Truer Words Were Never Spoken

My darling husband, upon seeing that I had moved clothes off the treadmill.

"What the hell, you were on the treadmill?"

Yeah, its been awhile. lol

(but I remember this sound - and its one I want to be listening to more often)

A(nother) New Beginning

This truly is a lifelong journey! It has been an interesting three years since I last blogged.

What Has Changed:

• In January I started a new (more active!) job as an ICU nurse.
• I am a full-time graduate student (supposedly) graduating in December.
• My exercise partner Max is retired, and I have a new exercise partner Brewer.
• I am no longer renting a treadmill, I own one!

What Hasn't Changed:

• Since my last post in May of 2009, I have gained back what I lost and am now just under my all-time high. Wah-wah.
• Weight Watchers has made me gain 10lbs in the time since I last quit, and I do believe WW is making me fat! lol
• I still have a love-hate relationship with exercise.

But the words lifelong journey are ringing very true, and I want to use this platform (that I found to be so very inspiring in a previous leg of the journey) to re-inspire me to be walking towards a goal that is still very important to me.

To Talk (or Not to Talk)

Ok, I'm embarrassed. I haven't blogged in 12 days. And I was probably apologizing for how long its been since I'd blogged in that post too.

My excuse is that I've been working on a non-weight loss blog. A family blog actually, for my husband and I (check it out at http://www.willandbecka.com ). My sister-in-law and her husband have one that I've enjoyed reading over the years, especially now with baby-belly pictures being posted (*sigh*) and since our extended families are spread across the country, we decided it was time for us to have our own blog. But it won't say a thing about weight loss.

This is something I've been reading about and thinking about the last few weeks. Spark People suggests talking about your weight loss, because you can get support (sometimes from unlikely places) and verbalizing things can help make them 'real'. And also the aspect of not wanting to let people down, once they know that you're trying to attain a healthy lifestyle its harder to eat half the pan of office brownies in their vicinity.

But then there is the otherside which suggests not telling anyone. That sometimes the support is less than stellar. And oftentimes the eating well becomes more of a production, and that level of 'stage-fright' can lead to sneaky-eating and binges. I tend to fall into this category. For me it also encompasses some level of denial about the fact that I let my weight get out of control- if I don't acknowledge it, and no one else acknowledges it, its not for real right? Talk about the elephant in the room. lol

However I do have a few select people that know about this- my Biggest Loser comrades, my friend Judy, and my Mom and sisters (who also deal with their weight issues). Support is a good thing.

I'd love to hear from you all- do you talk about your weight loss? Why or why not?

Observations of Purposeful Eating

So our trip was an opportunity for me to get to know my mother-in-law (I've only actually met her in person five times!) and also, incidentally, to observe her eating habits.

A lifelong skinny person, my MIL has what I have called Purposeful Eating habits.

*She takes small bites, and chews everything before another bite. No shoveling.
*She's very picky about what she actually takes a bite of, such as breaking off a piece of orange that seemed tough.
*She budgets her food, light breakfast knowing we'd be eating out for lunch.

It was interesting to watch. It got even more interesting with the book I got in the airport bookstore, called I Can Make You Thin. I don't so much go for the hypnosis side of things, but the four rules of eating really were good when I practiced all four of them at an airport restaurant.

1) Eat Only When You're Hungry
Its a duh thing, but how often do I eat something because its lunch time, or worse, because its there?

2) Eat What You Want, Not What You Think You Should
It talks about how your body will crave what you need. I believe it, because I crave vegetables and amazingly enough will realize I haven't had many lately. It also mentioned a study (I haven't found it yet) about toddlers who were given 24-hour access to a whole range of foods, from spinach to ice cream. Being allowed to eat whatever they want, whenever they want, they actually ate a completely balanced diet in a 30-day period. Your body really actually is that smart!

3) Enjoy Every Mouthful
I'm the queen of multi-tasking while eating. Computer, tv, work, phone, everything. I sat in the airport to eat my dinner and didn't do anything else. I'm realizing how much better food tastes when I slow down to enjoy it.

4) Stop When You Are Full
It was amazing, I was full (and stayed full) with a fraction of the food that I would have thought I'd eat.

I'm not a convert to his method, but the food guides were good reminders of things I already knew, and needed refreshed. These are definitely habits that my MIL employs! The jury is still out on the hypnosis and the tapping, but I'll let you know the results if I decide to give them a try! ;-)

Hope you all are having a fabulous week!

Vacation!

My husband Will and I went to Roanoke Virginia and spent a few days with my in-laws. Its gorgeous out there, the mountains are amazing. We slept late, went sightseeing, and just generally relaxed.

Will and I on Mill Mountain


Lee's Chapel in Lexington, Virginia


The Natural Bridge of Virginia

Momentum

So my calories this week have been in the 1800-2000 range (slightly over yesterday with Mom's homemade macaroni and cheese, but it was worth it!) and I'm a happy girl. I can feel this becoming normal, like I know I could eat like this forever. Its a good feeling, I feel like I have some momentum!

The best part is that I feel SO much better having more to eat, like I can actually FEEL my body working better. I'm wide awake in the morning, no coffee needed, and I haven't been cranky. Its amazing! I haven't jumped back into the exercise yet, its been a little busier at work this week since I'm gone all next week, and coming back in time for a big presentation next Friday. But all next week we're on vacation, and I'm planning on long walks with my husband and in-laws.

And I'm totally over the baby name thing with my SIL...I have names that are NOT on her list, like Isla and Juliet (although my husband thinks they're both bizarre- lol) And Carlos- I love the name Bella! I actually used to like the name Lucy too, but it has a weird vibe to it now....lol

We're starting to get ready for our trip to Virginia- and by starting to get ready, I mean I think I know where the suitcases are, and I still have no clean laundry. Hmm.

Hope you all are having a fabulous week- we can do this, one change at a time!

Breaking News!!

I think I know why I haven't been losing weight!!!!!!

Breefawn on Spark People (love love love that site) had something about Basal Metabolic Rate on her SparkPage, so I calculated mine. My body uses 1810 calories a day for breathing, pumping blood, metabolizing food, just existing! I had set my calories at 1500-1700 (based on a calculator I did in January-ish). Which means I wasn't even eating enough calories for my body to exist, let alone adding in all the amazing exercise I've been doing! Bree suggested eating at least my BMR in calories, and if I'm still hungry to eat no more than half of what I did in exercise.

And it gets better:

MrsPrincess07 (also on SP) said here's a calculator to figure out what you should be eating everyday based on your weight, height, age and body fat. To lose weight, it said I should be eating between 2081-2212 or 2007-2133 calories a day based on light activity 1-3 days a week. OMG!

http://www.freedomfly.net/Documents/calorie_calculator.xls

SO. I'm re-adjusting my calories to I think 1800-2000 a day. And I'm going to keep doing the exercise, because I love it! And I am SOOOOO excited!!