Let's Go!!!!

So, at the age of almost 64, I formally attended my first rally and protest last evening.   Make no bones about it though, this does not mean that I have not cared, been passive, or have had my head in the sand for the other 63 years of my life.  On the contrary, I am quite outspoken about my beliefs, will share conversation with others, and have never been afraid of my beliefs. 

The recent ban on immigration is disturbing on so many fronts.  It has repercussions that most of us cannot even imagine yet or wrap our arms around.   However, I attended the rally for so many other reasons.    I have said so many times, and will continue to state, that this environment has awakened the “silence” of many.  By “silence” I don’t just mean folks not stating their mind in words or action, but “silence” in not truly being aware of how others have lived, been marginalized, while others have been so privileged. As a white woman, I cannot fathom, let alone understand what our African American friends and neighbors have lived.   I have never considered myself a racist, a bigot, or thought of myself as better than someone else.   I hope I am learning just how misinformed I have been, the rose colored glasses or off!!!!  Nothing can be corrected until we truly understand. I don’t think any of us truly understand. It is impossible, as so, so many of us have not “lived” it!  It is heart breaking.

As I returned home last night, I was contemplative in my car, alone with just my thoughts.  Just how far am I willing to go, what am I willing to do, and do I even know what I can do?   It is overwhelming in every capacity. 

What I do know, is that I stood with thousands last night, male, female, black, brown, yellow, white, gay, straight, adult, children, leaders, followers, every nationality, descendants of immigrants, Christian, Muslim, Jew, and other religions and beliefs that I may be totally unaware or comprehend.   But, we stood together, often shoulder touching shoulder. We listened, we replied, we sang, and yes, I cried.  I cried for all the times I could have done more. I cried for all the folks that are marginalized.  I cried because of my privilege in direct contrast to someone else’s plight.    

For the past few weeks I have felt ready to implode.   I need to do something!  I went to bed last night, feeling that I had taken the first step.  Now the real challenge begins.  How do I put into action assistance and resistance?  Assistance to make a difference to a few or many.  Resistance in never accepting what I know to be less than my beliefs. Resistance to acts that cause further anquish to the marginalized and more privilege to others.   This is the question many ask ourselves. What can I,  or we do?   I don’t have those answers. I wish I did,  because I would sleep better each night knowing that I was active with action.  

Maybe the answer is truly in baby steps.  It may be a phone call to our legislators.  It may be serving lunch to the hungry on the weekend.  It may be donating extra clothes to the poor.  It may be volunteering at services that assist refugees.  It may be donating teaching hours to a poor school that needs mentors after hours.  Volunteer at Big Brothers and Big Sisters.  The opportunities are endless. The fact that our country has so many ways to assist is amazing.     Make that first call. Ask that first question that may lead to a more definitive way.    Yes, awaken, the “silent” activist in yourself.

Somehow I know this won’t be my last rally, my last protest, my last time to stand with so many in diversity,  yet in strength.  I can’t do them all, it is impossible. That does not mean I care more about one cause than the other …  it only means that there is much to do, I am only one person, so I can do what I can do, and I can share with others how they may be able to join in as well.  

Regardless of our religion, our Baptism, our beliefs, we truly are all one race of humanity.  We are strong in our diversity, and we have strength in our differences.  Embrace it and let’s go!!!!

Active With Action

One of my Christmas presents this year, and probably my favorite, was a book called “A Call To Mercy” of Mother Teresa’s.  It is page after page of her words, others testimonies, and prayer and reflection.  It is humbling on each and every single page.  It is indescribable her love of the poorest of the poor, and her faith and love in Jesus Christ.

One of her concepts that makes me pause is her concept and reaction of “Christ in the distressing disguise.”   By this she means the mentally ill among us, the poor among us, the physically sick among us, the unloved among us, in essence the marginalized among us.   She sees Christ in each and every single circumstance, and calls it “Christ in the distressing disguise.”   With this thought in her every moment, every thought, she ministered unconditionally to the poorest of the poor.  She ministered to the Christ, and held the Christ in her hands, every time she touched, serviced, prayed, and cradled someone in her arms.  Just imagine the feeling of knowing that you are cradling Christ in your arms.  Certainly makes one look upon situations in a totally different light.

In our current environment of so much distress, concern, disappointment, worry, and outright hate, the one thing that we can continue to do is stay the course with our beliefs, never accept through silence, and never get “used to” circumstances that we have no control over.   The control we do have relates directly to our hearts, our actions, and our interactions.   I share one of Mother Teresa’s passages, as I feel it relates to action: 

“Love is for today; programs are for the future. We are for today; when tomorrow will come, we shall see what we can do. Somebody is thirsty for water for today, hungry for food for today.  Tomorrow we will not have them if we don’t feed them today. So be concerned with what you can do today.”   … Mother Teresa

To me, this is a call to take action today.  Nothing can be “fixed” totally today.  Not with the magnitude of changes being forced through at the rate they are being forced.   But today react with love; take care of the marginalized, for if they aren’t helped today, tomorrow may not matter.

Should we channel our strengths and finances in building a wall?  Is a wall what Christ would call us to do for our brothers and sisters?   Or would Christ call us to reach across a wall to offer help?   Would He call us to reach across a wall to welcome the marginalized?  Would He call us to reach across a wall and offer our hand to render aid?    Would He even tell us to build a wall?   Again another one of Mother Teresa’s passages:

“You see, we have a wrong idea that only hunger for bread is hunger. There is much greater hunger and much more painful hunger:  hunger for love, for the feeling of being wanted, to be somebody to somebody. A feeling of being unwanted, unloved, rejected.  I think that’s a very great hunger and very great poverty.”  … Mother Teresa

So what do we do?   I, for one, feel helpless in trying to prevent the country I know and love into building any kind of wall or barrier to our neighbors.  Let alone have to pay a dime for said wall.   Yes, I can call or write my Congressman or Senator, or whoever.   But do I feel that will make a difference … no!!!!   But what I can do is in my neighborhood, my city, my region … I can reach out and offer a hand to the marginalized.  I can get involved with Catholic Charities, who service the refugees in our areas, I can work at our lunch program in my church, that services the homeless, the hungry, refugees among them, I’m sure.   It’s the starfish proverb … throwing one starfish back into the ocean from a beach full of starfish may not make a difference to the hundreds left on the beach, but it makes a difference to the one, or the few,  that  were assisted.

I read an article recently on how to be an activist without losing your mind.   It was an interesting read.  I’ve lived my entire life, through the Vietnam War era, and I’ve never actively protested anything. Yes, I have strong feelings, and I’m not afraid to share them with others during conversations.  But I’ve never really protested or even considered myself an activist.   But maybe so now!   The article suggests that it really is impossible to react to everything you feel is wrong.   It would be exhausting and almost impossible to do so.  But rather, it suggested, that you pick the ones closest to your heart.  That doesn’t mean that you care less about the others, or don’t see the validity in the others, but that you simply choose the ones you want to become active with action!!  I like that … active with action!!!   In this manner, you can channel your energies, your time, your commitment to your cause.   I’m sure I will have more than one, more than two, maybe more than whatever.  

I think there is a silver lining to every tragedy.  The silver lining for all of us now, is that “silent” activists may have just been awakened.  Can you imagine what a difference we can all make, when we channel our energies into positive action for the marginalized?   What a glorious magnitude we may have on the future of many.   They are “Christ in the distressing disguise.”    I feel the need to be physically and prayerfully active with action.

Linebacker Snacks ... NO!!!!!!

Super Bowl Sunday is almost upon us.  We have weathered so far, in the past 12 weeks, Halloween, Thanksgiving, four weeks of Christmas/Holiday celebrations,  New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.   One more major eating frenzy, at least until we get ready for Valentine’s Day … Super Bowl!!

We love to celebrate all of our happy occasions with food. My health educator and personal trainer refers to these past few weeks as National Eating Season.  True, ever, so true!!!   I like to call it “entertainment by mouth.”  It is not an exaggeration to think, that on any given day or days, during this period of time, we could eat as many as 8,000 to 10,000 calories per day!!!    And, let’s face it, on those days that we may consume that many calories, do we really feel like exercising?   My guess would be a resounding, No!!!!!   So couple the excess calories with the loss of any physical movement (other than the exertion of propping our feet up on the couch), and is there any doubt at all, why it is so easy, and almost expected to gain weight?  

With the assistance of my health educator, the support of my friends in my wellness class, and hard thoughtful processing and planning, I was able to absolutely maintain my healthy habits, my normal exercise routine, and most importantly my weight during these past many weeks. 

Now I need to stay focused and continue through Super Bowl parties and fun!   I LOVE football.   I’ll be watching the game and cheering on my team of choice …  (NOT THE PATRIOTS!!!!)    What I won’t be doing is eating like a linebacker.   It’s just not necessary.   There is plenty of good food, plenty of fun appetizers, and yes, even a little alcohol, in moderation, should you choose.    How about instead of a table full of fried wings with blue cheese dip, taco chips with queso, cheese and crackers, Swedish meatballs, and processed turkey and lunch meats … what about these healthy alternatives?

Instead of fried buffalo wings with blue cheese dip:  How about crockpot buffalo chicken, made with chicken tenderloins with Frank’s hot sauce and low sodium dry ranch dressing mix.     Delicious!!!  Low fat, low calorie, and can easily be eaten by itself, or use celery, jicama sticks, or carrots for dipping.     The calories in one fried buffalo wing, (and who eats just one) is 89 calories.  There are 144 calories in 4 ounces of shredded chicken tenderloins.   This goes a long way when being used for a dip, or even eating plain.  You have probably already saved yourself 100’s of calories.

Instead of taco chips and queso:  How about salsa and fresh veggies.    Of course, the queso and chips are awesome.  I’m not saying otherwise, but again look at the calories.   One cup of chips is 293 calories, and again, are we only eating one cup?   One cup of queso is 263 calories.  That may sound like a lot of queso, but all night, dip after dip after dip after dip … maybe not!!!   Fresh veggies and salsa, at the most are probably 200 calories, and you can munch all night.  Add some hummus to the mix as well. Delicious, tasty, and healthy.

Instead of cheese and crackers:  How about string cheese?   There is about 113 calories in one ounce (one slice) of cheddar cheese.                And looking at calorie content in “generic” crackers, there are 81 calories in 5 crackers.  Unless you are taking one teeny tiny slice of cheese, and breaking it into tiny squares to share with 5 crackers, again you are looking at adding on a lot of calories to your evening.  String cheese, which takes a little longer to eat, especially if you are like me and have to pull it apart in strings, is 80 calories for one stick.  Again, you are saving a lot of calories.

Instead of Swedish meatballs:  How about crockpot London Broil.  Made with very, very lean protein flank steak, low sodium tomato soup, cream of mushroom soup, and dried onion soup.  It slices into the most delicious bits of steak!!   It is only 219 calories for 4 ounces!  Swedish meatballs are 284 calories for a cup, and again who is stopping with a cup???

Instead of processed turkey and lunch meats:  How about a tray of boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce.   Processed turkey and lunch meats are not only high in calorie, but they are excessively high in sodium.  Boiled shrimp are low sodium, low calorie, and look exquisite on your table!!!

Then top it all off with a big pot of what I call “Sharon’s Not Quite Chili”.   Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb Laura’s Lean Ground Beef

1 or 2 cans of rotel tomatoes

1 can Kroger Red Beans (rinsed and drained)

Onion

Sweet Potato

3 small cans of Hunts No Salt Added Natural Tomato Sauce

Low sodium/fat free chicken broth (enough for consistency you like)

Cumin

Chili Powder

Cinnamon

 Directions:   In a soup pot sauté chopped onion and peeled/chopped sweet potato for a few minutes.  Then add ground beef and continue to brown until beef is cooked.  Drain in a colander to discard any extra fat.   Return mixture to pot and add in tomato sauce, rotel tomatoes, chicken broth, red beans, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon (to taste).    Bring to a boil and then simmer for a bit.   About 100 calories per bowl and depending on how much beef is in each bowl, equals a lean protein and vegetables.

So there you have it!   A party table that all will enjoy, will not have excessive calories, you can enjoy the game, party with friends, and when you go to bed you experience the best feeling ever …

The survival again, of a challenging event, that you were able to keep healthy, delicious, fun, and you have not derailed the hard work you have done for months both with your food plan and  your exercise plan.

We’ve got this!!!   We do not have to eat like a Linebacker!!!!!     And more importantly, we don’t have to look like one either!!!  

 

Power and Determination ...

Often times when I write and create my blog posts, I know my topic, know what I want to say, and can sit down and relatively quickly put words to paper.   Other times, I may have an idea, but am not sure just exactly what I want to say, so it takes me longer to develop my post, and have it ready for publication.

This time is quite different.  This topic I know intimately, I know my thoughts, I certainly know my content, but it is a topic that I am so intensely passionate about, that I can hardly find the words to convey my thoughts.  My heart needs to bleed words to give this the justice so rightly deserved. 

For a little background, on April 7, 2014 I started my wellness journey with the HMR program at Baptist Health Milestone Wellness Center in Louisville, KY. By December 29, 2014 I had lost 70 pounds!!!  This was amazing and overwhelming to me.   But as proud as I am of that loss, I am even prouder to say that today, December 29, 2016 marks a two year anniversary of maintaining my 70+ pound weight loss.   Some days it is 73, others 70, others 71 … depends on if the scale is being a brat when I weigh.  But all joking aside, I am one blessed girl!!! 

Last year, on this anniversary date,  I shared numbers and what they meant.   I’m not even going to enter the numbers for my lean proteins, fruits, veggies, whole grains, HMR shakes, HMR entrees, and physical activity calories, as I did last year.  Trust me,  they would almost mirror the same numbers this year as last year.   No this time, I want to try to convey the overwhelming feeling of the word that is almost the hardest with any of us on a wellness journey …  Maintenance!!!

 

April 7, 2014                        Weight 199.5

December 29, 2014         Weight 129.5     

So here we are at another December 29 … December 29, 2016

WEIGHT --- 128.25

Yes, I have made it another year, with maintaining within my 5 pound range for my maintenance weight.  You might ask about the 5 pound range.  Due to how our bodies work, on any given night of weigh-in, my weight could be down 3 pounds, up 3 pounds, or anywhere in between.  This was a hard lesson for me to understand and more importantly for me to embrace.  I had this “magic” number in my head that I thought I wanted to weigh, and thought I should weigh.   I have learned, and sometimes painfully, that our bodies dictate to us our maintenance weight.   Does that mean that because you want to eat certain foods in excess, not exercise or move your body in a healthy manner, or want to be content with a weight that is not healthy for you, that you can say, “oh, it’s what my body wants to do?”  Absolutely not!  What it does mean, is that if you are living a healthy lifestyle, eating a balanced diet of lean proteins, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, have a solid exercise program, and if you have lost weight down to a healthy weight;  that just because you “want” to weigh a certain number, it does not mean that your body will continue to lose weight to get to that number.   This is hard!  This is very hard!!!   I always wanted 5 pounds to “play with.”   That meant that I wanted to weigh about 5 pounds less than I really wanted to weigh, so that I could cheat at times, and not have to worry about that 1 to 3 pound weight gain that might accompany said cheat!   Well, guess what?   My body refuses to do it.   I eat basically the same combination of foods that I ate for a period of a year, as I was losing my 70+ pounds.  I exercise the same as I did during that year’s  period, and often even more vigorously and with heavier weight, but the scale will not budge.  My body has said, and has said loudly and clearly that it is happy!!!  It is happy, healthy, and perfectly content!!     And so am I.  So am I!!!!!!   I am overwhelmingly happy, healthy, and content!!!

On my recent physical check-up, my lab work was perfectly normal.   My numbers look better than they have looked in years.   I have completely stopped my blood pressure medicine, and I have been able to reduce my cholesterol medication by one-half.  This would be completely discontinued as well, but I have heredity issues with hypercholesterolemia, and we all know we cannot out-run heredity!

I had a bit of a set-back early in 2016, when I took a clumsy fall, and dislocated my shoulder, broke my humerus, and shattered the bones around the entire area.  I had major surgery on my right shoulder.   I am proud to say that during this surgery and recovery, I maintained  my weight precisely!  My exercise habits were adjusted greatly, due to physical limitations, but I barely missed a day in the gym.  I worked with my trainer, and we modified my work-out to accommodate my limitations.  I was in physical therapy for over 5 months.  My orthopedic surgeon has told me many, many times that my recovery has been so far above the bar, that he is truly amazed.  He said that anyone else with that injury would have ended up with a shoulder replacement.  I truly believe my recovery was due to my total body health that I enjoy, and the fact that I had strengthened my body physically, before my injury, with the correct exercise program.

My goal for 2016 was to actually run a 5K.  I am a vigorous walker, but am, admittedly,  a terrible runner.   On October 15,  I RAN my 5K.  It was a not a record time, but I RAN a 5K!!!!!!

Being a smaller size, and being able to wear different styles of clothes is so much fun!  However, our health educator always likes to ask us to share with him our “non-scale related victories.”   I want to convey in this post, the importance of those “non-scale related victories.”   I’m not diminishing the scale, and how it feels to see the numbers decrease on the scale.  But, one of the most important things I have learned, through this process, is that it is just so much more than the scale.  The scale is but a small part of a wellness journey.  

Brandon Howard has been my health coach, personal trainer, and friend throughout this journey.  I am forever grateful for his leadership, knowledge, compassion, and PATIENCE.   He has a God given gift for his life work, and I am so lucky to have crossed paths.   I have enjoyed the Don’t Sit Get Fit program with Eugene Dean for the past 2+ years.  He is awesome,  and his workouts are difficult, but always fun.  I have met innumerable friends, that I didn’t even know before this journey, who are  now kindred souls with me.  Debra Clover and Kay Snyder have been on the same journey with me since day 1, and we still march on together.  I love them!!!!!  Baptist Milestone is an awesome facility with awesome staff.  It is not just a gym … it is a wellness center.  I enjoy many Fitbit challenges with some of the trainers, and we always have smiles and laughter to share when we cross paths at the gym.  So you see, my “non-scale related victories” come in the form of human souls, friendships, support, laughter, tears, lifelong friends to walk a path with me.   All of this coupled with a body that feels great, health that is enjoyed, and body movement that I didn’t know I could do … WOW … MAINTENANCE!!!

Today I attach to this post, not a picture of how I looked before, and how I look now … yes, that is important.  But, today I post a picture taken on December 14, 2016.  It is a picture showing me doing squats with a 115 pound barbell!!!!   My security net, Brandon, is right behind me, always coaching, protecting, and I think ready to catch me!!   So just remember … you are never too big, you are never too small, and most importantly you are never too old!!!!!     It is amazing what the body can do when it is healthy!!! 

Brandon wrote these words to me recently in a card, “You have somehow managed to pack the power and determination of a 10ft. giant into a  4’9 petite redhead.”    And he added, “The best part is that there is so much more we can accomplish.”  Oh, my!   That, folks, is the WIN!!!!!!!!  That, folks, is glorious MAINTENANCE!!!   I say it all of the time, and I’ll say it again once more … Brandon and this program helped save my life.  Of that,  I have no doubt.     

God truly put me in the right place, at the right time, with the right people.  Blessed!!!

 

Boldly Honorable ...

It seems that when this time of year comes around, our hearts become a bit more melancholy.  Is it the change in the weather, the falling leaves, the colors that pop in nature?   Perhaps it is the bustle of the holiday season, the smiles of contentment when the “perfect” gift is found,   and, most definitely the laughter of the children in the anticipation of their holiday morning.  Regardless of the reason, I would feel safe in assuming that all of us have had at least one moment, and probably many moments of melancholy.

What do we do with these feelings?   Over the past few weeks, I have moved from feeling completely exhilarated to feelings of true sadness.   It is an odd combination, and quite frankly hard to explain.   I find that reading a few pages of a good book, or the opportunity to sit and listen to some soothing music, can turn my feelings around quite quickly.   I’m starting to feel that this is the Lord’s way of reaching out to me to challenge me to reassess, ponder, and even more importantly take action in different ways.   It’s discerning those ways of action that may be the true test.

I don’t think it is any surprise that this recent political season, both before and continuing after the election, has touched all of us in many different ways.  It has been divisive to say the least, and it has left many of us feeling saddened.   My depth of sadness is really not in the political issues at all.  This time, I could care less about health care reform, the economic policy, or our foreign policy.  My discontent and sadness is truly only in the hatred that has been embraced and endorsed.  I keep searching my soul for this, and I have been unable to find peace on that front.   My prayer is that this has shed a huge spotlight on the hatred that is prevalent, and perhaps this will challenge all of us to work to resolve these issues, or at minimum at least acknowledge them.   I have always seen the world through rose colored glasses, but my eyes have been opened widely, and it truly makes my heart hurt.

God calls all of us to live boldly!   Does boldly mean to be willing to jump out of an airplane, or dive to the depth of the oceans?  It could.   But, I’d rather view living boldly to mean things quite differently.  Living boldly could mean to fully embrace our current moment.  Sleep boldly, work boldly, laugh boldly, cry boldly, play boldly, and most definitely pray boldly.   Each moment in our life is such a special gift.  Why would we not want to live every moment boldly?     Just exist boldly!!   The hummingbird may be our perfect example.   Even though they are tiny and delicate, they are deceptively strong.  God does call all of us to live boldly!

We all have mentors in our lives. Those people that encourage, inspire, teach, and nurture us.   Some of our mentors may be in loved ones that are no longer with us.   The grief of having lost these loved ones can be paralyzing at times, and even though they may have been gone for a long time, any given moment can be as raw as the first moment we lost them.   But just as the incoming tide wipes smooth the sand for fresh footprints, our memories also become more vivid when our hearts are able to smooth the grief in our hearts. I love this quote by novelist and philosopher, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “ It’s the great mystery of human life that old grief passes gradually into quiet tender joy.”    Quiet tender joy, living boldly!

In this time of melancholy, let’s listen for our message.  If we are called to action for social justice, let’s embrace it.  If we are challenged with feelings that we don’t understand, let’s learn from those feelings, and channel our responses in a positive manner.   Volunteer at a soup kitchen, tutor a child, sit with an elder, help someone that doesn’t know our language to understand it better, and be excited in learning some of their language as well.    Let’s listen to our hearts, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, we remember something a loved one may have said to us in the past.  Especially those times when it was a teaching moment.   If we really stop and ponder, I bet we will acknowledge that most of our times spent with our loved ones were truly teaching moments.    

I read somewhere the following words … I love them, and I wish I had written them … but I share now, “New grows atop the old.  Maybe not smoothly but most certainly.”    There is nothing wrong with new.  Our intention, our bold intention, should be to make sure that the new that grows is good and honorable.  

God does call us all to live boldly and with honor!

The Pleading of Our Wildlife

Come Walk My Path With Me …

Feel the night air brush across your face as the day settles and the moon glows brightly.

The path is lit by this moonlight, and God directs my every step.

Will there be food available around the bend or a warm place to rest my head?

 

Come Walk My Path With Me …

The nature I live within is magnificent. The earth is firm and the

grass is plush.  We walk in harmony one and all.

Will man allow this to survive?

 

Come Walk My Path With Me …

Feel the warmth of the sun as it rises over the mountain tops.

How lucky I am to inhabit this planet.  I had no control

over my chosen home.

God smiled upon me as He placed me in this existence.

Will man allow this to survive?

 

Come Walk My Path With Me …

Here the cry of the eagles and the wings of the doves.

The stars are there to be embraced.

Have you the courage to soar high enough?

 

Come Walk My Path With Me …

You will understand the beauty and the need for our land.

You will learn that god’s creations have a special balance which

needs to be nurtured and caressed.

 

Come Walk My Path With Me …

We can all survive together

 

Come Walk My Path With Me …

 

The Trap ... Unhealthy Trying to Be Healthy

For anyone who has been on a weight loss journey, it is not surprising to hear that the road is terrifying.  It contains mountains to surpass, potholes to dig ourselves out of, curves that throw of us off track, and straightaways that can loll us into wrong thinking and false security.  And, we occasionally reach that valley of relaxation and accomplishment.  While we can celebrate our accomplishment, and indeed we should, we can’t stay in the valley of relaxation and get too comfortable.   We need to forever be diligent in our thinking and our actions.   It is indeed a lifelong  journey!

When first starting my journey, I must say that it truly felt and worked quite seamlessly and easily.  I was on a very structured plan… a  plan that I did not need to really “think” about.  It was outlined specifically for me, and all I had to do was muster up my resolve to stay the course.   I thought obtaining that resolve would be the hardest part, but in reality, it turned out to be the easiest part of my journey.  My resolve came quickly, as I saw the pounds melt away on a weekly basis.  I believe I lost 5 pounds the first week, and subsequent  weeks lost between 1 to 3 pounds weekly.  The key word is “lost.”   As long as I lost weekly, my resolve was good to go!!!!  That’s why the resolve was the easiest part.

As with every journey, you cannot stay in one place forever;   as it is with my diet plan.  At this point, I will not refer again to my “diet plan.”  I actually early in this journey stopped using the word “diet.”  If I learned anything early on, it is that it is so much more than a “diet.”  It is a “wellness” journey.  My wellness journey!  Not staying in one place forever,  I soon found was the hardest and most challenging part of this process.

Since I had had great success with my Phase 1 journey, I was so reluctant to move to Phase 2 of my journey.  Phase  1 was so very structured, no “thinking” on my part, just “doing.”  Now I found myself in the first curve of the road;   the curve of trying to ease my way into Phase 2.  This phase required me to  branch out a bit, and to start introducing certain food groups back into a healthy balance.   This was so scary, since I saw a lot of those foods as the very ones that caused issues with me in the past.  What I had to learn was that it wasn’t the food group that was the issue …  it was the volume and the balance of that food group.   One of my favorite stories with regard to balance and what I could and could not eat,  was when I asked my health educator if I could have garbanzo beans on my salad.  His reply, “Sharon, it was not the garbanzo beans that brought you to me in the first place.”   How true!!!   That is now my mantra when deciding about a food group, the amount of said food group, and the balance it has in my overall diet, “It was not the garbanzo beans…”

If I have learned anything through this journey, I would have to say the biggest revelation is the uniqueness of the human body.  What it does and doesn’t do is mind boggling.   All of our lives we have been taught and told to eat less and exercise more.  I’d like someone to name one, just one “diet plan” or “weight loss program” that in most of the literature, that doesn’t  first tell you the “miracle” of their product or program, and then the disclaimer will read something to the effect of “exercise needed to compliment the program.”   I particularly love the belly fat ads about taking a pill that will reduce belly fat, and their comment during the commercial, that “if your belly fat decrease is too drastic, to only take one of the pills daily.”  Well, sign me up!!!  I only need to swallow two and maybe just one pill, and my belly fat will just melt away.   If you believe that one, I’ve got a nice piece of swamp land in South Carolina that I’d like to sell you!!!!  

The body doesn’t respond to pills, wraps, 20 day exercise fads … it responds to a daily dose of healthy, balanced eating, coupled with healthy cardio and weight training, good sleep habits, and reduction and management of daily stress.   Oh, it will respond to pills, wraps, fads, initially;  but it cannot sustain a healthy level without a balanced healthy lifestyle.   But, the key to this healthy lifestyle is to realize that even when doing everything correctly, food, exercise, sleep, the body will still at different times show the agony of a “gain” on the scale.  I call this the scale being a brat!!!!!!  

This leads me to the highest mountain on my journey.  I am a scalephobe.   I believe the technical term, at least per Google, is gravitaphobia.   It has tempered a great deal, but I look forward to when this is resolved  once and for all.   My lifestyle is extremely healthy now, with what I believe, is a fairly balanced eating style and exercise habits.  But even with these habits, the scale on a weekly basis goes down 2 pounds, up 1.5, down .75, up 2.   It is a roller coaster!!   With what appears to be no rhyme or reason! I do know that stress, lack of sleep, hormone changes can all make the scale do different things.  Recently while on vacation in Saratoga Springs, NY, I got up each morning at 7:00 a.m. to get on the treadmill, I ate lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, my protein shakes.  I had one Bloody Mary and 10, yes I counted them, 10 pretzel crisps!   It is a picnic area, full of vendors with specialty foods.   So  many folks picnicking around me ate junk for 5 solid days and consumed liquor quite happily.   Was the scale a brat upon my return?  Of course, it was.  Gained 1.5 pounds!!!!!   My first thought was that I should have eaten and drank like everyone else picnicking at Saratoga Race Course. But then I thought, no the scale would have been a bigger brat, and I probably would have gained 3 pounds!!!  So, I allowed myself to be disappointed for that one evening, the entire time telling myself, that I did everything I was supposed to do, I couldn’t have done any better, so no need to beat myself up. The scale will do what the scale wants to do.  All I need to do is stay focused on eating healthy, exercising appropriately, sleeping well, and managing my stress.  Everything else will fall into place.

I titled this, “The Trap … Unhealthy Trying To Be Healthy.”   This title comes naturally to me, because I can say this was my lifestyle for the first several months into Phase 2.  Since I had been told for most of my years to “eat less, exercise more” I found that what I usually did as a solution to the scale being a brat, was to adjust my food intake, calorie intake, and to exercise even more!   When I first started into Phase 2 and added whole grains back into my diet, the scale would go up a bit.  I immediately thought “those dreaded carbs.”  So I would take them out of my food plan, and of course, the scale would go back down.   I would stay there a week or two, and then add them back in … the scale would inch back up … out they would go again.  My health educator preached, and a bit harshly at times, that the body has to get used to what you are using to fuel it.   Until it gets used to what  you are introducing back into it, the scale will show a reaction of a plus or a minus.  How many times did he say to “stay the course?”   Too many for me to count, and so many that I led him to complete frustration with me.   I was eating the incorrect balance of lean proteins, whole grains, veggies and fruits.  My fruits and veggies were astounding at 10 to 12 servings per day, along with two lean proteins.  But I often had no healthy whole grain carbs in my diet, and while they weren’t in my diet, I was exercising in great intensity 5 to 6 days per week.  I was not fueling my body.  I was the picture of being Unhealthy Trying To Be Healthy!!!!    

Thankfully and blessedly, my health educator refused to give up on me.  We worked together to formulate a healthy plan.  It was not just about eating the correct balance, but in my case it was even more of the head game to get my mind where it needed to be with the scale, and its associated ups and downs.   My mountain to climb.  I would say that I’m about three-fourths the way to the peak now.   I am staying the course, and I’m talking to myself daily about remaining  calm about the journey.   My reaction to the latest scale “brattiness”  after vacation validated my improvement.

For a “wellness program”, my wellness program, I know that it is forever.  It is not a destination, it is a journey.  It is never over, it is for always and forever.  There is a not a before and after, but a before and always!   I wake up every morning, and I know that I need to make the same commitment for the new day that I have made for the days before.  Each day is a new commitment to a healthy day.  Our health educator uses the term “eating with intention.”  That makes so much sense.  We don’t eat for flavor, for fun, for social activity. We eat to fuel our bodies. These beautiful God given bodies.  These temples given to us to preserve and treat with respect.   My wellness program. 

For anyone that can’t understand these journeys, I would pray for their empathy for those of us embarking and well on our way.   It is riddled with obstacles, but the accomplishment at the end is indescribable with joy and gratitude for a healthy body, mind, and soul.  

I close with this Max Lucado quote, “God never said that the journey would be easy. But he did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.”