When the going gets tough…

Here we are in mid February.  We’ve been going for about six weeks now and the novelty has well and truely worn off.  It seems like a long time ago that we were all so excited about starting the New Year afresh, and setting those New Year’s Resolutions.  I, personally, have lost 18.6lbs and am feeling more comfortable in myself.  I can walk without having to cling to my asthma inhaler, I’m sleeping better, and my jeans keep falling down.  All of which you would think would be highly motivating!  Except that it is easy to say “I’m doing so well!  I’ve got this down! I can drink that extra wine/eat that cake/chocolate/gravy and it won’t matter if I don’t exercise today”.  And before I know it I’m back to all my old habits.

Well, it’s what always happens; isn’t it?

Every diet I’ve ever been on has been the same…right?  That’s how I ended up at 250lbs in the first place!

Why did I think this time would be any different? I might as well not even try!!

Right?

Except… NO!

It’s not the same this time.  This time I made a lifetime change, and this time I’m going to lose all 100 of those horrid extra pounds.

And I am making better choices.  So maybe I did drink a lot of wine this weekend, but I didn’t drink as much as I would have in the past.  When friends came over yesterday afternoon and we opened a bottle (or three), I drank chamomile tea instead until dinner was served and then I had some wine.  That’s calories saved!

And my friend brought over a yummy dip with whole black beans, sun dried tomatoes, avocado and onion.  Sure I had a handful of tortilla chips, but then instead of having another handful of tortilla chips I put some dip on my plate and ate it like a salad.  That’s calories saved!!

So while this weekend wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t the lifestyle changing disaster that I originally thought it was.  I am still making little choices that when added together make a difference.  I may not be running in the right direction this week, but I am still moving forward, with baby steps, and in my book that’s better than turning tail and heading for the hills!

So when the going gets tough will you turn and run, or will you focus on the little successes that when put together make up the mountain?

We can do this.  We CAN move this mountain!!

Over 99lbs lost!!

Wow, where has the time gone?  It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  Life is busy, especially since I’m trying to squeeze in long walks each day.  We have a foster puppy too, that is taking up lots of my time, but that’s another story.

We had 23 people weigh in this week, and since we’ve started our movement we’ve collectively released over 99lbs of weight!  That certainly feels like something to celebrate!

CAMI SAYS

Looking Back Before Moving Forward

Make it a practice to evaluate your progress and plan monthly. Look back and examine all the ideas, people, and plans that supported you this month. Continue plugging in this support system into February’s plan. Then evaluate what part of your January plan that wasn’t as supportive. Revise or reshape this part of your plan and give it a spin this February

Rethink the Posibilities

The trouble with New Year’s Resolutions is that by the time you get two weeks into the year you’re busy with life, and other priorities get in the way, so it’s easy to let them slip.  As a result you roll out the same old resolutions every year but somehow never quite make it to your goal.  How would it feel if next year you didn’t need to include “Lose Weight” in the list of things to do for 2013.  What if you had actually reached your goal?

If you haven’t checked out the facebook page yet, join.  There are lots of other people there facing the same or similar challenges, all with a common goal.  It’s a great place for motivation, planning walks or finding gym buddies, or even just to laugh about our little weaknesses.  Post ideas, comment on other peoples, or just sit in the back ground and take from it what you want.  It’s also where I post offers from local businesses, and give you updates about the weigh in process.

If you haven’t weighed in yet, Thursdays are weigh in days at Thrive.  You don’t have to be a member, just pop in between 8-10 am or 5-7 pm and let them know you want to weigh for Move A Mountain For Duvall.  It’s confidential, and Thrive have been really good about being flexible with the weigh in times.

It’s never to late to start!!!

CAMI SAYS:

Re-charge your batteries by re-wiring your thoughts. Negative thought patterns drain your batteries setting you up to make poor choices. Instead create a list of strong, supportive words that help you reach your intentions. Tape these words up around your home, work place or car to re-wire your negative thoughts to positive thoughts. Affirmations are a good tool to use as you work towards your goal. If you create an affirmation in the present tense that supports your intention and think or say it daily you will find yourself reaching your goal. Record these in a journal that you can add more affirmations, positive thoughts and ideas that re-charge your batteries. This will remind you of how you can support yourself from within.

Oh no!! Too much snow!

Tomorrow is weigh in day, but with all this snow on the ground and school canceled you may not be able to make it safely to Thrive to weigh in.

If you can, then great!  Weigh in as normal, but if not and you hae a scale just weigh in at home THIS week. I know your scale may not match the one at Thrive, but we can even out any discrepancies next week.

Post your loss on the fb page to celebrate if you feel comfortable doing that, and again, donate yourfood at Safeway or Thrive when you can.

Hopefully we can get ack to normal next week.

Let It Snow!

Well the snow that we didn’t have over Christmas has finally arrived with a vengeance and it’s playing havoc with my plans.  I hate to drive in the snow, though with four wheel drive and chains I’m braving the roads when I have to, but I have NOT been down to pick up the food donations from last week yet.  If you haven’t got out to drop your “weight loss” off yet,  you can donate it along with your donation for next week.

The weather is also making it tough to stick to my plan.  Not only is it hard to get out and about to exercise, but I’m craving all those yummy comfort foods that I traditionally curl up with when it snows:  Mugs of steaming hot cocoa with marshmallows, macaroni and cheese, apple crumble and custard – yum!  Last night I got into the Cadbury’s Chocolate and devoured almost an entire 250g bar in about 5 minutes flat!!

But you know what?  I’m okay.  I posted on the Facebook page last night, and had several people encourage me to step away from the chocolate – LOL!  and today I went for a walk in the snow.  I’m feeling able to make healthy choices again, and I’m focusing on my goal.

CAMI SAYS:

Environmental control is a way to strengthen your commitment to your plan. Looking around at your environment and seeing what helps you give away the weight and what hinders your progress will clue you in on what you need to add or take away from your environment. Create a shopping list every week that includes energy enhancing foods so you have them on hand all week.  Finding energy packed recipes such as smoothies, stir fries, and soups will keep your energy up all week. 
Keeping low-energy foods out of sight will help you continue your focus on your goal and meeting up with friends that support your progress will keep you energized and happy.

The results are in – Week 1

Of the 32 people that weighed last week, 18 weighed in this week, and lost a total of 51.5lbs!! That’s a good amount of food!! Congratulations!!!

51lbs!
That’s 10 5lb bags of rice
That’s 25 2lb bags of sugar
That’s a lot of weight!!

Of the other 14, the majority were dealing with illnesses, vacations, or life, and we hope to see them back next week!

We also had 5 new people sign up!

And we’re off!

31 wonderful Duvallians stepped onto the scale and weighed in to Move A Mountain For Duvall onThursday!

If everyone who weighed in on Thursday meets their goal for June 2nd, we will be donating over 1300lbs of food to the Holy Innocents Food Pantry, helping local families.  How’s that for an incentive?

I’d love to make that number even bigger!! If you missed Thursday’s weigh in, you can still jump on in.  Just weigh in at Thrive next week and join the facebook page.

I am also excited because The Rivercurrent will be running an article about us in Monday’s paper, and are going to run a regular column giving updates on our progress! Will that motivate you?

 

And Cami Says:

To  strengthen your Move A Mountain program, change the words that you use.

Choosing a different words strengthens your ability to release or give your weight away. When we label foods as “good” or “bad” we ultimately label ourselves “good” or “bad” based on which foods we choose. When we choose a “bad” food we then feel we have no “willpower” or strength and beat ourselves up. This only weakens your weight release journey.

Instead of :

Good Food use Energy Food

Bad Food use Low Energy Food

Cheating use Choosing

Diet use Food Program

Weight Loss use Weight Release

Will Power use  Energy Level

Happy New Year!!

As we get closer to Thursday’s official start for Move A Mountain For Duvall, I am already finding myself making better choices.  At first I was seriously tempted to just eat everything in the house so that I would see a big move on the scale after the first week.  That is typical of my past behavior when approaching weight loss.  Fortunately, or not depending on how you look at it, my pants are too tight!!  I am, however, easing into things slowly.  I’ve started to drink more water,  I substituted my morning latte for a chamomile tea and this will be the second day in a row that I’ve taken our dog for a walk.

Cami LeBlanc

I’d like to introduce you to my friend Cami LeBlanc.  She is a local yoga instructor for the Yoga Garden, and she is a nutritionist.  Cami has walked with me a while now in my journey to get healthier, and I am thrilled that she has offered to support Move A Mountain For Duvall.  Every now and then I will post thoughts or ideas from Cami, along with a yummy recipe for you to try.

Here is Cami’s first message for us:

Encouraging Thought of the week….

When forming your weight release goals think of this as your weight journey. Make small goals of giving away 5-10 pounds at a time. Upon releasing or giving away your weight try your weight on for size, assessing if you are ready to give another 5-10 pounds away. This will give you a sense of achievement and puts you in the driver’s seat.

The Word Is Out!!!

Oh My Gosh!!!  I am so thrilled by the response this is getting.  The Facebook Group has 18!! members already, and people are re-posting which is really helping to spread the word.  Some people are having a hard time finding the FB Group.  Here is a link https://www.facebook.com/groups/188594944570252/

I’ve had a couple of people ask me about privacy, so I want to confirm that no one’s  information will be made public unless they choose to make it public themselves.  You will need to weigh in each week, and the weigh in information will be sent to me so I can track how much food we’re donating, and make sure we have statistics for our food mountain in June.  No one else will see your information.  And even if you pose with your own personal food mountain at the Car Show, we will only say how much you’ve donated,  not where you started or ended up.

Funnily enough, these emails about privacy got me thinking last night, and I had something of an a-ha moment.  I started to think about the fact that I’ve been very open about the fact that I have 100lbs to lose.  Should I be ashamed?  Finally, and I have to say that it’s taken me many years to get here, I realize that I’m not actually ashamed of my body, I’m actually really proud of it!  That’s not to say that I love the way it looks… I really don’t, but it’s born me two beautiful sons and carried me across continents faithfully.  It’s time I treated it with a little more respect.

I haven’t yet decided how I’m going to change my lifestyle.  I’d love to hear some comments from some of you about what you plan to do.  Weight Watchers? Low Carb? Portion Sizes? Comment here, or discuss at the FB Group.

Thanks

 

Facebook Group Up and Running

I’ve just posted on the two Duvall Community Groups on Facebook,  so if you’re here because of one of those postings…Welcome!

Information about how the program will work can be found on the “What is Move A Mountain For Duvall” tab.

If you like what you see, and want to be a part of this, then your next step is to join the Move A Mountain For Duvall facebook group.  We’ll use that group to communicate.  So checking in to this blog and the FB Group should become a part of your daily routine for the next couple of months.   We’ll keep you up to date with which restaurants are offering MMD menu items to make eating out easier; we’ll organize walks for those who want to join us; we’ll celebrate the little things and we’ll keep track of how much weight we’re giving to Holy Innocents Food Bank.

The first weigh-in isn’t until January 5th, so use the next few days to decide how you’re going to change your eating habits.

Let’s do this!