Making Waves

If you haven't noticed, I've been avoiding my blog... the past few weeks have been a series of ups and downs - less ups and more downs. I've been having a hard time staying focused and making my life balanced. Yes, I've been losing weight but that's just about the ONLY good thing I've been doing.I am dangerously close to hitting the 150lb weight loss mark (just 2 lbs to go)... a time I should be celebrating but instead, the closer I got to 150, the harder I struggled. I struggled to keep myself focused, i struggled to drop the weight, and I struggled with A LOT of self doubt. 150 is a lot of weight by any one's standards... and I'm very proud that I've worked hard to get here but there are 150 more to go and my mind started questioning if I was strong enough to make it. After all, these past 2 weeks have been hell and if this is what the next 150 have to bring me, I just wasn't sure if I could do it. That self doubt put my train on full speed to fly off track. The scary part about it all is that it really didn't take much for me to get off track - it started with switching my workout routine- I avoided circuit training with the new program EVERY strength training day, and soon I found myself skipping meals, not recording parts of my day in my food journal and yes, I even had a binge on chocolate. I hadn't told anyone I was struggling, not even the person I tell EVERYTHING to, my mom. I felt like i was losing all control and FAST! I kept telling myself I didn't know what to do. I reached my breaking point on Friday, I finally broke my silence. I've felt emotionally raw, totally lost and in a daze so I knew I had to go to the one place I knew I could find clarity... the ocean. I am at peace when I am in the water and that peace gives my soul time to reconnect with my body, it allows me to connect with my inner compass. I noticed something today, No matter how many footprints and pebbles litter the sand, with a little patience the waves always come to wash them away, leaving new sand behind, alot like life. I used to wait for a wave strong enough to come, a wave of recognition of my success from others, a complement, achievement at any cost, to wash away the foot prints and pebbles left by my struggles and challenges. I left the beach today with a strong sense of clarity and direction and a rekindled sense of determination. The next 150 lbs will be hard, but so were the first 150 and I got through it. I don't need to wait any more for a wave to come by and wash them away for me, today I realized I can make my own waves just by trusting myself and my own strength, trusting the process and never losing sight of my inner compass. There will be bumpy days, days that really just suck and its those days that we need to stop standing on the beach waiting for a wave and just make one of our own!

Starving

I spent some time this Sunday tie dying some old workout shirts with bleach and had a blast! It had been so long since Ive done anything just fun and creative and it really made me think... Every day I eat well balanced meals, I plan them out, count their calories, cook them with the best ingredients and record them in my food journal. My meals are always satisfying.. but wait, this blog is about starving right? Anyone who's ever made a transition to a healthy lifestyle knows, we spend so much time feeding our bodies but how much time do we take to feed our souls? We all know our bodies need nourishment to function but so does our souls. Our souls need laughter, joy and peace to thrive, not just survive! Take time to feed your soul today, start an art project, play a game with your family, laugh at loud with a funny movie anything that gives you a little piece of joy to nourish your soul.

Step it up and work it out!

I don't know about you but I can't hardly wait for the new season of Biggest Loser to come on. Not only am I in need of a Bob Harper fix but I just can't wait to see what kind of personalities are on this season. I've watched every episode of every season since its inception and am still in awe of the change this program has brought people on and off the show.. um like ME!!! I've been talking to alot of people and they are all saying the same thing- I watch the biggest loser from my couch with one hand in a bag of chips and the other wrapped around some fast food. I used to be that person too but you don't have to be and you don't have to wait to change it! Kristin and Cathy from last season's Biggest Loser has started a campaign called Step it Up Work it Out. It allows you t make the commitment to yourself to a healthier lifestyle NOW! This will be my first season of watching the Biggest Loser where I won't be sitting on the couch wishing that was me because this year that IS me. I am the one who is making the changes. Its not magic, its not made for TV its my reality and it can be your reality too. Will you join me in making this your first season watching biggest loser off the couch?!? Lets step it up and work it out!

http://www.kristinsteede.com/blog/challenge-form

Bigger Than a Mountain

There is something bigger than a mountain in weight loss, its bigger than that hill my tree is on and more difficult than any hike I've done before... its the PLATEAU! If you've been on your own weight loss journey, then you probably have had a few of your own. For anyone who doesn't know, a plateau is a period where you stop losing weight. For the first 5 months of me losing weight, it came off quickly and I never really had any bumps in the road. A month ago, I noticed that my weight loss was slowing down a bit but then it got jump-started when I went meat free... that was until the past 2 weeks. Last week I just barely got a loss in after working so hard. It hardly made sense so when I noticed this week the scale wasn't budging at all, I knew I was hitting a plateau. I didn't know what to do, I poured over my food and workout journal, evaluated my workout routines and thought about my sleeping habits - all things that can contribute to a plateau and it just didn't make any sense. In a day, I went from being so focused and so driven to allowing self doubt make me question and second guess myself. I turned to my support group ( we call ourselves the sisterhood) right away looking for some answers. My sisters tag teamed me with messages and emails and phone calls and each one of them, without knowing it, had the same message for me GET FOCUSED! Climbing a mountain takes skill, you need tools to help you, a support system to get over the unstable parts and a focused drive to make it to the top and turn right around and go back down... a weight loss plateau is the same EXACT thing. The best thing about plateaus is that there is a walking path, worn down from all those who's weight loss journey that came before yours, already there for you to follow. Look in your support systems for those who helped ware down that path... I'm so fortunate to have some amazing footsteps to follow over my plateau! Learn some new tools that can help you BEFORE you run into that plateau, use the tools you already have, reach out for your support system to make it and NEVER EVER lose your focus or your drive!