So, I want to start out by saying happy birthday to my Momma! She doesn't read this blog, doesn't know it exists even, but still. If it weren't for her being born, I wouldn't have been born, so, it's a day to celebrate!
Despite Monday, it's been a pretty good week. I realize it's only half over, and that could flip really quickly, but I feel good. I got asked yesterday to be a Bridesmaid in one of my best good friend's wedding (ha, best good friend, I love that word!)First of all, I'm just extremely happy for the couple. Not a lot of my friends are in serious relationships, and the few that are... Well. One, I LOVE her boyfriend, but I think she's a little immature to be in that serious of a relationship. And while they're engaged... I just don't see it happening, at least any time soon. My best friend who's in a relationship, I really can't stand her boyfriend. First of all, they've been together for four years, lived together for a lot of those years, and there's still no ring on her finger. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of couples don't even want to get married, and that's fine by me, I don't think people HAVE to get married or anything like that. But, she wants too. Desperately. And he knows that. At one point, he asked her to marry him, and when she started planning things, he pretty much took it back. Weird, right? Plus, he's just a dick. He's one of those guys who ALWAYS has to one up you, he's a little controlling, he's selfish, I mean all around, I just think he sucks. And whenever I call her, or talk to her online, suddenly he NEEDS her for something. Like I can't have a conversation with her because he's in the background, singing loudly, or trying to talk to her... I mean our friendship has SERIOUSLY suffered because of him. So for one of my friends to not only be getting married, but to a GREAT guy who I adore? I'm SO excited. I've also ALWAYS wanted to be a bridesmaid. I know a lot of people don't like it. I know it gets expensive, and while I don't see my friend turning into a bridezilla, I know it can happen. But I do want to do the makeup, the hair, helping planning, all of that. I'm so excited!
I'm also excited about starting my diet, which I've talked a little bit about on Monday, I think. After my Father in law's whole thing, it really made me start thinking about my health. It makes me really sad that my father in law knows he has a ticking time bomb in him, and won't do anything to stop or slow it down. It makes me sad that my husband, my son, his wife, me... They're not enough to make him want to change to be around longer.
And then I wondered if I was being a hypocrite. I mean, sure. I can breathe. For the most part. But ask me to run for five minutes? And I'm sure I couldn't breathe after that. I get winded climbing the stairs. I've never been told that if I don't lose weight I will die. But, I know it's true. My heart isn't bad... Yet. But that doesn't mean that it's not on the path to me there. My father died of a heart attack, his father died of a heart attack, his father died of a heart attack... So far it's only been the men, and while I've been concerned about my brother's health... I never stopped to think about my own. Maybe I'll be the one to break the cycle, maybe I'll be the first girl in my family to die of a heart attack.
So I started toying around with the idea of a diet. I've kinda dieted before, but nothing really serious. I've tried the Atkins twice, but never stuck with it more than a week or two, and I've never really worked out or exercised.
I wanted to do something for real this time, so I decided to forgo any fad diets. If you have will power, then I guess they could work. But for me? I give in way too easily. Tell me I CAN'T have something? That's when I get a crushing craving for it. So I decided to count calories. I expected it to be hard... It really hasn't been. It's a shocker, and I keep waiting for a craving, but I haven't had one.
The gym has been harder. I don't like working out, and we had an incident with the elliptical machine on my first day. But, I keep going back. The bike is alright, and I love weight lifting (though, I don't want to become one of those muscle women. I just want toned.)
I started a new blog for my weight loss ranting. I'm not promising it to be good (I don't even think one of my blog entries even makes much sense.) But, I've always felt writing helps me out, and I love being able to go back and see where I was, vs where I am now. So, if any of you want to go over there and check it out, the link is: www.mevsgym.blogspot.com
If any of you have a new years resolution to lose weight, feel free to come on over and vent too. If I get other people to read it, I'll include some tips, and you guys can feel free to share yours. A good website a friend recommending to me is www.sparkpeople.com It's a free weight loss website, they have a lot of articles, menues, recipes, ect. They can also tell you by weight and height and BMI how many calories you need to take in a day in order to lose weight, and you can record your calories and such. It can be a little confusing, because there's a lot going on, so I recommend signing up when you have time to play with it, or when you can watch the tutorial video.
I just feel really good, and have been in a great mood lately. I know it's hard, I'm not some skinny chick who needs to drop 10 lbs (no offense to skinny people out there. I'm just saying personally for me, it was discouraging for a skinnier friend to be like "you can do it! I'll do it with you" and they only need to drop 10 lbs, and you need to drop 100.)
Anyway, I think that's it. What are everyone's New Years Resolutions, by the way?
Breaking the Surface
10 years ago
8 comments:
First of all, congrats on your decision to take control of your body! It can be so hard especially with all the goodies there are to eat. Personally, I looooooove food, but I've always struggled with my weight, even when I was little. I started dieting (doctor's orders) when I was 8 and it's been a real issue for me. Add to that a bout of depression in high school and I ended up with an eating disorder. But I got help and now I try not to let food control me. I'm not overweight, but I hate to exercise so with fluctuating weight, I'm kinda... floppy, so to speak, heehee!
Laura, if you like weights but don't want to get buff, do lots of reps with a tiny weight. That will tone you without making your muscles get too big. Inversely, to get big muscles, use heavier weights. Good luck and I'll be reading your other blog to get myself motivated too!!
Congrats on your decision to improve your health before it get bad. I'll be checking out your other blog too. One of my resolutions is to loose weight too. I've been exercising regularly at home in the morn. I love Denise Austins DVD's she is great and a great motivator, if not a bit too perky lol. Anyhoo, I decided to seriously cut calories and made it one day, I was starving and realized that was a bad idea. You can still eat and keep calories under control. And not starve yourself to death lol. Ok, I am probably what you'd call " a skinny chick that needs to lose 10 pounds" although I think I need to lose 20. :)
I'm happy for you too! I think most people do struggle with weight and it's such an overwhelming task to tackle, and it seems to get out of control so quickly. I need to atart doing something also - I don't have a ton I'd like to lose (15lbs would be good) but it's really hard to get those lbs off bc they are the most stubborn, my body is comfortable this way, lbs to lose! LOL
Anyway, I wish you lots of good luck and I'll be visting the other blog too. Maybe we can all encourage each other, and keep each other from losing that otivation come Feb/March like I always seem too!
My resolution is to lose enough weight to look great in a bikini this summer. I've already lost almost 30 pounds and my goal is to lose another 20, but really if I lost 10 more I would be doing pretty darn good. I'm only 5'3 and my highest was 167 and I'm currently 139. I haven't seen the 130's since college, so I was so happy to see that number!
Whitney
Thanks guys, for all your support! Everyone has been REALLY good about cheering me on, so, it's been a lot easier like that.
And I hope no one took offense to my skinny chicks who need to lose 10 lbs. I know losing 10 can be JUST as hard as losing 100, but to me at least, it just seems a lot less daunting. Ya know? But I'm not trying to think of how much weight I have to lose all together, because that just seems impossible. I'm trying to think of it in like, well, 8 lbs a month, which just seems WAY more doable.
I've been overweight pretty much my whole life. Fat kinda runs in the family (my Mom used to be big, she lost a LOT of weight), and it didn't help that when I was younger, we didn't have a lot of money, so we were encouraged to eat everything on our plate so we wouldn't waste any food (therefore, I didn't stop when I felt full, I stopped when my plate was empty.) Also, my Dad died, and my Mom tried to make it up to us by giving us whatever we wanted, toys, sweets, junk food, ect. And when I started packing on the pounds, my Mom didn't try to stop me. She didn't say anything with good reason, it came out later that HER mom was constantly on her weight, saying things like "Oh, you'd have such a pretty face if you were just skinnier" and stuff like that... And it made her feel horrible, so she didn't want ME to feel horrible.
I'm not trying to put it all on my Mom or anything, when I was younger it wasn't my fault, but it HAS been my fault for many years. I KNEW what I was doing, I KNEW what I was eating, I just didn't stop.
And Laura, you gotta be careful about cutting out too many calories. It not only sets you up for failure (you may be able to go a couple days on a seriously reduced calorie intake diet, but it's not going to last.) but it'll send your body into starvation mode, and it'll actually make you gain weight, because your body will hold on to the calories and fat that it has. I really recommend SparkPeople, it'll tell you how many calories you need to lose weight. But, if you're not much of an internet person (the page can get a little tricky) I can send you the article that has the formula in order to figure out how much you need to lose.
Good luck ladies, I'm pullin for ya!
I hear you, girl. We started a Biggest Loser contest here at work. I joined, but don't have the right attitude. I love eating out (bad stuff) and am not the best cook. I don't want my kids picking up my bad habits. I always feel too tired and unmotivated to work out. I keep thinking one day I'll take control, but it hasn't happened yet. mum
On risk of being duplicative on what the others have said, congrats on your decision to become a healthier person! It's an exciting & nerve-wracking thing to do & you should be proud of your decision! Making the decision alone is an accomplish worth noting!
Thanks for introducing the Spark People website to me. It seems pretty cool & I'm excited to begin using it! It's especially cool to me b/c it's FREE! A few years back, I joined Weight Watchers & lost 35 pounds & boy did it feel great... I've gotten off the bandwagon & have gained back some of the weight. Partially due to a broken wrist & surgeries & a major lack in exercise since it happened... although that's not a real excuse. So anyway... thanks for introducing the site & best of luck on your journey & keep up the good work!
Mum- I kept telling myself one of these days I was going to get motivated and do it... Or I'd start to do it because others pressured me into it, and then quit. I really think it's something you have to decide on your own. Kinda like addicts have to be the one to make the decision to go into rehab, you just have to reach that point where you're done, ya know?
Anon- Anyone who knows me knows I love free, lol. But really, weight loss can be expensive as it is. Our gym membership? For my husband and I? A little over 100 bucks/month. We COULD find some place cheaper, but the problem is, cheaper places don't have a childcare, and we don't always have a family member who can watch Cayden, and I don't even really know anyone I could pay to watch him (most of my friends live a good distance away, it's just not practical.) So yeah, I LOVED the fact that Spark is free. It seems to be pretty good so far, as well. :-)
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