A long journey in becoming perfectly imperfect
I am she and she is me. The highest i remember my weight going to is 357 but i am sure i was much bigger than that at one point. I lived my life feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. I wished for another body yet i was doing nothing about it. One day after being tired of complaining I decided to do something to change what I saw in the mirror.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Are u serious about losing weight?
Are you serious about losing weight or do you just keep thinking about the "idea" of it? In order to stick to a "weight loss" journey you have to understand that you have to do a complete lifestyle change. You have to stop looking for those quick fixes! Sure u can drop 10 pounds in a week with a quick fix but once u start back eating how you normally will eat again you will gain the weight plus more back! Before starting a weight loss journey do your research!! Losing weight takes some drastic change in your diet. Clearly you have gotten to that weight that you are not comfortable with due to bad eating habits. You cant go into this saying I cant give up this and I cant give up that"! If you have that attitude you will remain the same!! Find healthy alternatives to the foods that you love! It will probably cut half of the calories and still taste great!! It is always good in the beginning to write down EVERY SINGLE thing that you eat! That will give you a clear picture of the reason that you may not be losing the way that you want. Myfitnesspal is a great app to use on your phone to track your food and calories. It will always tell you how many calories they suggest that you eat a day. A journey means that this will take time. Its a lifestyle change. Just like it took time for you to gain the weight it will also take time for you to lose the weight! Do not try to rush the journey! All that will do is discourage you! Also have a plan prior to starting which will help you stay on the right track. I suggest eating more whole foods or clean foods instead of eating a lot of processed foods. Try to stick to eating things with no more than 3 ingredients. WATER WATER WATER is SO important when it comes to losing weight!!! Try to stay away from fruit juices (unless u make yourself with a juicer) and stay away from diet sodas! Simply just drink water!!!
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Emotional Eating
Eating to feed a feeling, and not a growling
stomach, is emotional eating.
Emotional eating or stress eating whatever
you feel comfortable in calling it is REAL. I have to admit that I am an
emotional eater. When I feel overly stressed and not sure how to handle life
the first thing I reach for is comforting food such as Twix bar, cookies, and
anything I can get my hands on. For some reason for that second that comforting food makes me happy and not think about everything that is going
on around me for that split second. The problem is- I regret it as soon as I finish. Emotional eating
is a big reason on why I feel that I haven’t lost as much as I could have this
year or even last year. I swore that I was going to be at my goal weight at
least by June 2014 yet I still have around 60 pounds to go. I have defiantly
gotten better with emotional eating but it is still times where I give in!
I am
the type of person who does not handle stress well and sometimes I let the
stress consume my life. I typically hold so much in and then once one more
thing gets added to the top it just overwhelms me to the point where food is
basically my outlet. Being an emotional eater and being addicted to food in
general is two different things. I have never been addicted to food but I defiantly
have that feeling when I am in a stressful situation. It is common for food to
be the first thing that a person reaches for. It is a mental thing that you
have to train your mind to stop doing. I have figured out way to handle my
stress better such as just going to the gym, going for a walk, calling up and
friend and venting about my issues. The top thing that I have done is not to
keep bad food WHAT-SO-EVER in my home. If it is something that I want badly I would
have to go out to eat it which is not likely. I’m still learning about dealing
with it while I am at work since I have a vending machine basically in front of
me but I usually do not keep cash/change on me at all to prevent myself from
going to it. Food is never the solution to handle your issues because after you
eat it you will still have the SAME problems! We have to find a way to deal
with our issues instead of trying to avoid them!
Diet vs. Lifestyle change
Diet-
to eat less food or to eat only particular kinds of food in order to lose weight:
to be on a diet (merriam-webster)
Most
likely when you hear the word diet it makes your skin crawl. When you think of
diet you think of eliminating something completely that you probably always
eat. I have tried every diet in the book from Atkins to HCG which are both
extreme diets. A diet is something that is meant for a short period of time.
Usually it is not something that you should realistically do for more than a
couple of months. It seemed like every
week I was doing a new diet where I would just keep gaining and losing the same
weight because I was never consistent. Finally I went to the doctor and also
did a lot of research where in order to get the results that I wanted I needed
to set a long term goal and stop looking for a quick fix. That is where a “lifestyle
change” became the answer for me. With a lifestyle change I began to focus more
on being healthy instead of trying to drop weight quickly. Of course I want
this weight to come off of me as quick as possible but I also want to do it the
healthy way. With the lifestyle change I basically eat healthy 80% of the time
and then 20% of the time if I have a craving I eat it!!! This is a change that
is more realistic as appose to just eliminating certain foods out of your diet
because at some point you will probably give in where you will find yourself
over eating. With my 80/20 lifestyle change I do allow myself 1 cheat meal a week
which typically is either Chipotle or a sandwich from Jimmy Johns which really isn’t
a cheat but I no longer have cravings for fast food such as McDonalds (ill
never eat there again) Wendy’s, Cookout, ect. If I was to go to one of those
places honestly it would be once in a 6 month time period and I probably would
be on vacation or something. With my
lifestyle change I never feel hungry I eat mostly protein (some form of lean
meat) Greek yogurt (light& fit) fruits, veggies, oats , gallon of water a
day, almonds, kettle corn pop corn (100 calories), and when I get a chocolate
craving I get Russell Stover’s sugar free chocolate which usually is when my
cycle is on(tmi). Losing weight does NOT have to be hard at all. You just
basically have to make better choices. Even if you want that chicken sandwich
or those ribs you can still have it but you just have to make a healthier
version of it. An example of a healthier version of a chicken sandwich is make
sure the chicken is baked not friend and choose either whole wheat bun or if u want
to go over and behold use lettuce in place of the bun! Limit your sauces also!
Mustard (0 calories) is always my go to sauce!! There is always a way to make
your favorite meal more healthy! You just have to do your research on it! I
promise you that Google has all of the answers lol! So before you think about
doing another diet how about you just try to do a lifestyle change because it
is a greater chance that you will stick to it! Consistency is the biggest key! Keep
at the healthy eating and exercising at minimum 3 times a week (for a hour) and I promise you that you will see change
OVERTIME! Its 80% nutrition and 20% exercise! I always suggest getting you’re
eating down first before focusing on exercising.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
The pressure of being public with your weight loss journey.
The picture on the left was in 2010 and the picture on the right is a current picture. Now that I look back I do not remember myself being that large. When I looked in the mirror yes I saw a big person but not as big as I really was. I believe that our minds play tricks on us to make us think that the way we are is okay. Even now when I look in the mirror 100 pounds lights I still see the person that I once was. I have heard that it takes you longer to mentally accept losing weight as appose to the physical aspects of losing weight. When I decided to go public with my weight loss journey it was basically a way for me to hold my self accountable by taking pictures of my process and to help me remember food ideas that I come up with. I never thought that I would have people calling me their "inspiration" or asking me for advice on how to lose weight. There is a lot of pressure that comes along when you present your self to the world. It like everyone is watching your every move. Most want to see you succeed but their is also some that want to see you fail. I do love that I have shared my journey because of all the support that I have received from people all across the world. I feel that I have more people in my corner thru social media than in real life sometimes. Being that I have been overweight my entire life I do not think that some people understand the toll that it takes on a person. I do not feel that being obese was a choice for me. It just was something that I was/am but thankfully it is something I can correct and control now.
Once I became serious with my journey and started being more open as far as letting people know that I am trying to lose weight it seemed like everyone had an opinion as far as what I was doing or what I was eating. A person could be sitting beside me eating McDonald's yet questioning a protein bar that I could be eating. People would think one piece of bread would automatically make me gain my 100 pounds back. When you are overweight facing yourself is already a huge battle so when people that are close to you start to judge what you are doing it makes life even tougher. The last thing that I need is someone asking me "Should you be eating that?". The fact is I can eat whatever I want to eat! But I am the one who is choosing this path! I am so far from perfect! 85% of the time I do GREAT with my eating but there are time where I want some peanut butter cookies or a freaking waffle which is totally fine! My life is not all about trying to be skinny I am just trying to be healthy overall.
Once I became serious with my journey and started being more open as far as letting people know that I am trying to lose weight it seemed like everyone had an opinion as far as what I was doing or what I was eating. A person could be sitting beside me eating McDonald's yet questioning a protein bar that I could be eating. People would think one piece of bread would automatically make me gain my 100 pounds back. When you are overweight facing yourself is already a huge battle so when people that are close to you start to judge what you are doing it makes life even tougher. The last thing that I need is someone asking me "Should you be eating that?". The fact is I can eat whatever I want to eat! But I am the one who is choosing this path! I am so far from perfect! 85% of the time I do GREAT with my eating but there are time where I want some peanut butter cookies or a freaking waffle which is totally fine! My life is not all about trying to be skinny I am just trying to be healthy overall.
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