Every few days, I can expect to see a few random "forwarded" emails from a few of my friends. Some are funny, some I forward on, and some I read and delete without a second thought.
Today, one of my friends sent me one that not only had me laughing, but also rang so true that I decided to forward it on, and am now blogging about it.
It was titled "Do You Want to Be a Mermaid or a Whale?"
At first I thought "what the heck has she sent me now???", and reluctantly opened it, with my quivering finger already hovering over the delete button. As I began to read, my finger settled, and I began to appreciate the words as they unfolded before me.
Apparently, at a gym in Australia, a summer promotional poster could be seen in a window, displaying a young, thin, tan woman with the caption "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?" A middle-aged woman (looking nothing like the woman on the poster) wrote a letter, answering the question posed by the gym.
She discussed the fact that whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). Whales have an active sex life, give birth to adorable baby whales, and get to play and swim in exotic seas around the world. Whales are beautiful singers with virtually no predators (besides humans), and are loved, protected and admired by people around the world.
Mermaids, on the other hand, do not exist. If they did exist, they would suffer from a chronic identity crisis - fish or human? They don't have a sex life, because, well, where would anything go? If they don't have a sex life, then they don't have children. Additionally, they probably aren't too popular, because who wants to hang out with someone that smells like fish.
I realized, after reading this email, that she was absolutely right. I'd rather enjoy having some ice cream on a hot summer evening, or enjoy a nice dinner without worrying about how many calories I'm consuming. I'd rather have an active sex life and cute little whale babies. I'd rather sing and be surrounded by friends (especially if the alternative is being alone because I smell like fish).
Yes, all things in moderation, but in general, whales live a fuller, happier life, so I consider myself lucky to be a whale!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
And Here We Go!
Thus begins another week - another Monday is here, another fresh start, another weigh in to look forward to.
After a disastrous fall off the wagon last week, I feel like I'm ready to go again.
I'm back to work, which means that I was back on my old friend, the treadmill, this morning, after a several day absence. Sure, I swam, and I walked at the park, but somehow the treadmill just feels more productive!
Now that I'm on a set schedule once again, hopefully I'll continue to see results.
I'm now thinking in terms of "what's next". I have 3 weeks left of work before Ben and I make our big move to Ohio. So, I'd like to use that as my "light at the end of the tunnel". What can I get accomplished in 3 weeks? Can I stay on track? Can I go into this move with new found motivation and manage to stay on track during our journey across the country?
Let's hope so!
I'll worry about the move (and how to keep up with good food choices and exercise) in a few weeks. For now, I'm focused on the next 3 weeks, staying on track, and seeing more progress!
After a disastrous fall off the wagon last week, I feel like I'm ready to go again.
I'm back to work, which means that I was back on my old friend, the treadmill, this morning, after a several day absence. Sure, I swam, and I walked at the park, but somehow the treadmill just feels more productive!
Now that I'm on a set schedule once again, hopefully I'll continue to see results.
I'm now thinking in terms of "what's next". I have 3 weeks left of work before Ben and I make our big move to Ohio. So, I'd like to use that as my "light at the end of the tunnel". What can I get accomplished in 3 weeks? Can I stay on track? Can I go into this move with new found motivation and manage to stay on track during our journey across the country?
Let's hope so!
I'll worry about the move (and how to keep up with good food choices and exercise) in a few weeks. For now, I'm focused on the next 3 weeks, staying on track, and seeing more progress!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Weigh In # 8
I'm 2 months in to my attempts at weight loss. No plan, no diets, just paying attention, making smart choices (and not a few not-so-smart choices), and trying to exercise on a regular basis.
After a week that threw me for a bit of a loop, I stepped on the scale this morning, not sure of what to expect.
Fortunately, despite having fallen off the wagon a bit, I am down another pound! I'm sure that this is, in part, due to the fact that I was sweating profusely for the first half of the week (as no AC will do to you), and spent some considerable time in the pool swimming and paddling around.
So, week #8, and I'm down a total of 8 pounds!!!
Things are on track, and once I'm back in work mode (after a week off), I expect that I'll continue to make progress.
Fingers crossed for continued weight loss in the coming weeks!
After a week that threw me for a bit of a loop, I stepped on the scale this morning, not sure of what to expect.
Fortunately, despite having fallen off the wagon a bit, I am down another pound! I'm sure that this is, in part, due to the fact that I was sweating profusely for the first half of the week (as no AC will do to you), and spent some considerable time in the pool swimming and paddling around.
So, week #8, and I'm down a total of 8 pounds!!!
Things are on track, and once I'm back in work mode (after a week off), I expect that I'll continue to make progress.
Fingers crossed for continued weight loss in the coming weeks!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Another Glitch
I toyed, this week, with changing things up a bit. Now that the week is almost done, I'm glad I didn't. It obviously wasn't meant to be.
Anyone who follows my other blog "Making Lemonade", knows that we've been without air conditioning in our house since Sunday.
I have tried to spend as little time as possible at home, but along with that comes a need for portable food options. It's hard to cart around containers of fruit and vegetables when you're going to be away from the house for hours on end. The diet would have suffered, and I, in turn, would have come out on the other end completely frustrated (not to mention hungry). So, it's probably best that I opted to cut my diet a bit short, and tried to stick with a good portion of fruits and veggies (which I did), while continuing with my normal activities.
I might have allowed myself some fast food for lunch, but that's only because they had air conditioning. Yes, I might have also indulged in some ice cream, but it was for survival purposes only! I won't say I didn't enjoy it, because anyone who knows me would know that it's a total lie.
My exercising has also suffered this week. Something about getting hot and sweaty (or hotter and sweatier) and then coming home to a house that welcomes you with a blast of hot, stagnant air (rather than a burst of cool, refreshing air), and taking a cold shower to only begin sweating as soon as you dry off, just isn't appealing! I was wiped out, and quite frankly, the last thing in the world I wanted to do was go and work out - it just wasn't in the cards!
So, needless to say, I strayed a bit from my plan this week.
Not to worry, considering the amount of sweat I created in the last 4 days, I'd say I've probably lost a couple pounds in water weight alone!
I feel confident, however, that now that our AC is up and running, and life is about to resume it's normal chaotic rhythm, that I'll be able to pick up where I left off, and keep right on trucking down this weight loss road.
I'm feeling a bit anxious about tomorrow's weigh in, but hey, that's all part of the process, right?
Anyone who follows my other blog "Making Lemonade", knows that we've been without air conditioning in our house since Sunday.
I have tried to spend as little time as possible at home, but along with that comes a need for portable food options. It's hard to cart around containers of fruit and vegetables when you're going to be away from the house for hours on end. The diet would have suffered, and I, in turn, would have come out on the other end completely frustrated (not to mention hungry). So, it's probably best that I opted to cut my diet a bit short, and tried to stick with a good portion of fruits and veggies (which I did), while continuing with my normal activities.
I might have allowed myself some fast food for lunch, but that's only because they had air conditioning. Yes, I might have also indulged in some ice cream, but it was for survival purposes only! I won't say I didn't enjoy it, because anyone who knows me would know that it's a total lie.
My exercising has also suffered this week. Something about getting hot and sweaty (or hotter and sweatier) and then coming home to a house that welcomes you with a blast of hot, stagnant air (rather than a burst of cool, refreshing air), and taking a cold shower to only begin sweating as soon as you dry off, just isn't appealing! I was wiped out, and quite frankly, the last thing in the world I wanted to do was go and work out - it just wasn't in the cards!
So, needless to say, I strayed a bit from my plan this week.
Not to worry, considering the amount of sweat I created in the last 4 days, I'd say I've probably lost a couple pounds in water weight alone!
I feel confident, however, that now that our AC is up and running, and life is about to resume it's normal chaotic rhythm, that I'll be able to pick up where I left off, and keep right on trucking down this weight loss road.
I'm feeling a bit anxious about tomorrow's weigh in, but hey, that's all part of the process, right?
Monday, July 4, 2011
On Second Thought...
Yesterday was Day 1 of the GM Diet. I was to eat nothing but fruit, all day.
I spent a good portion of the day reflecting on my decision to do this week long diet in an attempt to jump start my weight loss.
It occurred to me that when I first set out to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks, this is EXACTLY what I said I wasn't going to do. I wasn't going to embrace a "gimmicky" weight loss plan, or exercise routine. I was simply going to be conscious of my food choices and portions, exercise on a regular basis, and see what progress I could make.
So, yesterday, I was half motivated to continue with the GM Diet, but at the same time feeling guilty about looking for a "quick fix" instead of my previous attempt at "slow and steady wins the race".
I talked to Ben (who couldn't go 5 minutes without salivating over "actual food") yesterday evening, shared my concerns, and we decided that rather than moving ahead with the GM Diet that we would, instead, use it as a guideline for a healthier menu, but still allow ourselves the "actual food" that we were both so hungry for.
Last night, after eating nothing but fruit all day, Ben went to the store and got beef and vegetable kabobs to cook on the grill. We didn't add our usual rice or pasta side dish - we just had the kabobs and some more fruit.
As we move forward this week, we will continue to enjoy the fruits and vegetables that filled up our shopping cart at the store on Saturday, but we will also make healthy food choices beyond that.
I feel like I'm back on track (not that I was ever off track), and ready to continue with my earlier plan of eating smart, and keeping up with my exercise.
No gimmicks here! Just me vs. the scale!
I spent a good portion of the day reflecting on my decision to do this week long diet in an attempt to jump start my weight loss.
It occurred to me that when I first set out to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks, this is EXACTLY what I said I wasn't going to do. I wasn't going to embrace a "gimmicky" weight loss plan, or exercise routine. I was simply going to be conscious of my food choices and portions, exercise on a regular basis, and see what progress I could make.
So, yesterday, I was half motivated to continue with the GM Diet, but at the same time feeling guilty about looking for a "quick fix" instead of my previous attempt at "slow and steady wins the race".
I talked to Ben (who couldn't go 5 minutes without salivating over "actual food") yesterday evening, shared my concerns, and we decided that rather than moving ahead with the GM Diet that we would, instead, use it as a guideline for a healthier menu, but still allow ourselves the "actual food" that we were both so hungry for.
Last night, after eating nothing but fruit all day, Ben went to the store and got beef and vegetable kabobs to cook on the grill. We didn't add our usual rice or pasta side dish - we just had the kabobs and some more fruit.
As we move forward this week, we will continue to enjoy the fruits and vegetables that filled up our shopping cart at the store on Saturday, but we will also make healthy food choices beyond that.
I feel like I'm back on track (not that I was ever off track), and ready to continue with my earlier plan of eating smart, and keeping up with my exercise.
No gimmicks here! Just me vs. the scale!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Shaking Things Up
Today, I begin a week long venture to really shake things up along my weight loss journey.
First, let me just say, Ben is the best husband ever - he is playing along with me during this week's experiment, so that I don't have to do it alone.
We are doing the GM Diet. In case you haven't heard of it (which I hadn't until Friday night), it was created for employees at General Motors through a grant from the FDA, and research done at Johns Hopkins. It is 7 days long and involves eating different foods each day (fruits, veggies, protein, etc.) and drinking basically nothing but water.
Since I was thinking that I needed to "shake things up" a bit, I did quite a bit of research, looking into detox and cleansing options, and happened across this. I have a week of (at home) vacation ahead of me, so now is as good a time as any to give something new a try.
Today, Day 1, we are eating nothing but fruit. Any fruit, as much as we want (except bananas), all day.
Day 2 is the vegetable day. After we begin with a baked potato for breakfast (yum), we eat nothing but veggies all day.
Day 3 is the best of both worlds - fruits and veggies (no bananas, no potato for breakfast).
Day 4 will be interesting - we are to eat bananas, milk, and a vegetable soup that we will make ourselves.
Day 5 will likely feel like a feast - we can eat lean beef (20 oz) and tomatoes!
Day 6 we can eat unlimited lean beef and vegetables
Day 7 we can eat unlimited brown rice, fruit juice and veggies
And so, the journey begins. Considering it is about 100 degrees outside, eating cool sweet watermelon, apple slices, cantaloupe, pineapple, and grapes all day isn't going to be much of a hardship.
I have no idea how the rest of the 7 days will go, but hopefully this will be just the jump start I need to "reset my body's computer" and move ahead with my weight loss!
First, let me just say, Ben is the best husband ever - he is playing along with me during this week's experiment, so that I don't have to do it alone.
We are doing the GM Diet. In case you haven't heard of it (which I hadn't until Friday night), it was created for employees at General Motors through a grant from the FDA, and research done at Johns Hopkins. It is 7 days long and involves eating different foods each day (fruits, veggies, protein, etc.) and drinking basically nothing but water.
Since I was thinking that I needed to "shake things up" a bit, I did quite a bit of research, looking into detox and cleansing options, and happened across this. I have a week of (at home) vacation ahead of me, so now is as good a time as any to give something new a try.
Today, Day 1, we are eating nothing but fruit. Any fruit, as much as we want (except bananas), all day.
Day 2 is the vegetable day. After we begin with a baked potato for breakfast (yum), we eat nothing but veggies all day.
Day 3 is the best of both worlds - fruits and veggies (no bananas, no potato for breakfast).
Day 4 will be interesting - we are to eat bananas, milk, and a vegetable soup that we will make ourselves.
Day 5 will likely feel like a feast - we can eat lean beef (20 oz) and tomatoes!
Day 6 we can eat unlimited lean beef and vegetables
Day 7 we can eat unlimited brown rice, fruit juice and veggies
And so, the journey begins. Considering it is about 100 degrees outside, eating cool sweet watermelon, apple slices, cantaloupe, pineapple, and grapes all day isn't going to be much of a hardship.
I have no idea how the rest of the 7 days will go, but hopefully this will be just the jump start I need to "reset my body's computer" and move ahead with my weight loss!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Weigh In # 7
Once again, a certain time of the month has thrust me head first into a week of food cravings, bloating, water retention, and crampy misery. While I did indulge in (just a few) food cravings, I stuck with my exercise routine, and even changed it up a bit this week.
So, this morning, when I stepped onto the scale, I was (once again) pleased to find that the number had not gone up since last week.
Thus far, on week 7, I am officially down 7 pounds!
I talked a few days ago about feeling like I need a jump start. I still feel this way. I don't want to lose my motivation, since I am continuing to make progress (however slow), but I do want to shake things up a bit.
As of this evening, I am officially on vacation for a week. Since I'm not going anywhere, I think that this is a perfect opportunity to implement a "jump start" program - given that I won't be bogged down with the daily routine that comes with taking care of kids! I'm lucky if I can get in 3 meals a day while I'm working, so hopefully during my time off, I can truly give this whole "eat 5 small meals per day" thing a try.
Along these same lines, I will attempt to change what I've been eating. This weekend I will hit the grocery store (trying hard to avoid the cookout and s'mores fixin's that the stores have on display leading up to the 4th) and stock up on fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and some lean proteins for dinner. We'll see how it goes - but I do know that if I don't have healthy foods on hand, I'll raid the pantry and dig out all the unhealthy crap that lives there.
I'm also planning on adding to my exercise routine. I've begun spending time on the stationary bike that I bought for myself a few years ago (but hasn't gotten used as much as I thought it would). It's been nice to change up the cardio a little bit - I'm amazed that I seem to burn more calories (according to the little gauge on the bike) than I do when I'm on the treadmill. In any case, I'll continue to alternate the bike, the treadmill, walking at the park, and swimming laps in the pool - possibly even 2 in the same day!
So, here we go - into week 8...wish me luck!
So, this morning, when I stepped onto the scale, I was (once again) pleased to find that the number had not gone up since last week.
Thus far, on week 7, I am officially down 7 pounds!
I talked a few days ago about feeling like I need a jump start. I still feel this way. I don't want to lose my motivation, since I am continuing to make progress (however slow), but I do want to shake things up a bit.
As of this evening, I am officially on vacation for a week. Since I'm not going anywhere, I think that this is a perfect opportunity to implement a "jump start" program - given that I won't be bogged down with the daily routine that comes with taking care of kids! I'm lucky if I can get in 3 meals a day while I'm working, so hopefully during my time off, I can truly give this whole "eat 5 small meals per day" thing a try.
Along these same lines, I will attempt to change what I've been eating. This weekend I will hit the grocery store (trying hard to avoid the cookout and s'mores fixin's that the stores have on display leading up to the 4th) and stock up on fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and some lean proteins for dinner. We'll see how it goes - but I do know that if I don't have healthy foods on hand, I'll raid the pantry and dig out all the unhealthy crap that lives there.
I'm also planning on adding to my exercise routine. I've begun spending time on the stationary bike that I bought for myself a few years ago (but hasn't gotten used as much as I thought it would). It's been nice to change up the cardio a little bit - I'm amazed that I seem to burn more calories (according to the little gauge on the bike) than I do when I'm on the treadmill. In any case, I'll continue to alternate the bike, the treadmill, walking at the park, and swimming laps in the pool - possibly even 2 in the same day!
So, here we go - into week 8...wish me luck!
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