Note: sorry Belinda for pushing your post down - I can't get the 'post scheduling' option to work! I tried to schedule this to post two days from now but....failed. So, SEE BELOW FOR BELINDA'S LAST POST.
-------------------------
Okay, so you know how I had put on like ten pounds in one month, not riding my bike? Well, on that day (Thanksgiving) I got my motivation. I said "Enough is enough". Since then, since October 13, I have lost the following:
15 pounds (I'm at 178 now)
3.5 inches off my waist
2 inches off my bust
2 inches off my hips
!!!!
How did I do it, you ask? This is how I did it.
I plan to carry on with Cinch indefinitely. I am doing the two-a-day loss plan right now, and will switch to one-a-day maintenance when I have reduced my waist and weight to the high end of my recommended body mass (as defined by the Index). I am supposed to be 160 pounds, but I will be happy if I can hover around 170. We'll see.
When I started out on this Stopping the Slide journey, I had no real intention to do any sort of concerted plan. I normally don't approve of them because I feel they don't change your habits in any long-term way. After gaining all that weight and feeling, frankly, physically uncomfortable, I just had to put my foot down and try something drastic. I'm so glad I did, not just because I am shrinking as we speak, but because normally my weight loss is so slow that the lack of visible progress tempts me to give up. This plan gave me a huge kick start and a solid reason not to cheat...and I could see the benefits after a mere couple of days.
Plus, there is a whack of nutritional advice given with the plan, and it has changed my eating habits noticeably...I am way, way down on my starches and I don't think I can ever go back. When I eat those now, after six weeks on Cinch, I feel so stodgy. I certainly don't have the capacity I once had.
So we'll see how this works out in the long term. For now, it feels great and I am loving it. The first week was hard, naturally, with the lower amount of starch and with trying to get creative with my protein choices (I have to have 8 servings per day), but everything is going so beautifully now...I'm really wondering if this could be the leg up I needed.
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Long Time No Post
I've been meaning to get in touch for ages but life is getting in the way. I can barely keep my personal blog afloat, but want to check in here with you.
Iam was down to 180, making my total weight loss 12 pounds. I've just hopped on the scale after that last sentence, and now I'm up again to 184. This is because my family is visiting, I haven't been on a bike in almost two weeks, and the celebration food is flowing.
Interestingly, I feel healthier than I have for a long time, despite this upward trend. Why? Because we're spending nearly every day outside from dawn to dusk, canoeing, swimming, walking, playing. So my fitness is down (must be), and my eating is up (can't help it) and I still feel better. I think this says a lot about the measuring stick we use for "health". There are so many factors involved, and it's so dangerous to focus on the weight alone.
I've been thinking lately about happiness and how it contributes to my health. I am not a small woman - never really have been, aside from two brief years as an anorexic. And do you know what? Those two brief years were miserable. Horrible. Frantically unhappy.
My mental state, with regard to my weight and size, could be described as "slightly uneasy". I'm not overly worried about the extra pounds, though when I see pictures of myself I am always surprised. "Is that what I LOOK like?!" Because what I FEEL like is so different.
An interesting thing happened a few weeks ago. There was a year-end hafla (belly dance party) for my troupe, at my teacher's house. I was so excited about it, and got dressed in my most colourful costume. Bought a new lipstick and everything. While I was there helping my teacher set up and decorate, she told me about plans she is making to put on a belly dance show in February at a local theatre. It was a very big moment for me when she asked me if I would dance a solo in the show. A real, paid, for-money, BUY TICKETS show.
I said yes, of course I would! I would start work on a choreograph and a costume and be ready for February! It would be great! I was so excited!
After everyone arrived, some girls took pictures, and showed them to me on the spot. I glanced at the first one and was shocked - I felt deflated and worried. I felt like I looked silly and fat, instead of powerful and beautiful. But I smiled and agreed when everyone said enthusiastically, "Great picture!" Because that IS what I look like - and my friends think I'm beautiful. And my teacher wants me to dance a solo.
When I was 20 years old, in my third year at UVic, my rowing coach called me into her office and told me that I had made the team after two months of tryouts. I wasn't the tallest, the fittest, or the most talented, but she told me that, during those endless hours doing time trials on the ergometers, I had shown something else: "Mental Toughness". I'll never forget what it was like to hear that from a woman I admired - a member of Canada's National Women's Rowing Team - a woman who was, to say the least, NOT lavish with praise. I stored it away and have pulled it out since, playing it for myself whenever I feel I'm floundering.
At the hafla, I used that Mental Toughness again. I used it to put aside my feelings of inadequacy (overadequacy?) and discouragement, and to straighten my spine and put a smile on my face even though I was still dressed in that flamboyant costume when I suddenly wished I had worn something more concealing - even though I was tempted to look around at the other, smaller girls and think anxious thoughts about the difference between them and me.
I'll lose more weight - I'm not concerned about that. What I AM concerned about is my attitude. I am making daily efforts to change how I feel about myself: not to be ashamed and worried, not to hide under big clothes and dark colours, but to race powerfully through the life God gave me with the muscles He granted me, the strength He placed in my arms, and the charisma He wanted me to have - no matter what size I am. My belly dance teacher said, when I confessed to her (for the first time in three years of lessons) that I feel fat, "There's an inner beauty and strength that shines through, Shannon, and you have so much of that. Your body size is not what people notice first, or even second."
I didn't mean to write so much today. I was just going to give an update on the weight situation - that was all. I guess once I got going I realised I had a lot to get off my chest, after all.
Belinda, I'm so glad you are finding a difference with judicious administration of protein.
: )
My mom always (and rightly) harps on the importance of protein and always reminds me "it's the building blocks of cells. The more you exercise the more you need to build your cells."
Fox, I hope you are well and happy.
As for me, I will be getting back on track next week, when I wave a very sad goodbye to my sister Amy and my brother Mark, and my nieces. I will watch them down the street, then I'll go get my bike and do a hard 90 minutes with the pedals, to get myself going again.
Good luck everyone....carry on!
I
Interestingly, I feel healthier than I have for a long time, despite this upward trend. Why? Because we're spending nearly every day outside from dawn to dusk, canoeing, swimming, walking, playing. So my fitness is down (must be), and my eating is up (can't help it) and I still feel better. I think this says a lot about the measuring stick we use for "health". There are so many factors involved, and it's so dangerous to focus on the weight alone.
BUT, that being said, I have complete confidence in my ability to lose the weight again after this halcyon month is over. I will start today, in fact - though this weekend will be a total loss because we are going camping and neither death nor hell nor things that creep below nor things that fly above will keep me from marshmallows and hot dogs.
* * *
I've been thinking lately about happiness and how it contributes to my health. I am not a small woman - never really have been, aside from two brief years as an anorexic. And do you know what? Those two brief years were miserable. Horrible. Frantically unhappy.
My mental state, with regard to my weight and size, could be described as "slightly uneasy". I'm not overly worried about the extra pounds, though when I see pictures of myself I am always surprised. "Is that what I LOOK like?!" Because what I FEEL like is so different.
An interesting thing happened a few weeks ago. There was a year-end hafla (belly dance party) for my troupe, at my teacher's house. I was so excited about it, and got dressed in my most colourful costume. Bought a new lipstick and everything. While I was there helping my teacher set up and decorate, she told me about plans she is making to put on a belly dance show in February at a local theatre. It was a very big moment for me when she asked me if I would dance a solo in the show. A real, paid, for-money, BUY TICKETS show.
I said yes, of course I would! I would start work on a choreograph and a costume and be ready for February! It would be great! I was so excited!
After everyone arrived, some girls took pictures, and showed them to me on the spot. I glanced at the first one and was shocked - I felt deflated and worried. I felt like I looked silly and fat, instead of powerful and beautiful. But I smiled and agreed when everyone said enthusiastically, "Great picture!" Because that IS what I look like - and my friends think I'm beautiful. And my teacher wants me to dance a solo.
When I was 20 years old, in my third year at UVic, my rowing coach called me into her office and told me that I had made the team after two months of tryouts. I wasn't the tallest, the fittest, or the most talented, but she told me that, during those endless hours doing time trials on the ergometers, I had shown something else: "Mental Toughness". I'll never forget what it was like to hear that from a woman I admired - a member of Canada's National Women's Rowing Team - a woman who was, to say the least, NOT lavish with praise. I stored it away and have pulled it out since, playing it for myself whenever I feel I'm floundering.
At the hafla, I used that Mental Toughness again. I used it to put aside my feelings of inadequacy (overadequacy?) and discouragement, and to straighten my spine and put a smile on my face even though I was still dressed in that flamboyant costume when I suddenly wished I had worn something more concealing - even though I was tempted to look around at the other, smaller girls and think anxious thoughts about the difference between them and me.
I'll lose more weight - I'm not concerned about that. What I AM concerned about is my attitude. I am making daily efforts to change how I feel about myself: not to be ashamed and worried, not to hide under big clothes and dark colours, but to race powerfully through the life God gave me with the muscles He granted me, the strength He placed in my arms, and the charisma He wanted me to have - no matter what size I am. My belly dance teacher said, when I confessed to her (for the first time in three years of lessons) that I feel fat, "There's an inner beauty and strength that shines through, Shannon, and you have so much of that. Your body size is not what people notice first, or even second."
I didn't mean to write so much today. I was just going to give an update on the weight situation - that was all. I guess once I got going I realised I had a lot to get off my chest, after all.
Belinda, I'm so glad you are finding a difference with judicious administration of protein.
: )
My mom always (and rightly) harps on the importance of protein and always reminds me "it's the building blocks of cells. The more you exercise the more you need to build your cells."
Fox, I hope you are well and happy.
As for me, I will be getting back on track next week, when I wave a very sad goodbye to my sister Amy and my brother Mark, and my nieces. I will watch them down the street, then I'll go get my bike and do a hard 90 minutes with the pedals, to get myself going again.
Good luck everyone....carry on!
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The Contest
The weekend was kind of low-exercise, because we were getting ready to get our puppy on Monday and I was busy cleaning and decluttering in preparation for that. But yesterday, Monday, I did the first of the Couch to 5K interval workouts, Week Two. I should have had two more workouts of Week One, but it was a bit too easy so I skipped ahead.
Last week I started to develop shin splints. I used to get these nine or ten years ago, when I was doing 1.5 hours of high-impact aerobics four to five times weekly. (This was before kids, of course. Who has that kind of time nowadays?) It was excruciatingly painful and I remember it well. So, when I started getting some symptoms I jumped on the prevention right away.
First off, I need new shoes. I can't afford them right now, so I will just have to make do with what I have for the time being.
Second, I am (I think) an "underpronator". I have very high arches and I hit the ground with heel, then outer edge of foot, then ball of foot. I have to be careful about my running technique, stride length, and the slant of the surface.
Third, I am heavy. I am pretty close to 190 pounds, and that kind of impact over and over is going to be hard on my body. Good for it - but hard on it. This calls for careful warming up and cooling down, careful choice of surface, attention to form, and cautious increase of running time. Two weeks ago I ran for about 30 minutes, total. Last week I ran for a total of about 60 minutes, spread out over four runs. It was too much, too soon.
I am surprised how much I would miss running if I weren't able to do it. This isn't because I love running - I'd much rather be lifting weights or (bliss of blisses) rowing a boat. But running is shorts + shoes + jacket + out my front door = exercise. It doesn't get much easier or cheaper than that.
In other news:
My sister-in-law is also trying to lose weight this year. She has imposed a Junk Moratorium on herself, and has invited anyone who pleases to join her.
I have joined her, and I have put this prize into the Pot:
the winner's choice of
a) handknit socks; or
b) a lace scarf.
The winner, of course, being the person who holds out longest.
The rules aren't hard and fast yet, but I'm sure they'll be hammered out over time. Amy has ruled out, for herself, chocolate, doughnuts, chips, fries, pop, cakes, cookies. I will be doing the same as she...if I think of anything else I'll add it.
Anyway, if you are interested in joining us, please stop by her blog and sign yourself up. So far there are only three of us, so it's not a huge contest or anything, but the element of competition could be very helpful.
It'll be interesting to see how long we can remain, to quote Jerry Seinfeld, "Master of our domain."
Hee hee.
Last week I started to develop shin splints. I used to get these nine or ten years ago, when I was doing 1.5 hours of high-impact aerobics four to five times weekly. (This was before kids, of course. Who has that kind of time nowadays?) It was excruciatingly painful and I remember it well. So, when I started getting some symptoms I jumped on the prevention right away.
First off, I need new shoes. I can't afford them right now, so I will just have to make do with what I have for the time being.
Second, I am (I think) an "underpronator". I have very high arches and I hit the ground with heel, then outer edge of foot, then ball of foot. I have to be careful about my running technique, stride length, and the slant of the surface.
Third, I am heavy. I am pretty close to 190 pounds, and that kind of impact over and over is going to be hard on my body. Good for it - but hard on it. This calls for careful warming up and cooling down, careful choice of surface, attention to form, and cautious increase of running time. Two weeks ago I ran for about 30 minutes, total. Last week I ran for a total of about 60 minutes, spread out over four runs. It was too much, too soon.
I am surprised how much I would miss running if I weren't able to do it. This isn't because I love running - I'd much rather be lifting weights or (bliss of blisses) rowing a boat. But running is shorts + shoes + jacket + out my front door = exercise. It doesn't get much easier or cheaper than that.
In other news:
My sister-in-law is also trying to lose weight this year. She has imposed a Junk Moratorium on herself, and has invited anyone who pleases to join her.
I have joined her, and I have put this prize into the Pot:
the winner's choice of
a) handknit socks; or
b) a lace scarf.
The winner, of course, being the person who holds out longest.
The rules aren't hard and fast yet, but I'm sure they'll be hammered out over time. Amy has ruled out, for herself, chocolate, doughnuts, chips, fries, pop, cakes, cookies. I will be doing the same as she...if I think of anything else I'll add it.
Anyway, if you are interested in joining us, please stop by her blog and sign yourself up. So far there are only three of us, so it's not a huge contest or anything, but the element of competition could be very helpful.
It'll be interesting to see how long we can remain, to quote Jerry Seinfeld, "Master of our domain."
Hee hee.
Thursday, 27 March 2008
First, and Last.
It's my first post on Stopping the Slide....thanks for your patience Belinda.
I'm sitting solidly in third place here, with only 3 pounds lost. I had a setback a couple of weeks ago (I think it was a cycle thing) and I let it get me down. I kind of gave up for a week and made a series of bad choices.
Losing weight is tricky because you have to want it. Like, you have to want it MORE than you want food and all it represents.
I have trouble motivating myself to lose weight for complicated psychological reasons. I have a deeply ingrained attitude of defiance against the cultural ideal of thinness, and actually trying to make myself smaller always seems like giving in to an oppressor.
In my more objective moments I know that it's not so. It's not "giving up" to try to lose weight. It's not a victory to the patriarchy, if I try to go from a size 14 to a size 12.
I am 34 years old, with both diabetes and heart disease in my family. I am the dreaded Apple shape, with lean hips and legs, and a heavyset abdomen. This body type is notoriously resistant to weight loss, and infamous for its predisposition to both the illnesses mentioned above. Losing weight is probably never going to be any easier than it is right now - I've heard it gets harder as you get older.
So why don't I do it? Why have I been talking about it for so long, feeling vaguely like I should do something about it, but strangely reluctant to start?
Because weight and I have history.
Long, tangled, emotional history.
Which I'll tell you about next time.
I'm sitting solidly in third place here, with only 3 pounds lost. I had a setback a couple of weeks ago (I think it was a cycle thing) and I let it get me down. I kind of gave up for a week and made a series of bad choices.
Losing weight is tricky because you have to want it. Like, you have to want it MORE than you want food and all it represents.
I have trouble motivating myself to lose weight for complicated psychological reasons. I have a deeply ingrained attitude of defiance against the cultural ideal of thinness, and actually trying to make myself smaller always seems like giving in to an oppressor.
In my more objective moments I know that it's not so. It's not "giving up" to try to lose weight. It's not a victory to the patriarchy, if I try to go from a size 14 to a size 12.
I am 34 years old, with both diabetes and heart disease in my family. I am the dreaded Apple shape, with lean hips and legs, and a heavyset abdomen. This body type is notoriously resistant to weight loss, and infamous for its predisposition to both the illnesses mentioned above. Losing weight is probably never going to be any easier than it is right now - I've heard it gets harder as you get older.
So why don't I do it? Why have I been talking about it for so long, feeling vaguely like I should do something about it, but strangely reluctant to start?
Because weight and I have history.
Long, tangled, emotional history.
Which I'll tell you about next time.
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