Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes!

I am changing. I see it on the outside and I feel it on the inside. It is all part of the process and one might think that losing weight and getting healthy are nothing but rewards, but like with anything else, even this has its challenges. In the big scheme of things though, these challenges are so worth the end result.

I didn't post last week because quite honestly, I felt pretty crappy. Last week was our hometown celebration called Old Settlers. If you have watched the news, you might have heard that on the Friday night of Old Settlers, we (Mulvane, KS)  had extreme slow moving storms that went through the area dropping anywhere from 7-9 inches of rain on us in just a couple of hours, which caused major flooding in our little town. We had 6 feet of water rushing through the downtown area and the area where we have the rides, concessions and vendors. People had to be helped out by boats and the destruction was pretty massive. Businesses as well as individuals lost a great deal. We are a close knit bunch though, and rather than let it get the town down, people jumped in and soon our little community will be good as new. That is just who we are.

Every year for Old Settlers, people come back to visit and those of us who still remain here, gather and we make it a huge party. A little water was not going to change that for us and this was my first "cheat" off THM since May 15th. While the temptation was there to eat everything in site, the reformed me kept thinking...."everything in moderation." I knew this was the best I was going to do this weekend so I wasn't going to fight it. Yes, there was cheesecake...full fat, full on carb and lots of sugar....chessecake. I did however, manage to keep it to one slice. Trust me, that was an amazing NSV for me. I snacked on chips, candy and things that haven't touched my lips in months BUT I tried very hard not to overdo it. I also kept in mind others talking about eating sugar after not eating it for awhile and it being very hard to get the sugar out of their system again. I certainly didn't want to have to start from ground zero again just because of one weekend. I could tell all weekend that my system was off and my body was definitely not happy with me, but I trudged ahead like a good little "cheater." The worst thing for me though, was the alcohol.

I am not a drinker for many reasons, but once a year, when everyone is in town and we celebrate Old Settlers I do enjoy drinking with my friends. Usually I know my limit and I never exceed it, but this year.....I did not take into account my current weight loss or the fact that my body was already functioning poorly because of the weekend festivities. I drank no more than I normally would have and it would likely not have affected me at all, but being down 25 lbs and not eating nearly as much as I usually do and eating all the wrong things, well.....it affected me! Let's just say that the toilet and I had some very close moments Saturday night. When Sunday morning rolled around, I really wanted to be angry with myself (especially because I felt so awful), but I decided beating myself up was not the answer. Instead I chose to use it as a learning experience and a cautionary tale of how to proceed in the future.

It did not help that due to the weekends festivities, I had also gained almost 2 lbs. Again though, forgiving myself the indiscretions of the weekend and learning from it were crucial. I was not going to let 3 days ruin all these weeks of hard work. After all, life is messy. It has cheats from time to time and they are fine as long as they don't become a habit! This was not going to be a habit!

Monday I jumped right back on THM and never looked back. Those 3 days did do a number on me and it was about Thursday before I was even beginning to feel normal again. I won't lie, food was a challenge last week. Luckily, the sugar I ingested didn't seem to give me any horrible cravings although, I did dream about Jif peanut butter a couple of times during the week. Go figure.

Even on the days when I had difficulty eating the things I should eat, I did make sure that I drank a lot of water and tons of Good Girl Moonshine (GGMS). The funny thing was, that suddenly my shorts and jeans started feeling a lot looser. I can now feel my ribs when I lay down and I am going to have to get rid of a lot of my shirts as they are starting to fall off me in some rather obscene ways. On the other side of the coin, I am also starting to see some rather unattractive saggy skin on my belly that I am not pleased with. I know this comes from a lack of exercise and muscle toning. Again it is all part of the process but it is also one of those challenges I was referring to. Needless to say, it was a weird week for me.

This morning when I stepped on the scale, I had lost the 2 pounds I gained plus another 6/10ths of a pound. I was good with that. I feel like I am back on track and ready for the next challenge which I will be starting Sept.1st.

The changes are coming. For me they feel like they have been slow but steady. I am ready for the next phase of my weight loss and it is becoming abundantly clear that muscle toning exercise along with fat burning exercise are crucial as I begin this new challenge. The thing is......life doesn't stop or slow down just because I am trying to become healthy, so I have to work eating right and exercising around the craziness that is my life. I also have to remember that life is not perfect and I am not perfect. There will be those cheat moments and they are fine....as long as I remember that they are moments and not bad habits returning.

The next few months are going to be a test of my ability to stick with THM and my desire to truly change my health. We are going into fall and the holidays and they are tricky for most of us. We will get to see if I really think I am worth it or not. I have every faith that I will do fine and  whats more, I am learning so much about myself and how strong I am.

Yes, even positive changes hold challenges. It is all part of life, but the changes I am making are for me and ultimately, those who love me. Wait! Did you hear it? I can almost hear David Bowie in the background singing....."Ch ch ch ch changes!" 

Short and Sweet

As of today.....I have lost 25.6 lbs since May 15th! This week I lost just shy of another 2 lbs!

Today's blog is short and sweet. May 14th, just a few weeks ago, I was convinced that I could NOT lose weight. I was absolutely sure that I was destined to be overweight, sluggish, unmotivated and unhealthy for the rest of my life. I hated getting out of bed in the morning. I hated looking at myself in the mirror and I hated going anywhere because I felt so uncomfortable in my own skin. It was not a life I was happy about, but it was the life I deserved as no one forced fast food and candy down my throat and everyday that I did nothing about it.....well that was a choice.

May 15th, literally changed my life. It was the day I opened up the THM cookbook and decided that I was going to prove to myself once and for all that I deserved better. I have stayed committed for all these weeks and as I felt better and started looking better, I refused to allow myself to stray....not even for a jelly bean. Today I have renewed energy, motivation and I feel oh so much better in my own skin.

I am far from finished on this journey. I have a lot more weight to lose, but each 10th of a pound means that I am that much closer to my goal and totally regaining my health.

So my message to each of you is......don't give up on you!!!! Make the choice that you deserve to be healthy and feel good about you. Remember that you are worth it and that by taking care of you, then you will better be able to take care of those you love.

I told you....short and sweet! :)

Rah Rahing THM

Today's weigh in followed a really chaotic and nerve rattling week. While they are much much much better, I still have the occasional mental and emotional switch flip when things start feeling out of control and I want to soothe myself with carbs and sugar, but I have managed to stay on course. Still, I knew that this week was not going to show the results I wanted, however......likely the results I deserved. 

Someone told me a couple of weeks ago (once again), that my "rah rah" cheer leading about THM and my progress and the fact that nearly every week I have lost "something" were not realistic and that I was setting people up to fail if they went by my "results." I had to point out that my results were doable by anyone as losing 23 lbs in 11 weeks was not unrealistic at all. In fact, I likely could have "realistically" lost more had I exercised regularly and thrown in a few more FP snacks and traded out some S meals for some E's. However, I am very pleased with my progress and if I seem to be "rah rahing" about THM, it is because I can literally have my cake and lose weight too.

I have also had a couple of people who have been reading my weekly blogs, who have asked me about THM. They have even gone so far as to buy the books. One has read the book and has already told me that she simply "can't" do it. It is too hard and she has absolutely no idea how I ever figured it out. I do feel for her as I know that is pretty much how I felt at first. That is why it took me almost two years before I decided to jump in head first and give it my all. So how did I figure it all out? I didn't! No seriously. What I did do was join all the THM facebook pages that I could and I bought the THM Cookbook. The cookbook was really what did it for me.

In the THM cookbook, the recipes are divided by breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, etc and in each category the recipes are then divided by S, E and FP. I no longer had to figure out what was what. I simply decided on what type of meal, snack, etc that I wanted and then made the recipe. It took all the thinking out of it and if you know me at all, you know that is a really good thing. After a bit of doing this, then things started clicking in my head as to how I could combine the meals in a day that best suited my weight loss. For me, when I really am serious about taking the pounds off, I eat two E meals, one S meal and 2-3 FP snacks per day. Invariably when I eat like this, I have at least a 2-3 lb. loss that week. And no, I don't measure or think about portions. I usually eat until I am full, but I do try to add more veggies, especially if I think I need a second helping. Speaking of veggies, my favorite side dish is broccoli/cauliflower mashed fauxtatoes. They appear as a side extravaganza to many of my meals.

So what are some of my favorites where meals and snacks are concerned? For breakfast, because I am not typically a breakfast eater, I have learned to start my day with an E smoothie. Just about any one from the book is great and after a bit, you learn to put your own slant on the recipes to make them better suited to your tastes.

Lunches for me are easiest because again, I like to stay on the E side of things. One of my favorite E lunches is two slices of sprouted bread with Peanut Junkie Butter and Slim Belly Jelly (both recipes in the cookbook) with lean turkey meat. On the side I will have homemade pico de gallo and maybe some cucumbers for good measure.

Supper/Dinner is usually an S and I have tried most of the recipes in the cookbook. I have yet to find one that wasn't satisfying and family pleasing. One of my favorites is the meatloaf. It is absolutely delicious and dare I say......it is even better than my mothers recipe!

For my snacks, I have an insatiable sweet tooth, but with that being said, I try hard to stick to FP's. My two favorites are Cottage Berry Whip and Glucci Pudding. Again, both recipes are in the book and both feed my sweet tooth nicely. With the Cottage Berry Whip, I use 1% cottage cheese (I buy mine at Aldi) and I switch between blueberries, strawberries, pumpkin and lemon juice. I have even taken the mixture and put it in the freezer. When frozen, it tastes just like ice cream. With the Glucci Pudding I love to switch between chocolate, vanilla and caramel. You feel like you are eating dessert and cheating all at the same time. It truly makes me happy.

So this week, I knew I didn't do as well as I could have. I fell off my tried and true formula and probably had more S meals than I should have. I didn't drink as much water as normal and I knew that this time around, the big number was not likely to be there. I was right. I'm good though. I lost 6/10ths of a pound and as I always say....a loss is a loss. 

I guess what I feel like I need to keep stressing is, yes.....maybe I am rah rahing THM, but it is not without reason. This is the first time in my life that I have been able to lose substantial weight without starving myself or taking diet pills. This is me.....eating, getting healthy and losing weight. The bottom line.....if I can do it....anyone can. You just have to have faith in yourself and know that you are truly worth it. Then I guarantee you.....that you will be rah rahing too.