Last week was tough for me. I felt like I was working so hard and I just needed a break. Since I was out most evenings, I grabbed fast food for dinner. Somehow, I managed to squeeze in midweek run. But, by Sunday I looked and felt like I ate burgers, pizza and nachos all week. I even went as far as picking up a bottle of diet pills. I picked them up, but I put them back down, when I remembered how I tried fat burner pills in college and my eye became swollen shut as an allergic reaction and I had to call off work. I also know I’m not really going to swallow 8 giant pills a day. “What am I going to do?” I asked my sister. She said track Points and go to WW meetings. I was glad she was there to help snap me out of my madness. Sometimes I just get so tired of being fat. It’s mentally and physically draining. But, at the end of the day, the secret to weight loss is no secret at all. It’s Eat Less and Move More. I decided to look at the Biggest Loser website for motivation. They had a section about making SMART Goals.
S = Specific goals
M = Measurable goals
A = Attainable goals
R = Realistic and Relevant goals
T = Timely goals
Specific and measurable means that you can evaluate whether or not you have reached the goal by answering yes or no. Action based means that you can see yourself doing it. Realistic means you have the skills, knowledge, and tools to make it happen. Rewarding means you find it exciting and valuable. And time based makes it closed-ended, so you can’t continually delay the start or move the finish line. All aspects of SMART goals are important to achieving positive expectations. But the most influential is the “R.” Setting realistic and yet rewarding goals is a balancing act. If you make them achievable, but they fail to create a fire inside you, they fall flat. For instance, a goal of walking 20 minutes three times per week may be achievable, but may leave you feeling like it’s just not enough.
Finding the balance requires self-acceptance. Acceptance allows you to move forward from a place of caring and self-worth. And contrary to what most people believe, wanting to change or improve does not reflect a lack of acceptance. In fact, the exact opposite is true. No lasting change can take place without it.
Acceptance is an understanding of your strengths and your limitations, and when you have it, you don’t underestimate your power or the task at hand. And you will be able to set your goals just outside of your comfort zone, so they can be reached.
Of course I’ve seen and heard about SMART Goals a hundred times during my weight loss journey. But there was something that stood out to me. They mentioned that having goals like losing 10 pounds before your reunion can be a GOOD thing. I was always taught that those types of goals were “bad” because they were temporary and don’t focus on long-term behavior changes. But, on the contrary, this article said if you give yourself enough time like one month instead of the week before the reunion, that’s actually a great motivator. Once you reach that goal, you can set a new one. I got all excited and said I’m going to lose 40 pounds before I go to Mexico in July! And then I remember the “R”, that’s not realistic. However, training for my 5K in June is a great example of setting a good SMART goal. There is a predetermined distance set out on a specific date that you have to train for in a specific period of time, and your successes is measured by your finish time, and in my eyes simply crossing the finish line. I’ll continue to focus on that goal. So, before you set a goal to lose 50 pounds, try to come up with SMART goals that are realistic and achievable.
Hey Y’all! I’ve been buried in tax papers. I felt guilty anytime I did something other than work on preparing them. I finally meet with my accountant tonight to file them. Whew!… I am not a number’s type of girl and this stuff stresses me out to no end. But, luckily its almost over…(until next year.) I’m more organized than I’ve ever been. I literally had shoe boxes full of receipts. Now, I have labeled folders and envelopes and spreadsheets!
Anyway, I’m alive and well and even have a hot date on my calendar next weekend…Well, I’m not sure how “hot” it really is, but its a date! Lol. As far as food is concerned, I’m still cookie free and soda free. My knees feel better already, soda is so BAD for your knees. But, nonetheless, I gained weight at the WW weigh in. It wasn’t unexpected though, because I wasn’t keeping track of my food points. Unlike taxes, losing weight is simple math
Eat +Tracking = Loss & Eat – Tracking = Gain.
Hopefully without nightmares of receipts and missing the tax filing deadline swirling in my mind, I can focus on healthy eating. I tracked breakfast and lunch today…so it’s a start.
“Man, Carli what’s going on?” you ask. “You haven’t posted in forever.” The easy answer is I’ve been super busy. The long answer is that my blog is always first in my heart, I love to write and tell stories, and I love to help people reach their fitness goals. But, sometimes my workaholicness (made-up word) gets in the way. I have a great idea for a fitness iPod app. I wanted to look into seeing what it takes to make one, and the guy I talked to started to build it. He built a demo in a week. This app project was on my to do after taxes, after my e-book, after redecorating my living room list. But somehow it jumped it to top of the list, while trying to juggle a vacant rental unit, leaky pipes and old lady tenants that need help opening the freshly painted windows. Oh, and all of this is between helping my mom with her business and my “real job” that takes up 40 hours a week. Did I forget anything? Oh yeah, and trying to date and meet someone new. Which is difficult when I meet guys that say “I broke up with my fiancé last week, but I’m done lying and cheating and ready for a relationship.” ugh … I had to politely tell him I didn’t think we were a good fit. If you’re wondering, I still talk to my Special Friend. We’re cool, but that’s just it. We’re friends. Time to move on.
Amongst all my busy life stuff, I am proud to declare that I’ve been “clean and sober” since I wrote that post nearly a week ago. No soda, no cookies. I’ve had to battle the caffeine withdrawal headaches and one day those 3 for 99 cent fresh baked cookies from McDonalds were calling my name. But, I didn’t give in. And, I didn’t eat any other sweet treat as a substitute. That’s how I am, if I can’t have the cookies, then I don’t want anything else. This further re-affirmed why I cut them out of my diet (again.) I’ve been keeping WW points during the day, and slacking off in the evening. I went to my Weight Watchers meeting but opted not to weigh in. I felt like seeing a higher number might send me to a place I didn’t want to be. I’m trying to detach myself emotionally from the scale, but that day, I knew I wasn’t able to do it. I realized that sometimes we put unnecessary pressure on ourselves. What was the worst thing that could happen? Would everyone laugh at the girl too afraid to weigh in? Or would the meeting leader look at me with shame and disgust?…nope. Nothing happened except she told me she never makes anyone weigh in, and I sat down and enjoyed the meeting. I don’t plan on making a habit out of it not weighing in; but it was nice to take control over the situation. Sometimes you need a break from the scale. Maybe, I didn’t lose weight, (maybe I did) but I had the major non-scale victory of breaking 2 of my most destructive habits.
You may have realized that you can search my entire weight loss and fitness blog, but you won’t find my actual weight anywhere. That’s because I’m not totally comfortable sharing my weight with the whole world just yet. I have a magic number in my mind, and when I reach that number I’m sure I will tell everyone. However, I will continue to be open and honest about my journey to get to magic number land. As you probably know, I gained back a few of the pounds that I lost in January. I was frustrated and mad at myself, but determined not to give up. Life dumped some extra hard stuff my way recently. One of my best friends was diagnosed with a blood clot on her brain and was in the hospital for several days. I took a road trip and spent the day with her. Then I experienced the shock of realizing that all change is stressful. Even good change like a great new job, can be stressful. When I explained to the Weight Watcher’s leader last week that I had been stress eating, she gently reminded me that food would not make the situation better. It’s amazing how many times we have to re-learn the same lessons. My friend is better and out of the hospital, and all last week I made a conscious effort to remind myself that food cannot fix problems. I managed to track at least two meals a day and worked in some activity. I was happy to see that the scale finally worked in my favor this week. I lost two pounds! That puts me at a total loss of 10 pounds since January.
My little sister, the one that’s a Senior in high school joined Weight Watchers today. She was super nervous about getting on the scale. I told her they always have encouraging things to say, and never judge you based on your weight. She enjoyed the meeting, but she had to get accustomed to the casual meeting environment where people “scream out answers while the teacher was talking.” She was so surprised to learn that you can eat “bad” food and still lose weight. She had planned on cutting out junk food, and I told her with Weight Watchers she didn’t have to. She only has to eat less. I hope she likes the program, it’s nice to have a weight watcher partner. Although many of you are my weight watcher partners too. With all of this support I’m destined to succeed. I hope you have a great week; remember to eat less and move more. We can do this!
A member shared a great new recipe at my Weight Watchers Meeting. It’s called 3-2-1 Cake. It’s so simple and super low in points. I couldn’t wait to come home and try it. And get this, it actually tastes good.
Ingredients:
1 Box Angel Food Cake Mix
1 Box of Your favorite Cake mix
Water
Crème Brule Ceramic Cup or Coffee Mug
Steps:
1) Add both boxes of cake mix in a zip lock bag. Mix together well.
2) Add 3 tablespoons of cake mix to the cup/bowl
3) Stir in 2 tablespoons of water and mix well
4) Microwave for 1 minute
5) Top with whip cream or cake icing or fruit
Makes 33 servings, Weight Watcher Points Plus = 3
* It’s called 3 2 1 Cake because you use 3 tablespoons of mix, 2 tablespoons of water and 1 minute in the microwave. I learned the “hard” way that sometimes one minute might actually be too long. The first mini cake I made was so hard and crunchy that I had to cut it with a knife. I realized it was over cooked. It finally turned out just right after the 3rd time around with about 40 seconds.
