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Stuntin’ Is a Habit

15 Oct

The myth is that it takes 21 days for form a habit. I call it a myth because you don’t really know you’ve made something a habit until you’re much further along in the process. Think about it: What did you do 21 days ago that you’re still doing right now? I’ll tick them off for you:

  • Eating
  • Sleeping
  • Working/studying
  • Going to the restroom.

You developed those habits so long ago they’re part of you. What I’ve found on my weight-loss journey is that making your good habits a part of you is key to meeting your goals. And it took much longer than 21 days for that to happen. It’s not called a lifestyle change for nothing.

Making this lifestyle a part of the very fabric of your nature takes a lot courage. It’s easy to stay comfortable in your routine. Eating, sleeping and working are so much a part of you that you don’t realize you’re doing them any more. The same can happen for you when you’ve developed a routine with diet and exercise.

Here are a few ways to make sure your good choices become habit forming.

1. Set a schedule. A plan of action is a great first step toward meeting your goal. If you work a regular 9-to-5, then you’re better off than some freelancers. You know when you need to get up, when you need to get to work, when you get off and how much time you have left over in the day. You know how long it takes to get ready in the morning, how long it takes you to get to work and how to bypass traffic on the way home. That means you know where the pockets of time are for meal preparation, workouts and rest. Those of you without a set schedule are going to have to let life work its way into your weight-loss plan. You may need to first set your meal prep, workouts and rest times and let the rest of your day fit in as needed.

2. Plan your meals. Rest day is the best day for meal prep. You’re not overly exhausted from the hurting you put on your body in your workout. You’ve got time to really take inventory of what you have in your cabinets and what you may be in the mood for during the week. You have time to glance through your cookbooks and see what new recipes will work for you this week. And you have time to browse the grocery store instead of a rush job where you forget things. You may find a nice piece of fish on sale you can broil later. All of this is to say having your meals (especially lunch) ready saves so much time when you’re getting ready to leave for the day.

3. Make your goal your No. 1 priority. You love your family and friends. And being homeless isn’t on your list of things to do. Now that that’s out of the way, take stock of what’s really important to you. Do you really want to lose weight? Do you really want to maintain? Are you looking for ways to cut the unhelpful things out of your diet? If that’s true, then you’ve already made your goal a top priority. Create a vision board or “Being Mary Jane” it and put Post-it notes all over your home. Keeping a daily reminder that you’re doing this for a reason will keep your eyes on the prize

4. Understand there are 24 hours in a day. So you’ve set your schedule and you’ve planned your meals. But life happened, and you overslept and missed your morning Zumba class. Someone at work ate your sandwich, so now you don’t have anything to eat. So what? There’s still time later in the day to burn a few calories. You may not  be able to make it to the gym, but you can surely find a way to get moving around the house. Or you could take a long walk at lunch. Or you could to any number of things that you were supposed to do anyway. We all share the same time clock, and yours says there’s still time to get it in before the day is over.

5. Don’t accept failure as an option. Simply put: if where you are isn’t where you want to be, do what you have to do to get there.

These good habits will become less and less stressful the more you do them. But you’ll be so pleased with yourself when you accomplish your goal.

What habits have you picked up or broken since you began your weight-loss journey?

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The Lighter Side of Shade

8 Oct

shade

On your weight-loss journey, you’ll hear lots of comments from the peanut gallery. Most will be positive.

  • “Good job, kid!”
  • “You’re looking really good!”
  • “Congrats on finishing that race!”

Many, however, will be shade in the guise of a compliment.

  • “God, don’t you eat anymore?”
  • “You’re just withering away.”
  • “You’re crazy to be working out that much!”

Nothing hurts as much as someone dismissing your achievements as an act of insanity. It takes a clear mind to dedicate yourself to taking care of your health. There’s an obscene amount of planning and scheduling that goes into a weight-loss program. For a “friend” or “loved one” to say your actions are crazy is hurtful, dismissive and counter productive.

It’s common human nature to reject the unfamiliar. But your friends and family love you, so they’ll try to say encouraging things that in the end come out kind of douchebag-y. To help you make your way through the muck, here are a few translations I use when someone says something completely idiotic as a complement.

1. “That’s all you’re going to eat?”=”Oh, you don’t eat as much to keep your weight down, right?”—One thing people will notice in the beginning is your diet. If they’re not working out with you, they don’t know how much work you’re putting into your routine. But everybody eats. And if you’re eating with friends and family who are privy to your dining habits, they’ll notice that you seem to be cutting your portions in half and requesting doggy bags all the time. Don’d despair . Explain to your dinner companion that you’ll just eat the rest later, which is true.

2. “You’re getting so small, you’re gonna just blow away.”=”It must be really windy out here.”—Unless there’s a tornado in the area, I highly doubt you’ll blow away. You’re definitely not getting that small. Blow into a building—maybe (that’s happened to me a few times on gusty days). I’ve never seen the wind pick someone up and move them.

3. “You run how many miles a week? That’s insane.”=”That’s incredible dedication you have to your program.”—A lot of the time, it’s just jealousy that feeds the shady comments people will make to you. They want to be able to do what you do. They want to be able to get up early to hit the weights or do a couple of laps in the pool. They want to lace up their shoes and just walk a couple of miles. You can. Try to be an encouragement to others who are interested in your good works.

” I just don’t have the time to do something like that. It must come really easy for you.”=”That’s really impressive and amazing that you’re so organized.”—Once your weight-loss plan has become routine, it becomes a task to fit other parts of your life into your plan. You’ve scheduled your meals, planned what fitness classes you go to and gotten all of your other projects in order. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Your friend could do the same if they stuck to a plan. Help them figure out what plan works best for them. Go over your routine and see what fits into their schedule. Soon enough, they’ll be working life into their fitness routine, and not the other way around.

You are doing great work. I’ll tell you that if no one else is. Don’t let your closest naysayers do anything to take you off track. And know this: there is pure sanity in taking care of yourself.

What do do when people make shady compliments to you?

Gif courtesy of Tumblr

What’s the Goal Today?

6 Oct
How I feel every time I cross something off my to-do list...

How I feel every time I cross something off my to-do list…

Every week for the past couple of months, a friend and I meet up at a coffee shop to pow wow. We discuss what’s going on in our lives, be it work (even though we work together), love lives, travel plans, family, whatever. We encourage each other to pursue our goals and to keep up whatever good works we have going at the moment. But before we start the pow wow, we always ask each other: “What’s the goal today?”

This simple question can produce so many outcomes. Is the goal to write great posts for the blog? Is it to see what other opportunities are out there? Is the goal to research topics that have been floating around in my mind? Or is it just to piss around on the Internet and gossip with a friend?

Whatever the goal may be, it’s important to be reminded of their necessity. Even the short-term, temporary goals for that day need to be expressed so there won’t be any excuses to default on them. The desired achievement for that day could help inform what planned achievements for the future.

I like to keep a mental check list of both the short-term and long-term goals of the moment. For example, one of my short-term goals right now is to clean my apartment (I’ve told you how bad it can get). One of my long-term goals is to drop another 10-15 pounds in the next three months. And now that I’ve told you, I’m going to be held accountable.

Expressing your goals to someone else is only one way to keep your eyes on the prize. Here are a few more:

1. Vision board. The advent of Pinterest has made the paper vision board seem like a crime against nature (do you know how many trees you’re killing for your trip to Johannesburg?) But if you must keep a pictorial reminder of what it is you want out of life, a vision board is a good one to have. I have a friend who hangs hers up in the bathroom. You always have to got to the bathroom, and there you’ll find your daily reminder to get your isht together for that trip.

2. Goal outfits. When I began my weight-loss journey, one of my top goals was to stop buying larger sizes. I was a size 16 that would have fit better in an 18. But my pride (and my pockets) said, “Nah, girl!” So I just kept squeezing my wide behind in those too tight pants. I kept getting the mark around my belly that says your clothes are too tight. I kept getting that mark…until I didn’t. It was great the day I could just slip into my pants without busting out the jaws of life.

3. Things to-do. A to-do list can be the unsung hero of goal setting. I always have a list of groceries I have to buy. I keep a paper pad with a magnet on the back attached to my refrigerator. I don’t go to the store every day, but when I do, I know what I want and I don’t have to spend more than I should.

I’m human and to err is divine I will slip up and eat a bag of cookies instead of sliced fruit. I will splurge on a weekend of kicking it instead of saving for my next trip. But I will also recover, because mistakes are just the lessons we learn on our journeys toward reaching our goals.

What is your goal for today? How do you keep yourself on track?

Gif courtesy of Tumblr

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‘Obesity Is a Tricky Thing’

18 Sep

rosieWe like to have fun here at I’m Skinny, Now What? Talking about boobs and butts and bikini shopping is all part of the journey.

But what we can never forget is that for many people, weight-loss is a health issue. There are men and women out in the world right now who, if they don’t get on the path to weight loss, it will mean the end of their lives.

Rosie O’Donnell came back as a host of “The View” this week. What no one expected was the drastic weight loss. For nearly 20 years, the 5’6″ actress-comedienne held more than 200 pounds on her frame. We’d gotten so used to seeing her that way, I don’t think it crossed any of our minds that she could look any different. It certainly didn’t occur to her—until she had a heart attack.

The block in her artery could have killed her. It should have, according to her doctor. Weight loss would be the only way to prevent another scary instance. But losing weight the way I and many others have didn’t work for her.

I preach a lot about diet and exercise here. I am a firm believer in its benefits. But when you’ve become so comfortable in your weight, it’s extremely difficult to break bad habits. It took me months to get my mind around the task I was about to take on. And then it took another few months to start the journey. For Rosie, she tried weight loss the old fashioned way for nearly a year without good results. So she decided to take the surgical route.

I am not a doctor, and I don’t know Rosie. But I know desperation. A year in, and I probably would have thrown in the towel, but she took the next step and took charge of her health. In an interview with “Extra,” she says that since the surgery a little over a year ago she’s lost about 55 pounds.

A few things Rosie said in her interview touched on some things that I hope gets across to everyone on their journey.

“I haven’t gained since I started losing. Sometimes it’s only a half a pound in the whole month, but that’s okay ’cause it’s going down.”

And it is okay. It’s okay to take control of your health in a way that works for you. For some of us, it’s strictly dieting. For others, it’s hitting the weights. Those of us, myself included, trying to lose a pound or two for beach season may never understand the what the severely obese have to go through. We can offer support and encouragement, but the journey is their’s to walk alone.

“I’m so not used to the new body that it’s hard for me to even buy the right-sized clothes when I go to the store.”

When I got got in beast mode with my weight-loss journey, I had tunnel vision. I knew how much I wanted to lose and what parts of my body I wanted to work on. I knew what kinds of foods I wanted to limit or restrict from my diet. What I didn’t know was how to dress myself. If you’ve been a certain size for a long time, you get used to shopping a certain way. Rosie was buying extra larges when she needed mediums. It wasn’t until a friend took me shopping that I realized my 12s were too big and I needed 8s. Weight loss is as much physical as it is mental. It takes a jolt of reality wrap your mind around your progress.

“There are reasons people become big. It’s protection. It’s layers of protection.”

You may have heard this before, but life is hard. There are people with metabolic issues who can’t lose weight. There are people with depression issues who eat to hide or comfort their feelings. There are more reasons for people to gain weight and have it stick than there are people in the world. But when you reach the point where you realize what you’re doing is not good for you, you’ve taken a major step toward an active role in your health. When you realize that the protective layer you’re hiding under isn’t doing you any good, then you’re on the road to a better you.

photo courtesy of Rosie.com

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Fear as the Great Motivator

15 Sep

blairwitch

When talking to people over the years about how I began my weight-loss journey, I often describe my laziness. I’m a self-confessed, couch-potato bum. I wasn’t an active child. I come from a house full of readers. We may not know how to play sports, but we can navigate a library with ease.

But I got older, my ass got wider and every flight of steps began to look like Mount Everest. I knew I needed to make a change, but I’d never done anything like this before. Of course I hadn’t. That’s how I got into my situation in the first place. Besides dancing for a few years, physical activity was a foreign concept to me. And things that are foreign can be scary.

Fear is one of the biggest obstacles you will have to overcome as you embark on your weight-loss journey. It can be so powerful that it’s debilitating. You know how to walk, obviously, but you haven’t run since recess in elementary school. The last time you rode a bike it was a Huffy 10-speed. You haven’t taken a class since college almost 15 years ago. Doing these things will muck up your routine, and they’re all unfamiliar to you and the body you’ve developed.

Have you ever been so scared to something that you did it anyway just to relieve the anxiety of fear?

That was how I decided to just go for it. You’ll hear lots of disclaimers about not participating in any strenuous physical activity without your doctor’s consent. I’m a big believer in that, too. But after you’ve gotten the doc’s OK, the only thing holding you back is you and your fears.

So what are you really afraid of? That you’ll run out of breath? That you’ll hurt yourself? That you’ll make a fool of yourself? Let me help you out: you will do all those things and more.

If you’re brand new to the whole exercise thing, you will definitely get short of breath a lot faster than some of the other people around you. And you will deal with it. Never, ever push yourself to the point where you absolutely cannot breathe. But don’t shortchange yourself to the point where you’re not really working yourself. Always remember: oxygen is good.

A little pain got you scared? Again, you will deal. Your body is going to fight you so hard on the “damage” you’re about to do to it. You will ache in places you didn’t know could ache. I knew my hamstrings would get tight, but I never thought my butt muscles would betray me. That’s when I became good pals with my friend Epsom Salt. A quarter-to-half cup of that in a hot bath will ease a lot of your aches and pains. Or, if you’ve worked your legs overtime, an ice bath is the trick for you. Just think bath.

Humiliation is a fear we can all relate to. Who hasn’t tripped and fallen in front of others? Who among us hasn’t seen that one guy at the club looking like he’s having a seizure when he’s supposed to be doing the Dougie? It’s embarrassing to be the new person. But you won’t always be new. You will get the hang of things, you just have to keep trying. The person killing it in front of your Boot Camp class wasn’t always the star pupil. They tripped over their aerobics stepper just like you did. The fastest swimmer at your pool once had to doggy paddle to do laps. And then they got better, as will you.

Don’t let your fears keep you from doing what’s important to you. Use them as motivators to keep you moving on the right track.

What scares you most about working out? What steps can you take to overcome them and even use them to your advantage?

photo courtesy of Tumblr

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