Zippers, Calories & Bugg's - Oh My!

That was suppose to be a take on "Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My!" Anyway...

Thank God for zippers because all of my Size 16 pants started getting tight on me!  I had become so complacent and I'd stop weighing weekly.  Yikes!  There was NO WAY I was going back up in sizes.

I've been working hard this week to get back on track with taking care of myself.  I did not start a diet!

I almost got myself in big trouble by "dieting" again!  Diets are bad, bad, BAD!!!  I had started that pattern that I began when I was 16 years old... starting a diet... loosing five pounds... feeling deprived and going off the diet and then "making up for lost time" and gaining 6-7 pounds.  It doesn't take a math genius to figure out that slowly but surely... this is the way to put back on weight!

The thing that I am sure that will work for me long term is being vigilent about counting every calorie that goes into my mouth.  If I can't find nutritional data on the food - I'm going to do my best to steer clear of it!  My family doctor said that she wanted to see me get to 160 and we'd re-evaluate.  That means I should not be eating more than 1600 calories a day.  Simple math again... Goal weight x 10... 160 x 10 = 1600.

Wearing the BodyBugg helps me keep in mind that I'm not only logging every calorie but I'm also keeping track of my minutes of moderate activity level, my calories burned and steps taken.

I'd like to try to loose 2 pounds a week which means that daily I need to have a calorie deficit of 1000.  Again with the math... 3500 calories is 1 pound.  1000 calories x 7 days is 7000 calories lost.  7000 calories /2 is 3500.

I'm trying to walk 5 miles a day MINIMUM!!  That typically is right about 1 hour of walking.  I'm also trying to do the elliptical every other day and build one minute per session.  Then, there is the farm... I usually burn calories at a higher rate when I'm at the farm.

The only thing I don't like about the BodyBugg heading into summer is, I can't wear it while swimming and it's VERY obvious on your arm with short sleeves or sleeveless tops.  But, oh well!  It's the price of knowledge and accountibility!

Simple math and hopefully I'm at my goal by January 2011... or sooner.

Here is an older video describing more about the BodyBugg by Bodymedia.



If anyone has questions about the BodyBugg, please email me at spunkycowgirl@comcast.net.

Are You Ready? I AM!

I'm reading and re-reading this book!!  It's helping me so much to get motivated, get to the root of the problem and get going!!  I love Bob Harper!  I think he truly has his heart in helping others!!

How to Break a Bad Diet Habit—Forever!

How to Break a Bad Diet Habit—Forever!
Jillian Michaels on taking the neural pathway less traveled.
By Jillian Michaels

Get this: Research has shown that behaviors like what you eat and whether you exercise are deeply set into physical neural connections in your brain. All of your beliefs, your habits, everything making up your mental reality, is contained in physical neural-pathways. So in order to make real changes to your lifestyle and slim down, you've got to learn how to get in there and change your brain! (Great, turns out I do need brain surgery after all...)

The first time you have an experience or learn something new, chances are a new pathway is created. Then the next time you have that experience, your brain will search to see if you have experienced it before. If you have, it'll follow the same pathway. The more often you have that experience or think that thought, the stronger that neural pathway holding that thought or behavior will become. This is how a thought or action becomes a habit.

By repeating a pattern, we strengthen the neural pathways being used for this behavior and essentially reinforce our propensity to be "stuck in a rut"—literally. Here's an example: Let's say that you have been binge eating late at night in your home off a certain set of plates and now you have decided you want to stop that behavior. But, every time you eat off those plates you have been hard-wired to overeat, making it exponentially more difficult to break that destructive habit.

You cannot rationally "think" these physical networks away. But you can change them in two ways:

1. You gradually force the pathway to weaken and atrophy over a period of time by not using it.

Every time you resist the urge to eat an extra cookie when you're upset, or use the ranch dressing at the salad bar, you're allowing those old patterns and pathways to die away so that you can slim down and get healthier. You can do this by pausing and thinking through your choice. Ask yourself what the consequences of that choice will be. That allows you to move from the impulsive part of your personality to the part of your brain that can reason before automatically reacting.

2. Override the old pathway by wiring in a new behavior.

Let's say you've been going to the same supermarket for years—and buying garbage foods that don't support your efforts to lose weight. Try a new supermarket! It seems strange, but simply being in a new location will help you not fall into old patterns of grabbing your same-old old junk food from the same old shelves. Then repeat. Something that will help create a strong neural pathway is repetition. It's not as complicated as the term "neural pathways" makes it sound: Just know that you actually can create physical changes in your brain, hard wiring yourself for success.

Okay, now what old habits are you going to break? And what will you replace them with?

Jillian Michaels is the author of the new book Master Your Metabolism and the motivation coach for the Body by Glamour shape-up program. She's helped dozens of people get slim and healthy as a trainer on "The Biggest Loser," and has helped thousands of others through her DVDs and books.

Enough is Enough, Damn It!

My friend Lisa said right after the holidays "Enough is Enough" and that was it!  She put eating crap in the past and has since lost quite a bit of weight and looks phenomenal!!  Her willpower has been steadfast and her exercise routine has been reliable!!  I remember thinking "I'm just not there... I want to be there... but I just can't yet!!!"  What the heck!!?  Why not!?  Because I was enjoying eating lunch out with Don while Katie is in school and we were eating takeout while watching our favorite shows after Katie goes to bed... ARGGGHHHHH!!!

I did not go through what I went through to loose 142 pounds to slowly watch it come back on!!  Every piece of clothing I own is a 14/16 or a 16 and my 16's are tight!!

I have said for several years that nothing makes me more aware of my weight than riding!  Everytime I get on Lakota's back, I'm very aware of my weight!  My weight which has slowly crept back up to 210!!  I can't believe it!!  I was furious at myself this morning but I have to move past it!!  Beating myself up about it isn't going to fix it!  Never has, never will!

There is just shame involved when you've gone through so much to loose weight, been successful and then have it come back on!!  Any of it!!  I felt ashamed when I regained FOUR pounds but now it's time to STOP!!!

I'm still 123 pounds lighter than I was in December 2006... but I am determined to get to my goal weight!!

So, Body Bugg's are back on Don and I both this morning!  I'm going to count every calorie that goes in and log every calorie I burn!!  That's the only way that works for me... I have to be accountible other wise... "oh, this is only 200 calories... it won't make that big of a difference" and then BAM!  It does make a difference!!

So, we haven't watched this past season of Biggest Loser other than the first episode.  I know Helen won but it will hopefully still be inspirational to watch every day... we downloaded it on iTunes and there are 19 episodes if we start over from the beginning.  It takes 21 days for something to be habit so surely if we are determined, watch Biggest Loser every day for 19 days... by then we will be well on our way to staying on track!!

I plan to walk 3 miles every morning and then try to be as active as possible the rest of the day.  On days when I've sat on my but in front of the computer, I will do the elliptical or some other exercise in the evening!

My family doctor set my goal weight at 160 and said we'd re-evaluate when I got to that point.  That means that I have 50 pounds to loose... instead of the 29 I had to loose in January 2008 when I was at my lowest weight of 189.

I'm an emotional eater and having WLS didn't cure that!  I'm reading Bob Harper's book "Are You Ready" and he talks so much about getting to the emotional core and finding other things to replace it with... so that's what I have to do!!  That's what I must do to stop this horrible cycle!!

So, no more beating my self up... just "Enough is Enough!!"  Time to do it and stop making excuses.

My family and friends helped keep me encouraged during 2007 when I struggled a lot after complications from the WLS.  I'm counting on ya'll to help keep me encouraged this time too!  Also, Don!  It's so CRUCIAL for him... he's turning 45 this year and his father died at 47.  I do not want to loose him to something that could have been prevented!  Food is a tool... not a reward or something!!  We need to start looking at anything other than healthy foods as poison!!

Totally in love with my Lakota and I know he'd appreciate me getting serious and getting to my goal weight!!  So would my friends and family so I'll stop whining about it!

Enough!!