Tag Archives: journey

Picking Up the Challenge

23 Dec
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40969262@N08/8376090493/">skw234567</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

Heeeyyy, Mrs. Carter!

Jay and Bey have gone vegan for 22 days, and their challenge ends on Christmas Day.

Sure, they can celebrate Christ’s birth with a rack of lamb and shout “Joy to the World,” but what did this challenge really entail?

Jay decided to take up the challenge before his 44th birthday with the encouragement of a friend (read: Gwyneth) who wanted him to only have plant-based breakfast. With the serendipity of the numbers falling into place along with the bonus of a Christmas ham likely waiting for him at the end of this, Jay decided to put down steak knife and pick up the almond milk.

According to Marco Borges’ 22 Days Nutrition site, which has been partnering with the Carters on this journey, the benefits to plant-based living include preventing cancer, lowering cholesterol levels, and preventing and even reversing diabetes.

“Your body will enjoy a greater variety of vitamins and minerals and your reduced intake of animal products will have a positive effect on the environment.”

—22 Days Vegan website

Who doesn’t want that?

Between touring and releasing secret “visual albums, Mrs. Carter has been updating her Instagram account with vegan options, some of which look kind of tasty.

But I don’t know if I could go full-on vegan. I have friends who are vegetarians and pescatarians. Most of the recipes I post on this site are vegetarian. However, sometimes a girl’s got a taste for a Five Guys burger.

While I’ve never gone vegan—or vegetarian for that matter—I know what it means to give up a food you once enjoyed. I haven’t eaten pork for more than 15 years. It was difficult in the beginning because in my mind, nothing could top a good ham and cheese sandwich. I never stopped cold, but eventually it became passing on the pork chops, then the bacon, and soon enough it was bye-bye ham.

I applaud Bey and Jay (as if they need my approval) for taking this on. It is hard to give up the things you once enjoyed in order to better yourself. Living is challenging enough without creating hurdles for yourself. The Carters gave themselves less than a month to decide if this was something they could stick with.

I understand that wholeheartedly. That’s how the weight-loss journey began for me: I’ll give it a shot for a little while and see if I like it. I challenge you to do the same. Find something that makes you step outside your comfort zone. What is it that scares you a little? It doesn’t have to be anything big, or anything health related, for that matter.

Maybe you’ve never gone to dinner alone. Maybe you’ve never tried that crazy-looking contraption at the gym. Or just maybe you’ve been wanting to spark up a conversation with the cutie across the way.

The point of a challenge is to test your limits and see what you are capable of. What do you think you can do?

photo credit: skw234567 via photopin cc

Tags: , , , , , ,

I Backslid, and So Will You

16 Dec
You will not defeat me!

You will not defeat me!

I haven’t been able to pinpoint when the problem began, but I know it’s happened. I set a limit for myself: I’d never go past 150 again. Then I hit 151. That’s no problem, I thought. I can lose that easily. Excuse after excuse and here I am pushing 160 and about to go for a run.

I know what has to be done; it’s just hard to stay on track. I’m not a fitness buff nor am I a health nut (as evidenced by my love of goldfish crackers). I don’t believe in being a slave to the number on the scale, either. But I like to look a certain way, and there’s a general weight range that I’m veering away from far too easily.

Here’s the thing: we’re all works in progress. Before, during and after the weight-loss journey is over, you will have to repeat the process.

You know why? Everybody backslides. Everybody.

Look at Oprah. No one is a a better example of the truth about yo-yo dieting. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just reality. People gain and lose weight depending on everything from their moods to the moon. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

At my peak of weight loss, I lost over 60 pounds. But then began the process of lose, gain, repeat.

I’m not alone in this. Many, many moons ago, a woman from Tennessee trotted out on a TV stage with a wagon of fat. Remember this?

(wagon pulls in at about 1:50 mark)

I don’t do this to poke fun at the Mighty O, who even says in the video that she was starving herself at the time and has since come forward that her weight gain is the result of thyroid problems. I do this to say that no one is perfect. You will mess up. Just don’t let that be a deterrent to continuing on your way to your goals.

Here are a few tips to help you along the way:

1. Switch up your routine. Any physical trainer will tell you not to do the same routine over and over again. You don’t think to blink, walk or even flex your fingers. It’s a learned activity that the body does without much provocation. The way your body has learned these activities is similar to the way it will learn the same Zumba video you’ve been doing every day for three months. After the first month, the pounds wont drop anymore because your body knows what to do. You have to shock the system. So instead of Zumba, go swimming. Instead of running, do some resistance. Don’t let your body settle into one routine.

2. Don’t beat yourself up about it. This is just a thing that happens. You’ve done the work before, so you know what to do now. You are one of millions of people in the world who have probably fallen back into old habits. Just remember why you started in the first place and let that be the motivation to get you going again.

3. Remember your body is always changing. Maybe some of those pounds are just life catching up with you. Don’t let the number on the scale rule your life. It is solely there as a guide only. It’s about how you feel in your skin, and you have to adjust to life’s little changes…like Oprah.

What do you do when you feel you’re getting off track?

Tags: , , , , ,

Perception vs. Reality

22 Nov
What they see...

What they see…

One of my favorite movies from the ’90s is “Clueless.” There’s a scene where Cher is trying to calm Tai down after she spies the object of her affection dancing with another girl.

Tai:  Do you think she’s pretty?
Cher: No, she’s a full-on Monet.
Tai: What’s a Monet?
Cher: It’s like a painting, see? From far away, it’s OK, but up close, it’s a big old mess.

While going from one weight class to another isn’t exactly like this, there are similarities. People see you the way they want to. You can offer different perspectives, but the onus is on the observer to take that into account.

I don’t live near much of my family. The family that does live nearby, I only see every few months. (New York keeps people busy.) I also work out a lot. Like…a lot. When I began my journey toward a smaller me, I knew the outcome would surprise some people. My five-two frame held more than 170 pounds for most of my adult life. You don’t really notice the change yourself for a while. But when someone who hasn’t seen you in months tells you you’ve lost so much weight, you start to reassess your appearance.

Then comes the time when you’re literally inches from your goal weight and again see people you haven’t seen in forever. That was a bit difficult for me. I knew I’d lost a lot of weight and was nearing my goal. I knew that I wore a smaller dress size and that my face was thinner. But it was another thing to have people tell me that I need to start eating.

What they remember...

What they remember…

One family member actually asked me if I was starving myself. That hurt the most. I pride myself on having been able to do this the healthy way. I work out about four to five hours a week. I eat several small meals a day. But I don’t deny myself a good craving if the mood hits me. I love cookies and cake. My favorite snack is Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers. (Seriously…I do not share these things. They’re amazing.)

It’s a slap in the face (though unintended) for people to perceive me as doing something harmful to myself because the image they have in their heads is one that doesn’t exist anymore. I’ve lost a lot of weight and managed to keep most of it off for going on five years now. That’s the reality.

Always remember that, because friends and family will always view you as the rotund person you were, no mater how many pounds you drop. I’m still coming to grips with that. I haven’t lost a great deal of weight recently—three to five pounds here and there. But after not seeing someone for a year, people seem to remember the big girl from six years ago, not her smaller version from last summer.

There are a couple ways to remedy this. Visit your friends and family more often. Keep your Facebook and Instagram pages updated on your progress so there won’t be so much sticker shock when they see you in person. Or just do what I do, and remind them that you haven’t lost that much weight since the last time they saw you.

It’s somewhat like a child growing up. You remember your nieces and nephews as babies and toddlers. Then one day you’re home for Thanksgiving and they’re asking for the keys to your car. There’s an adjustment period—for both you and your loved ones—to come to terms with the new person standing there. Just try not to bite their heads off for making off-putting comments in the guise of compliments.

Tags: , , ,

The Perks of Living in a Walking City

15 Nov

I don’t know if I’ve said this here, but I love living in New York. It’s awesome.

From the garbage on the streets to the guy peeing in the corner of the subway, it’s truly an enchanting, quaint little town.

My favorite thing is that you can get anywhere by foot. Manhattan, where I reside, is 32 miles around the island. If you’re training for a marathon, you’re set.

The best part, though, is just walking. I’m a wanderer. I often have no plan of attack, except perhaps finding a nice cafe or a wine bar. Usually I’m just out exploring new neighborhoods. I will trek from the Brooklyn Bridge to the meat packing district and will have only stopped for a cup of joe at Joe. I’ll take a stroll on the High Line and end up walking to Macy’s at Herald Square to buy a new ‘fit.

A lot of exercise is just taking that first step. When I began my weight-loss journey, all I could do is walk. I was living in Atlanta and would get my morning exercise at the park around the corner. In the beginning, I could muster just three miles an hour walking. Now, I cringe at that rate, but I had to start somewhere.

The first step is the hardest. You have to will yourself into taking it. What do you want to learn about yourself during the process? Always have a goal in mind, but you need motivation for that first step.

When I backslide, which happens more than I’d like, my motivation to get up and walk around the city is that I don’t want to be how I was before: sedentary. There’s so much to see and do here that I’ve walked for hours without noticing. And I’m burning calories in the process. I’m learning more about the city and what I enjoy about it.

But that comes from living in a city that encourages walking. I was born and raised on the north side of St. Louis where walking around is OK, but you’ll still get the occasional side-eye. So on my visits back, I have to find places to go. Forest Park is perfect for seeing some beautiful aspects of a great historical city. The park offers so many sights, and as a native St. Louisan I can’t stress this enough: pretty much everything in the park is free. Parking, the zoo, the science center, the museum—they’re all free.

These are a few suggestions on how to get moving during a lull. Maybe it will motivate you to do a little more to burn a few more calories. Moving can be motivating.

What are some of the best walking routes in your city?

Tags: , , , ,

How I Got Into a Bikini

1 Nov

suit_journey

My weight has always been a struggle. To be accurate, I have been overweight for most of my adult life. My love of muffins made my muffin top obvious, which was bothersome. When I tipped the scales at 200 pounds on my 5-foot-2 frame, I looked pregnant. I even found myself accidentally trying on clothes in the maternity section. The thought of going to the beach or the pool in a bikini would never cross my mind. Yet, here I am, 50 pounds lighter and in basically a bra-and-panty set walking around in the sand.

Just posting the above photo is a test in courage. I have never—repeat: never!—worn a bikini. My mom put me in one pieces as a kid. In my teens, I was still thick, so i kept my stomach under wraps. Adulthood hit, and the pounds kept coming, and what’s the point of being that girl at the beach? You know her, the girl who looks either pregnant, European or both. I was neither, so why subject myself to such judgment.

I could have put on a two-piece a couple years ago. I was never comfortable, though. I’ve always been body conscious. I’m hyper-aware of the attention people pay to me…because I hate it. I’ve always been the blend-in-the-background kind of gal. That’s my speed. And it’s a non-bikini speed, even if you are on the beach.

So I began with low-cut suits, like the white one above. My boobs looked good. They always have. No harm in deflecting attention away from my over-sized stomach and hips.

Then I went on a cheat. I would wear tank-inis. No one could say I didn’t wear a two-piece to the beach, right?

Soon my friends began to catch on to my scheme. They could see my progress before I did. It’s the nature of the beast—people closest to you pay attention to you and your exploits. When you’re working out and constantly monitoring your diet, you don’t really notice the progress you’re making. One pound here and two pounds there don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Every week you notice the few pounds that you’ve lost, but you can’t really see it in the mirror.

You don’t really notice it when you’re wearing the same clothes over and over. Sure those jeans feel a little different, but maybe next week they’ll feel snug again.

It isn’t until time passes and you try on something like your bathing suit from last year that you notice the change your body has taken. And because I was going to the beach this summer and didn’t want to flash anyone underwater (again), now was as good a time as any to get some new swimwear.

So I polled the masses (my friends). I went to Macy’s and tried on a couple suits. I sent a pic to one of my friends who is not only hard-core when it comes to fitness, but is one of my biggest cheerleaders. Her words when I asked if I was beach ready, and I quote, “YEP!!! U ready!!!! When we beachin?”

With that, I felt I could do it. It’s all about what you’re comfortable with. I still keep a one-piece at the ready for when I feel huge. My stomach isn’t flat or toned. I’ve got cellulite on my thighs. I need a halter bra to keep my girls up. But I’m not the worst-looking person at the beach (vain, I know, but I feel judgment everywhere). No one’s staring at me. So I can deal.

What’s your Mount Everest when it comes to clothing choices? What’s the one thing you want to wear when you’ve reached your goal?

Tags: , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →