Lightening Up

still lightening up

2009-07-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

Time to get this blog up and running again!

Lots of work to lose weight and maintain weight-loss. I'm still working at it in a wei wu wei way.

I will dig back through the posts and get them moved over here. Who knows if someone might glean some inspiration and support from this -- besides me.

hmmm

2007-11-11T23:44:00.001-08:00

weighing in - week 5

2007-09-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh! Feels so good to have those first ten pounds out from under my belt!

I bought myself an orchid with five exquisite white blossoms as a reward for the first five pounds.

Tonight I bought myself a WW electronic points calculator. Hmmm ... seems a bit too practical (like an appliance) to count as a prize, don't you think?

"Yes, Wenda, oh yes, Wenda, treat yourself to something more luxurious!"

I love it when everyone in the house agrees with me. :)

Weekly Summary:
Weekly change ~ Lost .8 pounds
Total weight loss ~ 10.4 pounds
Average weekly weight loss ~ 2.08 pounds

weighing in - week 4

2007-09-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Weekly Summary:
Weekly change ~ Lost .6 pounds
Total weight loss ~ 9.6 pounds
Average weekly weight loss ~ 2.4 pounds

weighing in - week 3

2007-08-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

could have been the walking
could have been that hill
could have been the stretches, squats
i don't know, it sure wasn't just my will
my energy is rising
this changing is a thrill
me oh me oh my
wasn't that rewarding!

I don't expect to keep up this average. I know that changing my habits over the long haul will probably be more of a challenge than it has been for the first three weeks and losing weight slowly is the best bet, but I'm feeling very encouraged.

I'm beginning to think of activities I want to revisit once I've melted more fat off these bones: horseback riding, ice-skating, cross-country skiing, hiking (serious hiking), running. I'm beginning to fantasize about activities I've yet to try, but have been thinking about for years: rock climbing, diving (the diving board kind), roller blading. I'm beginning to imagine that my saffron bike and I are going to get to know each other quite well over the next couple of months. Last night, I clipped my new pedometer on my waist band when I went for my walk.

This morning I checked my closet and drawers to see if I still had my size 11, 12, 14 and 16 jeans and wasn't too disappointed when I realized I'd finally let them go. Now I'm planning to wear new clothes, not worn-out souvenirs from my past.

I love new beginnings! I love the month of September, too, which feels to me like such a crisp new opportunity.

Weekly Summary:
Weekly change ~ Lost 5.8 pounds
Total weight loss ~ 9.0 pounds
Average weekly weight loss ~ 3.0 pounds

cumpulsion

2007-08-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

"We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects." ~ Alexis de Tocqueville

"Write it down," the group leader said last night, "if you make an unhealthy food choice or overuse your points, just write it down... and move on."

I thought I might not like the food tracking aspect of WeightWatchers, but the added task of attaching a point score to each line of my tracking record gives positive meaning to what might otherwise have been just a nuisance -- or worse yet only a record of my unhealthy eating.

Awareness is good, but it isn't enough.

So far, I'm approaching the tracking mindfully with only a slight resistance to the discipline, but I'm hoping to trade the compulsion I had for overeating for an irresistible urge to write down and score what I eat.

As a firm believer in the value of writing down what we want to off-load or get past rather than lugging around what is no longer useful, I'm all in favour of the leader's advice.

So, I couldn't resist writing down the less than best choices I made today. Tomorrow I start with a new blank page.

weighing in - week 2

2007-08-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

"Self-trust is the first secret of success." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more than any other one thing." ~ Abraham Lincoln

At first I was disappointed to learn that I'd lost less than a pound this week, given how well I kept within my points allowance and how much stretching, strengthening and hill-walking I did.

On second thought, I was relieved to have lost even an ounce. After all, I built a bit of muscle last week and if my weight has gone down instead of up, then I must have lost a lot of fat. That's my story, anyway, and it will keep me going for another week.

"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel fast and you miss all you are traveling for." ~ Louis L'Amour

Which reminds me of the one line I remember from the one Louis L'Amour book I read many eons ago: "My family runs heavy to muscle and I guess I do too ..."

Imagine how long I've been carrying those words around in my head without finding a place to put them down until now. Whew! I feel so much lighter!

Weekly Summary:
Weekly change ~ Lost .8 pounds.
Total weight loss ~ 3.2 pounds.
Average weekly weight loss ~ 1.6 pounds

moderation

2007-08-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

So as not to overdo the exercise and risk re-injurying my Achilles, I'm staying on level ground today and relaxing. Sometimes it takes me a while to learn my lessons (and some I haven't learned yet), but I don't want to be hobbling by the end of the week, so I won't be earning any extra WW points from my activities today. I'm going to give myself a couple of points, though, for putting my feet up.

Tomorrow I check in with the physiotherapist, get my annual physical from my doc and weigh in with my WW group for the third week in a row. That's not what I want to write about, though, so I'll leave you with a few quotes while I get comfy on the sofa with a cup of tea, a frozen gel pack and some Leonard Cohen tunes. I'm pretty sure that combination would drain the poetry right out of Leonard, but it works for me. :-)

"We spend most of our time and energy in a kind of horizontal thinking. We move along the surface of things going from one quick base to another, often with a frenzy that wears us out. We collect data, things, people, ideas, 'profound experiences,' never penetrating any of them. . . .But there are other times. There are times when we stop. We sit still. We lose ourselves in a pile of leaves or its memory. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper. Then we begin our 'going down.'" ~ James Carroll

"True places are not found on maps." ~ Herman Melville

"Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin." ~ Barbara Kingsolver

"Everyone needs his[/her] memories. They keep the wolf of insignifance from the door." ~ Saul Bellow

possibilities fulfilled

2007-08-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

"There is in every organism, at whatever level, an underlying flow of movement toward constructive fulfillment of its inherent possibilities." ~ Carl Rogers

I spent the day on Bowen Island, eating right and walking, walking, walking to the lake and back. All these weeks of stretching and strengthening has paid off. My legs and I were ready for all those hills and valleys and two hours of breathing fresh air.

All morning I sipped tea and read Mary Oliver poetry out loud. How could I resist spending the afternoon moving through nature?

weighing in - week 1

2007-08-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Before I was ready to change, I saw the challenge as insurmountable. Once I was ready, I didn't know how challenging the change would be, but I suspected I was making a commitment to something big. Once I actually began to make the changes, I was surprised by how easy it was to imagine myself in a lighter stronger body and how much less difficult it was to eat less and move more.

But I'm not deluding myself into thinking this will be easy. Thursday night I sat with a dozen or so women headed in the same direction and one of the women garnered a glare when she used the word "easy" to describe her week.

In the WW meeting room, I don't think there are many who haven't worked hard to change their relationship with food and activity and to chisel themselves into their desired shape. Not everyone is making the headway they hoped for. Some are inching along. Others are starting over again and again and learning something useful with every comeback. A few are maintaining their achievements to date, waiting and working towards the next marker. Those who have reached and maintained their goals are there too, to inspire the rest of us with the possibilities. But the support comes from everyone.

Glares or not, we're on the same team.

Weekly Summary:
Weekly change ~ Lost 2.4 pounds.
Total weight loss ~ 2.4 pounds.
Average weekly weight loss ~ 2.4 pounds

a new day

2007-08-11T02:23:00.001-07:00

Everything I ate today tasted delicious and I ate everything I wanted without guilt and without exceeding my "points".

Working the WeightWatchers Flex Plan is a bit like getting a nutrition allowance each day that I must spend by the end of the day. I'm in charge of what I spend it on and the consequences of spending it wisely or blowing it on poor choices are all mine, too.

And, there's a weekly bonus I can dip into any day of the week or save to spend on some "expensive" treat before the week is over. Saving is otherwise discouraged; the allowance is meant to be spent. I don't have to spend the bonus, but I lose it if I don't spend it by the end of each week.

Exercising earns me more allowance to spend on food. I didn't take advantage of that today, though my physio exercises probably earned me a fraction or two of a point.

I have this alluring vision of myself a year from now -- lighter and more fit than I've ever been -- standing on top of Mount Gardner, enjoying the view and celebrating the achievement.

Alicia Hansen took this photo from Mount Gardner on Bowen, showing Keats Island, the Sunshine Coast and, in the distance, Vancouver Island.

You can see more of Alicia's photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/73505331@N00/

230 pounds - but not for long

2007-08-10T01:47:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Cynthia and how's she's been taking off over the past year, I stepped into my first WeightWatchers meeting tonight. I would have gone alone, but one of my friends is equally determined to lighten up, so we're buddying up.

Ah, I'm so excited and at the same time deeply relieved to have taken the first step in a new direction.

To be continued . . .