Newsletter Archives
This month, I welcome the input of Gail Waller, a courageous woman who has been on a journey of health for over two years. Gail shares with us her story of how, even with the best of intent, sometimes we falter along the way.
Going the distance - the key to sticking it out!
Approximately 95% of people who have lost weight put it back within the first year. That’s an astounding statistic. As many of you know, trying to lose weight is a difficult endeavour and to think, all that hard work - gone within a year.
People often ask me "Stephanie, how do you keep the weight off?" and I explain that it is not one particular thing that I do, but a series of processes, thoughts and activities.
Regardless of where you are in your quest for health, perhaps this guideline will help you along the way. It’s a "living" guideline. This means that it changes as you do.
1. Intention - clear and feasible. In the beginning, losing weight was my intention. As time progressed, it was about becoming healthy. To look even further, it was being fit and strong, confident and capable. Not just with my body, but also with me as a person, in all aspects of my life. Now, it’s about maintaining my weight and health, growing as an individual, and sharing hope and the wisdom I’ve gathered along the way.
2. Action - clear and precise. At 320lbs, action started with learning how to eat healthy, make healthier food choices in a variety of situations, including buying better choices and cooking complete and nutritious meals. This action required reading about nutrition, learning a new food plan and buying some recipe books because I am cooking challenged! To action being fit and strong, steps towards moving my body had to occur. I knew I could walk, so that’s what I did, twenty minutes a day to start. Slowly I introduced workout videos. The hardest part of the journey was doing the action items toward becoming confident in myself, body and image again. That required me to do a lot of work on the "inside" - in my head and my heart. Why was this a challenge for me? What was it that kept tripping me up? What was the root of my issues with food? Maintaining my weight requires time and attention to my body and health. It is the continuation of those good habits that I’ve developed over time. It’s about never giving up and having a clear intention of where I want to stay.
3. Feedback - Body, mind and spirit. On those weeks you’ve made less than healthy choices, do you know? I bet you do. Our bodies tell us by being tired, sluggish, bloated. Our minds tell us by allowing self-destructive thoughts and behaviours and our spirits tell us by feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. Fortunately for us, we can recognize that feedback comes from things other than the scale. Get out your tape measure, try on your old pants, try on some new pants, exercise hard, journal your thoughts and progress. Stop giving your power away to the scale and look at the big picture. How do you feel??? How do you move??? How do you breathe??? And if you don’t like what you feel or how you move or how you are breathing, what are you going to do to change it?
4. Assessment - Honest and courageous. Is what you are doing working for you? Are you losing weight, feeling stronger, in control and focused? Are you noticing benefits to your health i.e. sleeping better and your relationships? My goal is to maintain my weight and my health. On Halloween night, I ate 12, yes 12, mini chocolate bars. I know why - I was hungry and my blood sugar dropped. By the time I realized it, those chocolate bars were long gone and I hadn’t tasted a one. The next day, I had to assess the damage. Would it show on the scale? Yes. Would I feel it in how my body moved? Yes. Did I know better? Yes. Would I let it get me down? No. Will I do it again? I’m human, but I hope not. I set myself up for failure that night, but the next day, after dusting myself off, I acknowledged what I did, what caused it and how I’m going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
What is your intent? What are you going to do to make it happen? Are you going to adjust and recognize the feedback you get from your actions? Are you going to be honest and courageous and deal with the good, the bad and the ugly?
Never Give Up! By Gail Waller
I joined Weight Watchers in June of 2004 at 290 pounds. I was having heart palpitations with minor exercise, my diabetes was getting worse and I felt like I had lost complete control of my life. When I joined the program, I was at my absolute lowest - I was convinced it would never work, and I joined to show people I was right. I would die fat, because I "just wasn’t meant to be a normal weight".
It took three weeks, but by the time I got that first 10-pound ribbon, I was hooked. I was a model Weight Watcher. Two months in, I started exercising. Just before I hit the 100 pounds off mark, I joined the Running Room’s Learn to Run program, with a goal to become comfortable running - something I hadn’t done since I was 10 years old. I threw myself into running like I had done with Weight Watchers and my exercise program.
At the height of my weight loss journey, I had lost 119 pounds. I was running three times a week, up to 8K at a stretch. I was working out 3 times a week, and journaling faithfully every single day, every single bite. My heart was fine, my blood pressure and diabetes were both under control.
I hit the wall last November. Work and other pressures combined, and I lost my focus.
I still worked out three times a week, but it was "too cold" to run. I started to find it "difficult" to find the time to work out. My weight crept up, slowly, to the 180s. I would recommit every other week. At the end of August, I was 195lbs. Desperate to stop the upward spiral, I quit the circuit-training program I had been using and joined a full service gym.
Unfortunately, gyms only work if you use them. After the friendly, women only environment I was used to, facing the weight, cardio machines and the young hard bodies at the gym was daunting. It took me a month to get the courage to make an appointment for a fitness assessment. Over that month, my weight crept up over 200 pounds. But I did make the appointment and found the gym was very welcoming, to my surprise!
208lbs. is the highest my weight will get to. I have just came back from my first run in months, the first run in my second Learn to Run program. On Saturday, I did my first session with my personal trainer at the gym. I am journaling again. I am getting up early tomorrow morning for a workout. In December, I will run a 5K race. I feel fantastic.
Some people can complete their weight loss journeys with barely a blip from start to finish. I am obviously not one of them. But I am not a failure. I have never quit and I’m proud of that.
I know I will get to goal. It will be sweet because I have worked hard for it. My motto is, was, and will always be, Never Give Up.
Crock pot Barley Soup
1 - 24oz chuck roast
2 - 14 oz can, no salt added tomatoes
4 - medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 - medium celery stock, chopped
1 - onion, chopped
1 - Cup barley
4 - tsp low sodium Chicken OX bouillon
4 Cups water
Pepper your roast and place in crock pot with tomatoes, carrots, celery and onion. Cook at high temp for 6 hours. Separate meat and broth and place in fridge. After chilling, skim off jellied fat.
Place broth and vegetables in a large pot Cut meat into chunks, removing all visible fat. Place in pot. Add 4 Cups of water and bouillon, bringing to boil. Simmer down to thickness you like.
Cook Barley according to package directions. Once finished cooking, rinse with cold water and add to soup. Bring to boil then turn heat to low. Serve
122 Calories/1 Cup svg, Fibre 3g, Fat 2.1g
Looking for a girls get-a-way weekend. Time to rejuvenate your body and spirit. Join me at the "Ultimate Pyjama Party" at the Jasper Park Lodge, March 16-18, 2007.
"You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there."
Stephanie
