Here are my thoughts. It would be awesome if we could all SS right through the New Year. If able to do that, then by all means do it! Most of us seem to be kind of aiming for perfection during the most difficult time of year, but falling short. I believe that the one thing you do NOT want to do when trying to lose weight is allow any negative thoughts take over.
I had intended to SS right through the holidays and straight to my birthday on Feb 18th. I had completed about 12 or 13 days sole source, and then had Thanksgiving. Since then I have not felt motivated to get back to it and I have felt kind of bad about it, not to mention physically just blah. I realized that for now, my goal is good enough if it is just not to gain anything over the holidays. So what I'm going to do is get back in the habit of having Cambridge very day and consider what I eat carefully and be sure it is worth it. It's not an all or nothing thing, or at least it doesn't have to be. I want to keep my attitude positive. I want to retain my Cambridge habit. I want to weigh every day for now to be sure I am not gaining ANYTHING and I also want to feel free to eat if I choose until Christmas. Then it will be a full on focused effort to my birthday. I realize that my birthday is just a day on the calendar and I've never been much of a believer of setting myself up with a deadline before, but turning 56 is kind of major to me and I do want to begin my 56th year in better shape then I am today.
Each of us has to develop our own strategy for getting through this annual food fest without doing too much damage, physically or mentally. I just want to be sure that no one sets them self up for any negative thoughts if they can't be perfect for the next few weeks. There is no one right answer, other then to be sure that you are keeping a positive outlook at this evolution we call weight loss.
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Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Monday, December 8, 2014
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
99 days
There are 99 days until my 56th birthday. My (ultimate) goal this year was to be at my high school weight by then. I've made a few half heart'd stabs at it, but I just couldn't stay focused for the long haul. This goal is important to me, both for my health, as well as my sense of accomplishment.
Being married now has put a whole new spin on things. Before I was married, when I would have clients complain about their spouses being a distraction by wanting them to go out to eat or by bringing food home, I never understood the real problem like I do now. By being on a highly restricted diet like Cambridge, you're pretty much demanding that your significant other be on restriction with you, to a certain extent. When my husband has his 3 day weekend, he likes to go exploring, mostly day trips. We are still newbies here in Florida and there is a lot to see. Being out all day kind of makes it necessary to eat at some point. My husband has a healthy appetite and can eat a full meal and be ready to eat again in an hour! He has no weight problem of course. I know how hard he works and on his days off I don't want to be a party pooper. He won't eat in front of me. He just can't make himself go against the way his Mama raised him. This then condemns him to starving and when he gets hungry, he gets really wobbly, really fast! On top of that, he loves to eat and wants to enjoy that with me. Nothing wrong with that of course.
So here's the problem....I need to do this, but I hate forcing him to limit his recreation on his hard earned days off. He needs that time to decompress and gear up for another miserable week in the Walmart Claims Dept. I've been going 'round and 'round about this for some time now. I get going on my diet, only to feel guilty and go off so he and I can enjoy our time together. Now to be clear, he in no way EVER complains, but he also won't eat if I don't. He's also perfectly happy with the size I am at now and doesn't think I need to lose, other then to improve my health of course.
When I realized last night that I only had 99 days remaining till my B-day, I made the decision that no matter what, I'm sticking to my Cambridge until I either reach my goal, or the 99 days are up. At the age I'm at now, along with my history of diabetes, my digestion is very slow. It's called "delayed gastric emptying" and it makes it so my body has plenty of time to absorb every single calorie. I lose about half as fast as I did 13 years ago, so this will take some uninterrupted time. I printed up three, 100 day countdown charts. I have one on the fridge, one on my bathroom mirror, and one right here in front of me on top of my computer. I will cross off the bathroom one in the AM when I get up, the fridge one after my lunch shake, and my computer one at night before going to bed. I told my husband what I'm doing and he is of course supportive, but I am well aware of the toll it will take on him and I kind of hate that. I am also doing this at the worst possible time with Thanksgiving looming and then of course, Christmas.
If anyone would like to get in on my 99 days SS, please do! I will be posting updates weekly. You can use the comments and I would love to have you along for the adventure!
Wish my luck!
Being married now has put a whole new spin on things. Before I was married, when I would have clients complain about their spouses being a distraction by wanting them to go out to eat or by bringing food home, I never understood the real problem like I do now. By being on a highly restricted diet like Cambridge, you're pretty much demanding that your significant other be on restriction with you, to a certain extent. When my husband has his 3 day weekend, he likes to go exploring, mostly day trips. We are still newbies here in Florida and there is a lot to see. Being out all day kind of makes it necessary to eat at some point. My husband has a healthy appetite and can eat a full meal and be ready to eat again in an hour! He has no weight problem of course. I know how hard he works and on his days off I don't want to be a party pooper. He won't eat in front of me. He just can't make himself go against the way his Mama raised him. This then condemns him to starving and when he gets hungry, he gets really wobbly, really fast! On top of that, he loves to eat and wants to enjoy that with me. Nothing wrong with that of course.
So here's the problem....I need to do this, but I hate forcing him to limit his recreation on his hard earned days off. He needs that time to decompress and gear up for another miserable week in the Walmart Claims Dept. I've been going 'round and 'round about this for some time now. I get going on my diet, only to feel guilty and go off so he and I can enjoy our time together. Now to be clear, he in no way EVER complains, but he also won't eat if I don't. He's also perfectly happy with the size I am at now and doesn't think I need to lose, other then to improve my health of course.
When I realized last night that I only had 99 days remaining till my B-day, I made the decision that no matter what, I'm sticking to my Cambridge until I either reach my goal, or the 99 days are up. At the age I'm at now, along with my history of diabetes, my digestion is very slow. It's called "delayed gastric emptying" and it makes it so my body has plenty of time to absorb every single calorie. I lose about half as fast as I did 13 years ago, so this will take some uninterrupted time. I printed up three, 100 day countdown charts. I have one on the fridge, one on my bathroom mirror, and one right here in front of me on top of my computer. I will cross off the bathroom one in the AM when I get up, the fridge one after my lunch shake, and my computer one at night before going to bed. I told my husband what I'm doing and he is of course supportive, but I am well aware of the toll it will take on him and I kind of hate that. I am also doing this at the worst possible time with Thanksgiving looming and then of course, Christmas.
If anyone would like to get in on my 99 days SS, please do! I will be posting updates weekly. You can use the comments and I would love to have you along for the adventure!
Wish my luck!
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Recovery, It's a Good Thing
So I am now 95% back to normal after my flu virus or whatever evil thing it was that slammed me this past week. Sadly, my family is all sick with it, but at lease I am well enough now to take care of them if they need me.
In the midst of my viral misery, I thought about how much I take for granted now.. and how much I am in denial about. Some years back there wasn't a second of any day that I wasn't sick and in pain from my obesity. It was 24/7. It's a dim enough memory now that I forget what it's like to not be able to do what I want without thinking. Jumping up to answer my phone, walking endless hours at Disney World with my husband, knowing that I can go anywhere out to eat and not worry about fitting in a booth, going grocery shopping and not feeling judged. Normal everyday stuff that used to be on my "Too much effort" list. It was a long list. Now I live my life with few limitations and I don't take that for granted. I doubt I ever will. I hope I never do.
The denial part is where it gets real. Are you ready for this? Am I ready for this? I am not thin. I am not at my ideal weight. I am technically still considered overweight by the charts that be. I'm a little pissed about that. Who are "they" to tell me I am overweight? If I feel good and I am enjoying my life, why isn't that good enough? Why do I or anyone else have to fall in line with a chart that declares us worthy? Why? Well...I know why. Because these charts are not to judge us or tell us we are too fat to wear white jeans. These charts are to tell us that our current weight puts us in a category of health risk common for the average individual who is our weight, height, gender, and age. I am still very much at risk. In fact, considering my health history, it's a no brainer that I am still very much in the danger zone of diabetes and heart disease. It's in not only my own health history, but several generations of my genealogy.
My ultimate goal for this year is to get to my high school weight. This would put me in the lower range of the weight charts for best health benefits. Now, when I was a teenager, I was active, not to mention...a teenager! Even though I had always struggled with weight, my metabolism was a whole lot better at 17 then it is now. Knowing this, I need to get my head out of the sand and get busy. I have made a few temporary attempts at my goal, but let's face it, 55, almost 56, is plenty old enough to realize I don't have all of the time in the world to prevent some major health disaster from crashing in on me. My sister died last year from pulmonary hypertension. She was one year older then I am now. My Mom died at 62 from congestive heart failure. I've already had that before. There is vascular disease and heart disease and other serious risk factors including my own battle with diabetes that is REAL! Very real.
So tomorrow I begin again. I have a few months until my 56th B-day. I want to be at my ultimate goal. Wish me success!
In the midst of my viral misery, I thought about how much I take for granted now.. and how much I am in denial about. Some years back there wasn't a second of any day that I wasn't sick and in pain from my obesity. It was 24/7. It's a dim enough memory now that I forget what it's like to not be able to do what I want without thinking. Jumping up to answer my phone, walking endless hours at Disney World with my husband, knowing that I can go anywhere out to eat and not worry about fitting in a booth, going grocery shopping and not feeling judged. Normal everyday stuff that used to be on my "Too much effort" list. It was a long list. Now I live my life with few limitations and I don't take that for granted. I doubt I ever will. I hope I never do.
The denial part is where it gets real. Are you ready for this? Am I ready for this? I am not thin. I am not at my ideal weight. I am technically still considered overweight by the charts that be. I'm a little pissed about that. Who are "they" to tell me I am overweight? If I feel good and I am enjoying my life, why isn't that good enough? Why do I or anyone else have to fall in line with a chart that declares us worthy? Why? Well...I know why. Because these charts are not to judge us or tell us we are too fat to wear white jeans. These charts are to tell us that our current weight puts us in a category of health risk common for the average individual who is our weight, height, gender, and age. I am still very much at risk. In fact, considering my health history, it's a no brainer that I am still very much in the danger zone of diabetes and heart disease. It's in not only my own health history, but several generations of my genealogy.
My ultimate goal for this year is to get to my high school weight. This would put me in the lower range of the weight charts for best health benefits. Now, when I was a teenager, I was active, not to mention...a teenager! Even though I had always struggled with weight, my metabolism was a whole lot better at 17 then it is now. Knowing this, I need to get my head out of the sand and get busy. I have made a few temporary attempts at my goal, but let's face it, 55, almost 56, is plenty old enough to realize I don't have all of the time in the world to prevent some major health disaster from crashing in on me. My sister died last year from pulmonary hypertension. She was one year older then I am now. My Mom died at 62 from congestive heart failure. I've already had that before. There is vascular disease and heart disease and other serious risk factors including my own battle with diabetes that is REAL! Very real.
So tomorrow I begin again. I have a few months until my 56th B-day. I want to be at my ultimate goal. Wish me success!
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Turning 55
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 03/14/14:
I had my birthday last month, Feb 18th to be exact. I guess it was one of those half way milestones, no longer early 50's, on my way to 60. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I have not had nearly the adventures I thought I would have had when I was young. So much of my early years were consumed (no pun intended) with parenting, food, my obesity, and poor health. Now I am healthy, but not in a financial place to do all the traveling etc I had hoped for. I guess you can't have everything, but as you get older you do become hyper aware of the time you have left on this planet and think a lot about whether you are spending it doing what you would like to be doing.
I had a lifelong dream of living by the beach. I do. I had a lifelong dream of finding and marrying someone that would love me unconditionally. I have. I had a goal of my Cambridge business being my retirement income. It is. Now this one may seem weird, but I love Disneyland and being a So Ca girl it was one of my favorite places. I dreamed of living close enough to be able to have a resident pass and go whenever I felt like it. Not being a fan of Anaheim I never made the move...but.... we now live in Fl about an hour and a quarter away from Disney World with resident passes in hand. Check! Life is good.
I had my birthday last month, Feb 18th to be exact. I guess it was one of those half way milestones, no longer early 50's, on my way to 60. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I have not had nearly the adventures I thought I would have had when I was young. So much of my early years were consumed (no pun intended) with parenting, food, my obesity, and poor health. Now I am healthy, but not in a financial place to do all the traveling etc I had hoped for. I guess you can't have everything, but as you get older you do become hyper aware of the time you have left on this planet and think a lot about whether you are spending it doing what you would like to be doing.
I had a lifelong dream of living by the beach. I do. I had a lifelong dream of finding and marrying someone that would love me unconditionally. I have. I had a goal of my Cambridge business being my retirement income. It is. Now this one may seem weird, but I love Disneyland and being a So Ca girl it was one of my favorite places. I dreamed of living close enough to be able to have a resident pass and go whenever I felt like it. Not being a fan of Anaheim I never made the move...but.... we now live in Fl about an hour and a quarter away from Disney World with resident passes in hand. Check! Life is good.
Years ago when my kids were young.. I was a single mom, we were on food stamps, I was disabled, and life was bleak living in a government subsidized apartment complex, I struggled constantly to keep us afloat and not let my kids know how desperate our situation was. I wanted them to have as normal of a childhood as I could provide as a single parent. I ran a licensed day care in our apartment and did the best I could. I was always aware of how well my childhood friends had done and how different our lives were. Even something as simple as having a car less then 20 years old, or taking a vacation, or even having a VCR was stuff I only dreamed about. Forget about ever owning my own home. For some reason my life had taken a detour and it was about survival, nothing else.
One day I sat and made a list of all the things I wished to achieve and acquire. It was crazy and out of reach, but I just wanted to see it all in writing. #1 was lose weight and get healthy and it went on to other things, ultimately ending with a house of my own. I taped it to the wall next to my bed and forgot about it. Most of the things on the list were simple, not extravagant, but still not in sight.
I remember a movie that was a favorite of mine and my kids. It was called "A Home Of Our Own" with Kathy Bates playing a widowed mother searching for a place she could raise her kids. There is a line that summed up how it was for us. One of her boys is looking in a store window at Christmas and his adult voice narrator said, "When I was a kid, everything you saw...was something you couldn't have". Yup. It was like that.
Anyway, it was some years later. We were still living in that apartment, but things had changed. I had lost my weight on Cambridge. In that experience I discovered I was so much stronger then I'd given myself credit for. I became a Distributor and had built a strong business in a very short time. One day my daughter came to me with a peice of paper. She showed it to me and said, "Mom...do you realize that you have achieved just about everything on this list?" I had forgotten about it and was shocked to see that she was right! The only 3 things remaining were to buy my own home, find love, and travel. 4 months later I bought my first home. A 2800 sq ft home on half an acre in central Ca with a ready made park like play ground in the back for my day care, 20 fruit trees and a place to move my beloved elderly Aunt in with us. It was all pretty incredible for my little family. That was almost 11 years ago. After 4 years I sold that home and made a nice profit, enough to buy a beautiful home on the river in Utah. We spent 6 happy years there, I eventually started dating and then met my husband. We've been married for 2 years now and moved across the country to where we are now, 6 miles from the most amazing beaches.
I guess my reason for this post, other then I was sitting here this morning counting my blessings and taking a moment to realize how fortunate I am, was to put it out there that no matter how your life is now, no matter how defeated you may feel at the moment, life can turn on a dime if you let it. It takes work and courage and a willingness to abandon old beliefs and habits and whatever has been holding you back, but you can accomplish great things if you put you mind and your shoulder to it and not let anything stop you. Making that list so many years ago when I had no reason to think any of it would ever become reality was that first tiny push to cracking the door of possibilities. I didn't need to believe at the time that any of it would happen, because I didn't! lol! I don't know why I taped it up rather then tear it up, but it was the beginning of the change for me. My life really began at 42 and by the time I was 50, I was finally feeling free to be the person I should have been all along.
Never underestimate your ability to change yourself or the circumstances of your life. We are so much more powerful then we believe ourselves to be. Some things in life happen to us, but most things happen because of us. Don't be afraid to take responsibility for the situation you're in because that just means you can change it.
So..turning 55? Well....that just means I have had one more year to celebrate my life that it took so long for me to discover.
One day I sat and made a list of all the things I wished to achieve and acquire. It was crazy and out of reach, but I just wanted to see it all in writing. #1 was lose weight and get healthy and it went on to other things, ultimately ending with a house of my own. I taped it to the wall next to my bed and forgot about it. Most of the things on the list were simple, not extravagant, but still not in sight.
I remember a movie that was a favorite of mine and my kids. It was called "A Home Of Our Own" with Kathy Bates playing a widowed mother searching for a place she could raise her kids. There is a line that summed up how it was for us. One of her boys is looking in a store window at Christmas and his adult voice narrator said, "When I was a kid, everything you saw...was something you couldn't have". Yup. It was like that.
Anyway, it was some years later. We were still living in that apartment, but things had changed. I had lost my weight on Cambridge. In that experience I discovered I was so much stronger then I'd given myself credit for. I became a Distributor and had built a strong business in a very short time. One day my daughter came to me with a peice of paper. She showed it to me and said, "Mom...do you realize that you have achieved just about everything on this list?" I had forgotten about it and was shocked to see that she was right! The only 3 things remaining were to buy my own home, find love, and travel. 4 months later I bought my first home. A 2800 sq ft home on half an acre in central Ca with a ready made park like play ground in the back for my day care, 20 fruit trees and a place to move my beloved elderly Aunt in with us. It was all pretty incredible for my little family. That was almost 11 years ago. After 4 years I sold that home and made a nice profit, enough to buy a beautiful home on the river in Utah. We spent 6 happy years there, I eventually started dating and then met my husband. We've been married for 2 years now and moved across the country to where we are now, 6 miles from the most amazing beaches.
I guess my reason for this post, other then I was sitting here this morning counting my blessings and taking a moment to realize how fortunate I am, was to put it out there that no matter how your life is now, no matter how defeated you may feel at the moment, life can turn on a dime if you let it. It takes work and courage and a willingness to abandon old beliefs and habits and whatever has been holding you back, but you can accomplish great things if you put you mind and your shoulder to it and not let anything stop you. Making that list so many years ago when I had no reason to think any of it would ever become reality was that first tiny push to cracking the door of possibilities. I didn't need to believe at the time that any of it would happen, because I didn't! lol! I don't know why I taped it up rather then tear it up, but it was the beginning of the change for me. My life really began at 42 and by the time I was 50, I was finally feeling free to be the person I should have been all along.
Never underestimate your ability to change yourself or the circumstances of your life. We are so much more powerful then we believe ourselves to be. Some things in life happen to us, but most things happen because of us. Don't be afraid to take responsibility for the situation you're in because that just means you can change it.
So..turning 55? Well....that just means I have had one more year to celebrate my life that it took so long for me to discover.
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