What your Bathroom Scale Will Not Tell You

So one of the things we have discussed in my support group meetings is how we can tend to obsess over the number on the scale. If the number is not something we were expecting to feel we deserve than we can go into the obsessing part and putting ourselves down. It is viscous circle that is common among people trying to loose weight. Tonight however I read a great article on Spark People called "55 Things the Scale Won't Tell You" and it had such pointers in the article.

In this article it brought up a lot of great points that hit home with me like if we have worked out like crazy and think we are going to get on that scale and see a huge weight loss and instead we see a weight gain we automatically go into attack mode. Putting ourselves down and getting upsets with the number on the scale. But then the article goes onto explain why do we allow a simple number on the scale have so much control in our lives because it does not tell the whole story of how hard we are working along the way on our journey. Here are some examples they used of what the scale is NOT telling you.

• How unique your laugh is


• how much water you drink daily


• how much you have grown emotionally


• how motivated you are


• How good you are at making healthy food choices


• what a great smile you have


• how promising your future is


• how far you can walk


• how funny you are


• how many inches you have lost

So the next time we go into our bathrooms and we step on that scale and we see a result that we do not like or was not expecting. Try not to beat yourself up and just remember the scale is just a number and does not tell the true story of your journey.

 

 

Silencing the Negative Thoughts That Keep Us Down

When ever I have a bad day or a bad week I have been really trying to find out why I had a bad day or week and how I can prevent it from happening in the future. One of the things I struggle with just like anyone is those negative thoughts we let hold us down and back from achieving our goals in life. So I thought I would discuss some ways  I have found that might help us to silence those negative thoughts that keep us down. By allowing yourself to pause, and change your negative thinking into a more positive thinking it may help  you to achieve reaching your goals faster.

1-Stop those Negative Thoughts Immediately:

This one is probably easier said than done, and I feel it will be one that I will be working on for awhile. When things go wrong though on our journey whether it be over eating or maybe eating a wrong food choice we have a tendency to be very hard on ourselves and negative. In the grand scheme of things we always punish ourselves worse than anyone could ever do, and sometimes we just need to silence those negative thoughts and try our hardest to find the positive even in our deepest darkest places. For example last week my mistake was I indulged in cupcakes on two separate days and allowed myself to feed myself with cupcakes rather than deal with my real emotions. My first reaction of course after eating those lovely pink cupcakes, was to yell at myself internally and put myself down. But that is not a solution, and certainly does not make feel better. So in the future I will simply try to silence those negative feelings, and dust myself off and continue on my journey.

2-Try Your Hardest To Find the Positive In Every Situation:

Again this is another one that is probably easier said than done, but we need to remember to be loving and nurturing toward ourselves during this journey. We are not perfect by any means and we are going to make mistakes along the way, but finding the positive silver lining in every situation will only help keep you focused on your journey. If you are finding yourself concentrating on your negative qualities rather than your positive ones like we all do. try either journaling and writing down all those amazing strides and accomplishments you have made along the way. So when you have those rough days you can reflect back and see the positive things are doing to change your life.

3-It Is OK to Fall, Just Remember To Pick Yourself Back Up:

We are going to fall so many times on this journey and scrap our egos and knees along the way, the diffrence this time must be that you pick yourself up and keep going on your path. If we fall and give up like we have in the past, we will always be stuck in our patterns of giving up, don't fall prey to this trap. Maybe you didn't excercise today and instead stayed home curled up on the couch, or maybe you indulged in a bag of potato chips and ice cream. We all stray from our track and path we are on, but we need to do is pull ourselves back onto our course and continue our fight for a healthier life. It may be helpful to call upon friends, families and co-workers to help keep you on track and encourage you to keep going. We are not perfect and it would unrealistic for you to think that we will not mess up along the way, just don't sit in your mistakes dust yourself off and start anew again.

4-Don't Put Yourself Down For Your Mistakes:

This is a hard one for me to overcome but one I am working on. Too often when we make our mistakes we can become our own worst bully to ourselves. verbally telling ourselves what failures we are. The bottom line is that you should not expect that you will be perfect on your journey and punishing yourself when you make a mistake can become a viscous cycle that is very unhealthy. The hard part is trying to live in the present and move on, YES you make a mistake and you ate something you should not of, or maybe you didn't exercise for a few days. There are ways to correct those, eat healthier from now and try to get more exercise in. There is always a healthier solution than sitting in your home verbally bullying yourself.

5-Encourage Yourself:

This is a hard one but one I am beginning to love, and that is to praise and encourage yourself because if you are not happy with your accomplishments no one else will be. I have a tendency to praise myself for even the smallest victories add changes just so that I keep on my path that I am currently on and so I don't give up. In the last six months I have done so many things I never thought was possible tonight is a good example. In Zumba class tonight we had this hard sequence where we had to do eight kicks out the side and then eight straight out back. This is an exercise I do regularly in my water aerobics class but I was not sure with my knees and fast pace of the song that I could do it. But I tried it and guess what I surprised myself and I was able to do those exercises. Oh last week I went to the Zoo for the first time in eight years, and was able to walk around and see all the animals. The philosophy I try to live by  is that I don't know if I can do something if I don't try so I am trying very hard to try new things, to stay positive and to encourage myself on a daily basis.

6-Learn to LOVE Yourself:

Sounds like a silly concept because we should love ourselves naturally, but unfortunately for whatever reason we put others happiness above our own and we find it hardd to love ourselves. This is a concept that I am working on daily, and I feel like I am getting to know myself for the first time in 42 years and I can honestly say that for the first time I DO LOVE MYSELF and that is a HUGE accomplishment. When I look in the mirror now I am not going to lie and tell you I am happy at what I see staring back at me, but what I see now is a much stronger, happier person staring back me. The physical reflection is going to be changing to reflect the changes that happening within soon. One of the things I do is when you find all of these great sayings on Facebook I write them down on stick it notes and then put them all around my computer monitors, so that I positive sayings that help to keep me motivated along the way.

Chicken Stir Fry with Brown Rice

I have been really trying to make nice large healthy meals so when I am coming home from a work out I can simply warm up some healthy food and go. So today I made a big batch of Chicken Stir Fry with Brown Rice and it was crisp and delicious, just perfect for a heathy meal after working out.

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Getting Back On Track When You Were Derailed

Last week  for whatever reason was a tough one on me, I personally think it was for two reasons. One I am nearing the end of my six month supervised diet and I am worried something will go wrong to keep me from getting approved for surgery, and two I am trying to work on those issues that got me here in the first place. By dealing with those emotional issues that got me to the weight I am now, it has tended to make me alot more emotional and sensitive. On Tuesday and Wednesday I got derailed on my diet and I cheated with some cupcakes. Horrible decision and one I regretted the moment I finished them.

On Tuesday I had two cupcakes and I had one on Wednesday. The funny part about this mistake or derailment is that we beat ourselves up better than anyone could. We eat those items whether it be sweet or salty to help satisfy whatever emotional thing we are going through, and in the end it solves nothing because we spend the next two hours emotionally beating ourselves up. It is a vicious circle and one that I need to learn to quit doing, the positive was I controlled my derailment as I could of gone way overboard but I didn't. The other positive is the "Old Angie" would of been so upset and disappointed that she would of used this derailment as a excuse to quit and just give up. But not this time, my life and the life that I want is literally within reach I feel like I can literally reach out and touch it and I want this more than I have wanted anything in my entire life.

Having surgery and getting healthy is worth more than a damn cupcake and giving up on getting healthy. We all have those days that we screw up and eat with our hearts not with our heads and we screw up. The bottom line is we have a food addiction and this is a process that we have to work on, the difference is are you going to get back up and dust yourself off and start over, or are you going to give up? Trust me I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have chosen the later, it is so much easier to just keep doing the things the same way and ending with the same results, but making a huge lifestyle change like this requires hard work and sacrifice and it is not easy. If I can pick myself up after a cupcake derailment than you can also pick yourself up and know that I am here for everyone of you. We all fall, but we MUST pick ourselves back up and start back onto the track of getting healthy and happy.

Fun and Fullfilling Weekend of Fun

Well my weekend I actually had plenty to do which was AWESOME! Usually on the weekends I tend to have to find things to do being a single gal it can be difficult because everyone is out with their families and my girls are grown. So I push myself each weekend to really get out and do things so I am not stuck at home like I use to be in my hermit crab days as I like to call them.

Saturday my bestie Melanie and I decided that a little retail theraphy with walking was in order, so we went to the Mall with the sole purpose of finding her daughter some shoes for Prom and getting some walking in. Did we get her daughter shoes for prom? NO her daughter convinced her Mom to buy her shirts and tennis shoes and everything else but prom shoes. Trust me this is familiar as my teenage daughter is exactly the same way. While I was out there I decided I would go to the shoe store where I purchased my FAMOUS Pink Nike's from and if they were cheap I was going to buy a second pair because I get so many compliments on my shoes girl needs a back up pair. So the good news was they were on sale which I was thrilled at but the bad news is they had a sister to my shoe in a diffrent color, this is a serious dilemna people. So now the hard decision was to choose hot pink or hot neon orange and pink. So which ones did I pick?

I had to add some variety to my outfit so I choose the orange ones lol So watch out Planet Fitness and the YMCA you will be able to see me coming to work out for miles away. Sunday I got to drag my daughter and our dog and my bestie and her daughter to the park and went walking which was great and then I got to spend the afternoon with my parents and my nephew it was great.

Spicing Up Your Boring Protein Shakes

I seem to be always trying to change up the flavor to my protein shakes because let's face it if we have to keep drinking plain old chocolate or vanilla for every meal it is going to get BORING. But while I am making changes to the protein shakes we also have to aware we are changing our calorie counts so be sure you adjust to your daily dietary needs. Last week I had noticed that Slim Fast had started finally making protein shakes not their normal nutritional shakes but protein shakes packed with 20 grams of protein, and they are pretty good. The problem is so far I have only seen them available in chocolate and vanilla, can we say boring.

So this morning I decided to take a regular Slim Fast Strawberry Shake and spice it up a bit for my taste, just remember you have so many options when it comes to your smoothies by adding fresh fruits or ice just to change it up a bit. Enjoy my recipe below and feel free to share yours in the comments section.

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It is the small things that sometimes makes the biggest diffrence

Today I woke up and it was Easter and the sun was out and I knew I had no plans until around four in the afternoon, so what is a girl to do? Decided since I was not on a time table I would take my time and see how far I could walk, and really try to push myself. So I started out with I am going to talk out of neighborhood and maybe see if I could make it to Walgreens, them I got to Walgreens and I though hmm I made it this far I wonder much farther I could go. So I decided to go up the hill and stop in at Wendy's and treat myself to a small salad and then I left there and walked along the highway to the CKL of I club and climbed up their hill, and all in all I walked two and half miles and a lot of it was uphill so I was very pleased with myself. After I rested I decided boy I have a lot of energy left, I think I will go to Planet Fitness and workout.

It was such an awesome feeling to push myself and not to give up and let anything stand in my way, such a huge improvement over a few months ago. There is no better feeling in the world than seeing you accomplish something and for the first time in  your life being so proud of yourself you just want to hug yourself . Being proud of myself is a new concept and feeling and something I am not use to, but slowly starting to love. Over the last few months I feel like I have learned so much about myself, such as I am such a stronger person than I have ever given myself credit for. Sometimes it is literally one step at a time, or one exercise at a time.

Sometimes the truth hits you in the face

 



Oh the truth can be a cruel mistress that is there to shake you into reality. Over the last few weeks it seems like I have been dealing with so many emotions that is hard to swim through the rocky waters to understand them all from anger to depression to being proud to feeling all alone. Well this morning as my Mom was posting photos of our awesome Easter family celebration, I found myself break down into tears as I saw the photos of myself appear. The word mortified comes to mind as I look at the three photos that were taken of me from yesterday, not because of the quality because my Mom is a gifted photographer. But mortified from the reality that is me in all my big fat glory.

I will share those photos with you throughout this blog article, it is so hard to fully explain what got me so upset so I apologize now if I ramble but the emotions are so raw right now, and I figured maybe someone could relate to my situation I am in. When I look back on yesterday the feeling that comes to mind is pride, pride in myself and my physical accomplishments yesterday. For the first time yesterday and on my own I had decided to try and see how far I could walk, and I really pushed myself to go as far as I could go and I remember finishing and going two and half miles of which half of that was uphill and being so proud of myself. Then I decided to push myself even further and went to my local gym and got a great workout in, so by the time I had gotten to my parents I felt elated and on top of the world. It was funny because when I got to my parents I wanted to share with everyone what I had accomplished not to brag or show off, but because months ago I never could of accomplished those tasks and I was amazed at how strong I was becoming. As the day wore on I noticed my migraine I had been fighting all day starting to make its way to the for front, and my legs and back were really starting to hurt, but I pushed on and decided to go with Mom and Sister on a walk. During that walk I found myself having to stop and stretch my back out because it was sore, and at times I would catch myself getting upset because I couldn't keep up with them, but I would stop myself and say "No you did a lot already today you are sore because of that". When we came around the last bend in the road before my parents house and I saw all the family members out playing basketball I remember just feeling proud that I pushed myself farther and went on that walk, that sense of pride was back.

But seeing those photos that Mom took really upset me, because it was so hard to look at those photos and see how I felt yesterday. Yesterday I felt pretty, and proud of my accomplishments, but when I looked at these photos I literally wanted to cry and vomit at the same time. The person staring back me in those photos does not feel or reflect the true Angie, and I am hoping at some point in  my journey where I can look at photos of myself and not be mortified and disgusted with myself and who I had become. In those photos from yesterday I did not see that strong woman who is fighting to get her life back, for whatever reason I saw the old Angie the one who had given up on life, and it scared me. The hardest part of this journey is that I am literally doing this 100% on my own and it is literally the loneliest feeling in the world. My two babies are living their lives, I am single (and not looking lol) and find myself alone a lot. It is probably the part I hate the most is having to work out alone, and deal with my emotions that this is bringing up in me alone, and feeling like no one but my support group friends could possibly understand what I am going through.

Told you I might ramble I am sorry, I will try really hard to get out of this funk and get back onto a more positive path. Just sometimes the silliest things tend to derail us temporarily and the true test is how we handle those bumps in the road. Personally I am proud to say I did not resort to eating because I was upset like I normally would, instead I decided to journal it in my blog. As much as I hate this photos and how I feel that they are not a true representation of me who the real Angie is becoming it is a good way to remind myself that I do not want to be this person any more.

 

Stuffed Pepper Soup

This has got to be one of the most flavorful soups I have had in awhile and even my teenager who hates tomatoes and won't try anything new loved this soup. Very easy to make and full of flavor and goodness. This is a keeper be sure to copy down this recipe and keep it close.

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Making Drinking Water A Habit

So I will be the first to admit I really have to push myself to make sure I am getting alot of water in daily, and lately I have found that I am falling short. One of the things I know is that true weight loss is not stay off if I am not pushing myself to drink plenty of water. Now I drink water daily but I also drink other zero calories drinks as well. So I am going to really start to push myself to start making water become a habit in my lifestyle.

Since embarking on this journey I have noticed that I can start to tell when my body is really needing water as I will start to crave it. They say that when you start to feel thirsty that you are already getting dehydrated and you should be drinking water all throughout the day to avoid being thirsty. As I was reading other blogs and Facebook groups where other people were also struggling with getting their water intake in, it made me not feel so alone. This eating healthy is a new and foreign concept to me, especially drinking plenty of water each day so I need to turn this into a habit. By turning drinking water into a habit I will get to the point where it will no longer be hard for me I will just do it automatically because it is a habit.

In the meantime while I am working up to this I stumbled across a few apps that you could download to your Iphone or Android and they are Free apps and are great to help you keep track of your daily water intake. First one is called Daily Water Free-Water by Maxwell Software and it gives you a cute little diagram of glasses and you simply touch each glass and put a checkmark on them when you drink one glass of water as you can see from the diagram below:



The second app is called Waterlogged-Drink More Water and with this one you just input how many ounces you drink at a time and you will see each time you add how much water you have drank it will start to fill up the virtual water jug as shown in the diagram below:


Hopefully one of these apps shown above can help you in starting to make drinking water a true habit in your life. If you download one of these apps and use it let me k now how like them, or if you currently use one of these let us know.

10- Quick Protein Snack Ideas

So I am fairly new to this high protein living and I am always searching for great ideas I see on the internet on how to get my protein in and still keep my food tasty. Below are some great suggestions to help you get your protein in and keep it quick and tasty.

1-Quick Wraps-(18 grams of protein) I love this one simply take a piece of cheese and wrap it around some healthy low sodium lunch meat for a protein power snack. Or you could also use a lettuce leaf and wrap that around the cheese  and lunch meat. This is a quick, cheap and yummy way to grab and go with your protein.

2-Veggies and Dip-(depends on your Greek Yogurt but around 15-17 grams protein) You know I talk about the benefits of greek yogurt all the time it is a awesome way to get your protein in, but a great way to make a fun dip for your veggies too. Take a ranch dressing dry mix pouch and add it to a container of plain greek yogurt and then dip your veggies for a high protein snack.

3-Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps-(15 grams of protein) Create your tuna salad using chopped celery, hard boiled eggs chopped and greek yogurt instead of your mayo and then wrap it with a lettuce leaf. Quick an easy lunch.

4-Cottage Cheese and Fresh Fruit-(16 grams of protein)Cottage cheese is loaded with protein and a great way to have a really delicous snack is to incoporate your cottage cheese and some fresh fruit like peaches, pineapple or grapes to have a quick and yummy high protein snack.

5-Hard Boiled Eggs-Eggs are an excellent source of protein and having hard boiled eggs all ready to go in your refridgerator is a great way to insure you can just grab and go during the day and get your much needed protein in.

6-Peanut Butter- Peanut butter is a another great source of high protein, but you also have to eat this in small amounts due to the high fat content. A good recommended amount is around two tablespoons and you can easily dip your apple slices, carrots, or even celery sticks into your peanut butter for a high protein and satisfying snack idea.

7-Greek yogurt with fresh fruit- (15-17 grams of protein) A lower calorie option is to buy plain vanilla greek yogurt and add your own fresh fruit to it. This allows you to control how much sugar is in your yogurt and your calorie count will be lower.

8-Beef or Turkey Jerky-Any kind of jerky is a great alternative to get some high protein snack foods in, but the key to having any kind of jerky is to purchase the low sodium versions.

9-String Cheese Sticks-String cheese sticks are a great way to throw it in your purse and eat some cheese on your way to work, gives you a nice healthy way of getting your protein in. You can usually choose from Mozzarella, Co-jack or Cheddar.

10-Hummus and Veggies-Hummus made out of chick peas and as I am finding out is a delicious and great way to get your protein in while enjoying some veggies along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

Garlic Rubbed Roasted Cabbage Steaks

If you are new to cabbage or you are a cabbage lover this is a super simple and so delicous recipe would be great as a side dish or even a snack.

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Reaching that point in life when you start gaining confidence

For so many years I have wanted to reach that state in my life when I could start to be proud of myself for all the accomplishments I have done in life, the big ones and small ones. Over this five month journey of mine I have finally started to really start gaining confidence in myself and I am really proud of how far I have come. To get to this point was a long journey and there still are days when I look in the mirror and just feel like I did five months ago, helpless.

Gaining a little confidence is like getting a piece of yourself back, and you want to hold onto it as hard as possible. For so many years I have struggled with lack of confidence due to my weight and body image just like a lot of others out there. Then also having to deal with the hurt and anger when you step on that scale and see those numbers staring back at you that you don't like or understand. We are own worst critics, we always doubt ourselves and our abilities and our worthiness. Then on top of that most obese people like myself have to deal with being criticized and critiqued and made fun of out in public. Or the embarrassment of not being able to fit into a booth at your favorite restaurant, or ride some rides at a amusement park, or drive a car because your stomach is in the way, or just walk around in a store without being exhausted. When you start dealing with all of these setbacks that happen due to our overeating and being obese it is no wonder we lack confidence in ourselves.

The one thing I am learning as I go on this journey is that it can be a very lonely process, and having that confidence in yourself that you can do this is all that gets me through it on some days. In my family I am the only overweight person right now, my sister use to be overweight but lost of all of her weight through eating healthy and exercise and she looks amazing. So as much as I try to share with them about my journey, they don't really know all the struggles I have gone through and continue to go through due to my weight.

So that is why those that follow me on Facebook will notice I post EVERY accomplish I do, no matter how small. When I go the YMCA or the gym or anything I will post it on my Facebook page, and it is not to show off it is to hold me accountable and also to be proud of myself that I am not at home sitting on the couch.  When I started this journey in December I just decided that I wanted to work on building my self confidence, being honest about my struggles on this journey and be open in hope that I inspire someone else to get healthy.

Today when I look in the  mirror 95% of time I am so proud of whom I see staring back at me, today I see a woman who is so much stronger than she has ever given herself credit for. A woman who is for the first time in her life not quitting, a woman is fighting for her life with every bead of sweat she produces, and a woman who only wants to inspire and friend as many people along this journey as she can. Today I see a beautiful, spunky, redheaded woman who is eager to finally live in this world not just exists. My advice to you is if you are still struggling with confidence, do me a favor and each day look in the mirror and find something, anything nice about yourself. I don't care if it is as small as your hair looks nice today, it doesn't matter because you keep doing this each day what you will notice is you will start to really believe it. Because the truth is you MUST love yourself first above all others, and when you love yourself you will make yourself a better lover, friend, Mom, for everyone else.