just enough food and drink to restore our strength, not overburden it.”
–Cicero, 44 BC
I just love this quote that my friend Sara once shared. It subscribes to the school of thought that as humans, we need to trust ourselves and our bodies to take just enough, do just enough — but to do nothing to excess. (HA — as Americans, isn’t EVERYTHING we do to excess?!)
Ironically, one of the tenets of the diet/weight loss industry is that we are incapable, as humans, to trust ourselves to just eat enough and exercise just enough.
We fall victim to our cravings, and then we “need” diet plans, diet books, guides, calorie counters, iPhone apps, journals, food scales, regular scales to help normalize ourselves. (more…)
12 comments May 6, 2009
Review: Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred
OK so you ladies (and gents) know I’m a gym-rat and I love fitness and working out. But I gotta say, Jillian Michaels kicked my ASS! And on Level One no less!
I do think I need lighter weights than the 8 lb. ones I have because I was struggling with some exercises and form is more important than the amount of weights being lifted.
I like how Jillian talks to you, and found her encouraging, not annoying like some fitness instructors are. I genuinely felt like I didn’t want to (ha!) let her down.
And what I like best is it’s under 25 minutes so I can do it start-to-finish three times a week without necessarily needing to go to the gym at the crack of dawn. (more…)
14 comments April 22, 2009
Programmed for Weight Gain!?
Today, Kath posted this awesome article on her blog (which she wrote for Gather.com) that I wanted to share with you, called “Are We Programmed for Weight Gain?”
Check it out and let me know what you think.
I have to say, I agree with her 100%.
I think we, as humans, ARE predisposed to gain, and it’s up to us to every day make decisions. Some days it’s easier than others. And sometimes we reach a point where we’re comfortable with a little gain, or that we aren’t. And we take action … or don’t.
The important thing to remember is, we’re fighting nature every step of the way — and so personal responsibility becomes tantamount. I know this from experience, in dealing with my own gain and struggle to lose all over again.
Definitely a good read. Thanks for sharing, Kath!
5 comments April 20, 2009
It’s All About Trust
With our tax refund this year, my husband and I decided to do something for our future and opened a 12-month CD.
Why a CD? We chose this option because, during these shaky economic times, a CD accrues some interest (more than it would in a traditional savings account) and won’t plunge in value like our 401Ks seem to be doing.
Basically, we will leave this money alone, and let it work its magic so in the future, we have a little something extra for a trip next year or something.
Leave it alone and let it work its magic …
Hm … do you see where this analogy is going yet? (OK, I love to tie weight and money!). (more…)
6 comments April 17, 2009
How Disordered Do You Want to Be?
I ask this because I, like you, have a choice.
The answer for me is … not at all.
We have a choice. We might tell ourselves our disordered minds are in control, but they’re not. We are.
If we punish ourselves with restriction or over-exercising, or if we punish ourselves with a binge, we’re doing it to ourselves.
It’s not about the food or the exercise; it’s always about something else. Food or exercise (lack of it or over-abundance of it) is a coping mechanism.
And I don’t want to use either as my coping mechanisms any longer.
This weekend, during an Honest.Open.Willing. chat with my husband, he asked me point-blank, “When will the obsession end?”
He sees me more than any of my friends and family, and he sees glimmers of hope, some aspects of behavioral change. He knows I want to be better, to be more fun again, to be the happy girl I was when I was heavy … but he (as well as others close to me) have said, ” … but the obsession is still there.”
He’s right, it is.
I want to turn it off. I don’t want to be disordered, or have disordered thoughts, or to make progress only to fall back. (more…)
19 comments April 9, 2009
I’m a Grade-A “Self-Saboteur”
Um, yes, that’d be me. 100% bonafide, grade-A “Self Saboteur”.
About four years ago, through the beauty of the Weight Watchers message board, “Tales from the Scale” a group of several amazing women of all ages from all corners of the U.S. came together and dubbed ourselves the “Weekend Sabatogers.”
At one point, we debated changing our name, since “sabatogers” doesn’t really exist in proper English … but the point is, we had one thing in common: in our own ways, we all practiced diligence all week, and then we tended to let our guard down on the weekend … and repeated the same vicious cycle over and over and over again. We picked each other up, dusted each other off.
I love these women dearly — many (if not all?!) are loyal blog readers, and though our little group disbanded when life just became too complicated to keep up the thread each day last fall, we are still very close in a way that is hard to explain except to each other.
(In fact, they even sent us an incredibly generous engagement present when my husband and I got engaged in 2005!)
I’ve met five of these amazing women in person (four of us met up in Chicago for an amazing weekend two Aprils ago, and one of them I met when I lived in DC). And today, one of these incredible women is one of my closest confidantes in real life now, too; my move to Michigan was a blessing in more ways than one, since she’s in Chicago!
I feel very blessed for their friendship and support … and that’s why today I am here to admit, once again, that I am a complete self-sabatoger … all week long, lately. (more…)
12 comments April 8, 2009
When Walking Away Works
Recently I read about a fellow blogger’s experience with anxiety, following hearing a skinny friend moaning about her weight, and it really hit home.
I bet many of us have had similar experiences in the past: the skinny friend ordering the salad and bemoaning everyone else ordering fries when SHE wants fries; the girl who brags about how many miles she ran and justifies why she’s eating such-and-such (as though anyone gives a darn) …
And perhaps there would have been a time where I was either a part of that situation … either dwelling on the problem, or commiserating about a solution.
But I’ve noticed over the past few months that I’ve deliberately and fully extracted myself from conversations about weight (more…)
11 comments March 23, 2009
“That Girl”
I don’t typically engage in fem-bashing … I was a sorority girl in college and a cheerleader in high school and my best friends are female. I tend to defend my girls til the end.
But sometimes, we need to call ‘em as we see ‘em and at my workshop this past week in NYC, I met “that girl.”
Allow me to explain …
Halfway through the presentation-skills workshop I attended, we divided up into groups to do on-camera work. I was fortunate to be put in a group with three fantastic people and we totally gelled; midway through my first presentation I was feeling good; confident, even.
We cheered for each other (three women, one man), and rooted each other on as we each presented a challenge and a solution in a two-minute “talking memo” (not as easy as it sounds!) and then watched ourselves on camera. (more…)
25 comments February 27, 2009
Lose Weight While … Sleeping?
This month’s Glamour features a cover story called “Lose Weight While You Sleep.”
The results are pretty surprising and, when looked at holistically, seem to make sense — in that if someone is getting 8 hours of sleep, they are likely not noshing late at night and likely have more energy to exercise and therefore are likely eat better … and so it goes.
I have to say, I’ve been focusing on more sleep lately and I even posted about sleep and exercise a couple weeks ago … but I’ve not seen any results on the scale. But I also haven’t been giving it a conscious thoguht, either.
And though I usually think “diets” like this are a crock, I think the article makes some good points that any of us could benefit from. (more…)
10 comments February 18, 2009
Training Agenda
So I met with the trainer this evening for a brief consultation. She felt awful; she’d been out sick and no one gave her the messages until today … but it’s all good now.
I’m going to go Thursday morning for my body composition and hopefully measurements (I’m hoping she’ll do them then instead of at my first session). Then Monday at 6:30 I’ll have my first of three sessions. We are going to focus on specific muscle groups.
She’ll be giving me a three-day-a-week routine — not done on consecutive days. She says my initial session will be about an hour and fifteen minutes, so we can walk through each of these exercises.
One day each week will be chest, arms, back. Then another day will be legs, glutes and something else … blanking. And the third session each week will be abs, core and legs. (more…)
5 comments February 17, 2009
