Continuing the Journey

been a while

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:46:21 -0400

Haven’t written in a while…..grad school started (2 classes—-usually only take one at a time—wanna get done!) Preschoolers back! And I’m NOT on a diet! Whoa…yes this just came out of my mouth! Found a cool website aweighout.com It is all about binge eating disorder and I love it! Been one week and I have not binged all week….I cannot even hardly believe it myself! Still have big goals for my 30th birthday. Can’t wait till the day till I can put on anything and look cute!

Willpower is a muscle. Keep exercising it, and it'll keep getting stronger.

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:12:02 -0400

I love this!

skinnyminnyjourney: I can also apply this to real...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:43:17 -0400

skinnyminnyjourney:

I can also apply this to real life

thepathtobalance:

heygirl-smile:

you’re going to have to do this no matter what, and no matter when you decide to, it’ll be hard.

Yes

When a Pound Is Not a Pound

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:50:32 -0400

When a Pound Is Not a Pound:

healthylivingforyou:

healthy-fit-happy:

Could not have written this any better, LOVE posts like this! LEGIT INFO.

One thing many people don’t realise is that many factors can influence a person’s weight which do not reflect that person’s body fat. For example, two cups of water weigh one pound. If you tend to retain water or bloat, the scale can easily rise a few pounds without a change in what you have eaten. However, for dieters the effects of water weight can be severe.

Here’s an example of when a pound is NOT a pound:

You eat an extra dessert over the weekend

You weigh yourself the following day or day after

The scale shoots up 5 pounds - and you believe you’ve gained five pounds of fat.

Why is this NOT possible?

Because you must have eaten a caloric excess of 17,500 calories to gain 5 pounds of fat.

3500 EXCESS CALORIES (by excess, we do not include your BMR and daily activity) make up 1 pound of fat.

It is very very difficult to overeat by this amount, even when splurging.

So why is there this dramatic weight gain?

Water weight. Any time the scale suddenly rises or falls, it is usually because of fluid shift in the body. Eating high-sodium foods can also provoke water retention (not fat retention) in salt-sensitive individuals. Yet how easily chronic dieters believe they did something wrong; they must have single-handedly gobbled five pounds worth of food. No, no no!

Similarly, losing two pounds immediately from an hour or aerobics is not a two-pound fat loss. Rather, it’s mostly water loss from sweat. Jubilant dieters who think they have lost 10 pounds in a week may be in for an unwanted surprise. Whilst it may be true that the scale indicated ten pounds less than when they weighed one week ago, the question is: What KIND of weight did they lose? To lose ten pounds of fat in one week requires an energy deficit of 35,000 calories, or a deficit of 5,000 calories every day! The average woman only eats about 1,500 to 1,600 calories per day. The sad reality is that this person is losing a lot of water weight, usually at the expense of their muscles, due to the process of muscle-wasting. Muscle is made up of mainly water (about 70%)

When a hungry body is not given enough calories, the body cannibalises itself for an energy source. The prime directive of the body is that it must have energy, at any cost - it’s part of the survival mechanism. When a muscle cell is destroyed, water is released and eventually excreted - that’s your precious weight loss. This whittled-away muscle contributes to lowering your metabolism. Muscles are metabolically active tissue - generally the more muscles we have, the more calories we burn. Hence why men burn more calories than women - they have more muscle mass.

Increased muscle mass, while metabolically more active and desireable, weighs more than fat. Muscle also takes up less space than fat. Although beneficial, this often frustrates dieters by the rising, or unchanging scale number. The scale does NOT reflect your body composition. Just like weighing a piece of stake at the butcher’s does not tell you how lean it is.

It’s better off to stay away from the scales for as long as possible and take measurements, or discover your body fat percentage instead and work towards body composition (less fat, lean muscle) goals rather than any kind of weight-loss goal that destroy the integrity of your structure and your well-being, too.

This is fantastic. I’m guessing the reason my abs don’t look as good after I do intense cardio is due to muscle wasting? Perhaps I still need to drink more water? I run everyday and do strength work, I don’t do cardio much anymore because I run so much. Hmm.

and Thank God He does!

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:24:15 -0400

and Thank God He does!

Exercising and Eating Clean

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:28:46 -0400

So…I was in such a good routine at the end of the school year last year. Being a teacher I tend to take a break from life during the summer…I am learning the older I get that I need the structure and routine in my life as much as my preschoolers :) I was getting up at 6 and going to a 6:30 boxing class 3 days a week and doing some other form of cardio on the other two days. I had kind of hit a plateau in my weightloss but could definitely tell a difference in my body. As the summer came in I exercised less and less which makes no sense because I had more time than ever and I was in a bathing suit most of the summer—-go figure—who knows where that logic came from. At any rate I have been building myself back up….not so much my body but my own internal emotions about exercising. I am always glad I did it but sometimes getting myself to do it…well lets just say I can talk myself out of it before I have even tied up my tennis shoes. So walking is one of those things I love and relaxes me. I have started getting up and walking anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour each morning before starting my day. I find it is a really good prayer time and planning time for myself. Plus it gets my sweet dog, Lucy McKynna out for her morning pee and poo and some exercise for her. My goal at night is to do boxing….I really really really enjoyed that before, but with my new school schedule (they changed our hours and I picked up a 2nd job) it was really hard to get in a class. So I bought a heavy bag for my room. It is freestanding and definitely not as hard as the heavy bags at LA Boxing (where I used to go) but does the trick. Found that out today…didn’t wrap my hands and they were killing me by the 3rd round!! So I really didn’t want to, but I did do it so I am proud of that. So that is my goal to walk in the mornings for 30 minutes to an hour and then box and do weight bearing exercise (find this works better for my body using my own body weight as the weight than free weights) for 30-60 minutes in the evening. So as of now that is the plan. 1st day was good. Now just gotta continue to clean my eating up. Eventually I want to get to the place that out of the lunches and dinners I eat a week that 13 of them are only meat and veggies…with little to no carbs. I would say right now probably 7 of them are….not terrible but not where I want to be. I try to eat 5 meals a day. I consider any amount of food a meal….so my greek yogurt is a meal as well as my chicken breast and 1/2 cup veggies. Really trying hard. I get frustrated when I am doing good and don’t see the scale move…but just keep telling myself to keep striving toward eating clean and toward exercising daily. I also want to get to the point I am doing that exercise routine I mentioned 5x week and then one day the weekend do a long hike. 5-10 miles would be good. Typically that is a Saturday and Sunday being a freebie day…So maybe that should be the day that I have my cheat meal too. Sometimes I get so foundered on what to eat. I get so tired of chicken breast….but I have to remind myself in the past when I have been on a several day binge of eating whatever in the heck I want that I get foundered on food that is bad for me too. So might as well get the health benefits of the good stuff…especially if the end result is the same in the way I am feeling about choosing food. A good website I have found for clean eating is gracious pantry. Just google it and it will come up… it is a blog of wonderfully delicious, creative, and best of all—-CLEAN food.

This photo was so disturbing to me….but very truthful. I didn’t put it on my pinterest because I thought it could almost be offensive to people who are overweight and I wouldn’t ever want to hurt people. I am putting it here on my blog because this is my special place for my motivation….And this motivates me…I do not and will not end up like this!! The good news is that no matter if you are bigger or smaller than this…there is hope…just continue on your journey! Just keep going….this is what I want you to hear from my heart….you are not a number, you are not your past mistakes…you are God’s child He loves you and He believes in you. You can do it!!

Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to the person from yesterday.

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:31:11 -0400

I love this quote! One of the things I am focusing on is getting to my goal weight! I know, I know—me and everyone else. I have always yo-yo-ed on my weight loss. So it is encouraging to read this……sure feels better than putting myself down for all the times I have lost…just to gain it back! Keep going, keep going, keep going I tell myself!

Thank God He never gives up on us!

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:33:00 -0400

This quote has been so amazing for me. Most recently I have felt like it all was over. I felt like decisions I made could not be redeemed and things that I had hoped for would never come to pass. I am not at the end of my journey yet, but I have been reminded that God has been here with me all the time. It says He will never leave us or forsake us and I knew that in my head….but sometimes it takes much more to know it in our heart. God never gives up on us and continues to pursue us even when we are running from Him! I am so encouraged and thankful that the only person that gave up on my dreams was me, not God. So here I am on this journey again…excited to see all my dreams come true!

Ephesians 3:20-21

The Message (MSG)

^20-21God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.