Splurging!

Yesterday was not the most productive of days for me.  I really had a hard time making myself get to the gym, and then after I had worked out on the weight  machines I faced the treadmill.  Since I raised the speed to 4 miles per hour (only from 3.9) and added an additional minute (from 30 to 31) I have been struggling to get through the exercise.  Yesterday I was full of dread and plain ole dislike for the exercise and got more and more tired as the time went on until I finally quit at 15 minutes, hating myself and my weakness the rest of the day.  Today I went to the gym, did the weight exercises and the time and speed on the treadmill didn’t affect me at all.  I guess that is part of listening to your body.  My body, yesterday, said “no, I can’t do this anymore” and today I didn’t even have to think about the time or speed.

I don’t know if it was mental or physical yesterday, or both.  However, it did make me realize that I can’t be on target every day – sometimes I have to step back and take a deep breath.  The same logic can apply to my eating program.  Hardly a day goes by that I don’t keep to my strategy of eating until I am satisfied and then quit, and eating mostly good, nutritious foods.  I still listen to my body, but sometimes I slip on the nutritious foods – yesterday, again showing me what my attitude was, I found myself eating candy, nuts, cookies, anything that I could find that was sweet and when I realized what I was doing, it didn’t matter – that was just how I felt.  I gave in to those feelings and actions – but today I feel great, back on track and will not have a relapse for a long, long time.

What this proves to me is that even if I fall back into an old habit, I don’t have to beat myself up over it or feel guilty, and I can get right back to doing what I know and feel is right for me and my body.  So, if any of you have found yourself splurging on foods that you feel are not good for your body, get your splurging over with quickly and then get back on your healthy, slimming, motivating way of life – it isn’t that hard.

Think Thin Thoughts!

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“JUST DO IT!”

Yesterday I told you about this cool website where you could learn what your purpose in life was, and I did do the exercise as suggested.  My outcome was that my purpose in life was “to help others”, which really came as no surprise, because I have spent my entire life either helping others or at least helping them help themselves, so I am on the right track.  That’s good to know.  Now, all I have to do is find out the best way to help others find their “perfect body weight” and maintain that weight. NO! strike that statement.  I know the best way to do this, what I have to do is “just do it”, which is the most difficult part for me because I  find myself second guessing strategy, analyzing what I am doing, how I am going to do it, what the outcome will be and then determining that it won’t work and do nothing.

Last night we had our first Toastmaster meeting of the year, and the question I was asked as a Table Topic was “What was the New Year’s resolution that I made at any time that I didn’t keep” and I stated that didn’t make New Year’s resolutions, I set goals, because to me goals involved making a real effort to achieve something of value either to myself or to others and I have set and successfully reached many goals.  And the most important one has been the ability to develop the process of reducing my weight and maintaining that weight reduction over a sustained period of time, which, as you know, if you have been following my blog, is what I am striving for — helping others do the same.  To date, I have not been successful in reaching many people with my program, and that is simply because I have not been willing to do whatever is necessary to reach out and help them.  I have balked at going out and finding opportunities to make live presentations to groups – even though I am fully qualified to make any type of presentation, thanks to Toastmasters.  I have balked at airing my views and insights about weight reduction and the mindset that causes it – I don’t want to sound righteous or arrogant.  What it all boils down to is that I am afraid that I will fail.  Fail to put my program out there for others to try for fear that they will not achieve the same success I have and that it will be my fault.  Realistically, I know that if the steps are followed diligently that the program will work, but emotionally I fear that it won’t and that it will be my fault because I didn’t do something right.  How’s that for thinking that I am such a powerful source that I can control another’s thoughts and actions.  Talk about arrogance!

I will work it out – my goal this year, as it was the last couple of years is to gird up my loins and go out and fight the dragon and bring back the head as proof of my ability to conquer my fear.

Think Thin Thoughts!

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Is That All There Is?

Another day!  Another beautiful, possibility filled day!  I am always grateful to be able to give thanks for my day as it begins – it means that I am still alive on this earth and have more time accomplish my purpose on this earth.  So far I haven’t determined what my purpose is.  My past is filled with accomplishments such as being a good and loving daughter, sister, aunt, niece, mother, wife, grandmother, friend -  I’ve held some good jobs that have gleaned me some recognition and good salaries for the time which helped me grow into a more fulfilled human being – and while all of those things could be considered my life purpose at the time – they now fall into the category of successful accomplishments.  If any one of those accomplishments had been my life purpose I would have found new parents to be a daughter to after mine passed away, I would have found a new husband to be a wife to after my husband passed away, I would have continued to have children so I would still have children to raise and nurture.  I would still actively seek more and more successful employment opportunities, even though I am way over the age limit where anyone considers me good employee material.  I continue to be a mother, grandmother,  an aunt,  a niece, cousin, friend, but that is only part of the puzzle.  If this was the only reason I came to this earth, then I find myself in the company of millions and millions of people who have also completed their life purpose and are still here, wondering why.

No. there is still more for me to do.  There is someone or many someones out there that can benefit from my knowledge, wisdom, experience, empathy, sympathy, energy and any other attribute I have.  I feel that I can contribute towards the fulfillment of another’s success and life purpose.

In researching “life purpose” I ran across a wonderful blog:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/01/how-to-discover-your-life-purpose-in-about-20-minutes/ which gives you a step by step method of realizing what your life purpose is, and I am going to work on it just as soon as I finish this blog.  If my life purpose is, indeed, helping people reduce and maintain their weight reduction,  which is what I thought it was, then I will know and can continue working toward that end.  If it isn’t I will become aware of what that purpose is and work to that end.

Check out Steve Pavlina’s blog – if you are interested in learning who you are and what you are here for.  A short excerpt from his blog will give you some indication of where he is coming from:

“Here’s a story about Bruce Lee which sets the stage for this little exercise. A master martial artist asked Bruce to teach him everything Bruce knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup,” said Bruce, “represents all of your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all of my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.”

If you want to discover your true purpose in life, you must first empty your mind of all the false purposes you’ve been taught (including the idea that you may have no purpose at all).”

Tomorrow may find me taking your on an entirely different journey, but until I find out for sure, continue to

Think Thin Thoughts!

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Do You Have a Motto For Life?

I read another book last night about how to find out who you really are and how you can get down to the real you and begin to have the life you really want  or something like that.  There are several parts to the procedure, but one is to select a motto that best describes your philosophy of life or of yourself.  I haven’t given the process enough time to actually come up with a profile of who I really am, what I really want out of life and what motto to live by, but today at the gym, when I wanted to give up with my treadmill exercise, I decided that at least for this one project on this particular morning my motto was “just do it”, and I did.  I raised my speed up to 4 miles an hour and my time to 31 minutes.  I hope to be able to keep at the 4 miles per hour but stay at it for an hour before the year is up.  I could do that 20 years ago, so I should be able to do it now, with time and effort.

Time and effort!  All the cliches, the proverbs, the mottos, the life changing successes start and end with “time and effort”, don’t they.  Just think about it – “you reap what you sow” – whatever time and effort you put into anything, be it something worthwhile or something frivolous, whatever time and effort you put into it  shows up at the end.  “You are what you think you are”, “Time heals all wounds”, “It takes one to know one”, “Life is just a bowl of cherries”,  the “Golden Rule”, all of these and all of the other sayings end up the same way – whatever you put into something you get the same quality out - or “FOR EVERY ACTION THERE IS A RESULT!”  That’s just the way life is, right?

Taking this into consideration, right now, at the beginning of a new year, when most of us are thinking about what we are going to do differently and better this year than we have in the past, lets start thinking about the results we truly want, and then work on the actions that will bring them about – and the first step is our thinking – we act the way we think and our results are the culmination of those thoughts and actions.  So, if you want to have a slimmer, trimmer, more svelt and attractive body, feel years younger, bask in the admiration of your peers, get your thinking cap on and begin having thoughts about how you want to look, act and feel, and keep thinking those thoughts and soon your actions will follow in like manner and then the results will be as if there was a “magic pill”.

DIETS DO WORK!!!

Well, so much for commitment, goal setting and all that stuff I went on and on about not too long ago.  I did not keep up with my blog on a regular basis like I promised – and today is the first day of my new commitment to write in the blog daily.

I have had a struggle with deciding which direction to take with my blog – I predicated the entire beginning on maintaining weight loss and have worked rather diligently in producing topics for live and written presentations based on that subject.  What I have learned, however, is that no one is really interested in maintaining a weight loss – they are only interested in reaching their predetrmined goal weight through whatever diet program they have come across or have devised for themselves.  Now, that may be too broad a statement – I’m sure there are many people who are interested in maintaining their weight reduction, and many have found a way to do so, but the majority have decided that the end of their road ends with the weight reduction and stop there, only to find that within a few short months they are looking at taking that journey again.

I am now looking at how to reach those people who are really interested in reducing their weight (which is a lot of people this time of the year) and reaching them with pertinent information before they begin their new diet or eating program or at least at the beginning of their program regarding the way to achieve permanent goal weight without dieting again.

I have no product – no pills – no structured diet- no beverages – no exercise or fitness plan that will achieve this – only my success in reaching and maintaining my goal weight for several years now.  I have learned through much trail, error and research that overeating is mainly a behavorial problem, which is the hardest kind to tackle and defeat.  No one wants to change the way they do things, including eating and enjoying food – but we all want something that will let us eat and drink whatever we are used to whenever we want and still reach and maintain a desired goal weight.

Most of us didn’t start out with a weight problem – it just accumulated during life – and life happens!  I was reading an article the other day that indicated that overweight has been a problem, both psychological and physiological since man began finding ways to prepare food that was hard to resist.  That article  indicated that the “baby boomers” are distainful of the structured “eating programs” such as Weight Watchers, Atkins, Jenny Craig, etc – and want to “do their own thing”, and many have been successful in reducing their weight on a short term basis, not unlike those who have sought out the commercial eating programs.  I, for one, did not want to take the time, trouble and frustration of the trial and error of how to reduce my calories, eat the right kind of food, do the right kind of  exercise to produce the results I wanted.  And why should I, or anyone else? After all, millions, maybe even billions of dollars have been spent by the companies like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutri-systems, etc. in finding the right foods, the right number of calories, the right menus to reduce the excess pounds and anyone who is really desirous of reducing their weight in a healthy manner can achieve their goal weight – these DIETS DO WORK!!

It’s not the diet that doesn’t work – it’s the mind and thoughts of the dieter that sabotage the weight maintenance program.  Be honest!  If you have been on a structured diet and have managed to reduce your weight, how long did you stay on your maintenance program?  I’d be willing to bet it was only a month or so before you began adding back some of the foods you really liked, until you were right back eating the same as you did before you started your diet.  That’s because you didn’t begin with the right attitude about your eating habits – your behavioral actions and thoughts about food and your body.  That is where you have to start – with the right thoughts, the right attitude that you carry with you through the entire weight reduction program – if you do that, you will find that you will not be tempted to go back to your old eating habits.

I speak from experience and achieved success.

Think Thin Thoughts!

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Christmas Day is Coming Soon!

Four more days til Christmas!  Every year about this time I say to myself “Self, you should do your Christmas shopping year round so you won’t be doing it the last minute, when everything has been picked over or scarce.”  And, with that thought in mind, I am still trying to decide what to give several people on my list for Christmas – I haven’t even started to do any shopping for them.

I received so many gift cards for my birthday that I won’t be worrying about where to shop – just what to shop for.  Gift cards are so impersonal and so wonderful at the same time.  I love giving gift cards to people I don’t know very well, because they can get what they really want instead of putting whatever you get them on a shelf or in a box because they have no need or desire for the item.  At least that is what I do with many things that I get that I have no earthly use for.  I once knew a woman who wrote down every gift she received and who it was from, put it away and when it was time to give a gift for a birthday or some other occasion, she would go to her stash, find something that she thought they might like, be sure that  that person had not given her the gift, re-gift it.  I don’t think she purchased any gifts for years and years.

Giving should come from the heart – not the pocketbook, but that sense “it’s the thought that counts” attitude seems to have gotten lost over the last several decades.  A lot of that, I’m sure, has to do with the wealth of our country.  For the most part the American population has more disposable income than they ever had, and every parent wants to give their children what they want for Christmas if at all possible.  When I was growing up, cash was hard to come by.  I can remember that my grandfather would send each of us kids a $5.00 bill and we would spend it on Christmas – getting everyone a present – that was about 8 or 10 presents, and thought we were rich.  And we made a lot of things – homemade Christmas tree trimmings.  We had lights and Christmas ornaments, but Mom showed us all how to string popcorn, cranberries and make other decorations for the tree by cutting construction paper into small 2 or 3 inch strips, gluing them together like a chain and putting them on the tree.  We had more fun doing that than anything else we did for Christmas.

In spite of the differences in our spending patterns for Christmas, I have found, for the most part, that the Spirit of Christmas still abounds in families all over the country.  There is a lot more laughter, smiling faces, less fussing at each other, and pure joy in getting together with families.  I realize that there are many families who are separated and won’t be spending the holidays together, but with our technology, it is still possible to have them as close as the telephone or the internet.  I sincerely hope and pray that everyone has someone to share the holidays with.

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Cookie, Anyone?

I am making 6+ dozen cookies to take to my business women’s Christmas party tonight.  Kathy, my daughter found this really great Martha Stewart Cookies Cookbook and tagged several recipes.  If I made all she wanted (and she doesn’t even eat sweets) I would end up with about 42 dozen cookies.  I am sticking with 6 dozen, which will immediately go to my friend Diane who is is co-director of a school for the handicapped.  We don’t eat this type of food, so someone should get the benefit of it.

Since I have to go to the store and buy the ingredients for the cookies, this will not be a lengthy blog entry – just a note to let you know that in spite of making all those cookies and bringing back the same number, I will stick to my eating program and not give in to the temptation of all those delicious treats.  Actually, it won’t really bother me – I have found that a package of cookies or candy can be right in front of me and I have no desire to piece on them.  There was a time when I tricked myself into believing that if I ate only the crumbs that it wouldn’t matter – I would be sticking to my current eating program.  Then I found myself dilberately breaking up the cookies, cumbling up the cake or slicing up the candy so it would be in little bitty pieces that wouldn’t count toward real calories.  Have you ever done that?

My cravings for the sweets has diminished in such a way that not much will tempt me.  I eat a cookie, or a piece of candy, or a small piece of cake or pie, but just a little bit satisfies me.  I’m not gloating, or trying to impress you with my will power – that is just the way it is now, since I have learned how, when and what to eat.  It’s great! I am so glad I don’t have to worry about that any more.

Think Thin Thoughts!

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Adapting – Good and Not So Good!

Our Christmas-like weather is leaving – it is in the high 40’s and will be getting warmer each day until another cold front moves in.  I grew up in Southern Colorado and spent most of my life either in Colorado or Albuquerque, NM, where we had snow in the winter and loved it.  It took me a long time to get used to the warmer climate of Houston, and now I enjoy not having the cold, icy weather to contend with.  Guess that comes with age and adapting.

Adapting to change is not the easiest thing for most people. I sometimes fight it, and complain about things not being the same,  until I realize that change is good – getting out of my comfort zone helps me grow and become a wiser and more aware person.  We adapt to something almost every day.  If you stop to think about it, we have been adapting since the beginning of time – environmentally, ecologically, climatically, economically, at every turn we have found ourselves adapting to the forward movement of our lives to newer and better ways of doing and thinking.

Our eating habits are a product of adaptation.  As our diets changed from the simple homecooked meals we had at home to the more generous portions of delicious food in restaurants and the frequent visits to the fast food restaurants that save us so much time, our appetites have adapted to more food, more fat, more sugar.  We have adapted to the technology we have witnessed over the years which has almost completely done away with physical exertion – no more ditch digging by hand, no more walking the two or three miles to school or work, no more scrubbing the wooden floors on your hands and knees, washing clothes on the wash board and hanging them out to dry and bringing them in and ironing them (thank goodness for that!)

Adaptation is a good thing, if accepted with awareness of what changes it brings with it.  The American population has adapted so fully the change in our eating lifestyle that we have managed to become one of the ‘heaviest” nations in the world.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has an report on its website (http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20011213.html) written by the Surgeon General entitled “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity” states, in part:

Approximately 300,000 U.S. deaths a year currently are associated with obesity and overweight (compared to more than 400,000 deaths a year associated with cigarette smoking). The total direct and indirect costs attributed to overweight and obesity amounted to $117 billion in the year 2000.

In 1999, an estimated 61 percent of U.S. adults were overweight, along with 13 percent of children and adolescents. Obesity among adults has doubled since 1980, while overweight among adolescents has tripled. Only 3 percent of all Americans meet at least four of the five federal Food Guide Pyramid recommendations for the intake of grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meats. And less than one-third of Americans meet the federal recommendations to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days a week, while 40 percent of adults engage in no leisure-time physical activity at all………..

And if that isn’t frightening enough, another national survey, full results which can be found at: http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2008/wang_obesity_projections,

states, in part:

“………..National survey data show that the prevalence of overweight and obese adults in the U.S. has increased steadily over the past three decades,” said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition. “If these trends continue, more than 86 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by 2030……….”

I, for one, would like to see us adapt to a leaner, more active type of lifestyle, keeping in mind that adaptation is only a matter of changing one’s habits, or activities, or thoughts.  Together, we could all make this trend change for the best – especially for our children, who, for the most part have not experienced the leaner, more active side of living – they have only witnessed life full of easy living, lots of food, television or games that require no physical activity – and until that trend changes, we will continue getting fatter and lazier. (Of course, this is only my opinion and I could be very wrong. I may not be giving our next generation enough credit.)

Think Thin Thoughts!

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Visualize! Focus! Believe!

It’s about time things got back to normal, and writing in this blog everyday is supposed to be normal, but like most things – if you slack off one day, it can lead to two days, then three, and on and on, until it is the exception and not the norm.  Writing in the blog every day is going to become a normal routine again.

I have been writing thank-you notes to all those wonderful people who came to my birthday party and brought gifts.  I may get through with them today.  I also have to find tme to bake 6 dozen cookies for my business women’s Christmas Party on Thursday, plus practice a musical reading (I’m only doing the reading)  I will be giving at that party, and finish my dolls for my Doll Club Christmas Party on Saturday and then I can work on my own Christmas projects.  Whew!

I have found that when I get this involved I can find time to get it all done and have time for myself – funny how your mind will take over and let you succeed if you let it.  Once in a while the thought will creep in that I can’t do everything on time, and as I push that thought aside and continue plugging along, the job is completed and I can go on to the next phase.

This is true with anything, including watching your eating habits during the holiday season.  If you truly believe that you can get through these fun and food filled days without going overboard, you can because you have programmed your mind to believe it and act accordingly.  There was a time not long ago that I thought it was not possible to believe in something that wasn’t true at the time – like being able to eat only when I was hungry and stop eating when I was satisfied.  I didn’t believe it because I didn’t have the right tools to help be believe in something not yet manifested.  Once I learned that if I focused on what I wanted to look, act and be like and actually visualized that new person every day – maybe three or four times a day, especially the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, I soon became aware that I was not eating everything in sight and was not eating until I was stuffed and the more I focused and visualized, the less I ate and craved.  It was that simple.  That is what will carry me through this holiday season, as it has for many seasons before and I am thankful for this knowledge and these good habits that I have formed because of it.

It’s not too late to begin a new thought process for you – just make up your mind that you don’t want to fret and stew over gaining weight over the holidays and get a picture in your mind of how you want to look, act and feel and focus on that picture as often as you can daily – you won’t see immediate results like the ads for these new diet products predict, but you will see and feel some results now and definitely see more and more results as you continue this process.  Good Luck with your thoughts – make them good ones.

Think Thin Thoughts!

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I Want To Live to be 101!

Birthday Party was a roaring success.  There, all in one beautifully decorated reception center was at least 80 of my friends and family.  The centerpieces were all in place and looked wonderful – the food was great and the music was the talk of the party.  The DJ was the husband of one of my friends and I sent him a list of all the artists I liked and some special songs – and everyone there with the exception of my two granddaughters recognized the music, sang along or danced and told me that they would like to have a disc of the music.

I was thrilled to say the least.  There were people there that I invited that I really didn’t expect to come because I had lost touch with them, but put them on my list and was surprised and excited to see them and catch up on them and their families.

One of the highlights of the evening was one lady who was in my trial goup for my Take Weight Off Your Mind conference call series came up to me and told me that she was wearing a coat that she had not been able to get around her two years ago and now it almost wrapped around her twice – she had been using the step by step process we went over during the conference calls and was so excited about her results.

One of my friends, whom I introduced to everyone was a lady I played bridge with at the Senior Citizens Center – she had celebrated her birthday in June – her 101st birthday – I told everyone that she was my inspiration to keep on living life to the fullest and hopefully reach her age with as much “moxy” as she has.

All in all, it was a wonderful night – a night that I will remember forever and I have my beautiful daughter Kathy and wonderful son-in-law Karl to thank for it.

Sunday is our Toastmasters Christmas Party, the following Thursday is the Christmas Party for my Businesswomens Group, and the following Saturday is the day I get to show off my “topsy-turvey” doll which I made for my Secret Sister in the Material Girls Cloth Doll Club and then comes Christmas – what more could anyone ask for?  Guess I had better get back to my dolls and other stuff I am sewing together for Christmas.

Think Thin Thoughts!

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