Finding a Full Time Job is a Full Time Job

Spring and May seem to have arrived at the same time, and warmer sunny days are a true delight.  There have been years when Spring lasted about a week and then hurtled full-bore into Summer.  This year the country is experiencing unusual weather patterns.  There is now a voracious wild-fire eating its way up the Pacific Coast Highway in California, snow fell in the middle of the country, the South is sweltering in a heat wave and here in Eastern Pennsylvania the sun is shining and temperatures will most likely range from the upper 60’s to low 70’s.  Quite frankly being outside enjoying the sun and working in the yard is what I wish

Welcome to Week #6

Six weeks! It is difficult to believe that I am living Week #6 in Weight Watchers. Never before have I not obsessed about foods while “dieting”. Oops, stop right there! Weight Watchers is not a diet no matter how you’ve seen it advertised. Weight Watchers is a lifestyle change, but how many people do you know who would willingly pay to change their lifestyle?

In fact, what springs to mind when you hear or see those words? I borrowed this from the Live Strong site:

The “Collins English Dictionary” defines “lifestyle” as a set of attitudes, habits or possessions associated with a particular person or group. Your lifestyle is healthy or unhealthy based on your food choices, activity level and behavior. A positive lifestyle can bring you happiness, while a negative lifestyle can lead to sadness, illness and depression.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/290197-what-is-the-meaning-of-lifestyle/#ixzz2KEaro72z

Changing your lifestyle can be difficult and lengthy, depending on the changes you desire. For instance, if you want more free time in your life, you need to determine what you have to change to create more free time. Does that involve finding another job or scaling back on overtime? If you need to stop drinking it would be in your best interest to find a therapist and/or a support group such as AA to help you navigate your way back to sobriety. If you want to stop smoking, will you quit “cold turkey” or will you seek out a nicotine patch or a professional specializing in that particular addiction? You just have to choose a program that will best meet your physical and emotional needs as well as your budget.

There is no existing “fits all” program for changing your lifestyle. Were that the case, publishers would soon suffer for lack of publishable material, and the Internet would be less interesting. Would you truly want a fits-all program? No? Why not? Wouldn’t it be easier? Easier!?! Are you kidding? Why not? Why not, indeed! You know the answer, we all know the answer. The answer is, “Because I’m not like everyone else”. So then, why do we need to go to absurd lengths to prove to ourselves that we are unique? Just because you want to lose weight, and your best friend swears by the super-new monkey glad shots given to her by her manicurist, it doesn’t mean you should blindly sign up for the bi-weekly shots. It doesn’t matter how your best friend, mother, sister, cousin or stylist accomplished their goals. What matters is how you will reach yours.

How do you find the best program? It doesn’t hurt to ask others what they are doing, you’re not obligated to take their advice. Research, be it online, at your local library or in your doctor’s office is always good. So is asking for help from a non-affiliated professional. By non-affiliated I mean a trained professional without a financial stake in any particular program. Make a list of things you like and dislike about your situation and be specific about what you want to change. A diabetic will have different criteria than someone with IBS, for instance. No two people are alike, and though there are many programs that are identical in appearance, a closer look will unearth the differences.

Celebrate the choices you have to help you make the changes that will improve your life. Once you have chosen the program, commit to following it to the letter. Unless you follow a program to the letter, you won’t know if it’s right for you. In fact, if you immediately begin to tweak a program to suit your individuality, then that program is definitely not for you. Don’t be discouraged if you need to try more than one plan. You may not know yourself as well as you think you do, and trying various plans or programs will help you find self-discoveries you need to succeed. And don’t become discouraged with your plan if it’s a great fit but the changes don’t occur as soon as you’d like. You need to remember that changes happen within their own time frames. Not every oak drops its leaves at the same rate as the other oaks in the forest, there are variances within each oak.

What is all this leading to? Well, this blog is about my weight loss journey and this post describes the beginning. I’ve wanted to release my excess weight for some time. I tried on lots of different diets to see what would fit. I talked with other people, I researched various products and plans and I finally became specific about what I wanted. I wanted to feel better, be more active, and become more healthy. I disliked being tired, and I disliked making excuses about why I didn’t feel better, fit or healthy. There was but one truth: Obesity. In the cold light of reality I acknowledged the truth and determined the next step was to find a program. Three crystal clear facts emerged: (1) I need accountability, (2) I am not willing to deprive myself of any food or beverage and (3) I don’t care how long the journey takes so long as I stay 100% committed to the program.

Along with those top three facts I added (4) practicality and availability of ingredients, (5) ease of meal preparation, (6) affordability and (7) sustainability (I dislike boredom). I found only one program that fulfilled all seven of my criteria. I committed to the program and began immediately. My number one goal is to stay On Program for as long as I am able. I know I’m not perfect, and there is a chance that some day I will find myself in an overwhelming situation, causing a program breach. But the longer I continue to follow the program, and reinforce the desired behaviors, the better the chance to reach my weight loss goal and my ultimate maintenance goal.

My weight release program fits me perfectly now and will for as long as my criteria remain the same; plus it has proven scientific facts and results behind it. Each person must find their own perfect fit. The good news is that many people have the same or very similar criteria; and with the variety of programs available the perfect fit is within everyone’s reach.

Re-post: Divorcing My Excess Pounds

I wish I had all the pounds I’ve lost through the years (most of them were lost more than once) because if I had them I’d make a house-elf. I could really use a house-elf, and it would already know exactly how to clean the house. But those pounds, oh they so want to be my friend; they surround me and squeeze me, they think this is a sign of love. They controlled me, they lie to me because they are afraid to leave me. These pounds are so happy with me that they actually want to multiply! They don’t do anything to support me, they often make me unhappy, and they have made me scream and cry. They have a sick sense of loyalty, thinking that if they hang on to me I will one day love and appreciate them and the horrible way they make me feel.

These pounds come to me so easily, they have a slick way of insinuating themselves in holiday meals, celebrations, parties, vacations and sick days. I know what they are doing, and yet I allow them to get away with this outrageous behavior. I have such contempt for these pounds, and yet I have not been strong enough to say NO! Weakness points the way to failure.

On the second day of January 2013 I finally opened my eyes and realized that “I’m so done!” Done with mindless eating. Done with emotional eating. Done with irresponsibly stuffing empty calories into the huge fat cells the pounds built. I decided that I want to really live my life without these excess pounds. I want freedom from fat! I want good health and energy. I want my self-respect back. I now recognize that food, in and of itself, is not bad. There are no bad foods, there are only foods that contain ingredients that may make me ill if eaten in multiple servings at one sitting. The pounds don’t recognize the meaning of the word “moderation”. They reward only excess.

The divorce papers are filed! Excess no longer rules! I have no idea how long this process will take because I know there will come a day when the pounds will try to retake the fortress. There will be ugly confrontations with excess coming at me from all directions. Excess will try to wheedle its way in with promises of meltingly delicious flavors, and heavenly scents. It will promise tingling taste buds, even though it knows full well that after the first taste of anything the taste buds quickly become acclimated to the flavor and cease to deliver that first shiver of expectant delight. I vow to no longer allow excess to control me. I may have once loved excess, but excess has killed that love. I acknowledge the existence of excess, but I will no longer pander to excess. I don’t hate excess, I now feel nothing for it. Excess is just something that I used to know.

We’ll definitely celebrate when the divorce is final; for it will mark the beginning of forever maintaining moderation as second nature. What a wonderful future awaits!

For Angelika, With Thanks

A very wise women who is a regular contributor to one of the Weight Watchers boards where I most often post wrote a very timely and insightful bit of advice to “take the long view” of weight loss. Her words made quite an impression on me as it was realistic and inspirational. It was something I needed to read.

 As I sat and thought about her advice, and how I could best apply it to my weight loss battle, it occurred to me that taking the “long view” of life is also advice that many of us need. To be successful we need to change how we view and perform our day-to-day routines.

It sounds peculiar to say that the most difficult task we have is being present in every aspect of our lives. I am a unique individual, but I share something with many others in this world. What I share is a propensity for living in my future. How many of us are fully present each moment of the day? For the most part we are constantly involved in making plans for our future selves. We put the present on “pause” in our minds so we can remember what we must from our past, all the while wondering how it fits into our future. Oh we know we have to get up at a certain time of day, dress ourselves, feed ourselves and get ourselves to the next stage of the day. We tend to coast through these activities because we’re thinking about how late we need to work, and will everyone be available for dinner? And by the way, what the heck am I going to cook for dinner? Will the kids eat it or will I have to cook them hot dogs……again! What’s in the freezer/the pantry/ the refrigerator? I want to try that new recipe! Where did I see it? Oh, I’m out of eggs, so I can’t make that recipe tonight, the dog needs to go to the vet…and the beat goes on.

We never stop to breathe; we forget to look up at the clouds in the sky and we seem never to hear the birdsong or how it sounds when it snows. We move from our little house boxes into our smaller car boxes and are cocooned inside our fiberglass and metal moving vehicles. We don’t pay attention to the road, or the people in the car, or the traffic on the other side of the windshield because we’re too busy drinking coffee, talking “hands free” on our blue tooth devices, and shuffling through papers in the front seat looking for a report or a teacher’s note or a child’s homework. It’s all about the “future” and where we have to go, or see, or what we have to do 20 minutes from now.

Meanwhile we totally miss the life that is teeming all around us. We miss the hawk sitting on the wires watching its prey. We don’t notice the quick flash of red as a cardinal flies from one side of the road to the other. We enclose ourselves in a hermetically sealed environment so we never get to smell the new mown grass, or the freeway fumes, or the ozone in the air before a thunderstorm. We don’t take the long view of how our actions ultimately affect our health, our emotions, or even our weight. We don’t take the long view and all the complications that go with it, and then surprised at the results because we were living in a present yet to come, a future in our own minds.

The truth is, we can plan and scheme, and play out conversations in our heads; but if we neglect the here and now, we also miss the really important pieces of the puzzle that is life. What legacy do you want to leave when you move on to the beyond? What memories will you have carved in people’s minds? It’s a good thing to plan how to improve our bodies and minds so we can have a healthy future. Take the long view of life, because you will have both expected and unforeseen challenges and no matter what they are, do you really want to miss even one second of your “here and now” existence? How will you measure how far you’ve come if you don’t know where you’ve been?

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Posted in Life and Living, Uncategorized, Weight Loss