Last week when I wrote about losing weight, my sister-in-law was on her way to California for a business meeting. When she landed at LAX she saw my buddy Bob Harper. So, I took this to mean that Bob was going to be out of town for the week on his own business trip therefore there was no possible way he could meet me in my living room for our morning workouts. I mean, how could he possibly be in two places at once, right? So, I let him (and his DVD) collect dust on my living room TV stand. Bad choice.
I decided that in order to lose weight I needed to gain a few more pounds (sound logic, right?) so I gorged myself on my kids candy stash this weekend. I ate apply pie and lasagna. I had all sorts of good treats throwing not only my desire to eat healthy, but also my desire to not eat animal products out the window completely. What was I thinking?! So this morning after a bad nights sleep because I was so anxious about Bob kicking my butt this morning I put in his DVD, and we met face to face for the first time in many, many months. I felt like cursing his sweet face as he smoothly walked me through a portion of his "beginners workout" (he is a fibber - there is no way I would classify this workout video as beginner - more like super advanced - at least that is what it felt like to this fat person). I didn't complete the whole video, and I am okay with that. Just putting it on 4 times a week and making progress until I am able to do the whole thing is good enough for me.
The beginning stages of losing weight are hard. You just have to start doing it, and know that if you truly stick to whatever your plan is it will work. You don't have the luxury of telling yourself that you don't want that bagel with cream cheese because you just lost 20 lbs - nope - you just have to tell yourself that you don't want that bagel with cream cheese because in 4 months of making choices like this you will have lost 20 lbs. It is hard to bank on future weight loss by making good choices now. Especially when those choices are so tantalizing. It is also hard to tell yourself that even though your body aches and you are sweating like a pig after 5 minutes of a Bob Harper workout DVD that eventually this will get easier, and you may even come to enjoy it (or maybe not). Eventually, you will be able to get through the whole thing, and maybe even start to do one of his harder workouts. Eventually, your arms will be muscular, and your legs will be too. Eventually, but not now. You must put in the time first, and then see the results. I sometimes wish it was the other way around. Show me the results first, and then I will work my butt off. No can do. Oh, the joys of reality.
I started to read a book last night, and I couldn't put it down until the wee hours of the morning after I had finished its last page. It is called, "The Shift: How I Finally Lost Weight and Discovered a Happier Life", by Tory Johnson. Now, normally I don't even pick up these kinds of books because I think that they are all filled with crap and one type of lose weight fast scheme or another. This book was totally different. This book was about this particular woman's weight loss transformation using nothing other than eating better than she was before and exercising. Her book was written over the course of 1 year, and she lost 62 lbs over that time. This number is an astonishing number, but the even cooler thing is that this means that she lost, on average, around 5 lbs a month. This is a very doable number. This is a sane number that I could accomplish too. She wasn't promoting any diet. She was just talking about her struggle both physically and mentally to lose weight and to keep it off. There were so many parts in her book that I could relate too, and I think that a lot of other people can too. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to make real changes in their lives.
Some of the things that she talks about in her book are being willing to be very strict with herself at first because of her tendency to not know how or when to say 'no' to certain foods. So, for example, when out at a dinner party she would only eat the healthy things that were on her acceptable food list like veggies and salad. She wouldn't allow herself even one treat because she new, in the beginning, that as soon as she had one treat she would have two, then 3, and so on. I can relate to that because I too, have trouble just having one portion of something. I have no idea how to have a portion of almost anything for that matter which is partially why I am fat, and need to lose a good bit of weight. For her, losing weight was about a mindset. It was about caring more about feeling good on the inside, and looking good on the outside, than about wanting to taste that chocolate cake. Her weight loss journey was not easy, and she never makes it out to be so. In fact it is grueling because she is not just shedding pounds she is shedding a mindset. That is the real challenge when trying to lose weight.
Losing weight is hard. The thought process behind doing it is very simple - you eat less calories than you burn and the fat will come off, but applying those concepts is very hard. Let's face it, most of us aren't overweight just because we eat too much - we are overweight because of some emotional issues that triggers us to eat too much. Some of us may be bored eaters. Some maybe anxious eaters. Some of us are sad or angry eaters. Some, like me, fall into an 'all the above' category. I, just like Tory, will need to take things one day at a time, one meal at a time even. The slow, even pace of this process will eventually add up. I know this because I have done it before. Losing 35 lbs was both hard and easy, and I know that I can lose the rest of the weight (plus a bit I gained back from my original loss). I am going to give myself 1 year to lose 40 lbs. I am going to do this by eating real foods that are as animal free as I can make them, tracking what I eat every day, and by moving my booty one way or another 4 days a week. My reasons for doing this are because I am tired of being fat, tired of my doctor telling me I need to lose weight, tired of not being able to go into any store I choose and buy a pair of pants. I am tired to having to go to the fat people's section of the store to get my clothes. I am tired of being worried about weather my jeans will zip up that particular day. I am tired of being tired and having little energy. I am tired of telling my husband that 'this' time is going to work because of blah, blah, blah reason. I am just going to do it little by little step by step. I am going to chronicle the ups and downs of this journey with you, so I hope you can bare with me as I go through this process. Ready? Set? Go!
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