Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Why Work So Hard?

So I promised a list of things I've learned on my 17 month, 75 pound loss journey.  I have no idea how long this list will be as I still refuse to outline things (I hated outlines when writing papers) so I'm gonna just go with the flow and see what genius (lol) comes out.  You with me?

1) Being fat hurts.  I had pain every single day and could not give my little girl a bath when I weighed almost 300 pounds.  Even the 45 I have left on me now causes me some aches and pains.  If nothing else, the extra 10-15 you may be carrying makes your pants uncomfortable.  Oh, and the chaffing!  I don't miss that...

2) Twinkies are not food.  There is a ton of "food" for sale at the store that is not really food.  If you look at a label and there are more than 3 ingredients you would need assistance pronouncing (or how about, couldn't use in a sentence outside of a biology class) then it is not really food.  We make things into food by eating them...but they aren't REAL food.

3) You don't have to be 5'8 and 125 pounds to be a runner.  I know this because I'm 5'6, 210 pounds and I ran 4 miles a few weeks ago.  Am I fast?  No.  Can I outrun some 125 pound people I know?  Absolutely.  If nothing else, endurance will win out.

4) We all have the ability to make good decisions.  We just don't all DECIDE to do so.  It's important to realize how conscious weight loss is.  I have weeks where my body doesn't cooperate, but for the majority of weeks I've been on this journey, I have consistently lost more the weeks I was more conscious of what I'm eating, how much exercise I'm doing and the amount of rest I'm getting.   (there I go on decisions again...)

5) Everyone has time to exercise.  For the majority of my journey, I had a job that required alot of travel.  I had to eat out alot, eat on the road and sleep away from home for a week at a time.  The one good thing is that I stayed with my parents or my husband's parents when I traveled so I was in a familiar place.  But I still burned crazy hours on the road, then made good choices in the drive-thrus (there are some decent choices to be had) and then get up in the dark to exercise before work.  I was also finishing my Bachelor's degree and training to be a runner.  If I have time to exercise, I promise you do too.  You just need to MAKE the time.  (PS - there are two major things I claim not to have time for that I could be doing instead of blogging right now - I'm not perfect in the area of time management, but have put my health first).  Also, even now I still drive 2 hours per day but work out 5 days per week.  It's tiring, but worth it.  And I finished that dang degree last summer too.  Woo!

6) Goals are a good guideline and motivator - but don't give up if you don't reach them exactly.  When it comes to something that isn't an exact science (your real life + weight loss) even if you don't hit the mark exactly, if you move in that general direction, you will be closer than you were to start when you get to the end.  Doesn't that sound logical?  So if you decide to lose 2 pounds a week for a weight loss of 20 pounds in 10 weeks, but you only lose 15, shoot, why be upset about that?  Its even better to say you will lose 1 pound a week, and then lose the 15.  I have averaged about a pound to a pound and a half per week weight loss through this journey.  Have not hit every goal set but I set them hoping to reach them, but planning for things to happen, life to happen.  And I'm still moving in the right direction so apparently that is working for me.  I'm going to do a post just about goal setting later this week as I could write on that topic forever. :)

7) Nothing tastes as good as the next size down feels.  SERIOUSLY.  I know you've heard this.  But really, man, nothing compares to how great it feels to fit into things in your closet you didn't think you would wear again.  I have about 7 pairs of pants waiting for size 14s to be comfortable.  I refuse to wear uncomfortably tight clothing, so I'm waiting until I can comfortably zip up that zipper.  I'm thinking around 195 that will be the case.

8) Being between underwear sizes is one of the hardest things about losing weight.  Enough said.

9) If it's wider than it is long, it's wrong.  I coined this phrase myself and I apply it to shorts and skirts religiously.  Here's the deal, its going to be awhile before I look amazing in shorts at all.  Period.  But I think no matter how good I look when I reach my goal I will likely always use this rule.  I wish everyone else did!  (lol).

OK - finally was able to finish this post...on to the next!
Clara

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