Alayna A.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

I just picked up the book The Writing Diet by Julia Cameron from Half Priced Books last night. I had read parts of it the past couple of times I had been in there and finally broke down and bought it last night. I tried to negotiate for a little lower price but she wasn't having it. Oh well.

I started a Morning Pages journal. Every morning I am going to set my alarm for about an hour earlier than normal, well probably 45 mins earlier than normal and I am going to write 3 pages. According to her book this helps you get in touch with yourself. This will be a stream of consciousness and whatever is on your mind. It helps to get in touch with your emotions which I definitely know I need to do that. Most of the time I can't tell you what I am feeling.

I also started a food journal. Every time I eat or want to eat I am going to first grab my journal and write. Now, I do love to write, and writing has always been a passion of mine, however, I definitely think these things would be so beneficial to those that don't regularly write like I do. Her examples in her book are great.

I am really excited about this process, I think it will really help get to the bottom of why I eat what I eat and when. I have been maintaining for 3 years now but I know I definitely have some bad habits that have been haunting me and long term those habits will not do me any good at all. I need to break free of these shackles that food has on me. I need to find my self worth and self love that I haven't had consistantly for years.

138.2     I have learned over the years many qualities that lead to long term success with my weight battle, and success with my surgery. Many factors, character traits and other things go into pulling off such a feat.

Resilience
Preparation
Self-awareness
Determination
Positive attitude

There are many more I can't think of right now off the top of my head but those are some of the most important. What's great about that list is anyone can find those things within themselves, or create them within themselves.

Don't be afraid to fail. One small failure, one small bite of something you know you shouldn't be having isn't the end all be all of your new life as a post-op WLS patient.

Accept your mistake, apologize to yourself for letting yourself down and get right back on the horse.

Use your self awareness to delve into your triggers, your barriers.

Use your resilience to keep trying, and never stop trying new things.

Over the years I have tried so many different vitamins, protein powders, water bottles, menus, etc. Finding what works for you as an individual is important. Just because something works for someone else doesn't mean it's right for you. Keep trying new and different things. If you try to make a habit of taking a certain vitamin at a certain time and you find you forget it at home or you forget all together, try something different when it's not working. Don't give up and give in, accept that that wasn't right for you and that you still need to find your 'right' way.

138.2     Ah, century club....I have avoided getting that badge on my signature not really thinking I accomplished it. However, I have!!!

3+ years out and I am in size 6 jeans and down 100lbs. I exercise at least 3x a week now, at least I have been for a few weeks now. I am taking the majority of my vitamins. I am still struggling to get my calcium into a routine.

However, building routines is getting better and better.

I switched to a sublingual liquid B complex last week sometime. It doesn't taste all that great going down after holding it there for 30 seconds but I like the idea of getting more B vitamins.

Iron and multivitamins are getting in everyday.

I am sitting here eating a bowl of veggies for lunch and whew, they are filling me up! :)

I finally found a combo of protein powders that I like!!! I mix one scoop of the Click Mocha powder with one scoop of Unjury Vanilla with 12oz of water in my shaker cup from GNC. At first the Click Mocha was too strong of a flavor by itself, but this is working wonderfully and tasts good. I use the scoop from the Click to measure the Unjury, not the bigger scoop in the unjury.

141.6     I woke up yesterday and headed to the gym to get my workout in, I was surprised how busy it was, I guess a lot of people had the same idea. I am looking forward to the $20 credit for working out 12x/month. I think the first thing I will buy with that money is some new workout clothes! LOL

146-ish I think. I didn't weigh myself today before I went to the gym. Yep, I went to the gym!!

I am finding in many other aspects of my life that baby steps and routines are important. I have always known planning is important, but now I feel like I am implementing with baby steps and life is awesome!!

I started with finances when I found www.pocketyourdollars.com which is a fantastic site by the way. I started using coupons in early August and then I found her recommendation of Dave Ramsey's My Total Money Makeover. This book revolutionalized my finances for the better with his baby steps.

Finding him and his website led me to finding www.flylady.net and her baby steps led me to having my house pretty orderly all the time and well on my way to a very clean well maintained home all the time with just making some routines and habits.

I had fallen off track with my exercise as well as my eating. It's so easy to fall off and on again, but I am continually striving to learn what my barriers are and what I can do to work around them.

In discussing this with my husband he said something so simple yet so profound "it needs to be a routine, a habit". DUH! Why hadn't I thought of it this way. People talk about making fitness goals and I have done that only to fail because I don't have a clue of what a realistic goal would be. Now my goals are acheivable and doable no matter how much I can lift in the gym that day. My goal is very simple. I will wake up and immediately go to the gym 3 days a week and do my weight lifting program. My goal is to make it a habit, a routine, something I JUST DO.

Today was the first day of my new habit and I did it!!

Other habits I have made recently include shining my sink every night before I go to bed, and making my bed every morning when I wake up. Also showering and getting ready for my day right away in the morning instead of waiting until shortly before leaving for work. (I work evenings)

How does this relate to my WLS life you ask? Everything is interconnected in life. One aspect of your life has so many other connections, and some you never realize. I was also failing on my vitamins. I tied these into my routines. My multi vitamins when I am shining my sink and my iron when I am making my bed and my calcium I am still working on that one....

Life is GREAT!!

Life is what you make of it.

If you keep on doing what you've always been doing, you'll keep getting the same results. Someone wrote or said that somewhere, completely not my original thought, but well worth saying, reading, writing, typing. How many times do we say "I am trying!!" but yet we're just trying what we've always tried? I have been spending a lot of time reading self help books for various areas of my life and let me tell you, trying something new and different is the way to go!!! You don't know what you don't know until you start learning.

I went to the Gap yesterday and bought 2 pairs of jeans......size 6!!!!!!!!!

I really like their mid-rise jeans. These were normally $60 jeans on sale for $35 and I had a Groupon worth $50 that I bought for $25. So, I paid $45 for 2 pairs of jeans at the Gap!

This was the first time I had ever purchased anything at the Gap. I remember going there with my sister when I was younger, she was always skinny. I hated shopping with her and my mom, those two were skinny and could find clothes anywhere. I just tagged along...nothing ever fit me where they shopped.

140.4     I am not sure what happened to derail my weight lifting efforts. I realized I had been doing the pushups wrong and had my elbows out instead of in and when I switched to in I could barely do my reps. I think maybe I felt defeated or something. I don't know. All I know is it has been a while since I have been there and I don't like that.

For two days now a daily email I get was about exercise, which it is normally never about exercise. I think that is a sign...it's time to get back to it!! However, if I go today I won't be able to go again until Labor day....oh well....better than not going at all!

Something has changed in my head, I have learned moderation and being ok with not eating everything I can. I used to eat all of my husband's snacks for his lunch if they were here, I would eat them until they were gone, sometimes more than one or two a day :( I tried to get him to hide them so I wouldn't eat them, like I had no control. I am sure we all on this board understand that, not feeling in control of our eating.

Something huge changed in my life after I read Dave Ramsey's Total money makeover. It has nothing to do with eating and eating behaviors but holy crap it did a number on my head issues with eating!! The scale is down and I can tell a huge difference in my clothes.

Going to plug in my ipod and get it loaded up with some workout music and head to the gym. :)

149    I had my chemistry final last Thursday, got an A in the class :) Woo Hoo!! I was on call Thursday night, worked until 4:30am, was up at 9:30a Friday and went sidewalk sale shopping with a friend and when I was able to leave work early instead of going home to sleep I went on a date with my husband. We got some pizza...I know, I know....but...moderation=enjoyment/fulfillment instead of feeling deprived and gorging later right?

After pizza we played mini-golf and raced go-karts. It was an absolute blast! I laughed and giggled all the way around the track until he bumped me off of a corner and pulled ahead to win.

We also got all of our wedding pictures printed and have begun a major sorting project on our living room floor to decide which ones to put in books for our mom's gifts. We're done sorting, now almost done deciding the best of each of those piles then we need to put the books together.

On the workout/food front....

The last time I was at the gym was last Wednesday! It is now Monday! After I finish typing this I am changing and heading there! I miss it horribly. I was too exhausted Friday morning and knew I wouldn't get a good workout in. Then Saturday I slept in, cleaned and then had to go to work and never made it to the gym before they closed. Then yesterday during my 3hrs of not being on call I was going to go to the gym and then I had horrible cramps, I think it's coming upon that time of the month.

I can't wait to get to the gym! I am really loving this workout routine. I am looking forward to being done with this stage and moving on though. I would like to try to speed it up and go every other day, so hopefully I can kick it into high gear and finish this stage off. I think I am about half way through it or so.

My clothes are still fitting better and I feel so much stronger and leaner. I find myself touching my sides and my mid section and sometimes checking out my glutes muscles when I walk up stairs. I am really starting to like my body. Finally. I am still saggy and loose here and there, but underneath it, I am strong! I have muscle and I can feel it and in a lot of places I can see it sexily showing itself off, like the back of my arm or in my thighs as I walk up stairs. My thighs have gone down half an inch!

I better get to the gym, just talking about it makes me giddy. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend The New Rules of Lifting for Women or the regular one just New Rules of Lifting. Even if you don't want to do the lifting program, it is a great read. All the things my bariatrician has told me for years about maintaining and losing, protein and muscle, is reiterated and explained further in these books.

146.6   I wore my 'skinny' jeans to school today!! :) Then I came home, changed and went to the gym for my workout. I am really loving this weight lifting program I am doing. I did mention it in a previous blog didn't I? The New Rules of Lifting for Women. It's awesome!! I did 2 weeks of the guys break in program and now switched over to the women's program this week.

I tried a Pure Protein Whey Shot after my workout today. I got the grape flavor this time. I think I have tried the fruit punch before and didn't like it. I took this kind of like a shot, I really gulped it down fast and it wasn't bad at all. I will definitely have to go back to Target for more of these. What great post-workout protein supplements! I can't remember exactly but I don't think they were really that expensive either.

153.6     I won't hide it. I am up in weight. I have not gotten full control of my eating yet and I have not been doing as well as I want to be. However, I have been getting in a ton of protein and lifting weights and my measurements are on track. I am gaining some muscle and retaining some water.

I am going to keep on keeping on. Just because 2 weeks in my scale went the wrong way doesn't mean a thing. I fluctuate and I am getting my intake and output in control.

I bought the New Rules of Lifting for Women this past weekend and it is equally as good as the guys' version. If not better of course since it's geared directly for my sex. It just makes so much sense. I am going to work it. I am going to try and do a 4 week trial of approximately 1950 calories on non workout days and 2200 cals on workout days. 145g/165g protein respectively. It seems crazy in my head, but I am putting things into fitday and it just might be possible!