What's in a number?

Well this week was better than last but still not what I was looking for…I gained again 0.6.  Of course I was disappointed but I am mentally much better at receiving this than I was last week.  I know I said I was not going to beat myself up about it but apparently that was for your benefit because I was still pretty hard on myself even though I tried to convince myself it was ok.  Do you ever have weeks (like my last week) when it just feels like you are failing at everything and then you step on the scale and its like it screams confirmation at you?  Well that was my first instinct and then I read a comment about my last article that seemed to turn me back in the right direction.  I will share the comment and maybe if you are in the same boat it will change your tune too.

            “Without knowing what books you're reading, I hope they talk about the one real difference between alcohol (or drug) addiction and food addiction: you need food to live! A person MUST come to terms with feeding his/her body, which is different than swearing off alcohol or drugs and never taking another drink/hit for the rest of their lives. It requires a much deeper commitment.
Don't beat yourself up about the weight gain. I saw on Facebook that you've started incorporating strength workouts into your routine and it could just be that your body composition is changing to more muscle and less fat. Don't marry yourself to a number (especially if you are not tracking measurements/inches). Just keep up the good work!”

First the books that I have read do talk about the difference in alcohol and food addiction.  I have just neglected to mention that in my articles, I assumed….We all know what that means.   Anyway they are more discussing changing your relationship with food and your dependency.  They talk about the deeper issues and what such addict is using food for such as to relax or bury your feelings.  The part of this that really stuck is “Don’t marry yourself to the number”  this is something that I advise all the time and have read several times it just so happens this time I was ready to hear it.  So what is the number really?  And why is it that the number on the scale has such an effect?  I have had my blood work done and all my numbers are great except the weight! UGH damn number and the “normal” charts!  Who comes up with that anyway?  After all, the real goal is to be healthy right? So why is it that the number on the scale seems to over power the rest? The rest of the numbers tell me that I am maintaining my goal of being healthy.  Its like this is the last number that I need to change to be perfect!  And we all know that number would make me perfect….ok stop laughing.  Seriously, what is next?  When I reach this number there will be something else that I have to change to “make me happy”.  If you think about it this type of thinking kind of got us here in the first place… “If I just ate one cookie it would stop the craving.”  Hmm if that one cookie was so great two has got to be better” See the snowball?  This type of thinking can be a good thing too like when I was 40 pounds overweight and I would say if I could lose just 10 pounds but when I got there it kept me going to the next 10 pounds until I am within 10 pounds of the “normal”.

When is good, good enough?  Why does it have to be good enough, shouldn’t we always strive for better?

That said, I have made a few changes for this coming week.  I had been pretty lazy with journaling and counting calories so I am back at that and I found a new, more user-friendly tracker.  It is myfitnesspal.com and the food diary seems to be more my type of foods so there is less guessing.  Good Luck this week on your journey to healthy living and I hope to have better news next week.

hum·ble- adjective - not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.

I have been hearing from many people who are reading my article and I love it!  It also makes this one a little humbling to write.  I have had three good weeks of losses and now I have to admit that I have gained 1.6 pounds! UGH….This is where my “diets” always diminish.   If you remember from last week I had a not so good weekend but I didn’t give up like I normally do and have not so good weeks to follow.  Scary to think what it may have been had I thrown my typically pity party.  I am sure I am not alone when I say that when I hit an obstacle in my journey it is hard not to say, “what’s the use” but I guess that is why it is great to be on a journey and not a diet.  If I just pick up where I left off and make good choices most of the time I will be fine after all if it is for a lifetime, I have to give myself some tolerance.

I have been doing some reading about obesity, overeating and food addiction so that I could try to share some wisdom with the masses.  There is some interesting stuff and a lot of it I already am aware but some of it gives a new way to look at it.  The two books that I have read/reading recently are one of overeating and one of food addiction.  Both have similar information in that both compare food to alcohol; the differences are that one linked overeating to emotions and the other links it to chemicals in your body.  In the long run they both run back to emotions.  The book focusing on the chemicals in your body elaborates on the effects of certain substances, such as sugar, four or wheat, on the chemical make up of your nervous system.  I found this very interesting because it is stating that these substances actually create serotonin a chemical in your body that makes you relax, happy, etc.  Makes sense and brings it back to your emotions.  Some of you may be wondering what is the purpose of all of this?  Isn’t this just setting up another excuse?  Could be…if I let it but this is a no excuses journey.  I suppose this is a way of understanding why it is so hard to make the life changes.   What this has clarified for me: There is not one solid route for everyone to take on the healthy journey.  We all have our own way to reach our destination. Is there really is a destination?  That implies that one day it will all be over…well I guess in a way that is true.  The decision we have to make is how we want to feel and how long we want to take to get to the final destination.

There are a lot of events coming up at Your Life Fitness that will hopefully help you in your healthy living path.  October 1^st we have the Healthy Habits Hustle a walk run event with distances for everyone.  On October 7^th, we have signed on to the “Make Iowa the Healthiest State” Campaign and are hosting a Start Somewhere Walk at Noon; it is a short walk to start you on your road to a healthier life.  On November 5^th I will be hosting a Total Life Wellness Conference at the Lenox Elementary, you will see more details soon.  The response that I am getting from writing this tells me the interest is out there and I am going to work hard to make our goals attainable.  Hope to see you there!

Almost forgot the recipe as promised! 

Cheesy Flounder Fillets

1 ½ pounds of flounder fillets

1/3 cup Basic Yogurt Cheese (I used less fat cream cheese and added some skim milk)

2 teaspoons cornstarch (my guess this was suppose to thicken the yogurt cheese)

2 tablespoons grated parmesan

2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped

¼ cup onion minced

1 tbs. Lemon juice

1 tbs fresh dill or 1 tsp dried

Vegetable coating spray

Line the bottom of a 13x9 pan sprayed with vegetable spray with fish fillets. Combine remaining ingredients; spread evenly over fish.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork.

Reviews: Me, not a big fish eater but tarter sauce is a must with it, enjoyed it.  Jr…likes fish does not like tarter sauce didn’t really like it and the kids didn’t like it because Jr didn’t like it.  We came to the conclusion that the mixture was a healthier version of tarter sauce so if you like tarter sauce you may love this. 

Life Happens

So here comes the reality of diets…life.  This past weekend we went camping for the Labor Day holiday. Healthy eating was minimal, but this proves why I refuse to diet.  Had I been on a diet and not a lifelong journey I would have looked at the past weekend as a failure.  I would have been disgusted with myself because I didn’t have more self-control and before I knew it I would be looking at weeks of overeating and self-pity.  I am not on a diet and I am not beating myself up.  There are always going to be times in our lives that we are going to slip.  Life’s temptations are relentless and they will always be there the trick is finding a balance that allows us some lenience as well as structure.  Sounds easy enough, right?  I survived a birthday with cake and ice cream I will survive this too.  Last weeks quote “Accept it and move on” rings true once again.  So I had a few cookies and some potato chips, the next 3 days I just have to really mind my p’s & q’s or fruits and veggies.  Don’t forget that lenience is balanced with structure and don’t get too lenient.

Last week I lost another 2.2 pounds! Yeah me that puts me at a total of 5.8 pounds.  So far I am right on target of my goal for the end of 12 weeks.  How about you? Have you set a goal yet?  If not here are a couple of tips.  Always make your goal measurable.  Instead of just saying that I want to loose weight, say I want to loose 20 pounds and set a reasonable deadline.  Most of us are not lucky enough to be able to devote weeks of just focusing on our weight like they do on Biggest Loser.  Don’t expect to loose 5-10 pounds a week.  If you have 20 pounds to loose 10-12 weeks is a reasonable amount of time.  That is 2 pounds or less per week which is a healthy amount.  Remember it didn’t appear overnight and it is not going to disappear overnight.  Give yourself short-term goals that keep you moving to reach your ultimate goal.  It is very motivating to reach goals; it gives you a sense of achievement.  Reward yourself when you reach a goal (and I don’t mean with an ice cream sundae).  Treat yourself to a movie, a massage, a haircut or color, that fishing lure you have had your eye on or an hour to yourself to read a good book.  I think you get my point.  After you set goals make a plan of what you need to do to reach that goal.  Maybe you need to add an extra workout or eliminate a certain type of snack.

After you get your goals set be sure to write them down somewhere that you will see them often.

This week I am going to work on turning more of my favorite foods to a healthier version and I am going to try something new!  I am trying to find a way that I like fish that is not deep fat fried or fish sticks.  I will share next week the results.  What are you going to do this week?