Journey Fitness

Below is the script for Podcast Number Two from September 15, 2008, “Be Prepared.” I talk about how I prepared BEFORE I started my weight loss journey. In fact, some of the preparation was before I knew I was even going to focus on weight loss. It all helped to set me up for success. I am never so bold as to believe I have it “perfected.” I know I could re-gain if I lose focus. So one thing I want to underscore in everything I publish is that this is all dynamic. I don’t STOP evaluating because I’m at goal. I still fight negative self talk. I still work on emotional readiness to deal with certain aspects of my journey. In fact at some point I’ll post on how you deal with the actual LOSS part of weight loss, because when I lost weight I also lost parts of myself and some friends. Neither of those losses were bad in the long run, but both were hard to deal with at the time.

And now to the script.

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Last week I introduced myself and my podcast and shared my nine key weight loss elements that helped me go from well over 200 pounds to my current weight of 120.

This week I’m going to talk about number one. It is number one not only because it was the first thing I did in my weight loss journey, but also because I think it is the number ONE key element to making a permanent lifestyle change of any type. My first key element to weight loss, with apologies to the Boy Scouts of America, is to be prepared. I was prepared mentally, I was prepared physically, but most importantly I was prepared emotionally.

So what does that mean to be prepared? There are different levels of preparedness when making a lifestyle change. Let’s start with mental.

Having lived most of my life with an internal monologue that was highly negative, I was suffering from an extreme lack of self esteem. I had pretty much decided that, despite the fact that I was funny, smart, a respected teacher, a marvelous wife, and a great friend, my weight changed my definition to worthless. I walked through life mentally apologizing for having the audacity to be fat in the presence of others. I was a walking apology.

After having an experience where a loved one indicated clearly that my weight bothered her, I confronted her and said, “I am a fat woman. I will probably always BE a fat woman. Anyone who can’t accept that, isn’t someone I need in my life.”

That was a real “Ah Ha” moment for me. Why? Because I was asking someone to live up to a standard I wasn’t living up to myself.

Now you might think this was the when I said “I’ll show her! I’ll lose the weight and NO ONE will be ashamed of me ever again!” Nope! That’s not what happened. This was about a year before I started my weight loss, but it was definitely the start of my journey. Self acceptance was KEY to taking the first weight loss steps.

The next step was to get prepared physically. First that meant research. Believe it or not, this little fat girl had a degree in Health Education. I knew I wasn’t making positive choices. I spent a few months researching diet plans, programs, etc. I knew two things. One, I wasn’t able to do this on my own, and two the plan had to be healthy and sustainable.

After deciding on a program, I elicited the support of my husband. Our home needed to be a “safe zone” where I didn’t have to climb over obstacles to make the correct decisions. After all, I’d known for YEARS what to do, but knowing a thing and doing a thing are two different things altogether. We ALL know that.

We prepared the house by removing all of the tempting foods that were high in calories. We stocked up on healthy foods. I used an online journaling program, so before I even started “the plan” I journaled my food for about a week to see how it was all shaking out. Wow! While I knew I wasn’t making healthy choices every day, I had NO idea that I was eating that many calories!

Finally, I prepared myself emotionally. I sat down and did an activity I’ve always done as a teacher. At the end of every semester, I take a piece of paper and make three columns. In one column I list everything I think I did well. We all need to start with some positive strokes. In the second column I make a list of all the things I had problems with…where did I want to see change? In column three I brainstorm ways to make those changes. I then prioritize those changes and get prepared to implement them with my new classes.

I did the same for my weight loss journey. I wrote down all the positive things I had done or was doing that were beneficial to my health. I made a list of problem areas…places where, in the past, I failed. After all, we know that once the honeymoon is over, it is easy to let these new habits that seemed so exciting even a week ago, drop to the wayside when they become mundane. I knew this journey was going to be FULL of emotions and that emotional eating had been an issue in the past. So being pro-active and recognizing potential pitfalls helped to prepare me emotionally to handle the road ahead.

And then we executed the plan! We joined the online program in February of 2002 and by December I was at goal. Together we’ve lost over 200 pounds and kept it off. It wasn’t as “easy as that” but starting out with strong preparation helped move me through the honeymoon period, to the frustrated period, and on to goal without the ups and downs I’d experienced in previous weight loss endeavors.

If you’re ready to make a lifestyle change that leads to long term success, take key point one to heart. It’s too easy to start Monday because it’s Monday, or start next week before my class reunion is in 6 months, or start today because I’m disgusted with being fat. You have to ask yourself, though, will starting a journey without preparation get me to my goal? After all, would you hop in the car to drive across the country to a destination you’ve never visited without gassing up the car, checking Google Maps, packing essentials, and boarding the dogs? Of course not! So take the steps to prepare before you leave, After all, planning a journey is almost half the fun.

1. Mentally prepare be doing what you need to do to recognize that you’re worth it. When you feel confident in who you are, how you look takes stops being such a focus. When I started my weight loss I was truly focused on health. If I loved myself, how could I treat my body like a garbage dump?
2. Physically prepare your surroundings. Elicit the support of others. If you have family members you don’t feel will be supportive, don’t include them in your journey. I did not tell most of my family. Not because I don’t care about them, but because I wanted to do this without interference. Get rid of “red light foods” and prepare a shopping list that will allow you to make healthy choices. Pre-plan your meals for a few weeks, leaving a few calories for extras.
3. Emotionally prepare by recognizing where you’ve made mistakes in the past and plan how you’ll deal with those situations when they arise. After all, if we spend more time being pro-active, we don’t have to spend time later being reactive.

Next podcast I will talk about my second key element, setting clearly defined goals.

Tags: emotional readiness, goal setting, mental health, motivation, Podcast, Weight Loss

This morning on one of the mailing lists I read someone was wanting an opinion on whether she should skip weigh in after a bad week. Another wise weight watcher told her that she never skips weigh ins because it’s just her “rule” that she go each week.

I like that. It made me think. I have set forth “rules” for how I lose and maintain my weight loss. Why? Because I’m one of those anal retentive control freaks (should there be a comma there??) who works very well within guidelines. Now let me be clear. I’m not Harvy Milquetoast. I don’t sit around waiting for someone to tell me what to do. In fact I hate to be told what to do by anyone but me. However, I work very well within boundaries if there is some freedom. From there I set my personal rules for me. Once I set these rules I am adamant that I stick to them.

So here are my five rules for losing and maintaining.

1. I journal every single day. Period. Even on vacation, I’ll bring my Palm and journal.
2. There is no such thing as going off program. Period. Stress, holidays, good times, bad times, etc. will always be there and provide easy excuses to go off so I don’t use them. I have a specific number of calories I eat per day and if the holiday is on a Thursday and and I don’t have enough calories left, I figure a way to fit it in.
3. I step on the scale every single week. Period. That is how I know what’s going on with my body.
4. I take a moment and let it go if the scale isn’t what I want to see. I own up to it on the mailing lists and my weight tracker. If it’s too high, I adjust my maintenance calories. I don’t beat myself up.
5. I exercise six days a week. Period. I need to keep my fire stoked if I want to burn the fuel.

Tags: motivation, Nutrition, rules, Weight Loss, weight watchers