Gratitude

Yesterday was a bit of a down day. Today I'm shaking it off I have decided I'm having a glorious day, so it must be true.

As my regular readers probably know, I'm participating in the 3rd Fabulous Fatties Challenge. They have such great challenges. :) Anyway, about a week ago Shannon challenged the challengers to keep a daily journal of things you are grateful for. I've decided that is a great thing to add to my journey. A healthy soul is part of a healthy life. Here are some of the things I'm grateful for:

I have a wonderful husband who loves me and thinks I'm beautiful no matter my size

My son is growing up to be a kind, caring, intelligent person

My family is healthy and happy

My mom is an amazing person, and I know she is always there when I need her

I have a large family, and our family get togethers are full of love and laughter

I have two of the sweetest most loving dogs ever

I have a good job that keeps me challenged and gives me the opportunity to grow and learn

I have fabulous friends; both the real life kind, and the blog/Twitter/Facebook kind that are there when I need a little cheering up

I set out to accomplish a goal, and although I haven't reached that goal yet, I'm well on my way and have found a wonderful support system to get me there

Oh, and now I have something new to add to my list, I just won a prize in the daily drawing for the Fabulous Fatties Challenge. It feels so good to win! Thank you ladies, you are Fabulous.

This is the start of what is sure to be a very long list. I have a nice new leather bound journal that these are going in, and whenever I have a down day (like yesterday) I can read through all the things in my life I can be grateful for, and that's sure to turn that frown upsidedown.

Healthy and Happy Living



Fab Fatties Challenge Update:
Date: 8/25
Total Entries: 5 entries
Drink 8 glasses of water a day *1 entry
5 servings of fruits or vegetables a day *1 entry
Exercise 30 minutes a day or more *2 entries
Eat a healthy breakfast *1 entry per day

What was PETA Thinking?

Please pardon me as I step up on my soapbox.

I hadn't decided what I was going to write about today. The last couple days have been pretty uneventful. But as I was scrolling through some blogs, I ran across "My Thoughts Ideas and Ramblings" and this post about a PETA billboard. As soon as I saw it, I knew what my topic would be. I was so instantly offended and disgusted by this ad, I had to see if anyone else felt the way the other blogger and I do. What you see below is a billboard that I understand to be in Jacksonville.

What is PETA thinking? As far as I'm concerned, they have been losing credibility as a legitimate animal rights group for years. They are a joke, and this is just one more example of why. It's not even true! As all of us trying to lose weight and be healthy know, there is not one magic diet that will make you lose weight, and just because it works for one person, doesn't mean it will work for anyone else. Even if vegetarianism was the magic cure for for being overweight, this is not the way to spread that word. And whatever happened to PETA being for the Ethical Treatment of animals? If they want to tell me the instances of animal cruelty, companies that are guilty of it, and what we can do to help, I'd be all for it. But what gives them the right to try and pray of the vulnerability of overweight people to get their way? And since when are Vegitarians magically more healthy? My cousin was a vegetarian for 4 years, she was sickly, unhealthy, underweight, and had very low muscle mass. Whereas when she started eating meat again 2 years ago, she put was able to put on the 10 pounds she needed to be at a healthy weight, and most of it was in muscle mass. She is now healthy and happy, and no longer sickly and pale.

Granted this is not everyone's experience with vegetarianism, but many that I know have the same problems with perhaps weighing less, but also having lower muscle mass. Now, I don't have anything against vegetarianism, it works for a lot of people. But I do feel the same way about it as I feel about religion. I believe what I believe, you believe what you believe; I won't try and push my beliefs on you, and won't let you try and push yours on me. If you want to be a vegetarian, be it for health benefits you may see or feel, or because you don't want to eat anything that used to have a face, then I'm happy for you and your chosen lifestyle. But don't push your ideals on me, or try to make me feel guilty for eating animals. Animals eat other animals, and people have been eating animals since the begining of humanity.

{De'Anna steps off her soapbox}

Thank you for listening to my ramblings. I'd love to hear what you think about this.

Healthy and Happy Living

Fab Fatties Challenge Update:

20 entries for 8/20

Creativily tweet, myspace, facebook or other social network about this challenge *2 entries
Post about this challenge or linky love us on your blog *3 entries
Keep a food journal *1 entry
Extra Entries *6
Eat a healthy breakfast *1 entry
Leave comments on other peoples blogs *5 entry
Exercise 30 minutes a day or more *2 entries

8 entries for 8/21

Eat a healthy breakfast *1 entry
Leave comments on other peoples blogs *2 entry

Extra Entries *1

No Soda *1 entry

Exercise 30 minutes a day or more *2 entries

Creativily tweet, myspace, facebook or other social network about this challenge *1 entry

Tips and Challenge

During my last training session, I spoke to my trainer and asked him for a tip for my readers. Paul's first tip is, when you are exercising, try to keep the time between exercises really short. The less rest time, the longer your heart rate stays up and the more fat you can burn. His second tip was to practice Push Aways. Paul said they are a great exercise for people trying to lose weight. Now I hadn't heard of these before, so was very interested to hear the details. So I had his explain exactly how to do one. So here's how a Push Away is done. First, while seated at the table, place your hands on the end of the table in front of you and push back so your chair and you push away from the table. Now for the important part, this is to be done while eating a meal, and before you have finished. Just when you've had enough to feel satisfied. The idea being, if you can push yourself away from the unfished meal, you'll eat less. :) We got a good laugh out of it being an "exercise," he said it as a joke, but I told him I was going to put it in anyway.

Now, those of you who have been following me for a while (or have read some of the old posts), may remember the Fabulous Fatties challenge that I was a part of. Well, they're at it again. The Fabulous Fatties Challenge #3 is in full swing. I just found out about it yesterday, barely in time to join up to participate. But even though it's too late to participate in this one, I'd recommend popping into their site anyway. They are full of life and very inspirational, plus they are sure to have another challenge soon, so you can get a feel for how they work. Stop in and say "Hi", tell them a_healthier_me sent you. :)

So far I have 5 points for yesterday (cut me some slack, I didn't find out until late in the day).
Set a goal of what you want to achieve during this challenge. *2 entries
Exercise 30 minutes a day or more *2 entries
Eat a healthy breakfast *1 entry per day

Today will be a higher point score. :)

Healthy and Happy Living

Healthy Breakfast

I discovered today how important a healthy breakfast actually is, by not having one. Since starting the Healthy Challenge, I've been having healthy breakfasts and feeling great. Today my husband received some chocolately, carmelly, nutty, ooey, gooey deliciousness from a friend. Well, I couldn't help but have one, first thing this morning, before anything else...

First off, I do not feel one little bit of guilt for having it, I don't feel like I'm failing because I indulged a little, I'll just adjust my calories a little to make up for it.

Well, that's where the happiness ends. I had a healthy mid morning snack and prepared for my training session. And it was twice as hard to do the same exercises as it was last week. All that sugary fat sitting in my gut made me a little sluggish, and made it harder to breath through all the core strengthening exercises. Now, being the stubborn person I am, I pushed through like it wasn't bothering me, but I felt icky. So now, I will be taking that part of the challenge to heart, now and forever! Here's an article I found on the importance of eating breakfast - there are tons out if you do an internet search.

You only fail if you don't learn from your mistakes, eating ooey gooey deliciousness first thing in the morning, mistake. What did I learn? Save it for later when you don't have to perform any physical activity right after. I feel like I need a nap, but instead I'm going to see if I can't burn the rest of it out of my system with a nice long walk.

Twitter Support Group

All I can say is WOW. Through all the trials and tribulations of previous weight loss attempts (and failures), I've never had such a quick to respond, widespread, active and helpful support group. Today I was VERY tempted to fall back on good old soda, and my wonderful Twitter friends talked me out of it, letting me know how good I was doing & giving me other options to try instead. With a support group like this under you, how can you possible fail? My spirits have been lifted, my resolve renewed.

Not only do I have my tweeps, but a growing support system at home. My mom is behind me, a couple friends and co-workers and keeping me lifted, and my husband has been so supportive. He tells me all the time how proud he is of me. He even made me my healthy breakfast this morning. Then there is the Biggest Loser challengers at work, our wonderful team leader (Zen) who is supportive, encouraging, and gives us those gentle reminders to do what we're supposed to (like when I didn't take the stairs this morning, after talking to her I walked back downstairs and up again). I feel like everything in my life is falling into place to get me to where I want and need to be. Pretty soon, I'll be one hot mama!

Went for a nice long walk at lunch today with a group that is participating in the Biggest Loser challenge at work. As much as I enjoy walking by myself, I realized that walking with other people pushes me to walk faster than I normally would. I was quite winded when I got back. Follow that up with a 3 flight stair climb. Pretty good workout for the afternoon. Need to do my floor mat exercises tonight too, going to be like 2 hours of exercise today by the time I'm done. It's a good day.

Today's Random Act of Kindness: When looking for a counter to put on the blogs I manage (my 2 and my mom's 2), I found one that include a link to a charitable org under the counter. So instead of going with one that was just normal, I went with the charity link. Even if it only generates $1 for a charity, every dollar counts.

Random Acts of Kindness

Today is a good day. After not being able to stop smiling yesterday, I decided last night that I like having days where I smile all the time, so I was just going to have nothing but good days. Well, to my pleasant surprise, the wonderful Fabulous Fatties had decided that today all the Healthy Challenge participants would get points for following & saying "Hi" to me today. What a great way to start the morning, a dozen or so messages saying "Hi" telling me how great I was doing, how fabulous and nice I am. My face hurt from all the smiling. Now everyone I work with will benefit from this, since I'll be in such a good mood today. Even my water tastes delicious today!

As part of the healthy challenge the Fabulous Fatties are putting on, we are challenged to perform one random good deed (or as I like to put it a Random Act of Kindness). One of the people I follow in Twitter recommended this site for inspiration http://365daysofgoodness.com/ (You can find her on Twitter as well at http://twitter.com/daysofgoodness). This wonderful lady has decided to perform one random good deed a day for 365 days. Everything from signing for a neighbor's FedEx package, to donating items and time to various charities. I find her story inspirational, and it makes me suddenly think about all those good deeds I haven't done or keep meaning to do. 

So today, in addition to my Journey to a Healthier Me, I'm now on a Journey to a Better Me. I will be looking for and doing my daily good deed with Alli as my guide. Today as my good deed, I am spreading the word of her site to as many people as I can. Remember, what goes around comes around. 

 

What's your Motivation

I read somewhere recently (sorry I can't credit it, I don't remember where I read it) that it is very important to have a "why" for your weight loss efforts. If you know what is motivating you, what goal you are aiming at, then you have something to turn to when times get tough. Some people may say they want to lose the baby weight, or feel better, or just to be thin. But is that really a "why?" Why do you want to lose the baby weight? What will you do when you "feel better?" What will change in your life when you are thin? 

Find your true motivation, and make it something that means enough to you so when you are staring your biggest temptation in the face you can imagine that "why" and just say "NO!" Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mean that you can never eat a piece of cake again, or that chocolate is a thing of the past. Moderation is key, but if you are tempted by something and you feel that urge to overindulge, that's when you need the help of your "why."After some real soul searching, I discovered my real :"why."

Why now? Why am I really doing this? What will keep me headed in the right direction when times get tough? Sure, I want to look good for my reunion. Of course I want to wear those cute clothes. And who wouldn't want to be healthier? But none of those reasons had that deeply emotional connection with me to give me the strength I need to pull through. "Well, what is it then?" you ask, here it is, I want to be able to wear my wedding ring again!

Less than a year after I got married (6 years ago), I started gaining weight. Shortly there after, I couldn't get my wedding ring on. Here I am, 5 years of not wearing my ring, and something inside me snapped. Now, every morning, I try that ring on to see how close I am, and to remind me of why I am doing this. When I think "Hm, how about picking up a dozen doughnuts for breakfast?" or "That king sized Snickers looks good." I can look down at my bare wedding ring, and I find the courage to say "NO!" 

So what's your motivation, what is your "why?" 

I'm aiming for 150 pts per day in the Fabulous Fatties Challenge #2, so I set up this tracker to follow my results.

My First Personal Training Session

WHEW! Made it through that. Boy, it's amazing how much of a workout you can get just by being on a mat. My new trainer, Paul, worked me out on a mat for some exercises to increase the neurological link between mind and muscle, because when you aren't on a machine that guides your movement, you actually have to think about what you are doing. The good and bad thing about this is, now I have a real and hard workout routine that I can do anywhere. No more excuses about not having time to get to the gym to do my workout, darn. 

I have to say, I think my relationship with my trainer is going to be a love/hate, I'm going to love to hate him. OK, that's not totally true, he did a great job of pushing me to my limits, but not beyond them. So I feel like I got a workout, but I'm not so sore I can't move. The benefit of that is, I'll be ready to do more exercise tomorrow (cardio day), and won't be so sore that I can use that as an excuse not to. 

After my workout, my husband, son and I went to my mom's place and went swimming for about an hour and a half. Exercise that is so fun you don't realize you're exercising is my favorite. 

I'm also taking part in a fun challenge put on by a couple ladies who call themselves the Fabulous Fatties. It's a fun challenge about doing healthy things, and good deeds. Plus, you can meet a bunch of other people working to improve their health and weight. If you'd like to join in the fun, click the link below, to go to their blog. Be sure to tell them you were recommended by me (Twitter ID a_healthier_me). http://weightlosswiththefabulousfatties.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/today-is-the-last-chance-to-join-challenge-2/ (don't worry that it says "last day" they changed it and allow late comers now). 

I'm aiming for 150 pts per day in the Fabulous Fatties Challenge #2, so I set up this tracker to follow my results.