Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Who Do You Love?

I met a young lady last week, who made me really think about the message I am sending. She came to see me because she heard from one of my students that I was on a weight loss journey. We talked for about an hour about who she wanted to become. Let me start by saying that she is a beautiful and intelligent young lady with a very bright future.
She told me how she has been overweight her entire life and that she thought that if she lost weight she would have a better life. She talked about being alone because nobody wanted to be friends with the fat girl. When she described her body, she spoke of how she hated herself. She thought that no one would ever love her because she was overweight. At 19 she thought that her life was over because she was not a size 6.
Now I myself have been overweight for most of life and for a long time subscribed to the motto that I could be big and beautiful. I have been teased, laughed at, demeaned and disrespected because I was overweight. Sometimes it hurt me and made me feel bad about myself, other times I just let it roll right off my back. In fact, in starting this blog I even had a person, who decided to leave a nasty comment about weight loss.
Losing weight will not change how you feel about yourself; it will just make you smaller. If you don’t LOVE yourself right now then losing weight won’t make a difference in your life. I love me right now; if I did not lose another pound I could still be happy. My life is full of love that I have created with people based on who I am not what I look like. There are immature and sad people in this world that spend a lot of time spewing hate. I think they do this because they are unhappy with themselves. It is easier to be loud and talk down about others instead of looking in the mirror.
If you are on a weight loss journey make sure that you embark on that journey for the right reason. Happiness cannot be found in a smaller pant size. This is journey that I hope will allow me to have a longer life with my family. It is about improving my health and longevity in life. You may need to ask your self what  this journey is about for you. As for the young lady that came into my office, I have taken her under my wing. She will be getting some therapy but I will help her on her weight loss journey. My first priority is to help her on her journey to loving herself.
One of my sorority sister posted on her face book page that she used to look in the mirror before she lost weight and say “Hey Sexy”.  We should all give that a try!!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Do You Have A Plan?

The holidays are coming and for many of us that means eating!! I grew up in a family that was very into Holiday Food! My Grandmother would cook for days and we in turn would eat for days. Sometimes I would consider holiday meals the last big feast I would enjoy before I started my diet. Seven years ago that changed for me, I decide that I would start a lifestyle change right before the holidays. It was in November in fact, so right around this time of the year.

What I found was that I had to make better choices about my holiday meal. I had no control over what others prepared but I did have control over I consumed. I made a realistic goal for my day considering that there would be tons of great food.

1. I only eat one dinner, one time, that day. So I could not attend several different places for a sit down dinner. I explained ahead of time to hosts that I would love to visits but that I had some new goals in my life. Everyone understood and some even offered to create veggie platters for me, so that if I needed to snack there was a healthy alternative.

2.Eat serving sizes and make sure that my plate was not a platter.

3.Eat breakfast and lunch the day of the meal.

4.Have desert but have only a serving of desert. ( find out what a serving size looks like)

5.Don’t take home left over’s!!!!

Now that I cook my own Thanksgiving meal for my family, we do things a bit differently. My children are fairly young and their appetites are in line with their age. I make enough food for one meal; I try and find the smallest turkey I can. I make a starch, vegetable and a meat. I only make one dessert and it is enough for one meal.That way we move on from that meal and everyone still gets to enjoy the Holiday!!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Lies They Told You


In the past few years we have been bombarded with ads and products that claim to boost your metabolism.  They blame having a slow metabolism for weight gain and tell you that it makes it hard for you to lose weight.  They counter that information by telling you to buy their miracle potion that will help you speed up your metabolism. So a few years ago I did a bit of research on metabolism so that I could better understand my body.
Your metabolism is the rate at which your body breaks down the nutrients in food to produce energy. So the higher you metabolism the faster you break down food into nutrients. If you have a high metabolism you will PROBABLY lose weight faster but that is not guaranteed. Your body composition determines what your metabolic rate (resting metabolic rate-RMR).  So the more fat free mass your body has, the higher your metabolic rate.   A person who is overweight will have a higher metabolic rate than an underweight person. That is because they carry more body mass than an underweight person. If you have ever been in a weight loss program or watched a weight loss shows. You will see that people with lager body mass tend to lose more weight on a weekly basis than those below them.
The main issues that affect your metabolism would be hormones, insulin and stress.  However, the best way to feed your metabolism is to exercise so that you build more lean muscle mass. You need combine cardio and weight training, to increase lean muscle mass.
Don’t get caught up in the myths:
Eating close to bedtime does not slow down your metabolism!
Drinking water does not speed up your metabolism! You need water for other reasons.
There is not a food or an herb that can boost your metabolism!
Reducing calories drastically does not boost your metabolism (it decreases it)
If you want to boost your metabolism exercise and eat right to build lean muscle because there is no quick fix.
Neither I nor any content on this site dispenses any medical advice, either directly or indirectly. You should consult your doctor for medical advice!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Baby its Cold Outside

This is that time of year when  fattening foods are in circulation. It is cold and we forget that summer will come again soon. You can hide under coat and sweaters so you stop thinking about getting fit.  Don't get caught in that trap  because I have many times. With winter approaching, running may not be an option soon. So I you may be thinking that you have to fork over some cash to a local gym. If you are strapped for cash this may seem like a daunting task. Additionally, if you are obese you may not yet have the confidence to join a gym.
Don’t give up hope yet!
If you have cable there are two channels you need to look for. Fit TV and Exercise TV on Demand both channels provide great exercise videos that you can do in the comfort of your own home.
Don’t have cable, get a library card.  Your local library has a great selection of work out videos that you can borrow for free.
Got a few bucks well head to your local dollar store, they have a variety of workout video for a buck.
You can also head over to Push.com; they create custom in home workout. They are tailored specifically for you. You can order one video or get a monthly subscription.  
Personally I am doing a combination of all of these.  I have a few DVD sets  from beach body  and Push that I use.  I will continue to run until I feel the weather is unbearable and  have also found a few gyms that offer classes for ten dollars a session. So if i ever get board, I can walk in and take a class. Usually if I  pay for a class they will let me use the equipment afterwards for free.  With a baby under six months old I did not renew gym membership because he cant go into the gym daycare until January. Until then I will be working out at home and with my DVDs or dropping in on a class occasionally this winter. 

What ever you do don’t get stuck on the couch this winter!!!