25 Years

In a few weeks I am going to turn the big 2 – 5… WOW! I would say that I’m OLD but most of my Readers have excelled me in years and I’m sure I’d offend a few So, I’m going to refer to myself as young wine, not yet divinely fine in age like the rest of you

This year seems to be steered in a direction of focusing on Health. Getting my body ‘in order’ both mentally and physically. Not only for myself – but it is crucial that I get my body & mind healthy before I get pregnant and have children to raise. Plus for so many other reasons, I just want to do the best I can to be there in every way for my husband, my children and also myself – and what better time to start than this very moment.

My friend did a ‘Then and Now‘ post where she posted pictures of her before and after of weight-loss in her journey of recovering from a hard time in her life. What a motivator and inspiration! In flipping through some pictures of my own – it’s typical of me to have a slew of pictures of myself at a healthy weight, but very few during periods of my life in a not so healthy weight.

According to my Counselor she has outlined these tips to guide me to losing weight permanently— with my history in mind, so these are the tips:

• No deadline for being 120lbs (my healthy weight. I begin being a healthy weight at 127, but for a positive cushion we have 120 in mind as the goal)
• No counting calories
• Be creative in eating foods. For sweets and salty snacks: Lick, but do not completely consume. For instance, a desert roll, lick icing but throw away bread. For Chips, suck the salt off and throw away the chip… etc etc
• If at dinner you have a dinner roll, pick out the soft inner bread and throw away the crust. If at dinner a sandwich is served or ordered, take the top bread slice off and eat it ‘open-faced-style’.
• When eating out in public, always keep a napkin with you as it can get uncomfortable to ‘throw away’ the rest in front of everyone. Break desserts in pieces as to make it appear as if you’re eating it all. Casually lick or ‘nibble’ and then squash the remainder in your napkin. If eating something like a pie, slice and eat the crust but leave the inner pudding/fruit… etc
• No seconds
• Eat SLOW – engage in social conversation as to distract yourself from focusing on the food
• It’s always helpful to select the smaller plate (if available) to get a better chance in filling it with appropriate serving sizes.
• Veggies are FREE! Eat as many vegetables throughout the day as desired
• Fill your plate with lots of color at every meal
• Lots of water
• At least 20 min of exercise once a day

The goal is to create a new and positive lifestyle to maintain the healthy weight without depriving yourself of foods you like and enjoy.

The main focus of this entire process is guided in addition to reading and using the work-book to “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay. I have many years practice of self-disciplining myself in an unhealthy way and I am a pro at being too hard core. This book will help me re-train my thought process and help me learn to love me. This will benefit me, my relationship with my husband (bring more LOVE into the home) and will also help me to be a better example to my kids and those around me.

To begin, I’d like to reflect my friend’s boldness in sharing her images to the world on the process of her weight fluctuations and how she’s overcome such an obstacle and is proud of her accomplishment. I admire her – and am SO happy for her! I am incredibly shy about my weight – but I have to learn to replace every “trained” negative I throw at myself and replace it with a positive.

A time in my life where I was at a healthy weight and would like to reach it (permanently this time) again for good:

Summer of 2002:

125

Thanksgiving 2007

150

September 2008

168

December 2008

176

It is so scary how subtle and slow weight-gain approaches and plants itself if you’re not paying attention. The past few years I have had  ALOT that has been going on and so many distractions. I’ve also come to realize that there was a lot going on inside of me I didn’t know about! But I feel that I am now on top of my life and can get a hold on things and make a permanent change and become more aware and attentive to my body. I thankfully have a lot of good help and some awesome Angels in my life to help make this permanent change. Also the support of an awesome family and a WONDERFUL husband

What will also be interesting is to see my change in my body as I grow to become my healthy weight. That 2002 picture I was 18 (barely just turned 18). When I reach that weight again I can’t wait to make a side-by-side comparison as EVERYONE here in my Church Ward swears that I look not a day older than 18. HAHA! I wonder if I’ll finally look my age. My counselor says I’ll be super tiny in losing 60 lbs to get to my Healthy Weight. Sheesh! That does sound like I’ll be half my size. Oh well, it’ll be an incredible journey as the lbs start to melt off I am so thrilled because she has helped SO many ‘me’s’ over the 25 years she’s been doing this, I completely trust this woman and am so grateful I’ve come to know her in my life.

Life changing leaps happening in my life and I am so grateful to wake up every morning and make some progress!

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