Thursday, July 26, 2012

Taking a new perspective.....

It is pretty much given. We have all heard it a dozen times. We KNOW it in our heads and try to apply it in our lives, but until that moment that it 'clicks' we just can't seem to find success. After struggling quite a bit and starting to feel sorry for myself (which in turn creates my moments of silence with this blog of mine) I decided that I was done. My health doesn't allow me to do as much as I want to, but not pushing myself to do SOMETHING is simply making matters worse. I have tried to see if my issue is gluten, which going gluten free seemed to help my digestion and some of my arthritic issues, but it is far too expensive and restrictive for me to stick to long term....and lets face it, I BAKE as therapy. So I decided to keep myself at "gluten light", in that I am careful to not eat a LOT of wheat...and that seems to help.

A lot of people I know are on various "diets" that involve special shakes or drinks and though I am genuinely happy for them with their success, it gets very difficult to deal with the constant pleas from them to start drinking the shakes they drink. Let's face it, all plans like that are basically the same. A vitamin and protein rich flavored powder is mixed with water/soy milk/ fat free milk/yogurt and ice or frozen fruits or veggies etc. All those plans mean for you to replace 2 meals a day with their shakes. It isn't that these plans don't work...they do. You WILL lose weight. The hard part is sticking to the diet long term AND keeping the weight off. MOST people will return to their "normal" eating habits once they are off the program. And if they never go off the program, they still have to "maintain" with at least one of these shakes every day. VERY costly at the end of it all because you are still shopping for regular food....especially if you have a house full of people who don't eat the way you do....like I do!

THEN you have the "special foods" diets. These programs have you eat pre-measured, pre-packaged or delivered foods. The problem I find with these  diets is also that once you stop eating what they give you, once you go out to eat, or you start eating on  your own, you will gain weight. This is because you never really learned how to handle regular every day life and interactions with others and food.

And then you have things that are exercise focused. Exercise is crucial, exercise is necessary to losing weight. HOWEVER, specific programs and workouts are not better than others necessarily. Joining a fitness club, camp, attending a seminar on fitness, boot camps, fitness classes are all great ways to get in some daily exercise to help get you toned and burn fat. But NOT doing those isn't going to make me or anyone else UNsuccessful. The goal is to burn more calories than you consume every day.....THAT is how you lose weight.

At the end of the day it is about Calories in VS Calories out. That is all. Granted, eating junk and stuffing  your face and then working out to a point of exhaustion to make up your poor choices isn't good for you either, but paying attention to the nutritional content of the foods you eat, AND being sure that you burn around 500 calories a day MORE than you eat in a day, is the best way to lose the healthy 1 pound a week.

I appreciate the encouragement from friends and family who are on a weight loss and fitness journey as well. They understand and can relate to some of my struggles. However, what gets very aggravating is all the "advice" about  getting my head right, and that it isn't about being "skinny" (which I never said it was to begin with), or that I just need to focus on being "healthy" and that somehow all these people are now "experts" just because they learned something new. It is aggravating because all of these people have STRUGGLED too....with the same self esteem issues, they have all put their self worth into their appearance....I know them all well and have known them most of my life, I have seen it first hand in their lives. I know the intent is to be helpful, and to encourage, and to "save" me the struggles they have encountered...but the thing is that nothing is really changed for some of them. They STILL put their worth into their appearance and the only reason why they don't feel like they do is because they are starting to LIKE what they see in the mirror. I am genuinely happy for their successes, and I appreciate the sharing of things they learned recently or along their own journey....they just shouldn't talk to me like I don't know what I am doing. I KNOW how to lose the weight, I KNOW how to get healthy....my entire childhood was spent being active and eating healthy. Not focusing on my weight and losing it, simply focusing on my "insides" never helped me with the weight loss, it actually facilitated my weight gain.

cardio and 30 minutes to an hour of strength and toning then I  am going to eat closer to 1400-1500 calories that day. I try to have a deficit of no less than 500.

Ask any fitness guru (personally I like Jillian Michaels) and they will tell you, it is about calories in vs calories out. I hope all my friends and family find long lasting, forever success in their endeavors to get healthy and to lose some unhealthy weight. But I am done with gimmicks, fads, special drinks, pre-packaged foods or weight loss pills. And I am NOT into deprivation when it comes to food either. If I completely cut out something then I feel deprived and I just eat a ton of it later. Instead, I'm going to do what I learned in the ONLY program I have ever seen TRULY educate and correct a relationship with food. Good food in and burn more calories than I eat. :)

Good luck everyone.....sorry if I offended anyone, it isn't my intent. Just being honest and open...it is great that programs are so far working for each of you, I am just done with "fad" products.