Keeping House: Physically
My brother Eli just got his certification for fitness and personal training. He works at a local gym here called Complete Strength Development. I joined the six-week Extreme Weight Loss Challenge program he's heading up, and orientation was yesterday. Losing weight is something I have never really thought about. In the past I have had times where I try new eating plans; in college I tried the no-carb thing for a while, thought about being a vegan for a few weeks, and definitely spent way too much money on my health-food-store-only kick. All in all I just love food and I love trying new things. I usually gravitate towards fruits and vegetables (even spinach and squash and kale) and whole grains. But I also love me some ice cream and cookies and chips. Whatever diet I'm on coffee is always on the morning menu. So I guess joining this challenge was done in the same spirit of all those "diets" I tried in the past: for fun, to try something new. And I like to support my brothers whenever I can as they have always been there for me.
Well, driving to the gym yesterday I began to realize that if I was really going to try to lose weight this was actually going to be a challenge! In life I've never really challenged myself to anything (except maybe that Biology class I took at Cottey that the professor warned me was really supposed to be for Biology majors NOT English/Art majors--by the way I got a C in that class); in life I've always stuck to things that are easy for me, fun things that I feel successful at (I'll have to blog later about how being a mother has humbled me in the "I'm-good-with-kids" arena). Anyways, to get on with my point I almost got nervous on my way to the gym. What if I didn't lose weight? What if I couldn't lose weight? What if I gained weight? (You tell me I can't eat cookies, I'll eat four.) I tried to push that anxiety aside and just drive.
When I got there I was pleased to see that Eli had been thinking A LOT about this and had a totally different approach. It's like he got in my brain and figured out how to help me approach this thing feeling successful from the get-go. Let's face it: if we humans don't feel successful at something the chances of us desiring to follow through with it are slim. Actually Eli had done a lot of brain research to figure out the best way to help his clients in this challenge understand how their brains work when it comes to will power and discipline in order to help them use it to their advantage in this Weight Loss Challenge. He told us to think of will power like a muscle that we are exercising and to expect that it will get tired, but that it will also get stronger the more we use it. He also explained that old habits are like a soft comfy coat and no matter how long it has been since we have worn it, it will always be soft and comfy. So our goal is to learn how to make our scratchy new healthy-lifestyle coats comfy one habit at a time--otherwise our will power will get worn out that old comfy coat will look even comfy-er.
To begin, he gave us five questions to ask before each meal to just think about what we're eating, how much we're eating, how we're eating it and why we're eating it. He even instructed to ask the questions out-loud to help our brains start thinking more about the way we eat. In addition to the questions he gave us his top ten foods to try adding to our diet in each category: fruits, vegetables, complete proteins, grains, and healthy fats. Finally we picked, from a list he had made, one healthy habit to do everyday for fourteen days. The one I chose is to replace a grain at each meal with a vegetable.
Here's a picture of my first attempt: I replaced half of my sandwich bun at dinner with a pile of spinach and some carrot sticks. Not bad. I am a carbs girl through and through, so I liked this challenge because it felt less like cutting something out and more like a challenge of just adding more veggies to my diet. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...
I've always said the state of my house is the state of my mind; messy house equals stressed head and vice versa. I think it will be the same with this Weight Loss Challenge--challenging myself to something new and following through with it will help me feel successful and healthy. And I know that will spill over into all other aspects of my life, keeping me more balanced, helping me a better, healthier mom, and making my body feel better and more ready for the daily challenge of work, laundry, chores, and dishes. Right now I don't have that much weight to lose, just the last bits of my baby weight. But they say those last few pounds to your target weight are the hardest. I'm glass I'm doing this challenge now so that when I'm older it won't be as hard. Up until now I've just relied on genetics and a high metabolism to get me by. I can already see that having kids and growing older changes all of that, so I am super excited to form some healthy habits that I can start relying on instead before that metabolism and lucky genetics go away.
Well, driving to the gym yesterday I began to realize that if I was really going to try to lose weight this was actually going to be a challenge! In life I've never really challenged myself to anything (except maybe that Biology class I took at Cottey that the professor warned me was really supposed to be for Biology majors NOT English/Art majors--by the way I got a C in that class); in life I've always stuck to things that are easy for me, fun things that I feel successful at (I'll have to blog later about how being a mother has humbled me in the "I'm-good-with-kids" arena). Anyways, to get on with my point I almost got nervous on my way to the gym. What if I didn't lose weight? What if I couldn't lose weight? What if I gained weight? (You tell me I can't eat cookies, I'll eat four.) I tried to push that anxiety aside and just drive.
When I got there I was pleased to see that Eli had been thinking A LOT about this and had a totally different approach. It's like he got in my brain and figured out how to help me approach this thing feeling successful from the get-go. Let's face it: if we humans don't feel successful at something the chances of us desiring to follow through with it are slim. Actually Eli had done a lot of brain research to figure out the best way to help his clients in this challenge understand how their brains work when it comes to will power and discipline in order to help them use it to their advantage in this Weight Loss Challenge. He told us to think of will power like a muscle that we are exercising and to expect that it will get tired, but that it will also get stronger the more we use it. He also explained that old habits are like a soft comfy coat and no matter how long it has been since we have worn it, it will always be soft and comfy. So our goal is to learn how to make our scratchy new healthy-lifestyle coats comfy one habit at a time--otherwise our will power will get worn out that old comfy coat will look even comfy-er.
To begin, he gave us five questions to ask before each meal to just think about what we're eating, how much we're eating, how we're eating it and why we're eating it. He even instructed to ask the questions out-loud to help our brains start thinking more about the way we eat. In addition to the questions he gave us his top ten foods to try adding to our diet in each category: fruits, vegetables, complete proteins, grains, and healthy fats. Finally we picked, from a list he had made, one healthy habit to do everyday for fourteen days. The one I chose is to replace a grain at each meal with a vegetable.
Here's a picture of my first attempt: I replaced half of my sandwich bun at dinner with a pile of spinach and some carrot sticks. Not bad. I am a carbs girl through and through, so I liked this challenge because it felt less like cutting something out and more like a challenge of just adding more veggies to my diet. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...
I've always said the state of my house is the state of my mind; messy house equals stressed head and vice versa. I think it will be the same with this Weight Loss Challenge--challenging myself to something new and following through with it will help me feel successful and healthy. And I know that will spill over into all other aspects of my life, keeping me more balanced, helping me a better, healthier mom, and making my body feel better and more ready for the daily challenge of work, laundry, chores, and dishes. Right now I don't have that much weight to lose, just the last bits of my baby weight. But they say those last few pounds to your target weight are the hardest. I'm glass I'm doing this challenge now so that when I'm older it won't be as hard. Up until now I've just relied on genetics and a high metabolism to get me by. I can already see that having kids and growing older changes all of that, so I am super excited to form some healthy habits that I can start relying on instead before that metabolism and lucky genetics go away.
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