In one year, thoughts on life, GOALS, weight loss and starting to get where I want to go….

One this in true I think, it is HARD (sometimes feels TOO hard) to get started. I am glad I did. It is almost a year since I had weight loss surgery. I have lost 20 inches on my waist alone and over 107 pounds. What a life changer that is but taking the first steps and following them with more little important steps and so on could feel overwhelming, especially in the beginning. Was it scary and hard, of course it was! BUT this blog is NOT about weight loss surgery it IS about reclaiming and claiming something of mine (or yours) that I want for my life! The surgery was just one of my little steps. An important one yes, but it was only a step. I have more weight to lose, fitness goals and life goals and then there is maintenance as a healthy eating individual. It isn’t about the surgery, it IS about life.

Does it matter if you are having surgery of this type or starting a weight loss regime of your own, or a gym/workout regime or whatever. The first step is the hardest! Following it up with other steps is the next hardest….

One of my favorite sayings is this:

“A journey of three thousand miles is begun with a single step.”

If the goal seems far far away it can be even more daunting. For me in the beginning it was – 1) go to the seminar

2) go the doctor and check him/her out

3) go to the free support groups and see how people did

4) find out all I could about it online

5) do my pre-op stuff (lots of doctors appointment and lab work)

6) get insurance approval

7) make SURE I had the right stuff in the house like protein drinks and vitamins

8) read “Weight loss surgery for Dummies” 🙂

and so on up until the day of the surgery.

That day I took one single tiny step and showed up, trusted them (it was scary) and just did it.

Then in the hospital postop I did what they said.

Same when I got home.

I added walking many times a week and from a coach potato I walk no less than 8 miles a week (usually much much more than that). It is the MENTAL part of this that is the hardest thing I think. Just taking that step mentally and following by action. But you only have to do ONE step and follow it with another, then another and so on.

And on and on. All things together in my mind would have seemed impossible. It is not. I am not that special (well sort of but you know what I mean, ordinary human person) but I decided I was NOT going to ask myself this-

IN A YEAR would I look back and wonder where I would be that day if I had taken the steps I wanted to get to my goals in life a year before or would I still be looking at the starting point?

What are your goals? What do YOU personally want to do?

• Do you want to climb a mountain but need to train?
• Do you want to run the Boston Marathon but can only walk a block?
• Do you want to lose weight to get into that cute bikini but need to make the decision?
• Do you want to hike the Appalachian Trail from Canada to the end but have to take the training to get this done?
• Do you want to go to college and get another or your first degree?
• Do you want to travel abroad but need to save the money to be able to go?
• Do you want to sail around the USA and eventually around the world in your sailboat but need to figure out everything to be able to take that year off and pursue your dream?
• Do you want to go to Rome and see every sight and learn the language?
• Do you want to go to a real yoga retreat in India but know there is much you need to do in preparation?
• Do you want to walk a mile a day but are so sedentary you are only on the sofa watching TV?
• Do you want to become and artist but have to take lessons?
• Do you want to do things you have only dreamed about but have been procrastinating for 20 years?
• Do you want to be a bodybuilder but only go to the gym now and then and keep putting it off?

 

THE TIME HAS COME TODAY!

Make it happen for yourself and don’t get discouraged. Others are falling down and getting up again everywhere around the world all the time! Just do it, take that first simple tiny step. Make those steps little, tiny and manageable and build on that. If you have a bad day or week just dust yourself off and just go for it again!

 

I do this in so many places in my life each and every day and the steps are getting stronger and bolder and easier each day!

It is my one and only life and I want to make it count (don’t you?) so I am taking that journey.

I know in one year I will look back happy. I won’t be on my sofa watching reruns wondering where my life went. I will have reclaimed my life and people if I can do it I have no doubt you can!

Zucchini chips

Great recipe! Trying it for sure! Wonderful for those of us low carbing it!

To my body with love….

Nuff said….(I want the poster but I feel it in my heart!)

The 10 Minute challenge! Exercise in doses….

I can do almost anything in 10 minutes health wise. Today I was thinking about my favorite cup of hot hot strong Irish tea, the kind that gets richer and yummier if it sits a bit then I reheat it. 10 minutes does it! SOooooo, feeling a bit more than lazy on a rainy Sunday I said, I need to exercise and feel totally unmotivated. Ever been there? Me too! lol…

---

 

This is my 10 minute challenge:

---

(Pick the area of focus you want, ARMS, LEGS etc)

ARMS (I do this now 2-3 times a week at home sometimes more)

Fill two milk jugs that you saved and are cleaned out with 2 – 5 – 10 pounds of water (tighten the lid to avoid catastrophic failure lol). Just weigh them on your bathroom scale

IF you have little barbell weights (I do) use these of course

While something you want done and need to wait for (cooking, my tea, washing or another time measured thing) for this amount of time, challenge yourself!

Bend over (slightly if you are new to this) and just lift. Do three sets of 10. Start with the smaller weight until it gets easier. This works out the arms.

Stand up, bend this weight towards your chest making sure you are standing up straight. Do the same number of sets/reps. This works out another part of your arms. This works out the bicep muscle and makes it stronger.

Another one would be kettle weights, dead lifting but that is not for beginners.

---

 

LEGS

Hold the counter top and do side and back kicks. Make SURE you have rubbery soles on so you don’t slip and break your face!

Do squats bending your knees feet parallel holding the counter top and moving up and down slowly. Do 10  and work up to three sets.

---

 

SHOULDERS and ARMS

Counter inclined pushups – lean into counter and do pushup at an angle to the counter top. 2 or 3 reps of 10.

Exercise may not now seem fun, especially if you are new like I am (again) but these tips may help you:

 

PUT ON MUSIC YOU LOVE! If you have one make small increment song lists (10 min, 20 min, 30 min and 45 min long) on an IPOD (you can get old used ones on Ebay if you are poor or budget constrained) or a cheapo MP3 player. Don’t know how to add songs? Ask your babysitter or a young neighbor. Teens are notorious for know techie things like this if you don’t. Can’t do that, put a record or CD and time two or 3 songs to this challenge. Set the timer on your microwave.

 

Don’t overdo at first! Injuring yourself can be discouraging and painful! Takes a long time to come back to square one so you want to avoid this. It is not the speed you travel (ie reps) but the journey to health that is important! It took a long time being sedentary to get where you are (me too) so it won’t take a day to get to where you want to be!

IF you can only do TEN then do that. Only able to do FIVE? Then do that. Can’t do that? Get into physical therapy on a doctors order so you can build up to that! There are no hopeless cases out there! I know I am not one!

I find everything gets soft and flabby (loose skin etc) with extreme weight loss that comes with weight loss surgery. Building muscle helps a variety of things and tones the muscle.

It’s hard at first but I know it gets easier! Let me know how it works out for you!~ Good luck if you are reading this!~

That is my ten minute challenge!

 

Another success strategy

Bring your own snacks EVERYWHERE! Movies are a big place to get tripped up (it is like and unhealthy food minefield in most of them. REMEMBER you are going there to see the movie (or the football game or the concert or whatever it is AND NOT going there to eat) Eat ahead of time if you are hungry! Bring some little snacks until movie theater owners get more savvy and supply healthy options. I am fond of these going out and about but make sure it is pre-portioned:

1. Protein
2. 100 calorie almond packs
3. string cheese or baby bell
4. freeze dried lower carb fruit (watch the servings though). I like Brother’s Naturals Fiji Apple and Crispy Green cantaloupe (tastes like candy it is that sweet!) or mixed berries
5. carrot sticks/carrot chips with 100 calorie guacamole (like Wholly Guacamole – they have several flavors including spicy)
6. 3 ounce packs of prepackaged tuna
7. raw cauliflower with that above guacamole
8. Greek yogurt with any low carb raw veggie
9. micro salads I prepare ahead of time in a sealed 3-4 ounce container. (I carry little plastic forks, spoons and knives with me everywhere!)

Going to a tailgate party, to meals with family or friends? Ask what is being prepared, ask with assertiveness. I ALWAYS have some stuff prepared in my fridge and cupboard that helps me when I am running around town, going to the movies or perhaps out on the town where there are TONS of unhealthy temptations. (and this includes especially visiting friends and relatives!)and you will succeed. I find from all my years on the earth plus.

First, it’s time to stop being so polite and eating just what the host(ess) prepares. Be frank (and friendly) and just tell the truth. “This IS for my health issues, I can’t eat this!” (it’s true right? sized humans are way too too polite and don’t know how to stick up for themselves!

The faulty pre-reclaimed life reasoning is like this:

          “They took all the time to prepare this with love or skill so I would insult them. ” (etc etc.) or “I will insult my host(ess)” “I don’t want to be rude” “they worked so hard preparing this!”

          (to be polite let them know way ahead of time what your healthy changes entail and I bet they will go great guns to be supportive and helpful, they need to plan though you know? as a hostess  myself who loves to cook I do want my guests to be happy with what I prepare. Stand up for your reclaimed life! You can do it!)

The mental and emotional adjustment that needs to go into place is this:

         “IF I continue to eat things that are unhealthy for me, I will land in a grave, I WILL lose all my friends and family because I will be dead. I will die from high blood pressure, I will die from a stroke, a heart attack, from diabetes (and diabetic complications).” (picture your grave, morbid but necessary)

        OR (picture how hard it is to walk, to climb stairs, how hard it is to play with your children or grandchildren, do your job, improve your career etc)

       Put a picture in your mind of how it feels to be this obese and sedentary.  It IS HARD!

       AND Mine that I use with all of this is this:

      “I want to live life with GUSTO, with passion, to walk the streets and museums of Rome, to climb mountains (and hills), to jetski, to do the things I feel cut off from to the best of my ability with joy and health!”

“I WANT to live and long and healthy happy life!”

“I want to run TOWARDS my life, not just exist!”

MAKE a commitment to yourself, you deserve and so do I!