Category: Encouragement/Motivation

Posted in Emotional Well-Being, Encouragement/Motivation

Let’s Talk About Your Self-Esteem

Posted on by HeatherLynn

                  In the journey of improving oneself, healthier eating choices and exercise are always on the top of the list.  What we tend to neglect to factor in this journey is how our self-esteem affects our journey.

                 Self-esteem is how we perceive and value ourselves.  It walks hand-in-hand with self-confidence.  This perception is influenced by society, by our peers, our families, and most importantly of all, ourselves.     That inner voice that lives inside of us has immense power. 

                 A healthier lifestyle will help boost your self-esteem, but only if you learn how to change your perceptions.  Its not easy.  You are battling a lifetime of negative inner talk.  Standing in front of the mirror berating yourself for every little flaw & allowing others to make you feel like you were less than.   Those days must come to an end.

                 How do you improve your self-esteem and get your self-confidence to an acceptable level? 

  1. Get to know who you are.   What makes you happy?  Do you enjoy going to the beach and collecting shark’s teeth?  Do you like going to thrift shops and finding that perfect vintage item?    Start doing what YOU want to do.  
  • Challenge every unkind thought you have about yourself.   If you think “I’m terrible at baking cookies.”   Find a video with step-by-step instructions, take a class.      If you start to make remarks about your physical appearance, reprimand yourself like you would a child for speaking that way to another person.    Its appalling how we talk to ourselves.
  • Say positive things to yourself.   Every morning look at yourself in the mirror and say one positive thing.   “You have pretty eyes; I like your hair…”  If you aren’t feeling it, still try to pull it off, “You don’t look as tired as you feel.”     Do not allow that inner voice to ruin you.
  • Practice saying “no”.    You don’t have to go along with the crowd, you don’t have to tag along with your spouse to every car show.  You are no one’s servant and you are your own person.   If you don’t want to do something, speak up.   Its liberating. 
  • Try not to compare yourself to others.  Everyone is different, everyone is fighting their own battle.   As Facebook has taught us, people only share their shining moments, and they hide   the things that haunt them in the night.   Worry about yourself, stay in your own lane. 
  • Choose your battles but don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself.   No one deserves to be walked all over, no matter what the situation is.   The more you allow things to happen because you don’t want to have an argument, the more you lose a piece of yourself.   Speak up and get it out on the table.
  • Find new things to try.  The more things you learn to do, the more confident you become.  Take a class on basket weaving, do a paint and sip night, visit a random museum you’ve never been to. 
  • This is probably the most important step.   Change your inner voice from a Negative Nellie to a Positive Polly.   This one takes some work, but the more you stop it from speaking negative to you and change it to talking positive, the more confident you will feel.   The scale numbers aren’t moving as you wish.    Instead of the inner voice berating you, have it say to you, “It’s okay, we just need to change up the formula a bit.  You can do this! “  

Remember, this is a journey, not a sprint!   If you stumble its okay!  Pick yourself up, dust off, and start walking again!

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Posted in Encouragement/Motivation, Food Stuff

Control of the Portions

Posted on by HeatherLynn

For the past 2 years I’ve been adamantly working on my perception of how much food is on my plate and how hungry I really am.   I was raised in a “Clean your plate” home and this has been a troublesome journey to say the least.   I learned quickly that my plates were too big and so I thought I wasn’t putting enough food on them.   I loved the plates, but the fact is I couldn’t make myself take smaller portions because it seemed like there was too much “white” space on my plate.  

I did some research and then made some changes in my life. Here are a few of the things I discovered:

Use smaller dinnerware – dessert plates will work but if you want a little more assistance, these portion control plates on Amazon.com work great!  Portion Control

Don’t eat directly from the package – it is far too easy to lose track of how much you have eaten.  Instead look at the suggested serving size and take the time to measure it out and then put that package away. 

Use a Food Diary – there are literally dozens of apps and websites available that offer the ability to log your food intake.  MyFitnessPal.com is a popular one amidst my circle of friends.   Logging your daily intake of food gives you a visual of how much you are truly eating, and it helps you stop the “oh just one won’t hurt” kind of mentality.

Understand your serving sizes – a serving size is what is listed on the package label; a portion is what you put on your plate.   Serving sizes vary from product to product and they have grown larger in the past few decades.

Use a portion size guide –   there are many out there.  You can use the hand method where your portions are compared to how much you hold in your hand; or use one that compares the portions to different objects.   I prefer the object method for myself.  I’ve printed one guide out  WebMD Portion Size Guide and pinned it to my kitchen cabinet so its easy to see as I’m preparing my meals.

Careful with the Carbs!  –  your plate should only be ¼ carbs.  Whole grains are good for your heart, but those yams, potatoes and corn are high in starch and not so friendly to the fat burning process. You can still have them, but you need to be careful on the portion. 

Go heavy on your fruits and veggies – These are going to be the bulk of your plate.  Try to avoid the canned variety and stick with fresh if possible.  There are many guides on the internet that can help you determine the portion sizes of fresh produce.

Avoid processed foods – do your best.  Fried food is not good for us no matter how yummy it tastes!  Fast food is quite expensive and portion controlling fast food is a nightmare; Avoiding the fast-food places is a good practice but if you do go, most have websites that have serving sizes and calorie counts of all their products available.

Restaurants – everyone deserves a night out, but it doesn’t have to derail your progress.   Take container with a lid with you.   Before eating, take at minimum, half of your meal and stow it away for another meal later.    It is not against the rules unless you go to a buffet.  Don’t do that at a buffet, they will charge you for that.

Meal Prep – some people like to prep for a week. Others are time constrained and prepping for a week of meals is out of the question.   When you make your evening meal, make enough to save for a meal for the following day.    Have a to-go container on your counter and as you are portioning out your plate, portion out a meal into the container as well.   Stick it in the refrigerator and in the morning, it is ready for you to grab and take to work for your mid-day meal.   No extra work involved.

Honestly, you’ll cheat somedays.  You’ll throw your hands in the air and just binge like there ‘s no tomorrow, but I promise, you won’t feel good.   You will for the moment, but your body will let you know that it doesn’t like it.   

Like Intermittent Fasting, portion control is a lifestyle change and it will take time to adjust and form the new habit.   Don’t be hard on yourself if you fall now and then.  Just get back up and keep trying. 

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Posted in Emotional Well-Being, Encouragement/Motivation

Slow and Steady for Success

Posted on by HeatherLynn

                 This morning, I read an article about a TikTok influencer who claims to have lost 100 lbs. in four months.  As I read the comments of people congratulating her and giving her kudos for a job well done, all I could think was, “You did it wrong.” 

                 Allow me to explain.   While losing unwanted weight quickly is exactly what every overweight person dreams of, there are some downsides to such quick results you would need to consider.

#1 – The health risk.  One of the most common paths to rapid weight loss is by exercising excessively and following a “crash” diet or a very low-calorie diet of 800 calories or fewer.   These methods can cause muscle atrophy, fatigue, gallstones, hair loss, bone density issues, constipation, electrolyte imbalance, and slower immune functions.  This is because of the sudden reduced calorie intake and very often a lack of daily nutrients your body needs to function properly.

#2 – Nearly everyone who follows a diet regain half the weight they’ve lost after one year, and nearly all the weight back by 3-5 years.    Why is that?   The weight came off so fast there was little time to build a new healthy habit.  Psychologically, it takes 18 to 254 days to create a habit, 66 days to incorporate the habit into your daily life.    When you are going for the rapid weight loss, you are not creating a new lifestyle for yourself, you are merely temporarily addressing the issue.

Most experts suggest losing weight as a slow and steady pace.  Losing one to two pounds a week is acceptable.  

The odds of maintaining the weight loss will multiply.   Don’t look at it as a “diet”, that messes with your head.  Start looking at it as a lifestyle change because that is exactly what you are doing.  

Eat more protein – protein can help boost your metabolism, keeping you feeling fuller for longer periods of time and preserving your muscle mass.

Cut back on sugar and starches – This reduces your carb intake.  I know you love bread but take it easy!

Eat slowly – your stomach takes awhile to send the message to your brain that it’s hit capacity.  If you eat a bit slower, you’ll realize that you’re full before you go over the limit. 

Watch your Portions – today, portions are nearly three times what they were in the 1950’s.   Get a scale, a child’s portion plate, measure cups… do what you need to do to make sure your portions are controlled.    If you go to a restaurant, take a container with you and before you take a bite, put at least half your meal in your container to take home for tomorrow’s lunch.

Try some resistance training – those weight machines in the gym are your friends now. 

Toss in some cardio – walking, running, dancing, just keep moving.

STOP LISTENING TO INFLUENCERS   – they just want you to follow them, they don’t care if their advice is good or bad.  

Finally… Believe in yourself.  This is your journey.  Its not a race.  Slow and steady and you’ll be looking at a brand new you in a few months with a brand-new outlook on life.   

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Posted in Emotional Well-Being, Encouragement/Motivation

Sitting in a Booth

Posted on by HeatherLynn

For the past twenty years, I have dreaded going to a restaurant and being seated in a booth.  It literally caused me anxiety when I was led by an unassuming waitperson to what appeared to be simple booth.  In my mind’s eye, though, I was seeing at minimum, thirty minutes of torture.   The heavier I became, the worse the torture.  Squeezing my bulging belly in there and having to sit for those uncomfortable minutes while pretending nothing was wrong.  It hurt to breath, it hurt to move and let’s not even talk about my generous top half that refused to get out of the way.   Thankfully I have a partner who is very understanding and would graciously take a table if I spoke up and said something.   I didn’t say anything in the beginning, but I learned to speak up and say something to both him and to my waitperson when they asked, “Booth okay?”   No, a booth is not okay, look at me. Do I look like I would fit in one of those torture chambers?  Please don’t do that to me.  

    It was just one of the many things about being overweight I had to accept and adjust my life around.   People with a healthier lifestyle may never understand such frustration and embarrassment of not fitting properly in a restaurant booth, but believe me, its there.  It ranks right up with not being able to ride on a roller coaster because the restraints won’t click in because there’s just too much bulk of you; or not fitting into a chair with arms comfortably because your extra thigh girth has no where to go so you feel like you’ve been forced like a square peg in a round hole.     The list of weight issues that are not health related is long and varied, and anyone who is overweight tends to just suck it up and live with that silently.  We know.  We see other people being able to do what we cannot and we mentally beat ourselves up and then comfort ourselves with something sugary or deep-fried.  At that point we feel even worse so we decide to try once again to get healthier and we jump into another attempt to shed the pounds.  We might do well for a week or two, then we start to falter.  Something happens and we stumble and the comfort foods do what they have always done for us, they bring us comfort.   It is a horrible cycle.

                            It is liberating to break the cycle.

Finding the right course of action on your journey to a healthier you is like breaking out of prison.   You begin to see the world differently.   The old fears are still there and you are in disbelief that anything has actually changed.  Then you step into that restaurant and the only available seating is a booth.   Gulp!   You slid in and …. There are actually inches of space between you and the edge of the table!  INCHES!      It was at this very point in my journey that I knew I was going to be successful.   Up until that point, I was skeptical, despite what the scale was reading.  

Don’t give up on yourself.  Look forward to the inches of air between you and the edge of the table.  

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Posted in Encouragement/Motivation, intermittent-fasting

Why I’m doing the Intermittent Fast

Posted on by HeatherLynn

                 I didn’t begin my journey with Intermittent Fasting on a whim.   I had heard about it years ago and brushed it off as an impossibility for myself.   Go without food for hours at a time? The very thought was daunting! 

                Fast Forward to the year coming out of the pandemic.   Many of us emerged a little heavier than when we went in.  Mercifully, I had maintained my svelte 300 lbs. of course it wavered between 290 and 300 but let’s call it what it is, shall we?   I looked no better, I looked no worse, but I certainly felt worse.   Lugging around that much weight can be very tiresome.    Imagine my skepticism when I started hearing about the drug for diabetes and how it was helping people lose weight.  Then they introduced a Semaglutide targeted for people who were obese and had health conditions such as high blood pressure and dangers of being diabetic.  Bonus!  I fit those categories!  My doctor didn’t even hesitate when I asked if I could give it a try, just typed up the prescription on his tablet and voila!  

                 Apparently, I wasn’t the only one reading the news.   There was, and possibly still is, a huge shortage for the first dose of the shot.   I waited a year and never did get it.   My prescription is still sitting in my cart as “pending” for my pharmacy last time I checked.   

After that initial first few months I started listening to my brother and how he was having success with his Intermittent Fasting.   I chose to try portion control and walking 10,000 steps a day.   He lost 2-3 pounds a week, I lost track of the number of times I felt disappointment when the scale wouldn’t move for me.    My brother encouraged me to try his method, rather than wait on a “miracle drug” that might only work for a short time, after all, there had been reports that many had plateaued while using it.   He said, “Why are you waiting, just forget the drugs and try this. If it doesn’t work, then you can do your own thing.” 

I must admit, he was convincing.  He was giving me an out if I needed it and all he was asking is that I give the fasting a fair shot.    That was last September.   

I began my journey with hesitance at 295 lbs.

It is now July; I am still on the journey, and it has become more of a habit now.   When I weighed in this morning, I was at 223.4 lbs.  

71.6 lbs. in ten months.  

                 Originally my goal weight was 175 lbs., however after doing some research, I may drop that down to 165 lbs. as that is more ideal for my height and body structure.

                 I have exactly one year to accomplish this.  At the end of that year, I intend on taking a cruise with my family.   In my head I am calling it my “Victory Celebration Cruise” to celebrate how far this journey has taken me.  

                 I know I can do this!  

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