The Secret to Successful Weight Loss, my story

At least for the last 10 years of my life I've tried to lose weight and spent countless hours reading and researching various ways of eating or "diet" programs.  I'm almost embarrassed to say during this time I've spent a minimum of 10 hours per week reading, researching, searching for the perfect plan for me.  I've done them all too!  Some have been successful, for about a WEEK!  After losing 25 pounds in 10 weeks with my current program, it is clear to me why other approaches have not resulted in lasting change.  A few days ago I had an epiphany as to the secret to successful weight loss & I just have to share!

Let me start before the beginning, about 14 weeks ago, when my father was in the end stages cancer.  I had the opportunity to spend lots of time with my him in the last months of his life.  As difficult as it was, seeing my father, a very strong, hardworking man succumb to the ravages of cancer, I wouldn't trade the time with him for anything.  He taught me lessons about life, love, sacrifice, will, determination, strength, kindness and so much more.  His legacy will forever live on in the hearts and minds of his loved ones.  At the time I wasn't ready to begin this weight loss journey as God had a different plan for me.  He died on August 5th.  At the funeral not one but 2 different people approached me offering congratulations on my pregnancy and one seemed excited for me expecting twins.  Yes twins!!!  It wasn't bad enough to look pregnant when I was not, but to look like I was expecting twins!  I can say without hesitation this was my wake up call or "aha moment" as Oprah would say.  After the funeral I returned home to live life without Dad.

Around this same time I read the book, Reshaping It All, Motivation for Physical and Spiritual Fitness, by Candace Cameron Bure.  She's a mother, actress, nationwide speaker about her faith in Christ, and wife to NHL star Valeri Bure. She says, "Embracing a healthier lifestyle begins by moving faith to the forefront, making some wise fundamental choices, and finding your worth in the eyes of God."  This was my starting point or cornerstone.  While I made better choices and grew closer to the Lord, several pieces of my weight loss success puzzle were missing.   I needed motivation to stick with my program, which is basically how Candace eats and exercises in real life, with a few tweaks. God was preparing me again, only giving me a piece of the puzzle at a time, for something amazing.

Several weeks passed as I floundered sometimes on track making wise choices and exercising frequently, sometimes not.  Then one day right before picking up my daughter at the bus stop, I received a friend request on Facebook from a friend I haven't seen in 15 years.  I hesitated briefly to accept the request because my life was so different when I knew him and we were very close friends.  Sometimes it's better to leave the past in the past, but this time was different as I was about to discover.  He told me he does radio and writes books now, so I checked out his website and radio shows.  I've listened to many of them, but one in particular stands out as extremely helpful for weight loss motivation, Failure To Launch.  After all we all need motivation to lose weight, but it was so much more than that.  It was a formula for success, with no room for failure or not reaching your dreams. I used his formula in conjunction with Candace Cameron Bure's book to formulate my plan for success.  It became another piece of the puzzle God was giving me in the journey to realize my dreams of a healthy body, mind, and spirit. 

I won't go into all of the details of what I do, but if you'd like to know please email or call me and I'll divulge all of my habits and tricks.  Are you wondering if I'll ever get to the secret of successful weight loss?  Well here is the bird's eye view:

1. You must be focused and driven and have the will to achieve your goal.
2. Must have a plan (nutrition, exercise, and spiritual) that resonates with your belief system. 
3. Discipline to carry out the plan.
4. Be aware of energy zappers and those that will sabotage your healthy efforts. Not everyone will embrace the new improved you.  Believe me.
5. Surround yourself with encouragers. You know, those that tell you, "You can do it.  You're beautiful.  You're awesome.  You're a rock star!"
6. This is the secret, the bomb, what I see consistently in myself and other successful dieters who have lost weight and maintained and continue to be successful.  If what you consider a cheat happens and it most definitely will happen, stop eating when satisfied, don't think you have to eat it all because tomorrow you'll start over again because a perfect tomorrow will never happen!  Let me repeat that, a perfect tomorrow will never happen!  I used to think, oh I'll have this half box of cookies because I'm starting my diet tomorrow, Monday, or whatever the case may be.  I thought when the diet started I would eat perfectly until I reached my goal weight, which never happened, leaving me in a vicious cycle.  So when a cheat happens eat only enough to satisfy, forgive yourself immediately, then immediately climb right back on that healthy eating, exercising, rock star lifestyle.  Any other mindset will end in failure. 

I think this post could have turned into a book (LOL), so I'll expound with more detail in subsequent posts. I was just so excited to share this with you tonight, so I wanted to at least get started.

Have a healthy, happy Monday everyone.

Take care,

*Recipe Review* Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili

Healthy Haul from Earthfare today!  My favorite food product ever is hidden in this picture.  Will reveal in Favorite Things Thursday.

After the long drive home from work today, I needed some healthy comfort food, so chili sounded awesome to me.  Other blog friends have liked this recipe, so I thought I'd give it a try.  The recipe can be found here at skinnytaste.com .  I made a few omissions and substitutions to suit my taste and healthy eating philosophy.

Omissions:  sour cream and chives (I avoid dairy whenever possible.  As my 8 year says, "Momma gets all weird when she eats dairy."  No intentional avoidance of chives, just didn't have any.)   Additions:  red pepper flakes and some brown sugar.  I like my chili spicy hot, baby.

Salad was the perfect accompaniment:  organic baby spring mix with fresh tomatoes from our garden and Newman's Own Olive oil and vinegar.

After a little tweaking I liked the recipe.  Before the tweaks it tasted rather bland to me.  Also could have used some salt, but I avoided adding any because I assumed the beans had a mountain load already.  It definitely hit the spot for healthy comfort food. 

 Daily Inspiration:

Choose passion.

Week 10 Results and How to Break Through a Plateau

My weight has been up and down for the past month, so much so I wasn't making any progress.  I decided that HAD to change, so I became focused again on my goal, made a plan to get there, and stuck with it 95% of the time.  The results are a 4 pound weight loss for the week. Yay!  Now the challenge is not to get lazy and let old unhealthy habits creep back in to my life.

This is how I broke the plateau.  These were my ideal ways to eat and workout:

• Eat some protein at every meal or snack
• Eat a carb heavy meal in the morning or ONLY within 2 hours of working out, otherwise stick to protein and veggies. 
• Don't get too hungry.  I will inevitably lose self control if I get too hungry!
• Drink lots of water.
• No eating after 8pm
• Eat no gluten or dairy
• Workout with cardio and strength training 5 days per week.

These were my guidelines.  Sometimes I didn't meet them exactly, but I made the best choices I could.  My mindset was the closer I stuck to these guidelines, the better my result.  I forgave myself if I made a poor choice and immediately recommitted to this plan.  For me being able to immediately recommit to the plan was key to my success.  I love to experiment like this and study the result.

This week I'm going to relax the plan a little, but really the only difference being the way I eat carbs.  I'm going back to my original plan of limiting carbs after 3 pm, by avoiding or limiting starch at night.  It's worked for Candace Cameron Bure and it's worked for me.  

....my little kiddos at Halloween. Julia was the super hero, American Dream and Ashleigh was a pirate.  The small pic on the right was taken tonight while trick-or-treating in the cool rain.  They had a blast even in the rain!

I had excellent results losing weight this way.  Do you have any tips or secrets that helped you break through a plateau?  Tell me.  Don't be shy.

Remember you're worth loving yourself enough to stick with your plan, see things through, and get results.  We can do this together.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Take care,

Halloween candy, oh my!

Since inheriting my father's hardware store I've spent lots of time in Warrenton, a pretty little town filled with lots of nice people, who have nothing but kind things to say about Dad.  I even received a hug today.  Townsfolk are genuinely saddened by my father's passing as well as the closing of his business.  

    

Looking back at my weight loss history I've noticed my plateau started about the time I started working and making trips to Warrenton.  I think at least 90% of the reason for this is not less exercise, but poor food choices because I wait too long to eat, get too hungry, and lose self control.  I'm not planning meals most of the time or having ENOUGH healthy food choices on hand.  Anyway, I have made better food choices this week and as of this morning my weight is 4 pounds down and I really want to maintain that through weigh in on Monday.  Today it occurred to me I've broken through this plateau (woo-hoo, yay) , IF I DON'T MESS UP!  I will erode some of that loss if I eat for the rest of the weekend the way I ate tonight.  Put it this way, Halloween candy was involved.       

For the remainder of the weekend I am going to:

• not eat anymore Halloween candy (because I've already treated myself)
• forgive myself - no ones perfect
• make sure healthy choices are readily available
• workout once this weekend.
• no eating after 8pm
• drink lots of water
• stick with dairy/gluten free
• taper off starch towards evening
• last, but definitely not least LOVE MYSELF ENOUGH TO TREAT MY BODY LIKE A TEMPLE. 

Daily Inspiration:

Thank you for all of the kind, generous comments lately.  Some of them I've thought...are you really talking about me?  Like when you walk in a room and a stranger smiles and you think they couldn't possible be looking at me like that, so you glance behind you and no ones there. Your comments have been such a blessing & kept me on track.      

I've learned this journey is a constant process of falling and getting back up.  Before I would fall and not get up for a long time.  Now I'm learning to stand back up, all while forgiving myself in the process.  Herein lies my current and future success.

Thanks for reading...sometimes I just start typing not knowing where the post is going, but always learning along the way.

Have an awesome, healthy weekend.

Take care,

Reflection

I've been reflecting on the song, Lighters, featuring Bruno Mars. The lyrics have really spoken to me:

"This one's for you and me

living out our dreams

we're all right where we should be...."

We are ALL right where we should be...right in this journey where we should be.  I should have this difficulty, opposition, negativity that I'm facing.  It is right where I should be 'cause you know what?  It's shaping me into the person God wants me to be.  Period. 

"You and I know what it's like

to be kicked down

forced to fight.

But tonight we're alright

so hold up your light

let it shine!"

This "fight" is shaping, molding me...I'm not the same person as I was 2 months ago.  Not only have I seen weight loss, but the personal change has permeated every aspect of my life.  Some people in my life don't like the "new" me because it's thrown them out of their comfort zone.  I was an overweight stay-at-home mom, O.K., still overweight, but working on it.  Now I have a nutrition plan, exercise plan, that I developed and am implementing quite successfully.  I've inherited a business that's requiring me to stretch outside of my comfort zone.  My life is changing quickly...I can feel it.  I'm dealing with a lot of negativity in my life from others...I've been "kicked down, forced to fight."  But I'm letting the positive shine, by showing discipline in sticking with my plan, by the way I'm conducting business in my corporation, and in the way I'm treating family and friends.  I've enjoyed myself more as well, relaxed a bit, had fun. 

How has your life changed since starting a weight loss journey?  Did you lose friends?  Change jobs?  I'd love to hear. 

Daily inspiration:

Thanks for reading, y'all.  Have a great Thursday.

Take care,

A Pumpkin"y" Good Time & so much more than weight loss

This weekend we had a pumpkin"y" good time.  Saturday we road the Pumpkin Express, shot pumpkins with a slingshot, painted pumpkins, had pumpkins painted on us, and so much more.

This scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox Before losing weight I would take the kids places and watch them have fun.  Well on Saturday I had fun too.  I road a pumpkin train.  I used a slingshot to shoot pumpkins at various targets & yes I scored.  Even won a popcorn ball and a toy lizard. Ha.  I bungee jumped and was brave enough to do a BACK FLIP.  Now I'm not saying it was the best back flip ever, but hey I did it!  I've only lost 23 pounds so far, but I can definitely say I'm not the same person I was 8 weeks ago when I became serious about changing my life. Today I ended the day in a very pumpkin way as well....with the help of Goodberry's.  Honestly one of the best desserts I've ever had...pumpkin frozen custard, caramel, pecans.  Now I absolutely love pumpkin ANYTHING & this was to die for! Really. It was that good.  I know most of my subscribers are on a low sugar plan, but if you have a friend that's not just go with them and have a couple of bites.  While it was soooooo delicious, my body reacted horribly to it.  It is clear my body is screaming out, NO DAIRY, PLEASE!  I won't go into any details, just trust me on this one.  Another ingredient my body is not too keen about is gluten.  While my body is not screaming out about it like dairy, I don't think it's good for me to say the least.  So starting tomorrow I'm doing a little gluten free/ dairy free experiment to see how much better I'll feel without them in my life.  Now that I've had a super caloric dessert, I'm hoping my workout today helped counteract some of those calories.  I usually try to end strong right before a weigh in....I did right up to the Goodberry's treat.  I'll get right back on track.   Daily Inspiration: "I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacation with better care than they do their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change." - Jim Rohn     I will stick to my plan this week.  I have to.  There is no try. See ya after weigh in.  I think I'm gonna start tracking body fat percentage as well, even though all I have is my scale.  At least I'd like to see a downward trend. Have a healthy Monday. Take care,