Showing posts with label healthy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy. Show all posts
Monday, September 16, 2013
Back on Track... Mission Healthy Life with Rebs
The kids (well most of them!) and after a hiatus from my weight loss journey due to surgery and then the fun days of summer I've back on track. Making lifestyle changes is never easy and even a few months off can equal slipping back into some of my old habits. I decided to create a Facebook page to help keep me accountable and provide a place for me to share some of the tips and tricks that have worked for me along the way. I'd love to have you join me!
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Mission Healthy Mom - Turtle Power!
It's been over a year since I decided to change my lifestyle and become healthier. I've made great progress but due to set backs (hernia surgery), life events and the typical plateaus of long term weight loss I sometimes get discouraged. Recently, a friend posts a set of pictures on Facebook from Easter 2012 - which was several months before I started my journey. Most of the pictures were of my cute little girl interacting with baby chicks.
Isn't she cute???
Then, in the mix of the photos I caught a glimpse of myself. I'm normally the one behind the camera and the more weight I had put on the less excited I was to get in any of the pictures.
At first, I was drawn back to that place of not liking me in pictures but then I realized - that is the OLD me. The unhealthy Mom, standing in the background, most likely tired and out of energy. That is not who I am today. I don't have any "official" Easter pictures of me from 2012 but this year I was excited to be in the pictures with the kids. After seeing the old and new me I realized how much progress I have made.
Then I thought of a turtle.
Ok, not that turtle.. but didn't my friend do an amazing job on her son's birthday cake? But I digress. I'm talking about the famous turtle from the Tortoise and the Hare.
A year later, I'm not finished, I'm still in progress, some days it feels like this journey (or me) is going as slow as a turtle. Whether it is my surgery recovery taking months longer than expected or trying to fight through yet another plateau I'm reminding myself that in the end it is the turtle that wins. Slow and steady really does win the race. So whether it takes me six more months or another year to reach my healthiest weight in the end if I am moving forward, I'm winning the race.
Are you a turtle? How do you stay motivated?
Friday, February 15, 2013
Start
It seems simple enough right?
Put one foot in front of the other...
The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step...
Just do it...
Why is it so hard? Every decision to make a change requires a start.
June 12, 2012
The day I decided it was just as hard to be fat, as it was to be healthy.
And so...
I started. Was it perfect? Have I had setbacks, of course. Eight months later I am 50 pounds lighter, happier, and excited for where this journey will take me next.
I started. Was it perfect? Have I had setbacks, of course. Eight months later I am 50 pounds lighter, happier, and excited for where this journey will take me next.
There are lots of ways to get healthy and lose weight, but none of them work unless you START.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Finding Health in Chaos - My Mission to become a Healthy Mom
Last year I weighed over 200 lbs, really I was on the verge of a quarter ton! Yep, I just said that out loud, or rather will be sending it out to the blogosphere which is actually even more scary... but it was my reality.
Its been my reality for just about as long as I can remember. I have had short periods of being less but never for very long. I was the fat kid from a very early age. Like so many people who struggle with weight I am cursed by both genetics and bad patterns I developed in childhood. Patterns of food serving as both comfort and protection against the challenges and struggles in my life. Being overweight - fat, has been part of me for most of my 33 years.
The last few years whenever I mentioned weight people would say, but you just had kids... Which is true. I've had 3 kids in the last five years. All by cesarean section and two were difficult pregnancies that required bed rest. My children have left their mark (literally) on my body but the reality is that I was overweight well before my beautiful babies arrived. Unlike many women I couldn't use them as an excuse.
Age and maturity has helped me to accept myself and be comfortable in my skin, but underneath that acceptance my longing to not be overweight never changed. Those dreams of my teenage years to be able to wear normal size clothes and not be dragged down by my weight never went away. I found ways to justify my weight - children, heredity, no time to exercise, no money for a gym, chronic pain. I also took comfort that unlike many overweight people I didn't suffer from any weight related diseases - diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure.
Yet, deep down the longing for something different never went away.
At times it seemed that my determination to learn to love myself made it easier to ignore my weight. If I lost weight it would only confirm that I wasn't as comfortable as I said, that I wasn't as sure of myself as I let everyone around me think... But then I had two defining moments that made me realize that I was not where I should be and those slowly led me to know that change was needed. I began to see that I could love myself AND change. I could be strong and confident and say - being fat is not who I am, it is NOT a part of me and I can shed that for something better.
I'll go into those moment in a different post but they brought me to the realization that becoming healthy was truly the only way to finally show that I did love and accept myself. Accepting the fat me as OK was what was fake, not letting it go for something healthier.
On June 12, 2012 I decided it was time for a change, not a diet (although I have nothing in particular against them) but a decision to find a way to become a healthy mom in the middle of my crazy chaotic life. Time to put away the excuses and become a healthy Mom my family deserves.
Almost eight months later I am within reach of losing 50 pounds. I still have more to go and I hope to share more of my journey to becoming a healthy Mom here. I want to share because I have found strength in other's choices to leave their fat behind for something better. I've been inspired, encouraged and uplifted as I have seen others who put themselves out there in the public forum and shared both triumphs and failures. As I've lost weight I have had so many ask how I did it {I'll give you a preview - I don't have any fancy tricks} and shared their struggles with me.
So here are my before and current pictures. I'm not done yet!
As of today I have lost 48 lbs and am excited to see where this journey ends up!
Its been my reality for just about as long as I can remember. I have had short periods of being less but never for very long. I was the fat kid from a very early age. Like so many people who struggle with weight I am cursed by both genetics and bad patterns I developed in childhood. Patterns of food serving as both comfort and protection against the challenges and struggles in my life. Being overweight - fat, has been part of me for most of my 33 years.
The last few years whenever I mentioned weight people would say, but you just had kids... Which is true. I've had 3 kids in the last five years. All by cesarean section and two were difficult pregnancies that required bed rest. My children have left their mark (literally) on my body but the reality is that I was overweight well before my beautiful babies arrived. Unlike many women I couldn't use them as an excuse.
Age and maturity has helped me to accept myself and be comfortable in my skin, but underneath that acceptance my longing to not be overweight never changed. Those dreams of my teenage years to be able to wear normal size clothes and not be dragged down by my weight never went away. I found ways to justify my weight - children, heredity, no time to exercise, no money for a gym, chronic pain. I also took comfort that unlike many overweight people I didn't suffer from any weight related diseases - diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure.
Yet, deep down the longing for something different never went away.
At times it seemed that my determination to learn to love myself made it easier to ignore my weight. If I lost weight it would only confirm that I wasn't as comfortable as I said, that I wasn't as sure of myself as I let everyone around me think... But then I had two defining moments that made me realize that I was not where I should be and those slowly led me to know that change was needed. I began to see that I could love myself AND change. I could be strong and confident and say - being fat is not who I am, it is NOT a part of me and I can shed that for something better.
I'll go into those moment in a different post but they brought me to the realization that becoming healthy was truly the only way to finally show that I did love and accept myself. Accepting the fat me as OK was what was fake, not letting it go for something healthier.
On June 12, 2012 I decided it was time for a change, not a diet (although I have nothing in particular against them) but a decision to find a way to become a healthy mom in the middle of my crazy chaotic life. Time to put away the excuses and become a healthy Mom my family deserves.
Almost eight months later I am within reach of losing 50 pounds. I still have more to go and I hope to share more of my journey to becoming a healthy Mom here. I want to share because I have found strength in other's choices to leave their fat behind for something better. I've been inspired, encouraged and uplifted as I have seen others who put themselves out there in the public forum and shared both triumphs and failures. As I've lost weight I have had so many ask how I did it {I'll give you a preview - I don't have any fancy tricks} and shared their struggles with me.
So here are my before and current pictures. I'm not done yet!
As of today I have lost 48 lbs and am excited to see where this journey ends up!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Veggie Adventures
As part of my brave new world we have decided to make some changes to our diet. More specifically increase the amount of plant based food we eat, and decrease processed, refined, pre-packaged, can't pronounce foods.
Tonight my adventure involved LENTILS... you can check out the story and the recipe (turned out pretty good - I recommend you give it a try) over at my recipe site.
Tonight my adventure involved LENTILS... you can check out the story and the recipe (turned out pretty good - I recommend you give it a try) over at my recipe site.
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