Random Thoughts About Weight Loss For A Newbie (Erin)

This has already been an interesting day.

A few posts back I talked about a coworker who wanted to have lap-band surgery to lose weight. She actually came by to talk about her frustrations this morning, which led to some interesting topics of conversation.

If you had to boil healthy eating down, how would you do it? The first thing that came to mind was the USDA food plate.

That's a solid guide. Now, do I mentally fraction my plate off into food groups when I eat? No. But it's a good idea to try to hit each of these guidelines every meal. Maybe that could be a coworker lunch theme for a day or week -- see how different people create this plate, take tips from each other. I find daily goals work better for me, but this could be fun.

Back to my coworker, the main focus of our talk was how to get started. When I began I created daily goals. I've shared these before, so I won't revisit them. As I track calories I aim for pre-set nutritional goals as well.

My way is one option of many. It does take a lot of planning ahead. I've noticed that my friends who don't like planning and calculating tend to go for South Beach Diet or another plan that provides guidelines for food choices without making you track everything. (This seems especially true for the men in my life. Food journal? Have you lost your mind?! Ha!)

After I got caught up with methods of losing weight, it finally sank in: It's really about your philosophy. Your methods will have to be compatible with your mindset.

What does that mean? Well, let's back up for a minute. Another coworker stopped this morning and asked, "Erin, you look good. But how long are you going to be on this plan?" I said, "Well, for the rest of my life." She almost flipped. "For THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?!"

Most people diet for a few months then go back to normal. Especially people who don't struggle with big weight gains. That's not my philosophy.

What happens when you quit a diet? You go back to eating more; you're not burning more calories to compensate for it; you gain weight. So what good was that diet?

I'll say it again - I chose to lose weight in a way that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out and rob a donut shop every day on the way to work. It's a slow weight loss, but I'll take that since I'm not so miserable with my plan that I go rummaging through Taco Bell's dumpster at night. You know what I'm saying?

So when you decide it's time to lose weight the #1 thing I'd say to someone is PLEASE pick a plan you can do for 50 years. If you're so miserable in the first week that you have to buy fashion magazines and convince yourself you'll be so hot it's going to be worth the pain - well, that's not the right plan for you. That simple.

That's not to say it won't be hard, even when you're on the right plan. It will. Because you have to deal with your own psychology. I realized something really early on, my family soothes with food. Seriously. I think if a man broke my heart my Grandmother would make mac and cheese as a form of an emotional bandaid. We are good cooks and we see that as a way of expressing love.

Now, there's nothing wrong with having that butter-laden mac and cheese now and then. You know I'm not a food puritan. But I realized that I had the tendency to grab take out and curl up on the couch several times a week. (That's a lazy person's version of soothing with food.) There really wasn't any balance in that part of my life. So I still have to strengthen my mind to keep from slipping into the take out solution when I have a bad day.

We all have weak spots. Managing your health means facing them head-on and growing strong enough to overcome them.

The second thing I would say to someone who wanted to lose weight is don't try to be perfect. You've got years of bad habits to deal with, and you're human. You will not have it all under control every day. Sometimes you pour some chocolate chips into the peanut butter jar and go to town. It happens. But if you're managing to pick yourself back up and keep going despite that you've got a fighting chance. That's the person who grows and learns to be a stronger person. So don't walk around beating yourself up -- I do it sometimes myself. Just make it your goal to have more successes than failures when you can. That's the best any of us can do -- keep growing, don't give up. Eventually you will establish new habits and the whole thing will feel more natural.

And the last thing I would tell someone is you're the only one who can take care of you. No friend, no family member, no bully can motivate your actions. So try to learn to be on your side. (And try to tell those who don't support you to kindly take a long walk off a short pier.) Anyway, back to not tearing yourself down. Here's a cheesy example, when I'm running I feel like I'm fighting myself. Part of me gets bored. I'm not going to lie to you. It takes a lot of patience and determination to run for 45 minutes. Part of me usually feels like crap. But I tell myself, "Listen, I'm not giving up on you so you're going to have to pull through. No questions asked." And I do. Because I refuse to feed that whiny, weak part of me any longer. She has made my life miserable before. It's the determined and strong part of me that should be strengthened.
 
Today I'm really grateful for a new day and for all the bad days it took for me to grow wiser. If you're reading this, I hope you're encouraged. And I hope you find a reason to smile and enjoy life today.

Let's NOT Do This Again Tomorrow (Erin)

Oh. My. Word.

So this evening started out great. I headed out to the gym first thing after work. (Note: My gym recently held a membership drive. Translation: Everyone and their mother joined.) When I got there people were spread out taking up nearly every piece of equipment. So...I had to turn around and come home.

Let me just say I feel very low-energy crappy today. So what do I always say my body's response to that sleepy, low-energy feeling? HUNGER! And never for carrots, always for sugar. I was hoping to avoid that response by working out to the point of exhaustion, having dinner, and immediately going to bed where I would sleep like a baby. That was the fantasy in my head.

When I got home, I made dinner and had a healthy, moderate meal. Then...*sigh*...this is bad. Have you ever looked in the pantry and had your inner fat girl come roaring to life with creativity? Well...there were these mini chocolate chips...and they were really close to a 95% empty peanut butter jar...and what if? No, I couldn't.

Well, as it turns out, I could. I poured mini chocolate chips in the peanut butter jar and ate it with a knife. Why a knife, you ask? Because I've been totally irresponsible with cleaning my kitchen and there were NO (not even one child size) spoons or even forks to be found. Don't judge me. You know you've done it before, too! :)

So are you picturing this? Girl, in workout clothes, eating peanut butter chocolate chip clumps out of jar with a knife while standing in front of her pantry.

So, yeah, that just happened. And I've decided to skip the gym in favor of sleeping. Obviously I'm in serious need of some zzz's.

All that to say, sometimes a girl screws up. But tomorrow I'll get up and make the workout up at a time when very few people would dare go to the gym. And I'll be rested. And I'll have pre-packaged food! (Yeah, after I put the knife down (HA!) I pre-packaged all the food I'll need for tomorrow so I can avoid this.)

I really am going to try to be better about blogging if anyone's out there. And for that one person (probably my most amazing Aunt) who is reading, come back and see me sometime. Maybe when I'm not being a screw up. I'll work on that. :)

Here's to a new day tomorrow! And sleep. I really need some sleep.

5K (Erin)

I'm a terrible blogger! Between being out of town and everything else I have failed to provide a 5K update! My favorite and beautiful Aunt Bec reminded me of this the other day, so I got a few pictures together to share! Aunt Bec, are you seeing this? You better be seeing this! :)

I RAN MY FIRST 5K!!! Seriously. It has been accomplished. Here are a few pictures from the day...

From left to right, that's Katie (Ally's wonderful little sis), Ally, and me after we crossed the finish line.


Stephen got a shot of me during the action -- which I'm really grateful for.

Speaking of, here's Stephen (to my left) and Tony (to my right). Loved having my best man friends there to cheer me on. :)

And let me tell you something, The Color Run is serious about throwing that colored powder on you. Do you see my blue smile?

When I got home my roommate had decorated our door to congratulate me. It was really sweet!

I thank God for this accomplishment and honestly hope to do another 5K in the next 3-4 months to see if I can improve between here and there.

I am going to come back and fill in this post and try to edit the photos so they're facing the right direction. This is just a draft! Sorry to be sloppy! Check back later when I can get this together with a few  more details.

A Good Day (Erin)

Well, I have finished my last pre-race run as of tonight!

Let me tell y'all, the sun going down early is throwing me for a loop. I must have watched one too many episodes of Cold Case because I HATE being alone in the great outdoors at night. I get that creepy-crawly, someone-is-going-to-murder-me-and-they'll-interview-my-family-on-Cold-Case-while-running-a-montage-of-pictures-from-my-awkward-stage feeling. To ease my mind, Tony came along to jog a pedestrian bridge.

For this run I again had only estimates of how far I'd jogged. I set my phone to record my route and used the time to guide me, since I know how long this usually takes. We ended up going a little longer than anticipated and logged 3.8 miles!!

Afterward we grabbed dinner at one of our favorite seafood restaurants, and then I headed to the gym for weight training. Of course I saw Mr. Super Fit Friend while I was there (Stephen). He had just finished a 22-mile bike ride before hitting the gym. I'm telling you, the boy makes me want to try cycling. He burns over 1,000 calories per session -- crazy! (Can you tell I've been craving chocolate lately? I'm telling you about a cardio workout and I skip every mature point on the list and head straight to the calories burned. Translation: How many chocolate bars does that amount to?? HA!)

Anyway, it was a good night. I'm in bed now, feeling (as Stephen would say) the "afterglow." It's hard to explain, but it's the feeling you get after working out hard -- almost like your body is a little heavy but still completely relaxed.

In other news, I picked up my race packet! It felt so good holding my bib, staring down at the numbers I'll be wearing Saturday. As you remember, Tony and I tried to run a couple of months ago and were rained out. Saturday marks a first for me. I'm looking forward to seeing Ally (!!) and to running with a group. I hear when you're in a race, you feed off the energy around you. It's supposed to be a really inspiring event. More on that after Saturday!

One touchy-feely comment before I go. Today I kept thinking: Thank you, Lord, for bringing me here. Last spring I started training for a 5K. At that point I couldn't even run a quarter mile. Seriously. Even a couple of months ago I was afraid I couldn't build enough stamina to jog the entire 5K. But I prayed and kept going. And God gave me more strength than I realized I had.

Training for this race has taught me a lot about perseverance and integrity. When you want something, you have to take steps toward it on a regular basis -- even when you're not motivated and even when it hurts.

Sometimes we get so overwhelmed by how far we have to go that we don't want to try. But I'm standing here (well, sitting here) telling you that if you can just keep going you'll be amazed what will happen. The girl who couldn't jog a quarter of a mile last spring can now jog almost 4 miles. And however slow it is, the process of becoming a solid runner has begun. So take heart, you can work your way through the hard times to your goal if you'll just stick it out.

Someone told me recently, "You're not some skinny, bouncy blonde. If you can run it makes me feel like maybe I can." She had a point. If I can do this, it's a good sign for the masses. Commitment goes a long way.

Today I hope you find strength to pursue a goal you've been intimidated by. The only person who is a real obstacle (in most cases) is you. So I hope you can believe it's possible and find a way to work toward what you want.

Race Week (Erin)

It is officially race week!

You know, after all the blogging I’ve done about training, I feel a little lost for words. It’s hard to believe Saturday marks a major milestone – our first 5K!

Over the weekend, I ran twice. On Friday the whole run seemed hard, like someone had sucked all the energy out of my body, strapped a weight to my back, and commenced driving a whip on me for 3 miles. I absolutely could not run farther than 3 miles. Weird how some days are like that – your body isn’t in gear so you’re limited.

I was concerned, but I realize we have off days with everything. Sometimes we go to work and goof 10 tasks we do on a regular basis or try to cook and burn a meal we’ve prepared perfectly for years. It doesn’t make sense, but it happens.

Yesterday I went to the track to run. I’m not going to lie to you, I was still a little haunted by Friday’s hardships. I had been praying about it, in fact, and trying to be sure I did all I could do to be stronger. My friend Stephen (who I have often referred to as the disc golf pro or my super fit friend) told me to be sure to eat enough carbs before I went so I’d have energy. I did.

Turns out, yesterday’s run was much better. I made it 3.25 miles, which is right at my best distance last week and well over the race distance.

One thing I don’t like about running the track is having to count laps. My mind is not made for that. I’m either completely focused on numbers or losing count, there is no in between. To free my mind I decided to buy ponytail holders for my wrist. (I wanted whatever these things are in the picture, because they look more comfortable, but I couldn't figure out where to buy them.)

I figured I’d move one from my left to right wrist for every lap I ran. Instead of using 13 rubber bands, I used 6. Once they were moved from left to right then back to left again I’d have one lap to go. And maybe I wouldn’t cut my circulation off trying to wear 13 elastic bands down my arm, right?

It worked out really well. My mind felt free to pray and think about things, which makes me enjoy running a lot more. Ok, well, maybe enjoy is a liberal term – manage? Yeah, I manage running a lot better with freedom to think about other things.

For laughs, I have to tell you two recent happenings that confirm I'm a changed woman. One night I had a planned evening of rest. Most nights I'm working out, but once or twice a week I don't do anything. As I was sitting around, talking to my roommate, I noticed she was a little uncomfortable. Finally she said, "So are you going to work out or what? This is weird. You're just sitting around. You don't do this." HA!

My roommate is an adopted "aunt" to a couple of her friend's children. She has them over to the house to bake and play fairly often. One of the little girls came by last weekend while I was out and immediately asked, "Where's Ms. Erin? Is she exercising?" Again, cracked me up!

I'm sure there are several things I'm leaving out here...but that's the best I can do on a Monday. : ) Here's to race week!