This week’s progress:

Two pounds gained, which didn’t surprise me one bit. I ate mostly healthy stuff, didn’t snack and didn’t drink (too much).

Starting Weight: 180

Current Weight: 182

This week’s slips:

Let’s see: pumpkin pie, whipped cream, cranberry sauce, lots of carbs and a good dose of gravy. Enough said.

This week’s successes:

I think getting through Thanksgiving with only a 2-pound gain is a success. My goal was to make it through with less than a 5-pound gain, remember? Goal!

Goals for next week:

I am ramping up my weight loss efforts this coming week. I’m aiming for 12 miles on the treadmill, whether it takes me 4 days or 6 days. I’m also going to do two days of Slim-Fast meal replacements, in an effort to get my appetite back down after an indulgent holiday.

What are your goals for this week, and how do you plan on reaching them? Please share with us in the comments.

Post from: Blisstree

Weekly Weight Progress, 11/29

After finding a more positive mind-set and reaffirming my self-worth, I lost all the weight and got in shape by doing the following:

I purchased a one-month supply of Herbalife products.

This included meal replacement powder, vitamins, and other supplements. While I don’t think meal replacements and supplements are necessary for weight loss, they were for me. I needed the help to jump-start the loss. Once I lost 20 pounds, I had regained control of my appetite. I was so motivated by my new look that I didn’t need to continue the meal replacements, energy boosters, or appetite suppressants.

I scheduled exercise.

My good friend and I made a “date” at least 4 times a week at her house to use her treadmill and exercise videos. She’d do one and I’d do the other, then we’d switch. Of course being single with no kids, I had more time for this than most people probably do. Scheduling the time and considering it an important appointment that you must keep really helps.

I ate less, and what I did eat was healthier.

Obviously, I was eating fewer calories while on the meal replacement shakes. I drank a shake when I arrived at work, one for lunch, and my mom made me a healthy dinner each night. I kept myself busy after work by doing my exercise. Before you eat is a great time to exercise, and you will actually burn more of your food calories that way.

I didn’t starve myself.

The meal replacements were heavy on protein, which helped suppress my appetite. I did get hungry while working though, and kept a tube of saltine crackers on my desk. While they aren’t the healthiest things in the world, they are relatively low in calories. When combined with massive amounts of water, they filled me up. (Though I should probably recommend fruit and veggie snacks, crackers worked best for me.)

I drank as if my life depended on it.

Seriously.  Luckily, the office I worked in had a full kitchen with a sink and the best weight loss tool — water. I filled up a pint sized plastic cup and vowed to finish one of those for every hour I worked. It was easy, even while doing my job as a receptionist and billing clerk. Did you notice what I did to make it easy? I scheduled my drinking. By making myself empty and refill the cup once each hour, I ended up drinking a full 128 ounces of water over the course of my day. That’s 16 cups of water, 2 for each hour I worked! I can’t even begin to explain the benefits of water while losing weight — that in itself deserves its own post.

That’s it. That’s what I did. Perhaps I was in the minority by having family support, exercise equipment at my disposal, and time to put myself first — but those are all very important parts of successful weight loss. Of course, as you probably have guessed by now, I did gain the weight back eventually. Such is the life of someone with obesity written in the genes. You might be asking why bother then….

I kept that extra weight off for about 4 years, and the only reason I gained it back was because of my first pregnancy. During those 4 years, my thyroid hormones stayed at a normal range, I was at less risk for heart attack and stroke, and I felt energized and healthy.

It was worth the effort.

Post from: Blisstree

Weight Gain and Hormones, Losing the Fat

What I like most about it is how happy she looks, and how much joy I see in her eyes.

Do you have a weight-loss success story or pictures you share with others?- KristenContents Copyright © 2008 by Kristen King

Post from: Blisstree

One Woman’s Weight-Loss Journey: A Video

Her “live” blog will be displayed in a viewer window on the main Pink Ribbon Review website (thanks to software provided by CoveritLive). It’s like instant messaging — except you don’t need a user name or password — and you can watch the conversation, view photos, send in comments, or participate in polls. There’s no downloading … just have her website loaded at 8:00 EST and watch the magic unfold.

- Kristen

(image: SXC.hu)

Post from: Blisstree

Stand Up to Cancer Live Blogging at Pink Ribbon Review

Some people go to extremes in an effort to lose weight. This can be dangerous, and I hope you aren’t doing this to yourself just to lose weight.

Why less isn’t always best

Starving yourself to lose weight is definitely not the way to go. You will only end up losing muscle and feel irritable, edgy, and extreme hunger. Your body need daily nutrition. It needs a certain amount of vegetables and protein every single day.

While starving yourself and living on very little food might make you lose weight, it has the potential risk of throwing you into a self-induced eating disorder.

Lose weight and stay healthy

Instead of starving yourself, simply cut back on your portions and start drinking more water every day. It is much healthier for you to lose a small amount of weight over a long period of time, than it is for you to starve yourself and lose a lot of weight very fast.

Post from: Blisstree

Are You Starving Yourself?

Plateaus are the worst. One month you’re rolling right along, shedding the pounds at a healthy, normal rate, then suddenly you’re at a standstill, and might even gain a pound or two back.

Don’t worry if this is where you’re at right now. It happens to everyone. Here’s something you can try…

Look at your goals

If you already set some weight loss goals for yourself, now is a good time to pull them out and revisit them, particularly if it’s been months now.

The goals we set at the beginning of our weight loss journey are merely a starting point. Lots of people forget about their original goals once they start losing weight anyway.

Decide what’s working

Some of your goals may be strong enough that they need to be carried through an extended period of time. Then there may be goals that you haven’t even begun to work on.

Go through your weight loss goals and mark a line through the ones you’ve already accomplished. Take a look at what’s left. Determine what needs to be chunked and what you still need to work on.

Create new weight loss goals

Now that you’ve chopped up your old list of weight loss goals, it’s time to create a whole new list of goals for yourself. If you are still struggling with something (for me, it’s still chips), make that your top priority this time around.

Post from: Blisstree

Revisit Your Weight Loss Goals

Have you ever been roped in by a bright neon sign, telling you to come on in, sit down, and have a bite or two? Don’t be swayed by those flashy signs. Here’s why…

You can’t stop with one bite

Fast food joints are almost like drugs. They reel you in with promises of juicy burgers or other tasty morsels. They don’t share the reality of the bloated calories all their delicious food contains. They feed you, then send you on your merry way, feeling ten pounds heavier instantly.

Fast food is too fattening

A fast food meal, in comparison to a home-cooked meal is extremely fattening. Sure, home cooked meals take some time and effort. But laziness will only get you fatter and unhealthier.

You’ll rack on the pounds quicker than you expect

If you like to drive through fast food joints and tell yourself that it’s okay because you order the grilled chicken, you’re wrong. Sure, if you only drive through once every three or four weeks, that’s fine. But if you are consuming this type of food 3-4 times per week, you are seriously off-balance.

Fast Fact: The Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich at McDonald’s has 420 calories and 10 grams of fat. Not bad, but if you eat just this sandwich (not including fries or a soda) three times per week, that totals 1,260 calories and 30 grams of fat. For three meals.

How often are you roped in by the bright lights of fast food joints every week?

Post from: Blisstree

Don’t Be Roped In By The Bright Lights

Are you struggling with your weight loss goals? Do you feel like you just can’t go on any more? Are you thinking about giving up and going back to all your old, bad habits?

I have a special message for you today…

Look Ahead

Remember where you were when you first started on your weight loss journey? Remember how difficult you thought it would be to lose weight? Yet, still you persisted and tried anyway. Now look where you are today.

Think about your future. What does it look like? What are you doing? Can you envision yourself, a stronger, healthier, gorgeous person? Decide what you want for yourself.

Love Yourself

Much of the time, when we stumble and feel like giving up, it is because we have forgotten about ourselves. Have you been so consumed by the idea of losing weight that you’ve forgotten to take time to give back to yourself?

Go for a walk in the country. Sit on the front porch and listen to nature around you. Visit a museum. Do something you enjoy, just for you today.

Shake Things Up

Perhaps you are struggling simply because you are stuck in a routine. Sometimes it is helpful if you shake things up. Varying your consumption of calories and trying new exercise routines can help give your metabolism a jolt. Do something different this week.

Encourage Yourself

One of the most important things you must remember and apply is that you have to be your own biggest cheerleader. When it’s all said and done, your weight loss is only important to you. It’s up to you, whether you lose the weight and live healthier, or keep eating and gaining weight and living a miserable life.

We all get down. We all struggle at times. The true test of your commitment to your own weight loss success is if you can encourage yourself during those moments of weakness. Allow yourself a couple of hours to feel sorry for yourself. Then get up, get moving, and get back on track.

Post from: Blisstree

Don’t Give Up

I’ve been getting that compliment a lot lately. At least once a week, someone will come up to me (who knows me and knows how big I had been) and says, “Girl, you look so GOOD!”

It’s a great feeling to hear something that nice said about myself. But I have to tell you that a few weeks ago, it was difficult for me to accept such a compliment. I would combat it with something like, “Thanks, but I have A LOT MORE to lose.”

Why do I do that? I’ll tell you why…

I still had low confidence/self-esteem.

At my highest weight (221 pounds), I was happier with myself than I had been in a very long time. I finally learned to accept myself for who I was, fat and all. The thing is, other than feeling miserable physically, I was pretty happy with myself.

But I couldn’t sleep. I woke up aching from head to toe. My joints hurt. All because I was eating myself into an oblivion.

As much as I was happy with myself, I was miserable because I still didn’t feel very confident with myself. I knew how overweight I was, but I felt like I was too far gone to lose weight again. I kept telling myself–and others–that I couldn’t do it any more, that I’d gained too much and gone too far to turn around and go back the other way.

I was wrong.

I needed to believe in myself again.

The truth was I didn’t want to lose weight. I was happy eating ungodly amounts of food. Food didn’t expect anything from me, and it certainly didn’t ask anything of me. It tasted good. It soothed me. So I continued eating.

I didn’t believe in myself enough to believe that I was strong enough to lose weight again. I lied to myself and believed that all will power was lost forever. I had all the will power I ever needed. I just didn’t want to apply it.

When I finally decided to try to lose weight and get healthy again, I knew I needed to do it for me. This couldn’t be about looking good for my husband. It couldn’t be about being a better mom to my kids. This time, my losing weight needed to be all about me–feeling better, looking better, loving myself enough to live healthy.

Now I smile and say, “Thank you!”

Now, months later, I am still learning to smile and accept these nice compliments with a gracious, “Thank you!” I take a second to breathe and soak in every word. And so should you.

Post from: Blisstree

"You Look So GOOD!!!"

Did you know that snakes shed their old skin because they outgrow it? The snakes that do not outgrow their old skin still shed it anyway, to replace it with a healthier new skin. We should take this lesson from snakes and apply it to our own life. I’m not talking about ripping away layers of skin, either. I’m talking about digging deep beneath our inner layers to find out what’s driving you to live an unhealthy life.

You see, more often than not, being overweight is simply a symptom of much bigger problems that you don’t want to deal with.

Here are some questions to ask yourself, to help you dig deep and shed those unhealthy layers…

What is your earliest memory of feeling fat?

Think back to the first time you thought you were fat. What made you feel that way?

For me, it was when I was 17, in 12th grade of high school. I distinctly remember feeling like I was enormously fat. I skipped breakfast every morning and only ate a bag of popcorn for lunch. I ate skimpy dinners at home, too. I constantly worried about how I looked and always felt fat.

The crazy thing is, when I see pictures of myself back then, I was perfectly normal. I was a normal size (8/10). There was nothing fat about me. But I felt fat.

I think the biggest reason why I felt fat was because I had a lot of issues going on then. There was a serious issue I tried to deal with my entire life; something that had happened to me that I’d never told anyone. On top of that, my parents were constantly engaged in physical and verbal abuse with each other throughout my entire childhood. The last two years of high school for me were filled with a lot of pretty bad stuff happening at home, which accounts of my zero self-esteem back then.

What are you feeling when you overeat?

More importantly, what are you thinking while you are eating, when you aren’t hungry. One thing I learned when I did attend Weight Watchers meetings was the H.A.L.T. method. When you head for the kitchen (or fast food joint), halt (stop) and ask yourself, “Am I…?”

• Hungry
• Angry
• Lonely
• Tired

If you can honestly answer yes to any of these questions besides the first, then you should not put a bite of food in your mouth. All too often, people who are overweight eat when they aren’t hungry do so because of emotions. If you aren’t hungry, but your mood can be fit into one of the other three categories, you are eating just to appease your mood.

This is where keeping a weight loss journal or blog comes in very handy. When you want to eat because of an emotion you’re feeling, rather than being hungry, you can turn to your journal and write about why you are feeling the way you feel.

Not many will do this because they don’t want to take the time to sit and write out their feelings. Sadly, these are the very people who remain stuck in a body too big, because they won’t allow themselves to “go there” and dig down to the root of their weight issue.

Keep Digging Deeper

Now that I have you started, I want you to take some time over the next few weeks to dig deeper. Uncover the issues that drive you to overeat. Work on releasing yourself from childhood wounds and unhealthy habits. Until you can get real with yourself about what’s really going on inside, you will never be able to lose the weight and keep it off.

Do this for you…because YOU ARE WORTH IT!

Post from: Blisstree

Shed Those Unhealthy Layers (Like A Snake)