September 21, 2011

Excuses, Excuses

If you really want to do it, you do it. There are no excuses. - Bruce Nauman

It is wise to direct your anger towards problems - not people; to focus your energies on answers - not excuses. - William Arthur Ward 

When it comes to getting healthy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle (in all aspects!) like many of us, I can be quite the bundle of excuses. What excuses do we tell ourselves when we start or are in the midst of our weight loss journey?

I hate to exercise. I just don't have the time.
We have to move.  Cardio keeps our hearts happy, blood pumping and GI tract moving. Get the good air in and the bad stuff out.
Take walks, find a partner or co-worker and really hold each other accountable
Find something you like to do
Sign up for a class at a gym or Zumba
Try an online challenge, run around with your kids, or pets.

I hate “diet foods”
How about just food.  Real food?
Before we put the whatever it is that is heading for our mouth in our bodies, ask, Is this good fuel for my body?
If I can't remember how carpy I felt the last time I ate an entire bag of gourmet chocolates - thinking if I eat them today they won't tempt me tomorrow - then I try to write down just how awful I felt afterwards.  And even why I felt the need to scarf them down in the first place.  Tomorrow's temptation is just another type of excuse!

It will take too long.
Every day is a step closer. How long did it take to put on the weight? Why should we expect it to come off any faster than we put it on?

I've tried and failed so many times
I fall off the wagon all the time, but every day is a new chance. I might not like the result, but taking accountability for my actions IS a success.
Ask for help.
Find a support group with a common goal, to get and stay healthy. If one group doesn’t work, find something that will.

Remember, deciding to make a change comes from us alone, but actually making that change doesn't have to be a solo effort.

What kind of excuses do you tell yourself and what ways are you going to focus your energies on solutions instead?

September 20, 2011

Going Rogue!

We are in an interesting situation with our WeightWatchers at Work program. In order to keep our program going, we need 15 “paying” members to join. I say paying because leeches maintainers like me, don't count since hitting goal and getting lifetime (staying within 2 pounds of goal) gets you a free pass. Anyway, we don’t have enough people and the people that we do have talked this last week about how hard it was to keep on plan without the support of weekly meetings.

So….

We decided to go rogue.

We are going to still get together for community support just without all the bells and whistles and program materials from Weight Watchers.

I believe in the program. I believe in the support. I believe that through checking in and the accountability of these meetings we can lose or maintain our weight. I believe in it so much, I offered to volunteer my time to lead the weekly rogue meetings. Not WeightWatchers, but weekly support.

Oh.

Em.

Gee.

What did I just do? Me, afraid of public speaking. Me, not wanting to be some BFKIA. Me, not wanting to obsess or talk about weight loss.

But then again, these are all fears that the people in the meetings I go to may not have, and they can help me. And maybe, just maybe some of the fears that they have, I might be able to help with…or at least ask the questions and others in our little rogue community might be so over them.

I guess just being aware of the fears in the first place will help me keep them in check.

Here is our little plan:

Regardless if people chose to use eTools, pointsplus or even use a free versions, like LiveStrong or SparkPeople we’ll get together each Wednesday at lunch time and talk about our overall weight loss journey.  

Overall Structure of the 30 minute meeting
  • Check In/Weigh In 
  • Celebrate Non-Scale-Victories (NSV) 
  • Tips/Tricks/Recipes to share 
  • Topic of the week
  • Discussion 
  • Wrap-up with a commitment based on discussion topic/Inspiring Quote/Story 

Tomorrow’s topic – Excuses! (Since, well, it is *easy* to make the excuse we won’t meet since we don’t have a meeting leader! Excuse SQAUSHED!)

Do you want to join in too virtually?  I am thinking I'll post the meeting topic bullet points Wednesdays, the same day as we meet. And some ideas shared soon there after. 

September 16, 2011

Friday's Drawers - A come back


Fresh food and a fresh start.

It's Friday! And another edition of Friday's Drawers, one that I am actually posting. *gasp*

And I can report that not only has this share been pic'd and posted, many of the items have been prepared too.  *double gasp*

What did we do?

  • Veggie, chard noodle soup with homemade chicken broth, (See the broth in the background) celery, carrots, and some of the chard at the end.  
  • Roasted beets tossed with olive oil in a 400 degree oven until tender (about 45min-1hour)
  • Tuna sandwich with crunchy celery for dinner.
  • Snacked on pears too! yum!
What will I do with the rest?
  • I have some kale in our garden so I am thinking I'll do this potato kale recipe or adapt it.
  • I love eggs with chard and a little salsa or ketchup, yes I know, but I like them that way.
  • I think I have some carrots left, so I'll attempt a slaw with that cabbage. In the mean time, I've been digging this purple cabbage recipe from last week's share. 
Red (Did I say purple? It looks purple) Cabbage & Apples
Ingredients
1T canola oil
1 head of shredded red cabbage
1 tart apple - peeled, cored and chopped
1 T water
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
1 T white sugar or honey
1 T cider vinegar

Directions
1. Heat oil in a medium size saucepan. Stir in cabbage and onion; fry until wilted. Stir in apple and water, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer about 25 minutes.
2. Pour vinegar and sugar into the mixture while tasting for desired sweet and sour taste. Cook another 5 to 6 minutes.
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

September 07, 2011

Hi ya!

The fastinistas over at Another Mother Runner have been challenging and inspiring us with stories about "Why We Run."  Oh my!  There are so many runners and so many reasons and so many writers that we can go on and on about why we run. The series has been hilarious, rebellioustear-jerkingredemptive and ALL of them are inspiring.

I am honored that SBS and Dimity asked me to contribute.  You can read it here.

If you are coming here from there, welcome!

I would LOVE to hear about why you run.  I know why I run, but feel free to comment about what makes you lace up your pumped up kicks.

And after you run, maybe you could take a look around and see some of the odd looking produce I find in my CSA box every week and give me some tips on how to make them tasty?

Thanks for stopping by!