A few good articles...This week, I ran across some links that I thought were fantastic. I wanted to share them with you.
- Couple loses 500 pounds - I rarely find extreme examples helpful, I think that I have a desire to be the best or to bust. So, if something is beyond my needs or abilities, I end up quiting. However, something about this couple's story struck me as inspiring, not intimidating.
- Don't believe everything you read about weight loss - This article happens to be a "Yahoo!" article, but it reiterates diet "myths" I've run across in several (more reliable) sources lately. What I've learned is that losing weight and/or maintaining a healthy weight requires solutions as individualized as each unique person. This is not a concept that is easy to accept, when all one has ever wanted is to be accepted. That doesn't change the fact that taking care of oneself is the most important part of this process.
- Sometimes losing weight isn't all it's cracked up to be - This is one of the best articles I have read. Ever. Ignore the comments at the bottom. Too many of the commenters don't understand the individual nature of weight loss/body image, and that another person's experience might be vastly different than their own. (See bullet immediately above.) Author Jen Larsen's experience and self-view as a fat person was so honest and raw. I've encountered few, if any, others who articulate my Fat Girl outlook any better. Her assessment of her life after she fast-tracked her way to being a Skinny Girl might just be the most important "Come to Jesus Moment" of which I have ever been on the receiving end. Being fat is a symptom pointing to things I need to deal with.
I've been determined to eat a healthier diet. I've also been convinced that removing processed (and, therefore, convenient) food from my diet is required. This week, I finally realized:
- Yes, I need to remove processed foods from my diet, particularly to remove excess salt and sugar from my diet. This requires a lot of time.
- It is impossible for me to continue cooking complicated made-from-scratch meals and meal ingredients. It has been a point of pride that I continue to make soups from scratch, pack salads with a variety of vegetables for lunch, or make my own sandwich meat. This is madness.
- Why in the world do I spend 30 minutes or more each evening preparing fresh food for me to take for work. (I always take breakfast and lunch, and I sometimes need to bring supper as well.)
- During the school year, my workplace has a salad bar full of fresh and health fixings (a larger variety than what I have on hand at home at any given time), available for less than $4.00 a meal. Why have I tried to duplicate efforts at home and stress myself out each evening?
Last week's cumulative total: -14.0 lbs
This week's total: -1.0 ls
Total weight loss: -15.0
I'm almost embarrassed to admit I lost any weight this week. I wasn't completely out of control, but I was pretty close. I feel a bit like God said, "Look, this week was a mulligan. I got it. Go out there an try again."
One thing I found challenging was using the iPad app "My Fitness Pal". It's a very popular app, and it was recommended to me by five or ten different people. Just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't help you. (See the article above about individual needs in dieting.) The app was so specific. In the last six weeks, I've made pretty significant changes in my eating and exercising habits. I recognized that more changes would be needed down the road.
However, using My Fitness Pal, I was constantly reminded of what I wasn't doing quite right. It had me in a bit of a tizzy. For example, I almost through away my red apples so I could replace them with the green apples I'd just purchased. Why? My Fitness App constantly showed me how much sugar I was eating and the calories I was consuming, and I could save a few calories by switching from red to green. I was about double in the amount of sugar I should consume (according to the app), and yet almost all of it was coming from fruit. But, I felt like a failure and threw tracking out the window. It wasn't pretty.
I realize now that eating healthy meals and snacks are habits that are going to take a long time to ingrain in my head, and on their own, they'll be incredibly helpful for a long time. When I eventually plateau, I'll be much more prepared to give up something more to take me to the next level. For now, just keep plodding on slowly.
Nifty weight chart for the week:
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