The Eatin' Season Approaches

We are getting ready to be right smack down in the middle of the Eatin' Season. That wonderful time of the year when we celebrate with family our favorite way: eating and making merry.   As Turkey Day approaches, I can already see the Southern feast laid out at my family's Thanksgiving meal and can almost taste that dressing and gravy in my mouth.   How will I make it past that calorie-laden feast unscathed and goals intact?  I'm going to try my best to focus not on what's to eat, but on what I'm thankful for and the many wonderful things that have come from making this change in my life:

• I'm thankful for every pound I have lost and for the future pounds lost to come, because by God that scale will come down.
• I'm thankful for my wonderful family and friends who have supported me so overwhelmingly on this journey.
• I'm thankful for an over abundance of food because there are many out there who don't have enough. That being said, I don't have to over eat it just because it is so available. 
• I'm thankful that even though my right leg is still kind of gimpy, I have full mobility of my body and can modify my exercises and move forward.
• I'm thankful for my awesome trainers and class instructors and every person who has worked out at my side.
• And most importantly, I'm thankful to God who has put me on this journey and who continues to bless me along each step of it.

 How is the Eatin' Season to be survived successfully? Maybe by putting it into perspective.

Putting The Band Back Together

My transformation program ended in October and I must admit that I've felt a little adrift since.  A pulled muscle took me out of 5K training with the rest of my group.  Even though I have been in the gym every day, I felt bummed out that I wasn't able to participate in the running program with the rest of my group because I was counting on that extra time with my trainers. A crazy work schedule kept me away from Step class with my girls so I've been mostly slugging it out in the gym, solo on the elliptical machine.

I've missed my girls and our locker room camaraderie.  I've missed the inside jokes shared pumping iron with them.  Even though it's only been a couple of weeks, my anxiety prone mind began to feel like we'd lost the special magic we conjured over this past year.   I've worried seriously about losing my resolve because the scale hasn't moved and I've had injuries that have forced me to change my workouts and not participate in group activities.

 Yesterday Jeff gave me a bonus workout and kicked my butt up and down the gym, old school style.  He also gave me a "talking to" about keeping up my motivation and tightening up, and it was just what I needed.  Turns out Marisa gave the same speech to the other girls in my group after Step class.  The consensus had been that we were all drifting a bit (no one has gained, but no one has lost either) and needed to pull things back together.

As I left the locker room yesterday, a sweaty mess but feeling awesome, I ran into Marisa who said, "You guys need to put the band back together. Make your schedules work, don't worry about who wants to do what workout, just be together."

And today we did just that.  Walking into the locker room to find them there (I'm always the last one in and am legendary to be the last one out of the locker room) was just what I needed, that and the kick-butt circuit Marisa had written for us.  We recommitted to making the time to put the band back together because we are stronger with each other than without.

Sometimes we drift off the path of our journey a little.  For a Type-A personality like me who is highly resistant to change, that drifting off means exercising every day but freaking out that things weren't as they used to be. Sometimes we are put to the test and forced to face challenges and one thing I've learned lately is that those challenges are much easier to bear with partners at your side to lift you up, inspire you, and push you farther that you are willing on your own to go.

A lot of people I've talked to have told me that they were most successful when they worked out with a buddy or a group, but stopped when that support system wasn't there for one reason or another.   To those folks I will pass on Marisa's wise advice to put the band back together.  And to those who find exercise a chore, I say put a band together, whether that's a neighbor to walk with or friends made at a Zumba class.  This is way to hard an endeavor to go at solo

Challenge: The Motivation To Start

In my "former life" how many times did I say, "Okay, for New Years I'm going to get started working out and watching what I eat"? Then it became, "Okay, January's shot so I'll start in February." That lead to "Well, February's shot, I'll start in May...that will give me enough time to get ready for summer." That became, "Okay well summer's here and I haven't started, and it's hot, and I'm busy, and it's Tuesday and nothing good starts on Tuesday, and now it's fall and it's getting cold, okay  it's the holidays so who can lose weight during the holidays so I'll just start for New Years."  Oh vicious cycle, I do know you well.

Getting started is hard.  Obstacles large and small present themselves, most prominent being the sheer motivation to get going.  We are more often than not our own biggest critic and nay-sayer and getting past the inner enemy is one of the hardest things you can do.  When I first started I thought I was much more likely to sprout wings and fly than be consistent in a workout program.  I had no hope that I would be successful, I had no cardio stamina, I had a bum knee that I never thought would support me, and the logistics of getting a workout in during my day and eating correctly overwhelmed me.

If you find yourself in this situation or in a hard one of your own, I say this: have hope and take things slow.  Don't make the mistake most of us do and decide to jump in hard core every day at the gym.  This is a recipe for disaster that in the past I was guilty of making over and over again.   Luckily my trainers are smarter than me and started our group out for the first few weeks working out twice a week and that was it.   For the first few weeks we didn't even change our eating.  Additional workouts and changes in nutrition were pieces of the puzzle that were gradually added on, and the funny thing that happened was that those two days a week working out were so invigorating that we were looking forward to adding on more days.  We started feeling great and wanted to feel better, so we were ready to eat right.

What worked for me to get started on that very first day was to shut off the mind that told me in every possible way it could that I couldn't do this, and just let my feet carry me to the gym.  And believe me when I say to you that if I could do it in the shape I was in, anyone can.  I'll leave you with some wise words by the immortal Dr. Seuss:

From "Oh! The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Suess

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go."

 

Challenge: The Food

Moving on down the list of the challenges in my poll...and this one's a doozy. 

• What is the thing that we use to celebrate every holiday, rite of passage, or celebration?  Food.
• What do we bring to people who've lost a loved one or gained a new baby in the family? Food.
• What is the factor that makes up 80% of whether we lose weight or not?  Food.
• What do we look forward to as comfort at the end of a hard day?  Food.
• If we feel we deserve a treat for one reason or another, what do we turn to most? Food.
• What is the centerpiece of our family traditions?  Food.

Hands down my biggest challenge, and the one that most of my friends say affects them the most, is making the right choices with food.   You can hit the gym every day and work yourself out till you're exhausted and dripping with sweat, but if you don't eat right, you won't lose weight. It takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose just one pound, and unless you live in the gym, you have to modify your eating in order to play the numbers game right.

What's even more challenging is the fact that you can't get away from temptations.   They're everywhere from the commercials on TV for the $9.99 pizza deal, to the leftover Halloween candy that floods your office, to the family birthday dinner, to the sandwich artists at Subway who tell you for just a dollar more, you can upgrade to a five dollar footlong and look at you like you're crazy when you say "no thank you."

In fact, I can't think of any other addiction that you can't go cold turkey on because you must have food to live.  Imagine someone who is addicted to cocaine and gets clean, only they have to do a small amount of it three to five times a day in order to live.   Would they ever get clean?  But that is the challenge facing those of us who have food addiction.   We physically must have food to live so we can't put it down like an ex-smoker can put down the cigarettes and walk away forever.  The challenge that faces us is to learn how to modify our addiction and make it manageable to eat three to five times a day and not fall off the wagon.

I'm still working on it and probably will be the rest of my life.  It's been a year and I'm still finding out things about food I thought was "safe" but that turn into calorie traps. Just this morning I heard on the radio that a banana has just as many calories and sugar as a Snickers bar.  I haven't verified that but it stands to reason.  Now nutritionally, it's obvious what is the better choice.  But still, I don't think I'll be eating any more bananas anytime soon. 

I don't have any magic cures or surefire tricks to conquering the challenge that is food. It's been over a year and I am still learning to look at it as a source of energy, not reward or comfort.  There are still pitfalls that threaten to trip me up along the road of the journey every day.  The trick, as is the advice when kicking anything else, is to take things day by day and to forgive yourself and get back on track if you have a slip-up. And also know that this is a hard struggle, and it is commendable just to have decided to attempt it.

Slacker Karma

I've made no bones about my dysfunctional relationship with the stairs by my gym.  They've been like a metaphor for my weight loss journey as I conquered my fear of them (yes, I used to fear plummeting to my death on the stairs the way some people are afraid of spiders or heights) from the days where my trainer Jeff would patiently set goals for me to go up just a few until I was doing the full set, to the encouragement my team mates and friends would give me to take the stairs down to class instead of the elevator, to eventually writing a workout for myself and our group that included running up and down said staircase five times. 

I've also recounted the many ways Jeff would pop out at me when I was least expecting it and make me take the stairs, as well as the various cat and mouse games I've played trying to avoid him and take the elevator (my best attempt is here if you're interested). I mean hey, I felt like I was getting ready to go to the gym and burn major calories, didn't I deserve an elevator ride?

Today my slacking karma caught up with me.  It was Monday and I had finally managed to drag myself to the gym a little after three o'clock. I was tired and feeling squinty after staring at my computer screen all day. I could have sworn my gym bag was filled with heavy rocks as I made my way down to the fitness center and rounding the corner I came across two choices: the stairwell or the elevator.  Slacker that I was today, you can imagine my choice.

Yawning with the afternoon sleepies, I got on board, scanned my badge and hit the button for the gym's floor.  Doors shut closing me in and I waited.  The elevator didn't go anywhere.  I pushed the button for the gym again.  Nothing.  Scanned my badge and pushed the button again.  Nothing.  Pushed the button again.  Nothing.   Pushed the button for my current floor.  Nothing. Said a bad word and pushed the button.  Nothing.  Started to hyperventilate and pushed all the buttons.  Nothing.  Saw myself plummeting to my death.  Nothing.  Pushed all the buttons again and imagined my tombstone reading, "Here lies Jenn.  She should have taken the stairs." Still nothing. Hit the emergency call button and then wouldn't you know it, the elevator doors opened up on the floor I started out on.  

I flew out of the elevator with wobbly legs and heart palpitations and guess who just happened to be walking by at that opportune moment.   My trainer Jeff.  After hearing of my ordeal, he laughed, shook his head and said, "you should have taken the stairs." 

Challenge: Staying Motivated

I've been taking a poll on this blog to find out what challenges us most about the weight loss journey.  All of the challenges I've listed come from personal experience, and I don't think I'm alone.  No matter if you're just getting started, have started and stopped, getting back in the game, or in the thick of the battle, we all face these challenges. I'm no expert and my journey is far from over, but I've been at this long enough now to have a little experience with the hurdles that come along.  I'd love to say that it gets easier once you've been fighting the fight for a while, but these trials tend to come in like the tide every so often to test us. But the good news is that getting through them is not impossible..you just have to know them for what they are and then you can be prepared to overcome them.

So, tonight I'll tell you what I know about the challenge of finding the motivation to stay going. We've all been there: starting out fresh on a weight loss journey, pumped and ready to go.  We are raring to go, we jump in with both feet into working out and new food plan, the first week is challenging but then a good number on the scale puts a fire in our spirit and we're ready for more.   The weight starts coming off, we hit our stride in the gym, we start to feel better, people start noticing a change, we become hooked on that workout high, we get some new gym shoes,  our energy level goes up, we feel strong, we sleep better, there's a pep in our step - and then BAM! Something happens to throw us off our path.  It could come in many forms: an event like Thanksgiving or Christmas when we just can't seem to resist the seasonal treats, a hard and stressful situation that sends us running for the chocolate or a bag of Doritos, or it could be the weeks and weeks of fighting our basest urges with food and sweating it out in the gym only to face an unforgiving scale that either stays stubbornly the same or worse, goes up.

I've chosen to address this challenge first because it's close to home with me right now.  My program ended a month ago and the scale hasn't moved up or down.  Without my trainers to be accountable to, I've let the food slip a little bit and I struggle with pushing myself the way they did.  My team mates and I have had different, demanding work schedules so we haven't been able to work out together and motivate each other in the gym as often as we'd like.  Not to mention the various assorted and sundry injuries I've had lately that make workouts more challenging. Just writing this now makes me start to panic a little bit about how things were in my program and how they're not now.

But, what I realized today was that I am in a period of testing.  Left to my own devices, I now must face this challenge to keep myself motivated.  Do I let my old behaviors take me out of the game or do I reach down deep inside and prove to myself that I can do this on my own? Do I pass or fail the test?

The motivation to keep going doesn't come easy. My friend Debbie has a great saying, "weight follows behavior, just not right away." Basically this means that if you keep doing what you know is the right thing to do, eventually the weight will come off.  This doesn't mean you have to be perfect every day.  This just means that you have to show up.  You don't have to have the best workout of your life every time, you just have to move your body and know that every step taken, whether its a walk around your neighborhood or a rotation of the elliptical machine, is a step in the right direction. The pain and struggle of working towards your healthy goal is so much better than the pain of feeling unhealthy any day. I read somewhere (and the author of the quote was not known): "Losing weight is hard.  Maintaining weight is hard. Being fat is hard.  Choose your hard."

This week I chose my hard.  I put myself back on my plan of eating whole foods and I showed up at the gym every day to do anything I could, strained foot and pulled quad and all. I trust that my weight will follow my behavior, even if it's not right away.   My motivation this time around is to prove that I've conquered that old bad part of myself that got me into the place that I was, so I say this: whatever you need to grasp onto, use it.  It might be fear, as in my case, or it might be a special event or a health scare or the need to feel better to keep up with the people in your life.  Whatever it is, use it.  And choose your hard.

Plateau, Oh No!

Plateaus are frustrating.  For four solid weeks that blankety blank scale hasn't moved up or down one bit and despite my efforts, I find myself at the same weight (almost down to the tenth of a pound) as I was one month ago.   Plateaus are inevitable; this is the third one I've experienced on this journey, but they are oh so aggravating especially when I am this close to the milestone of losing 100 pounds. 

Plateaus can also be constructive.  They force you to re-evaluate your process and shake things up.  I myself have been relying way too much lately on Lean Cuisines and the like, rather than the whole foods that have brought me success. While the calories between the two ways of eating are comparable, whole foods are a lot less sodium and a lot better for you at the end of the day. 

One thing I've learned going through this process is that you can't keep things the same for too long; our bodies lose weight when they are confused whether in response to different food or new exercises. Today I started back on my whole foods and left the frozen diet meals in the freezer. If you find yourself frustrated due to a plateau, keep your head up and resort to trickery.  Eventually the storm will break and the scale will be your friend again. 

And, speaking of frustrations: I am taking a poll to find out what is the most challenging aspect of the weight loss journey.  It is on the right hand side of the blog.  I'd love to know your thoughts!  Thanks!