Wednesday, February 9, 2011

One Goal: Riding a roller coaster again

Can we talk? Its week three of this blog and I realize that it will take some time before I am mentally wrapped around the entire weight loss process. Experts say that it can take on average 12 weeks to change a habit. 12 weeks, wow! In a society that "wants it now", I see why many of us struggle with weight loss. Until I fully embrace my new habits or a genie grants me three wishes, I guess I have to "fake it until I make it".

During my speech last week, I challenged the High Energy Toastmasters Club to put me on notice when they see me doing something counterproductive to my weight loss goals. I KNOW they will be looking for the opportunity to catch me doing something bad. One member has already challenged me to complete a 5K! I have not yet accepted. I'll explain in another post.


In last week's post "When Pigs Fly", I identified 3 hurdles to my weight loss goal. Thanks to an unruly car door, I now have another hurdle - a broken finger. So for the next three weeks, I am unable to weight lift while my finger heals. I will do my walking tapes and will add walking down stairs to my regime. I work on the 40th floor and if there were a major emergency today, my current physical shape wouldn't get me down to the first floor. This fact does not bode well for me since I am petrified of heights!
I have lost 3 pounds since starting on this blog. Hooray! I realize that I still have a LONG way to go, but at least I'm headed in the right direction. More importantly my daughter, Britt, has lost 6 pounds. I am dreaming of a time when Britt and I can once again take a ride on the Carowinds rollercoasters. I love feeling the wind in my hair.

How do you find your way out of the unhealthy lane of being overweight? Join me next time as I explain my "Weight Loss GPS" the need to set a realistic goal, create a plan, and find a support system.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the approach. You have set an intermediate goal of you and Britt riding a roller coaster, which you don't need to lose all of your weight to accomplish.

When y'all are ready to go ride the coasters, I want to go with you. I love roller coasters too!

Nancy J said...

Let me tell you, riding some of the coasters is very challenging for those of us with a little extra padding.

I absolutely LOVE rollercoasters and was a season pass holder for years.

Maybe we can do a group High Energy trip one weekend! Can you say whew!

Anonymous said...

I (just) lost 23 lbs between August and January. I still have days where I would eat the world if I could. The only trick is to BE VERY ACTIVE. If you want to eat and "shouldn't be" then run or walk literally to a place where there is no food you can/will eat. If you walk away, you might be hungry or want to eat but you won't make yourself crazy trying to stay out of the pantry. If you can't walk or run away then steam broccoli and heat up some low sodium chicken stock. After the broccoli cools a bit (don't burn your tongue), dip the broccoli in the broth and eat it. It will make it taste sooo much better. Plus it will fill you up. Cut up mushrooms or carrots and eat them raw. If veggies just won't do then eat a rice cake or some lower sodium pretzels with some hummus or if you control the portion, some peanut butter.

The key to losing weight is to exercise. And I don't mean an easy workout. The way you lose weight is to eat approximate 2000 calories (women over 40) and sweat until you can barely catch your breath. If your heart rate isn't in the 70-85% range for at least 30 minutes then your exercise will surely, surely be better than nothing but will not result in results that allow you to really feel like all of the early pain is worth it. "Slow" early results really hurts the momentum so make a commitment to "kill it" for two weeks - one day at a time. 1500 good healthy calories of some of the things you really enjoy (just smaller portions) and workout for at least 1 hour at medium to high intensity (assuming your doctor is ok with that). I promise, if you do that, it will fall off of you. You will also feel so darn good from the exercise that you will be able to resist the bad food more easily. You go!

Nancy J said...

You have given me something to blog about next week -- Do the math. To successfully lose weight you have to work on both sides of the equation. Eating and Exercise.

You have some great points in your comments.

Anonymous said...

Eat less, move more.