Weekly Weigh-In: Up Slightly

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I'm up about 2 pounds thanks to a mental break on my part over the last 2-3 weeks.

I’m up about 2 pounds thanks to a mental break on my part over the last 2-3 weeks.

As of Saturday I’m up 2 lbs. It could have been worse, but thanks to lots of course corrections this week, I think I cut off a potential disaster.

Since I started my 21-Day Primal Challenge (more on that in a later post), I enjoyed a few items I rarely eat with greater frequency. I’m not sure why, as the challenge cautions against doing such things. I think I simply had a mental break.

Being diligent 24/7 ain’t easy folks!

Guilty Pleasures
So what are my guilty pleasures? Dark chocolate, sweet potatoes and fruit…oh my!

Dark chocolate. The higher the cacao percent, the better. I ended up buying Ghiradelli Intense Dark (86%) Midnight Reverie squares. They were on sale at the grocery store and in individual serving sizes. Perfect! My thought was the bag would last a couple of months. WRONG! Try less than a week. Clearly I have issues. Read More

Thank You For The Ultimate Sacrifice

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Memorial Day isn’t about great sales, sitting by the pool, or a three-day weekend. Today’s the day we remember those in the armed forces who’ve died serving our country.

So before getting too self-absorbed with sales or tossing burgers on the grill, take a minute and offer a small prayer, raise a glass, or simply give thanks to those who made the ultimate sacrifice (so that you can be self-absorbed).  Or you can do what I’m doing: instead of shopping, I’m donating to the Wounded Warrior Project in honor of my dad, a Korean War vet.

Eating Right & Exercise Paid Off This Weekend

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We took on a big project this weekend -- ripping out our old sod. There was a clear difference in between me and the husband's fitness levels.

We took on a big project this weekend — ripping out our old sod. There was a clear difference between me and the husband’s fitness levels.

Last weekend the hubby and I spent quality time together ripping apart our backyard. Thanks to our dogs, half of our lawn died. The other half succumbed to  crabgrass. It was time for some old fashion, back-breaking DIY work — digging up the old sod and reseeding the lawn.

Initially my plan was simply to replace the brown spots with grass seed and deal with the crabgrass in the fall. It seemed manageable.

Well that wasn’t good enough for the hubby. Nope. He wanted to reseed the entire backyard.

“Since you’re more fit and healthy, it would be a snap for us,” he assured me.

Within 15 minutes of starting this expanded DIY project, I realized that “us” meant “me.”

All That Healthy Living Paid Off
It was an ambitious project. One that wasn’t possible 3 years ago. There was no way I could do that much physical labor (at project’s end we moved more than 2,000 pounds of sod!). Back then I was too heavy to do much of anything without being in pain or getting winded after a couple of minutes.

Now I’m like that annoying Energizer Bunny.  I’ve got the energy, strength and stamina to keep going and going, regardless of the activity.

My hubby's favorite workout location.

My hubby’s favorite workout location. Raising that foot-rest is his own 2-second, full body workout.

On the other hand, my husband has strength but cardio isn’t his strong suit. You see he hasn’t worked out in more than a year. The bulk of his exercise happens as he pushes back into his La-Z-Boy to raise the foot rest.

From the get-go, my husband had a difficult time with the work. Five minutes into the project, he needed a break. Within minutes of him starting back up, I could hear his very labored breathing.

Truth is I got a little annoyed with him. My worrying about him slowed me down.  So I did the only thing I could do — I forced him into a long “timeout” (a.k.a., sitting in his La-Z-Boy with a fan pointed at him).

At that point, I took over. I was a machine – stopping only for water, a light lunch, and the drives to the county dump. Amazed, the hubby grudgingly admitted I put him to shame by doing 90% of the work.

Lessons Learned
I’m a lot stronger and tougher than I realized. When my husband suggested doing the yard I thought he was nuts. I knew how much work it would take. But once I started, my doubts were gone.

I think if I only focused on losing weight and ignored building strength, no way I’d agree to take on this project. Heck, I’d probably hire someone to do it for us.

So, I chosen my path wisely.

As for my husband, well…he asked that I slap him the next time he suggested a DIY project.

Want to Lose Weight? Try Sleeping

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I’ve mentioned the link between weight gain and not getting enough sleep before. If you’re still not convinced, check out the awesome TED Talks by Neuroscientist Russell Foster – Why Do We Sleep?

One startling stat that Foster mentioned: if you sleep 5 hours or less a night, you have a 50% chance of being obese. Yikes!

In the 1950s, the average person slept 8 hours a night. Nowadays we sleep 2-½ hours less. A common result: we do stupid things to stay awake, eating being a big one. I’ve written before about the lack of sleep and our body releasing the hormone ghrelin in large quantities. As Foster puts it, once ghrelin hits the brain, “…the brain says, ‘I need carbohydrates,’ and what it does is seek out [carbs] and particularly sugars.”

Lack of sleep also causes sustained stress, which in turn causes our bodies to release more glucose into circulation. Over time, we become glucose intolerant, causing our bodies to produce even more glucose. This increases the chances of contracting Type 2 Diabetes.

Peekabu isn't sleep deprived. Are you?

Peekabu isn’t sleep deprived. Are you?

Are You Sleep Deprived?

  • Do you need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning?
  • Are you taking a long time to get up (think snooze button)?
  • Do you need lots of caffeine in the morning to get going?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above then you’re deprived.

How To Get Your 8 Hours
Foster’s solution to getting a good night’s sleep is something we’ve all heard, yet I still have a hard time doing.

  • Keep your bedroom dark and slightly cool
  • Reduce light exposure 30 minutes before bed
  • Turn off mobile phones, TV, tables, and computers
  • No caffeine after lunch

My bedroom isn’t too bad. I just need the animals to stay off the bed, as they seem to prefer snuggling on top of me.

As for no caffeine after lunch, that starts tomorrow (I’m currently brewing some now and can’t waste it).

However, I’m still a slave to turning on the bathroom light to brush my teeth right before bed. Bad move! Our bright bathroom light stimulates the brain. I guess it’s time to start flossing and brushing 2 hours before bed. Another incentive not to eat late!

Blue vs. Red Light
My habit of playing with my iPad before bed is messing with my sleep-wake cycle.

Visible light is made up of wavelengths which our eyes see as color. Our biological clocks evolved to wake us up during the day and make us sleepy when light starts to fade.

Electronic screens emit light that fall into the blue (bright sunny day) spectrum. Evening exposure to blue light via smart devices prohibits melatonin (the sleep hormone) production, delaying sleep for at least an hour or more. In the evening, the red spectrum is best for winding down.

So does that mean I need to disconnect completely?

Sure enough, there’s an app for that — f.lux.

F.lux is freeware that alters the color spectrum of smart devices. As the day goes on, your screen mimics sunlight based on your time zone. So your screen moves through the color spectrum — from blue (day) to red (night)– matching the light in your natural environment (i.e., the position of the sun).

While I’m experimenting with f.lux this week, I still need to limit my tablet use in the evenings. A challenge for sure, but one I’m up for.

“Sleep Is God. Go Worship”
I’m on Day 12 of my Primal Challenge and the sleep portion still alludes me. But after this TED Talks, I’m determined to not treat sleep like the enemy.

As author Jim Butcher wrote, “Sleep is God. Go worship.” I intend to do so.

 

Closet Cleanse: Hitting Self-Image Reset After Weight Loss

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Cleaning out the closet. If it doesn't fit me, it is no longer allowed in my closet. These fine threads are headed for Goodwill, where they will find a new home.

Cleaning out the closet. If it doesn’t fit me, it’s no longer in my closet. These fine threads are headed for Goodwill, where they will find a new home.

Today I’m in cleaning mode. Cleaning out the closet, refrigerator, kitty litter, car, and anything else I can get my little hands on. I must say the closet excited me the most. Other than that one pair of fat jeans, I’m no longer keeping clothes that don’t fit anymore.

Paring Down All Those Sizes
When I started my journey in 2012, my closet had three types of clothes:

  1. Fits me now.
  2. Almost fits.
  3. Awesome things I used to wear 5 years ago, and if my new diet works, I can fit into again.

To get into the right mindset, I tossed (donated) all the “almost fit” clothes. I kept those awesome old clothes to inspire me to again fit into them. But as the weight came off, I realized I didn’t want those 5-year-old clothes. It was time for something more fashionable.  Read More

Preparing For My First 5K

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I fly home tomorrow, leaving me one day to prepare for my Saturday morning 5K. I'm planning now so I can stay relaxed before the race.

I fly home tomorrow, leaving me one day to prepare for my Saturday morning 5K. I’m planning now so I can stay relaxed before the race.

I’m running in my first 5k on Saturday. Now I’ve run in other 5k races, but this one is special. My goal is to run the entire race, something I haven’t done yet. I fly back home Thursday, yet I don’t feel anxious at all. In fact, I’m pretty relaxed about the race.

Well to keep this moment of zen going, I decided to take some time today to create a checklist of what I need to do the day before the race.  I’m keeping it simple.

Dot’s Pre-5K Race Checklist

  1. Pick up Race Bib & Packet – Friday morning I plan to head over to the race HQ and pick up my shirt, bib and race instructions. When I entered my first 5k two years ago, I picked up my packet the morning of the race. Bad move! It was an hour of waiting followed by 5 minutes of pure chaos as race staff tried to find my name. To make the morning perfect, I had to high tail it over to the starting line so as not to miss the start. Yikes! Never again.

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Battling Body-Image Blues

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I've officially said goodbye to Lane Bryant. Their clothes are too big for me. Yet, I still see myself as heavier than I really am.

I’ve officially said goodbye to Lane Bryant. Their clothes are too big for me. Yet, I still see myself as heavier than I really am.

The weight and inches I’ve lost have finally reached a tipping point. I can no longer shop at Lane Bryant, my go-to clothing store. Two weeks ago I picked up new underwear, size 14/16. They were a bit baggy, but I needed to replace all my size 18s. While shopping, I tried on some jeans. Each cut I tried didn’t fit – too loose.

I felt excited, then a bit of panic set in. Where would I go now for clothes?

My little freakout lasted for about 5 minutes before I remembered that, over the last few months, Old Navy has steadily replaced Lane Bryant as my “go-to” clothing store.

Despite posting my most recent "Before & After" photo, I still look for the largest clothing sizes first whenever I go shopping.

Despite posting my most recent “Before & After” photo, I still look for the largest clothing sizes first whenever I go shopping.

Still Seeing The Fat Girl
It’s funny. I know that I can buy clothes at Macy’s, Nordstrom and other department stores. But when it comes to clothes, I still think of myself as the fat girl who can’t fit into any of “those” outfits.

Earlier this week I went shopping with my mother at Macy’s. I saw a dress I really liked and immediately looked for the largest size (Grrrrr!!!). While finding a size to try on, I lost my nerve. I listened to that little voice in my head — “Why bother. It won’t fit” — and promptly put the dress back on the rack.  Sigh…

Battling Body-Image Blues
I never saw myself as having a body-image issue. But after 3 years on this journey, it’s all too easy to forget about my success while staring in the mirror at that belly fat, chunky thighs or underarm bat wings.

It took awhile before I finally accepted I no longer weighed 325 pounds. Even when I wore a size 22, I’d always look at the largest sizes first.

Breaking with old habits requires a change in perception. To that end, I use to start the day looking at my “before and after” photos. After all, photos don’t lie. When I dwelt too much on my flaws, I’d pull out the heavy artillery — my fat jeans (size 28). Nothing kicked the body-image blues to the curb faster than stepping back into those huge jeans.

Once I hit 250 I felt I finally had my head in the right spot. I didn’t see my flaws or or think about weight I still had to loose. When I looked in the mirror I saw someone happy, healthy and looking pretty damn good!

Unfortunately, I thought I won my little self-image war.  My fat jeans went back into the bottom of a drawer and my “after” photos stopped appearing on my fridge and bulletin boards. My ego told me, “I got this.”

Turns out I didn’t win the war, only the first salvo in a long, drawn out struggle.

I now realize by not trying on that dress, I lost the next battle in my body-image fight. Even though the scale says I’m 187 lbs., I think of myself as weighing 250. It’s time for me to join the fight once again.

I can now officially shop at Victoria's Secret. That means I've crossed another item off my Healthy Bucket List.

I can now officially shop at Victoria’s Secret. That means I’ve crossed another item off my Healthy Bucket List.

Hello Victoria’s Secret
Yesterday I hit the mall with my niece. We ended up at Victoria’s Secret. I noticed that my bra cups push away from my body (a sure sign they are too big) and I was fastening my bras on the last hooks. I decided to get re-measured. But again, that little voice still messed with me. I expected the girl wrapping the measuring tape around me to state my new size and then apologize that they didn’t carry it.

Turns out, I’m no longer a 38DD. Not only am I between a 36D and 34D, but the sales lady started bringing me both sizes to try on. Woohoo!!

Well that’s another item to scratch off my Healthy Bucket List (#13 on my list).

After picking out two new bras (36Ds…34s are a little too tight for now), my niece noticed the underwear was on sale and suggested I pick some up.

No way, I thought. No way I can get those on my big butt.

Happily, I was wrong again.

Hmmmm….perhaps I need to head over to Macy’s.

Reusable Grocery Bags — They Make You Fat?

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facepalmLast week it was diet soda, now its reusable grocery bags that make you fat!  Actually it’s not the bags, but it is the attitude that the bags give people. Sure folks who use reusable shopping bags tend to buy more organic foods.  But they are also buying way more crappy junk food too. So they replaced regular milk with organic milk to better wash down those sweets, cookies, candy bars and chips.

Turns out these people believe they are entitled to all that junk food because they are helping the environment. Wow…

If people want to use reusable bags, who am I to deny them. Me, I need the plastic bags for picking up after the dogs during walks…that’s what I call recycling! But I don’t feel the need to reward myself because I pick up after my dogs. I’m suppose to clean up after them.

There are an awful lot of smug people in the DC metro area (where I live) who say they are “helping the environment,” but for many it’s about feeling superior to the rest of us mere mortals. Well it looks like that smugness is now making them fat.

Maybe South Park was on to something with those Smug Alerts.

 

From Fat To Finish Line World Premiere In April

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One film I’m looking forward to seeing this year is From Fat To Finish Line. It’s a documentary about 12 strangers who collectively lost 1,200 pounds (roughly 100 pounds each), became friends via social media, and decided to take on a huge challenge – the 200 mile Ragnar Relay Race.

The film is finally finished and is premiering at the Nashville Film Festival. The first showing is slated for Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. There’s also a second showing Friday, April 24 at 6:00, kicking off the Nashville Rock n’ Roll Marathon weekend.

Coincidentally, I’m running a 5K race April 18 and can’t make the 12 hr drive for the world premier. Sadly the 24th is out of the running for me too.

If you are in the Nashville area, show the film some love and try to attend. The more we support positive films like this, the more people learn that weight loss, like anything else, is possible.

You can follow From Fat To Finish Line’s Facebook page for release dates and streaming info as it becomes available. You can also check out the website to learn about the runners (scroll over their images to see their awesome transformations).