know your reasons. stay in the moment.

we all have our own reasons for losing extra weight and getting healthier.
here are a few of mine:

1. having more energy to do the things i love.
2. clearer thinking in an unclogged mind
3. boost of confidence.
4. improved self awareness.
5. clothes fit better, feel better, and look better.
6. the ability to join friends on hikes and physical activities.
7. correct blood sugar levels, blood pressure levels.
8. more fun at doctors office when getting health reports.
9. knowing about nutrition is cool.
10. improved sex life.
11. sharing "how i did it" stories with friends and strangers.
12. more flirt-ability.
13. enjoying the changing scenes of nature on my daily walks.
14. shopping for clothes and food becomes and adventure.
15. improved self-esteem, self confidence and self worth.
16. relieving family and friends worry about my health issues.
17. the knowing that i am respecting my body as a temple.
18. being an example of health for others
19. dancing the tango is more fun when your thinner.
20. knowing that discipline is an important part of life.
21. not limiting myself: discovering new things and going to new places.
22. more open the possibility of being loved because i love myself.
23. renewing my fabulousness factor.
24. fitting into my seat on an international flight to somewhere edgy.
25. being the best i can be just because i can!


reasons for staying overweight:

1. the comfort of staying the same.
2. the ease of being invisible socially.
3. the glorious feeling of being out of control.
4. fitting in with mainstream america who eats too much too often.
5. i won't intimidate anyone with my good looks.
6. because ice cream tastes so good at night
7. cheap bad food is every where and so it's so easy to eat.
8. i have a good excuse for not being happy.
9. i enjoy beating myself up on a daily basis.
10. being over weight, and out of shape is easy.

thinking about food.

for months i have been thinking about food. writing about food and talking about food. i know what's right and i know what's wrong, what i should and shouldn't eat. still, with out taking massive action very little happens. and taking massive action can lead to burn-out and binging. i saw a circle diagram a long time ago and on it was the list of the cycle of diet failure. it looked like this:

this is what i have been trying to avoid doing through out my nutritional eating plan. easier said than done. warning: doing a cleansing juice fast can lead to the undoing of your new eating program and lead right back to an " i deserve to eat attitude".  for me it is difficult to walk the line between obsessive healthy eating and a life where food is just part of the day. i can't forget about food, because i have to eat it. not eating it leads to the cycle. but obsessing about it is also problematic because this is unsustainable as well. looks like i am still in search of the balance.

mindfulness

Being mindful in the moment is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. Being mindful of the gifts we have been given and the love that surrounds us, is the first step in knowing that we are enough and we have enough.

Mindful eating has the powerful potential to transform people’s relationship to food and eating, to improve overall health, body image, relationships and self-esteem. Mindful eating involves many components such as:

• learning to make choices in beginning or ending a meal based on awareness of hunger and satiety cues;
• learning to identify personal triggers for mindless eating, such as emotions, social pressures, or certain foods;
• valuing quality over quantity of what you’re eating;
• appreciating the sensual, as well as the nourishing, capacity of food;
• feeling deep gratitude that may come from appreciating and experiencing food

Mindful eating draws substantially on the use of mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness helps focus our attention and awareness on the present moment, which in turn, helps us disengage from habitual, unsatisfying and unskillful habits and behaviors. Engaging in mindful eating meditation practices on a regular basis can help us discover a far more satisfying relationship to food and eating than we ever imagined or experienced before. A different kind of nourishment often emerges, the kind that offers satisfaction on a very deep emotional level.

For more info on this topic go to: 

the art of practice

practice isn't necessarily fun. but spending time consciously working on improving a skill has one of the biggest productivity payoffs around. that makes intuitive sense with music and athletics. but I think that's the case with many life skills as well. practicing the art of getting up and taking a walk, practicing the art of buy smart foods, practicing the one thing that you are particularly bad at and that might be holding you back (for me that's negotiation). making these things part of your day helps you to grow. and growing helps keep you young and vibrant. it is also true that when something is practiced it becomes second nature. so when life throws you a curve ball, and your distracted, you still have the skills you have developed through daily practice. practice may not always make perfect, but the art of practice is perfect in and of itself.

wsj article on practice
a video: matisse-and-the-art-of-practice

the root chakra

in the past i have resisted many of the things i am learning to embrace now as i progress on my path to wellness. i may have rolled my eyes at friends who had specialty dietary concerns or indulged in eastern spiritual practices. however now, i no longer have the luxury of ignoring the classic ways to wellness. so when one of my nutritional advisors beging talking in detail about chakras, i listened. she advised me to work on my "root chakra". so today i did some new age searching and found "the mystic banana" website and what i discovered there has been helpful:

The Basics
There are seven main chakras, located along the center line of our body, from the base of the spine to the top of the head.   Each chakra is associated with different glands, organs, body regions, and aspects of our life, personality, and spiritual development. The chakras are critical to our physical health, the quality of our life, and our ability to develop spiritually.

The Healthy Chakra
A healthy chakra is open, allowing energy to flow freely both horizontally, in an exchange of energy with the universe, and vertically, connecting it with the other chakras. It’s very common–almost universal–to have one or more chakras that is somewhat blocked or imbalanced.  An under-functioning chakra can cause disruptions in a person’s body, mind, spirit, and life. These disruptions can range from a sense of unwellness and unease, to more serious problems–actual dis-ease in one’s body or dysfunction in one’s life.

What is the Root  Chakra?
The muladhara, or first chakra is located at the base of the spine.  It’s keyword is “survival.”  It relates to the physical self, self-preservation, survival instincts, our connection to our bodies and the earth, and our sense of safety, security, and belonging in the world.  Its related color is red, and its related element is earth.

Find out The 10 Ways to Clear Your Root Chakra at the mystic banana website.

trust the process

at this stage of the game i have decided to just "trust the process".
i have cut out alcohol, white flour, white rice, white pasta (all pasta).
i am drinking more water and green tea than ever. i take a 2.2 mile walk 4 to 5 times a week, and sometimes much longer. i have cut coffee consumption down to one or two cups per week, so the coffee "habit" has been broken. and i drink a healthy green smoothie every morning. i feel 10 times better already, but have to trust that staying on this path will, at some point, result in weight loss as well. the good news is that i am finding support in my friends online and keeping this public journal is also helping me stay focused. thanks to all who are out there walking this path with me!

risk and pain

risk and pain? gosh! who wants to talk about or think about that! we spent so much time seeking comfort and safety in this complicated world, we sometime forget that pain and risk are the elements that create that comfort. without pain and risk there would be no olympic champions to marvel over and respect, there would be no nobel peace prize winners, and yet we tend resist risk and pain in out own personal lives.

i attended a kundalini yoga class yesterday, for the first time in a long time and learned a great deal. firstly, i learned that i am a lot more out of shape that i thought i was (but that is about to change) and secondly, that yoga is painful! it hurts to hold a pose for a long time, and breathe and focus. it is difficult. no getting around that. but that is part of the point: yoga can be painful, just as life can be painful. it is how we deal with that pain that is important.

yoga is a "practice". the definition of practice is a repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency. one practices, dealing with or managing pain so that when painful situations arise in daily living one is better prepared at handling it. 

yoga is also sometime referred to as a "discipline". i'm interested in this word too as it applies to the process of life and personal development. wikipedia has this to say about discipline: 

Discipline is the assertion of willpower over more base desires, and is usually understood to be synonymous with self control. Self-discipline is to some extent a substitute for motivation, when one uses reason to determine the best course of action that opposes one's desires.

risk, pain, practice, discipline. these are heady concepts, but all part of the game when it comes to finding the path to better health in body, mind and spirit. take a deep breathe and plunge into the most rewarding time of you life: blossom!

emo-eating

there has been lots of talk about emotional eating. and the ins and outs of what that means is probably very complicated. clearly the sub-conscious mind is at work here, and the ego, and probably self-loathing of one kind or another for one reason or another. i have never heard of anyone who has lost weight as a direct result of psycho-analysis. but recognizing the warning signs of when this type of eating is occurring may help to putting an end to it. 

what are the telltale signs of emotional eating? what foods are the most likely culprits when it comes to emotional eating? and how it can be overcome? 

How to Tell the Difference

There are several differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger, according to the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center web site:

1. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually.
2. When you are eating to fill a void that isn't related to an empty stomach, you crave a specific food, such as pizza or ice cream, and only that food will meet your need. When you eat because you are actually hungry, you're open to options.
3. Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait.
4. Even when you are full, if you're eating to satisfy an emotional need, you're more likely to keep eating. When you're eating because you're hungry, you're more likely to stop when you're full.
5. Emotional eating can leave behind feelings of guilt; eating when you are physically hungry does not.

restriction now or restriction later?

while telling a friend about the 50 POUNDS program he said, wanting to be helpful, "it's not a diet, it's a life style!". and i said, "no. it's a diet and a lifestlye". i know where he was going with with this: nobody wants to be on a diet anymore! but guess what. it is what it is.
yes i am changing the way i eat, think and move, but at the end of the day i am still eating way less than i used to and sometimes i am hungry and sometimes it's hard. there is no way i am going to lose weight unless i restrict what i eat and how much i eat. no way around that fact. you can sugar coat it until the cows come home but them's the facts mame.
like "diet" and "obesity", "restriction" is an unpopular term. nobody likes hearing about that. if this conjurers up feelings, like "i don't get to have what they're having? what am i, a second class citizen?" you are not alone. and the answer is YES! you don't get to "have what they are having" because you are obese and they are not.
the good news is. if you can live with restricting what you EAT now, you will not have to restrict what you DO later. you will be able to sit where you like, walk where you want for as long as you want, hike, go to parties wearing dapper outfits and anything else you have a mind to do. what i am saying is: with restrictions comes freedom. you choose.

here is a link to the it sux to be fat blog that lists many of the things that being over-weight restricts.