News for today's 2018: 09/27/11

Do You Have 100 Pounds to Lose?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOiJT3bP3dogngfP8ihqqvLoJ23KuMn-hx2IwSTlJsTtyeA94eYdVC_-hCv4YHeW-mY6GC0sjRajQ9jWBIzi8O1rkRs4aU0gvCre3VWueeikcHVjg6PPSCu07y-6mGquwPeFaSCm0Piw/s1600/scale+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOiJT3bP3dogngfP8ihqqvLoJ23KuMn-hx2IwSTlJsTtyeA94eYdVC_-hCv4YHeW-mY6GC0sjRajQ9jWBIzi8O1rkRs4aU0gvCre3VWueeikcHVjg6PPSCu07y-6mGquwPeFaSCm0Piw/s200/scale+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Yesterday I happened upon <a href="http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/10-tips-for-losing-100-pounds">this article on Webmd.com</a> on tips for those of us who have 100 lbs to lose.  If you're in this boat too, I would encourage you to go check it out in detail. Below is a summary of it and how it applies to my own journey: 1. Shrink Yourself: Analyze the Payoff You Get From Excess Weight Anne Fletcher, the Registered Dietician who was consulted in this article, says to ask yourself: "What are you getting out of NOT losing weight?"  Are you hanging on to the weight because you're trying to hide from a particular situation?   I think for me, I'm so used to being in the background that I don't want to be in the spot light.  I think I'm a little afraid of success as well.  Like if/when I actually do lose this weight, how much more it's going to change my life.  I'll be able to actually do things I've told myself I cannot do right now because of my weight.  2. Assess Your Readiness For this, Fletcher says to ask yourself these questions: "Is my job and my spouse's job likely to stay the same [for the foreseeable future]? Is my financial situation reasonably stable? Do I have time to devote to weight control? Are my relationships stable?"  She's basically saying, the least amount of stress you have going on in your life, the more successful with weight loss you are likely to be.  Obviously, if you want to lose weight and you're determined, you can do it, regardless of how many stressors exist in your life.  I know for me, if I didn't have this subconscious worry about the way I look floating around in my mind DAILY, a lot of my stress would be eliminated.  Not only that, I have noticed that over the years when my stress level is high, it's harder for me to stick to a healthy lifestyle.  Last year, when I was enduring an almost 2 hour one-way commute to work each day, I had no desire to come home and cook, much less go work out.  Trust me, it shows on my body now - I gained about 40 lbs in that 1 year.  3. Consider the Options Try to be as informed as possible about whatever healthy plan it is that you're going to follow, whether that be an organized plan like Weight Watchers, counting calories, gastic bypass surgery - whatever strategy you decide upon - know all there is to know about it! I know I always have room for improvement with WW, and so I continue to attend meetings regularly to learn more about it.  I also like to get my tips/tricks from you guys and your blogs, especially fellow WW members. 4. Build in Accountability No matter what plan you follow, hold yourself accountable.  Weigh in on a consistent schedule.  Report that weigh in to someone else.  Blog about your journey.  Whatever you have to do to keep yourself accountable, do it. This is why I created this blog.  Holding myself accountable to Joel alone wasn't cutting it - we can sometimes be each others worst enemy when it comes to healthy activities!  Attending WW meetings certainly helps of course.  However, I knew I could find what I needed by writing it out.  Thank you for reading along :). 5. Adjust Your Expectations Don't expect to lose 100 lbs in 10 weeks.  Have realistic expectations of this weight loss.  It didn't happen overnight, so it's not going to come off overnight. I added the <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/p/goals.html">Goals tab</a> to help me focus on 5 lbs losses, instead of the 10 lbs that had originally been the focus.  Even 10 lbs seemed overwhelming - especially at the rate in which I'm losing.  Now that I've decreased it to 5, I've even been thinking about cutting it down further than that.  Still, my weekly goal is to lose at least SOMETHING - I don't care how much it is, just please give me a loss. 6. Develop a Healthy Selfishness This means realizing that, if you want to lose this weight once and for all, you need to keep your healthy journey front and centerm and you need to do what you have to do in order to keep it there.  Don't make exceptions to the rules for other people and what you think they want you to do.  Do what YOU have to do to stay on track. This is something I struggle with quite a bit.  For example, when people see I'm not eating at a work luncheon or that I'm not drinking at a happy hour, I'm immediately interrogated.  I don't particularly like to announce to everyone that I'm trying to watch what I eat.  I don't want to draw any more attention to myself than necessary.  In fact, I actually find it awkward to be the fat girl and not be eating/drinking.  Those things seem to go hand in hand, right?  It's as though I'm drawing more attention to myself by not doing what people think I should be doing.  So, I have been known to just do what everyone else is doing to avoid the harrassment.  I'm sure you've been there too.  Some people don't take "no" for an answer.  Even if I say "I'm just not hungry right now" (despite the fact that I really do want that cookie or that beer), they still have to press the issue.. "Who cares - just eat it".  You get the picture. 7. Fat-Proof Your Environment This is simply summed up as: Keep the trigger foods out of your house. Last week I made these Hershey Kiss pretzel sandwiches for a work function, and I had a lot left over at home.  I asked Joel if he could please hide them from me, and he did. AND it worked! :) 8. Pick the Brains of Healthy-Weight People I take advantage of this by reading weight loss blogs.  I'm a private person when it comes to my weight loss journey - it's a highly sensitive subject for me. Therefore, I don't know many people in my life today who i would willingly consult about how they stay healthy.  Still, I know without a doubt if I hadn't started reading your blogs, I would have probably given up a dozen times over by now. 9. Find Your Secret Weapons I'm still searching for these secret weapons.  In the exercise realm, lately my secret weapon has been the NROLFW.  I do not think it's a coincidence that since I've started doing that program, I've also started losing more weight at a much rapid pace. I'm still working to find my secret weapon for eating (or, better yet, NOT eating)! 10. Reward Your Success - in the Right Way Again, I reference my <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/p/goals.html">Goals page</a>.  It felt SO GOOD when I was able to purchase 2 of my rewards off of that list.  I REALLY wanted those walking shoes and I was so excited when the day came that I could finally get them.  Which one of these tips is the most applicable and/or informative to you?

Yesterday I happened upon this article on Webmd.com on tips for those of us who have 100 lbs to lose. If you're in this boat too, I would encourage you to go check it out in detail.Below is a summary of it and how it applies to my own journey:1. Shr…

Where's Diana?

I'm in Fairbanks. My sister had a mild stroke last Wednesday. I flew up on Thursday and she didn't seem to be that bad. Her speech was very slurred and difficult to understand, It was a left-side cerebral stroke so she was partially paralyzed on her right side (she's right handed). I thought she'd have a full recovery. Then the "natural progression" of the original stroke has changed it from a "mild" stroke to a catastrophic event. Everything has become increasingly much worse each day. Now she can barely mutter, she can still shake her head yes and no, but is often confused by the question. Her right side is completely paralyzed. Saturday they said she has expressive aphasia, but she still understood everything we said. Now there's some receptive aphasia too, where she doesn't understand what we're saying. It seems to come and go. She can't write with her left hand since the signals from her brain to her hand aren't working, although she has a tight grip in the left hand. This is my beautiful, wonderful sister that I love more than anyone in this world. She's always so classy, so sweet and kind to everyone and always does the right thing. She's one of the funniest people I've ever met and she always gets my jokes. We would get into laughing fits when we were together. I'm so glad I spent ten days with her last July. This is my only sister. She's seventeen years older than me but we've become very close in the last ten years, since our mother became very ill and died. She's the sister I spent eight days in the in Anchorage in a hospital, never leaving her side as we watch her husband of 51 years die of massive coronary heart failure. Two weeks ago we talked for about three hours on the phone. One of the things we talked about was the horror of a stroke, not being able to speak, and being paralyzed. We both said it would be a living hell and would much rather die. She has also said for two years that she just wanted to die because her heart was so broken and she was so lonely since her husband died. She was barely eating a bite of food since she came into the hospital. Two days ago she decided to completely refuse all food, water and the medicines they had started her on. I know what she's doing, she's trying to kill herself the only way she knows how. She wants out of her living hell. This is my sister that has always been thin so it probably won't take long. The doctor's are talking about moving her to a hospice. It's breaking my heart. She's 73 which seems so young, but I know it's her choice and it's what she wants. Even if she worked really hard in rehab, she would still have a lot of paralysis and they don't know if the speech will ever come back. This would be unacceptable to my very active and independent sister. My nieces, 45, 47  and 49 are begging her to stay, for them. I want her to stay for me too, but I really just want for her to be out of this nightmare. Who will I call on Saturdays and talk to for hours about everything? Who will I laugh with until I'm bent over in tears and a coughing fit from the laughing? I miss her so much already. Life really does suck sometimes.

Where's Diana?

Do You Have 100 Pounds to Lose?

Where's Diana?

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