Did I really say that?

My good friend came in while I was warming up this morning. She trains with BD, too. I haven’t seen her in awhile and she looked great! Her arms looked so firm and muscular. She had great definition in her upper arms and shoulders! I thought that several times and then, the BD came in. Before I knew it, those words came out of my mouth…OUT loud for the BD to hear.

J your arms look so fit.

What WAS I thinking!

I don’t know what my workout was going to be but I am pretty sure that those words catapulted BD into some kind of power training for upper body strength. The weights were heavier and I was seriously challenged.

So challenged that my keys were a bit heavy; I almost couldn’t put them into the ignition to drive home!

Ok, maybe I might be exaggerating just a little bit but for sure I am going to be sore later on.

But, it felt good.

I love the way she

challenges

encourages

motivates me to push forward to gain more strength.

Dr. Ben Lerner says “It stands to reason that if it took years to build the wrong eating habits, it will likewise take time to permanently change the wrong eating habits in favor of the right ones.”

So, this process is going to take awhile; from building muscle to shedding unwanted fat.

I think I am getting it.

Finally!

The Un-Diet

I have been a bit under the weather this week so I have not been all about blogging. Today is a new day...it's beautiful and I am beginning to feel some better.
Body By God by Dr. Ben Lerner is the book I am currently reading to help me on my quest to get healthy. There is no one way to do this nor is there one book or one expert. I have been on this journey for a long time and have learned a lot from a lot of different sources. The issues that Dr. Lerner brings up in his book make sense and they resonate with my experiences.
He writes about the un-diet.
I like that.
The word diet to me has always signaled restriction and starvation. In fact, that is his first point.
"Diet = Deprevation"
Myth #1!
I have learned the hard way that cutting out "tasty good" from my diet simply means failure. It's important to eat a variety of foods that are tasty and flavorful. It may mean learning to make adjustments in your cooking, but it can be done.
He also says "if you crave, you cave (once you cheat or go off your diet, it's over)"
That's another myth that he dispells.
I have actually learned recently the fallacy of that statement. For two weeks I cut out all refined sugar and white flour from my diet. It was hard. But I did it with the idea that it was temporary and it was for a specific purpose. I had not lost an ounce in over 9 weeks. I was trying to move my body to let go of some of the stored fat. It worked. I lost 3 pounds. This week, I slowly added a bit back into my diet. I haven't crashed or caved. I made cookies today and did not eat any of the dough and just tasted a very small part of a cooled cookie.
One of the biggest breakthroughs for me this year has been to conquer my battle with emotional eating. That has been huge. I am talking HUGE!
Another thing that Dr. Lerner says is that this journey is not a game of perfect. I really like that.
When you think about it, who can follow something perfectly for a day, much less a week or even a life time? The important part is to get started. I have learned when I make mistakes, I just get back in the game!
My goal for next week is to BE in the game with my exercise, planning my meals, cooking and packing my meals to work.
It's going to be a good week!

Monday

I went to see my mommy this past weekend and I decided that I was just going to “be”. No obsessing about what I was going to eat, no packing my own food and taking it with me, no counting calories, no worrying about if I was going to get in my 45 minutes of exercise.

I was just going to be present and enjoy.

And that is exactly what I did!

It felt good.

Today, I am back on board.

So far today I have had 578 calories.

That is with breakfast, snack, and lunch.

I am going out to eat with friends tonight so I may end up going over but today is a good day to do that since I worked out this morning with the BD.

I have decided that I am pretty content with my progress so far. All the no refined sugar and no white processed flour helped me to break that pesky plateau. While I haven’t climbed up on a scale, I am pretty sure I have dropped about 3 pounds.

My new goal is to lose another 5 pounds between now and mid November. Then, I plan to see if I can hold steady during the holidays and re-evaluate what my goals are going to be in January.

Despite the fact that I feel a bit under the weather today…I’m in a good place.

I am staying the course and that is a good thing.

Saturday morning breakfast

Dear BD,
I must confess.
I have thought about it all day.
It was a special Saturday morning because I am visiting my mom. My brother brought breakfast.
It was a relationship...breaking of bread kind of thing.
Donuts and Kaloches.
Yup!
I ate a Kaloche. It had jalapeno cheese. It was tasty.
I also had a bite of a cake donut.
Not the healthy breakfast I strive for but it's all good.
I felt like I have been in a Sabbath rest today.
I'm happy.
See you Monday at 5:30.
Love ya!
~a