Choose Life or Choose Death

Not to be melodramatic, but so many of our choices every day are influencing our life or our death.   Every empty calorie, harsh chemical (in my case, Diet Coke), unmoved body, over-eaten calorie is a vote for death.  Every healthy food eaten, eating only when hungry, eliminating empty calories, moving our bodies is a vote for life.  The amazing thing is that the more decisions we make to choose life,  the more we feel like LIVING life!  

I used to tell my Weight Watchers members that you can feel healthy or unhealthy, fat or thin at pretty much any weight solely based on how you are treating your body.  When you eat healthy food, you feel healthy, when you eat junk food, you feel like junk.  Pay attention to these decisions you are making and notice how they are really making you feel.  Of course chocolate makes you feel good when you are eating it, but how do you really feel afterwards?  Are you regretting the calories?  Does your blood sugar feel high and the drop low?  Do you feel like exercising?

We need to think of our eating and activity choices beyond the moment.  Make choices that make you feel good in the present and the future.  Easier said than done, but so worth it.  I never "feel" like running, but I love being outside, the air feels great, my mind gets clear, my stress level decreases and when I am done, I feel amazing and it is easier to eat healthy foods.  Knowing this still does not make me "feel" like running, I have to choose to every day and I never regret it.  

So, what is it going to be?  Life or death?

Weight is a Battlefield

If you struggle with weight management like I do, you know how much of a psychological battlefield it is.  It is the definition of an emotional roller coaster. It can make you feel proud, excited, happy, sad, frustrated, encouraged, discouraged, angry...you get the idea.  How do we get through life like a "normal person" with all of these conflicting emotions running through us.  My poor husband!!

The important thing to remember, and this is key, is to break down your weight loss/management goals into smaller, achievable segments.  Have you ever set out in the morning determined to eat healthily, exercise, not eat junk food, only to forget about all of these things by lunch?  I certainly have!  So, how do we stay focused?  

We have to constantly remind ourselves to be working towards our healthy lifestyle or we absolutely will be making choices that will be working against it.  It can be a viscous cycle and discouraging beyond belief.  What can you do today, this hour, this minute to support a healthier life?  Step by step, choice by choice, minute by minute is how we win this war.  Remember, your weight is the byproduct of your life style - so focus on your life style choices; not the number on the scale.  Start now and start again as many times as it takes.  Be diligent and forgiving.  I'm rooting for you; root for me too!

Weight - You Sneaky Bastard

Why is what we weigh so important to so many of us?  It's not like we ever tell anyone how much we weigh...only our doctors know the truth in a given moment in time.  Although those of you who are as scale obsessed as me know that you can weigh 5 pounds more in the evening than you did in the morning, that clothing can affect your weight by a few pounds, that a salty dinner the night before can make you weigh more the next morning and that going the bathroom can take off a few ounces.  Our weight is always fluctuating and many of us have that magic number we would like to be, but again, why do we care so much about that number?

I have to say that the day that the weight on my drivers license was actually true was a great day.  It was like "wow, I've been lying for 20 plus years, but now I am finally telling the truth".  Flash to a few months ago when I was getting my drivers license renewed and the DMV guy asks me "is there any information on here (gesturing to the weight area of my license) that you would like to change"?  Yep, my ever fluctuating weight has been trending up for more years than I would like to admit.  

So, this is how weight is a sneaky bastard - the abridged version.  I got married, I gained weight, I got pregnant, I gained weight, I had a baby the weight stayed for 18 months.  I got to the point where I couldn't say or justify my weight by saying "I just had a baby" as my toddler was running around...  I joined Weight Watchers and 6 months later I had lost 55 pounds, I was so over-the-moon in love with Weight Watchers, I started working for the company.  I kept my weight off and stayed pretty steady for a couple of years and quickly got back to my goal weight after my 2nd child was born.  I was near the bottom of my weight range which is, for those of you who don't know, about 30 pounds and is based on your BMI (Body Mass Index).  As the years went quickly by, my weight gradually went up - I wasn't where I wanted to be, but I was still within my weight range.  

Eight years of working for Weight Watchers was enough for me and when I quit, I was at the top of my weight range and then just to make sure I really knew how to gain weight, I added 10 more pounds.  So, there you have it, for the first time since I joined Weight Watchers over 10 years ago, I am overweight.  Oh, how I hate that word.  So, what am I doing about it?  I am exercising almost every day and more importantly I am eating less by tracking my PointsPlus values.  Go back to what you know, it's not always easy, but it is doable.  I am happy to report that after just a couple of weeks I am 4 pounds away from the top of my healthy weight range.  It is going to feel great to get there and even better when I hit my magic number!    

The Biggest Loser

"The Biggest Loser" is a show that sucks me in.  I have not watched it every season, but when I have, I always get something positive out of it.  

As a Weight Watchers leader, I have had mixed feelings about the show as the amount of weight these contestants lose each week is unrealistic in the "real world" and it not considered a healthy weight loss rate.  But, how can you not be inspired by these people.  Yet, I wonder out of all of the contestants they have had, how many of them were able to sustain their weight loss?  See?  Conflicted.  Weight management is a lifelong journey.  I know first hand that I will never be cured and I will never be finished with my weight management efforts until I am well, you know... done, done.  

So, here are a few tidbits that I have picked up this season on "The Biggest Loser" that I hope will speak to you as well.  The doctor on the show was telling one of the contestants that she has diabetes.  She was surprised and looked devastated and then he said "if I told you that you had cancer, would you find the time in your day to get chemotherapy?"  She nodded "yes".   Then, he said that "you need to take this disease just as seriously and find the time in your day to exercise and make better eating choices". I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist.  That was a light bulb moment for me, we can find time to do so many different things in our day and it is so easy to have exercise not be one of them and it is slowly killing us.  Our bodies are meant to move!  So, let's do it!  I'm game, are you?

Another quote that I love from the show comes from the contestant who was voted off this week.  She has the sweetest personality and seems like one of those people who do things for everyone else, but not for themselves.  Sound familiar?  Many people, especially women, are like that.  Anyway, she said that she has been in a rut for many years, but after being sent home she knew that she could do it on her own...and she is.  She said "what did I do with that rut I was in?  I ran over it!" I love that.  She is training for a marathon.  Speaking of which, I have my first half marathon of the year in 11 short weeks, so I'm off to hit the pavement; how are you going to move your body today?   Good health is not a chore; it's a gift!