When I was eating the NWW (Nutritional Weight and Wellness) way the first time. I felt good! No, I felt GREAT! I lost 30 pounds without even blinking. I just lost motivation and it was a difficult time in my life and I just couldn't keep up! I was frustrated but it was kind of the way too hard for me at the time. However, that time, my nutritionist had me on a mostly gluten free diet. I made note of this but because so much had changed I wasn't sure if it was the gluten or something else. I was hoping it was something else.
My first time with Cassie Weness she didn't have me on quite as strick of a diet. It was very realistic and I think over time I have totally switched to this way of life when I was thinking of it. I would say that was about 50% of the time. The other 50% I just didn't care. Mostly because I was in college and didn't have time to think about it. I did notice that the weight wasn't coming off. Which was a big thing for me. Truth be told it still is but now to a lesser degree. The big difference was the gluten.
So this time when I wanted to get back on the wagon, I started with first trying to get back into the swing of eating the weight and wellness way. It was so much easier this time because I only a few things I needed to tweak because I was still mostly doing it. Anyway, part of what I did with our family is I found food ideas that involved little if no gluten. I had a feeling that is what I was the key.
I think because I had this feeling when Cassie said to me, I think we need to take out gluten, I said... Ok. :) I also have switched my thinking from thinking in terms of losing weight to be healthy but rather being healthy and hope to lose weight. I belive in my heart of hearts, if the weight isn't coming off, something else is "wrong" and I need to find another place that my body is is broken.
So here's what I'm doing...
**The biggest thing that has helped me. I have made a weekly menu along with all the recipes I need and a shopping list. I hope to have 4 to 6 weeks of these and we can just rotate through. It also helps that I know what I'm eating. I don't have to go for something fast (and bad) in the same way because I have a stocked fridge and ideas.
**I pack my food. And I really want to find foods that are easy to take with me.
**I purge the bad. I don't even try to use stuff up or anything because I feel that you can't feel the effects and can't get rid of the cravings unless you get rid of it all. And if I start with the momentum of wanting to change, it will only take me so far. Eventually I'll need to rely on not having the cravings to pull me through the had times.
**I READ LABLES!!! I have been doing that for a while now but I have found that I have to KEEP DOING IT!!! I don't read the front of the box because I don't believe the hype. I'm too cynical for that! The biggest frustration I have is that I don't know all the names of all the hidden items. What I have chose to do, for the most part, is only buy things with ingredients that I know and the fewer the better.
**I eat as many whole foods as possible. I like to have my food as close to how they grow as possible. And when I do this, I am just gluten free by default.
**I take supplements to aid in healing.
**I drink a lot of water. I am trying to drink half my weight in ounces. I found a cute cup and will keep refilling it all day long. I have tried to drink tea if I need to have something else.
I have given up some big habits in the last couple weeks that I didn't think I could. I had a Caribou a day habit as well as drinking a lot of soda. I also ate a lot of sweets. I have done almost a 180 in my life and I feel a lot better!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The way it was
I have been doing a lot of soul searching. I have been trying to think about what went wrong. I have been thinking about where I have been. Putting together what worked and what didn't. I have been looking to others not only for advice but to hear about what has worked for them and what hasn't. I have also secretly looked to them for why they, like most people, gain and lose the same weight. One thing keeps coming back to me; health, not weight, needs to be the motivating factor. With health your body will achieve a proper weight. The problem, I have been unhealthy for far too long and I have been barking up the wrong tree for health.
Let me talk about my past... Boy, where do I begin... Probably with the fact that I was bottle fed. Period. That started it all. I wasn't bottle fed for any reason other than our society (doctors included) told our mothers that that was a perfectly healthy thing to do. That wasn't a difference in formula and mother's milk. Hmmm... Really??? I totally understand why mothers believed their doctors. We should be able to believe everything our doctors tell us. But alas we can't. Call me a cynic but I believe very little of what doctors tell me that isn't a hard core fact or that isn't also supported by independent research.
As I was growing up, my mom... Wait, let's side step to my mom for a second. I'm sure this post is going to sound like I blame my mom for EVERYTHING. Quite the contrary, my mom was the the messenger. She did exactly what mom's are suppose to do make sure their children have good healthy food. It is in no way my mom's fault that our country has chosen to spew false information about what is healthy and good nutrition. I blame greed! Plain and simple.
So back to growing up. My mom did what she could to feet us good foods. For the most part, everything was fine. The problem came with me continuing to gain weight. I like chips, candy, cookies and cakes. I ate a lot. However, I was also active and I KNOW for a fact, that I didn't eat more than many of my friends. Matter of fact, I hate LESS than some of my skinny friends. ARGH! That was so frustrating!!! But the weight just kept coming on... and on... and on... and on... (you get the picture) Can you imagine my frustration.
I believe it was in 5th or 6th grade, (I was just 10 or 11, maybe 12) when my mom put me on Weight Watchers for the first time. I don't totally remember how it went but it was something like I got 2 fruits, 2 vegetable, 6 breads, 1 fat (read margarine - fake fat!), and 3 proteins. I am not even sure if I could have breads to begin with. The way it worked back then is you graduated week to week. I can't quite remember what it graduated to and from but I know it started with eating less food then you could add more. Looking back, that seems kind of unreal and totally messed up...
Of course this WW thing didn't work. I was so desperate for it to work but there was no flexibility. There was no room for real life. If what I know now is true, there wasn't a balance of my blood sugar. There was no way I could maintain a diet without a balance. When my blood sugars spiked and crashed I craved all things carbohydrates -- mostly simple carbs because my body thought it was starving to death!
Through my years, I think I tried weight watchers again (and weight watcher type things), many times. Don't they say that insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting the same results. I think WW made me insane! :)
My mom would buy me special "ice cream" or made me other special "diet" things. I tried low fat everything (and artificial sweetened). My friends all used it as a way to eat more but I truly wanted to be thinner. I wouldn't eat more... Yet I never lost much weight.
The weight I lost I would always regain. One time I lost some weight but I had to eat very minimal stuff. As I look back now (with knowledge gained) I would say that was probably a good indication that I was sensitive (basically an allergy but I am not a medical doctor and do not want to self diagnose) to something that I was eating.
I had a sister who was 5 years older. She, like many teens of the time, got hooked on pop. Her poison was first Pepsi and later Mountain Dew. Being the good younger sister I was, I was keen to follow in her foot steps. For many many years my poison was Diet Coke. As I drank it like no ones business I heart all the bad things about it. I think I even researched. I really wanted to get rid of it for so long but I never could. It was a real internal struggle. I mostly struggled alone. I would go off it for awhile but then for some reason I would have some. I would think just this one... Then I would think, oh one more won't hurt... Then I would think, I can have just one a day, that's not a problem... Before I knew it, I was back to drinking a TON! Miracles of all miracles, I have been Diet Coke free for 2.5 years and I had a sip a few months back and YUCK-E-POOO!!! THANK YOU, JESUS!!! But don't get my wrong, I changed my Diet Coke addiction to Diet Sierra Mist. It was must like Diet Coke. I would start off having one just at restaurants, then just at parties, then just one a day, then it morphed into something more. It was only a trip to South Dakota, where there wasn't any Diet Sierra Mist that got me to kick that habit. It's only been a couple of week and I stil l have cravings from time to time. I will BEAT THIS! :)
When I went off to college, I was finally away from my mom. I decided she knew nothing and I knew everything (doesn't that sound like every kid who goes off to college). I ate bad. Heck, I ate horrible! I don't think I necessarily at more than others. I was active. Guess what... I gained weight.
I met Erik. LIke myself, he liked to eat. He liked to eat a lot! I followed right there with him. We were young and we didn't know what we were doing. People gave us advice but really, if what I know now is right, they didn't know either. Erik and I were also active, our favorite was going for long walks. It was nothing for us to eat McDonalds... sometimes even a SuperSize. It was funny, Erik wanted it for the fries. I wanted it for the Diet Coke. :) I look back now and shake my head at that person. I really just didn't know any better!
After our oldest son was born. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I thought this is the ANSWER!!! YAY! I then found out that my aunt and grandma were diagnosed years ago with the same problem. You know what... it was my aunt and grandma who always had weight issues too. I think in my heart I knew it was something bigger but was still just feeling it all out. And boy did I have a lot to learn.
I still had no clue what I needed to do with my health, weight, and eating. I tried weight watchers a few more times I tried a of other things too. I was limited by money and time. But something in me kept wanting to seek something real and that made sense. A lot of places like Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig just didn’t make sense to me. Diet pills also didn’t make sense to me. Let’s not even discuss weight loss surgery right now. Don’t get me wrong, I have been tempted to do anything! But I also knew my health was at stake and I didn’t want to wreck my body with some fad diet or something even more drastic, like surgery.
I also think that not many people truly understand health and nutrition. I think there is also a huge problem with just looking at the size or number on the scale to determine health. Don’t get me wrong, I understand with excess weight there are complications and health problems but there are plenty of problems but something most people don’t know is that not being over weight does not mean that you will be healthy. At the end of the day, your weight alone is not the determining factor of health.
I was diagnosed with bi-polar depression at the same time I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. My whole life I knew there was some sort of depression type issue but I didn’t know what it was. I have had several relatives with bi-polar so I wasn’t shocked by the diagnosis. But it all went so fast that I didn’t have a chance to check things out like I would today. After many years of battling the medicine side effects I decided enough was enough and I went off them all. I went without all meds for awhile but then talked with a doctor and she figured out I was misdiagnosed with bi-polar and that what I have is really just generalized anxiety. I have always believed that this was just something I was born with and I was going to have to deal with the rest of my life.... now I’m starting to wonder otherwise. I actually started to wonder years ago when a seed was planted about the effects of omega-3s on mental health. There wasn’t a lot of information out there and I’m gleaning as I go.
While on the medications, I put on a lot of weight... like 100s of pounds. I just really felt like I was just loosing the battle and I felt like I couldn’t win at all.
My life was really status quo for a few years. I stayed about the same weight except for gaining and losing when I was pregnant and had babies. I ended up about 300 pounds. I was secretly mortified but outwardly nonchalant about it. I remember back to when I was first over 200 pounds. I cried when I was weighed myself at 209. I was newly married and I just was at a loss. And now at 300 I felt like there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
It was especially mortifying to hear that football players that are over 6 foot are weighing about 300 pounds. I’m only a 5 foot mom, I should not be weighing this much! ARGH! However I continued to feel like there wasn’t a lot I could do about it. And when I tried, nothing would happen. However, I tried to keep eating healthfully because I believed that just because I was overweight I didn’t need to be super unhealthy.
As my babies were young, I met a dear friend, Laurie. She introduced me to nutrition as a cure. She was going through a similar plight but much more obvious and she needed to find a cure for her own illness. Since I didn’t “hurt” too much yet it was hard for me to make the changes necessary at that point. However, I started to get into supplements and understanding the need for them. I also really got on board for organic eating.
About the same time I also started listening to a local radio station. On Saturdays they had a show called Dishing Up Nutrition. I don’t remember now but something about what they were saying totally made sense to me. I looked into their company further which is called Nutritional Weight and Wellness. (If you want to see more about the company their website is www.weightandwellness.com)
My first meeting with NWW was great! I loved it! The nutritionist gave me some great ideas of what to eat and what to try to take out of my diet. I was successful for about a month. Then life got in the way... I wasn’t able to see the nutritionist again and I was getting bored. I also didn’t have all the information I needed. I just hadn’t learned it yet. I unfortunately went back to (mostly) my old way of eating... :(
I knew I needed to go back to NWW. I knew in my heart of hearts that they would have the answer. So I went back. I saw a different nutritionist. I loved her and she was able to be “real” about what I needed to do. However, life got in the way again. I was in school again and it was hard to make a new habit. I tried to keep what I had learned but I pulled in some of my old habits, little by little...
After graduating from school, I knew I needed to get back to NWW. I have now done that. I have made changes. Even though it has been a month, I know it is life long changes because of how I feel, how easy it is, and because I need to be better to live a long life.
I will post another post to point out the current program I’m on and what I have planned for the near future. Thanks for reading! :)
My current picture... I'm on the left in the black.
Also, current weight is 341 down from 350.
Let me talk about my past... Boy, where do I begin... Probably with the fact that I was bottle fed. Period. That started it all. I wasn't bottle fed for any reason other than our society (doctors included) told our mothers that that was a perfectly healthy thing to do. That wasn't a difference in formula and mother's milk. Hmmm... Really??? I totally understand why mothers believed their doctors. We should be able to believe everything our doctors tell us. But alas we can't. Call me a cynic but I believe very little of what doctors tell me that isn't a hard core fact or that isn't also supported by independent research.
As I was growing up, my mom... Wait, let's side step to my mom for a second. I'm sure this post is going to sound like I blame my mom for EVERYTHING. Quite the contrary, my mom was the the messenger. She did exactly what mom's are suppose to do make sure their children have good healthy food. It is in no way my mom's fault that our country has chosen to spew false information about what is healthy and good nutrition. I blame greed! Plain and simple.
So back to growing up. My mom did what she could to feet us good foods. For the most part, everything was fine. The problem came with me continuing to gain weight. I like chips, candy, cookies and cakes. I ate a lot. However, I was also active and I KNOW for a fact, that I didn't eat more than many of my friends. Matter of fact, I hate LESS than some of my skinny friends. ARGH! That was so frustrating!!! But the weight just kept coming on... and on... and on... and on... (you get the picture) Can you imagine my frustration.
I believe it was in 5th or 6th grade, (I was just 10 or 11, maybe 12) when my mom put me on Weight Watchers for the first time. I don't totally remember how it went but it was something like I got 2 fruits, 2 vegetable, 6 breads, 1 fat (read margarine - fake fat!), and 3 proteins. I am not even sure if I could have breads to begin with. The way it worked back then is you graduated week to week. I can't quite remember what it graduated to and from but I know it started with eating less food then you could add more. Looking back, that seems kind of unreal and totally messed up...
Of course this WW thing didn't work. I was so desperate for it to work but there was no flexibility. There was no room for real life. If what I know now is true, there wasn't a balance of my blood sugar. There was no way I could maintain a diet without a balance. When my blood sugars spiked and crashed I craved all things carbohydrates -- mostly simple carbs because my body thought it was starving to death!
Through my years, I think I tried weight watchers again (and weight watcher type things), many times. Don't they say that insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting the same results. I think WW made me insane! :)
My mom would buy me special "ice cream" or made me other special "diet" things. I tried low fat everything (and artificial sweetened). My friends all used it as a way to eat more but I truly wanted to be thinner. I wouldn't eat more... Yet I never lost much weight.
The weight I lost I would always regain. One time I lost some weight but I had to eat very minimal stuff. As I look back now (with knowledge gained) I would say that was probably a good indication that I was sensitive (basically an allergy but I am not a medical doctor and do not want to self diagnose) to something that I was eating.
I had a sister who was 5 years older. She, like many teens of the time, got hooked on pop. Her poison was first Pepsi and later Mountain Dew. Being the good younger sister I was, I was keen to follow in her foot steps. For many many years my poison was Diet Coke. As I drank it like no ones business I heart all the bad things about it. I think I even researched. I really wanted to get rid of it for so long but I never could. It was a real internal struggle. I mostly struggled alone. I would go off it for awhile but then for some reason I would have some. I would think just this one... Then I would think, oh one more won't hurt... Then I would think, I can have just one a day, that's not a problem... Before I knew it, I was back to drinking a TON! Miracles of all miracles, I have been Diet Coke free for 2.5 years and I had a sip a few months back and YUCK-E-POOO!!! THANK YOU, JESUS!!! But don't get my wrong, I changed my Diet Coke addiction to Diet Sierra Mist. It was must like Diet Coke. I would start off having one just at restaurants, then just at parties, then just one a day, then it morphed into something more. It was only a trip to South Dakota, where there wasn't any Diet Sierra Mist that got me to kick that habit. It's only been a couple of week and I stil l have cravings from time to time. I will BEAT THIS! :)
When I went off to college, I was finally away from my mom. I decided she knew nothing and I knew everything (doesn't that sound like every kid who goes off to college). I ate bad. Heck, I ate horrible! I don't think I necessarily at more than others. I was active. Guess what... I gained weight.
I met Erik. LIke myself, he liked to eat. He liked to eat a lot! I followed right there with him. We were young and we didn't know what we were doing. People gave us advice but really, if what I know now is right, they didn't know either. Erik and I were also active, our favorite was going for long walks. It was nothing for us to eat McDonalds... sometimes even a SuperSize. It was funny, Erik wanted it for the fries. I wanted it for the Diet Coke. :) I look back now and shake my head at that person. I really just didn't know any better!
After our oldest son was born. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I thought this is the ANSWER!!! YAY! I then found out that my aunt and grandma were diagnosed years ago with the same problem. You know what... it was my aunt and grandma who always had weight issues too. I think in my heart I knew it was something bigger but was still just feeling it all out. And boy did I have a lot to learn.
I still had no clue what I needed to do with my health, weight, and eating. I tried weight watchers a few more times I tried a of other things too. I was limited by money and time. But something in me kept wanting to seek something real and that made sense. A lot of places like Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig just didn’t make sense to me. Diet pills also didn’t make sense to me. Let’s not even discuss weight loss surgery right now. Don’t get me wrong, I have been tempted to do anything! But I also knew my health was at stake and I didn’t want to wreck my body with some fad diet or something even more drastic, like surgery.
I also think that not many people truly understand health and nutrition. I think there is also a huge problem with just looking at the size or number on the scale to determine health. Don’t get me wrong, I understand with excess weight there are complications and health problems but there are plenty of problems but something most people don’t know is that not being over weight does not mean that you will be healthy. At the end of the day, your weight alone is not the determining factor of health.
I was diagnosed with bi-polar depression at the same time I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. My whole life I knew there was some sort of depression type issue but I didn’t know what it was. I have had several relatives with bi-polar so I wasn’t shocked by the diagnosis. But it all went so fast that I didn’t have a chance to check things out like I would today. After many years of battling the medicine side effects I decided enough was enough and I went off them all. I went without all meds for awhile but then talked with a doctor and she figured out I was misdiagnosed with bi-polar and that what I have is really just generalized anxiety. I have always believed that this was just something I was born with and I was going to have to deal with the rest of my life.... now I’m starting to wonder otherwise. I actually started to wonder years ago when a seed was planted about the effects of omega-3s on mental health. There wasn’t a lot of information out there and I’m gleaning as I go.
While on the medications, I put on a lot of weight... like 100s of pounds. I just really felt like I was just loosing the battle and I felt like I couldn’t win at all.
My life was really status quo for a few years. I stayed about the same weight except for gaining and losing when I was pregnant and had babies. I ended up about 300 pounds. I was secretly mortified but outwardly nonchalant about it. I remember back to when I was first over 200 pounds. I cried when I was weighed myself at 209. I was newly married and I just was at a loss. And now at 300 I felt like there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
It was especially mortifying to hear that football players that are over 6 foot are weighing about 300 pounds. I’m only a 5 foot mom, I should not be weighing this much! ARGH! However I continued to feel like there wasn’t a lot I could do about it. And when I tried, nothing would happen. However, I tried to keep eating healthfully because I believed that just because I was overweight I didn’t need to be super unhealthy.
As my babies were young, I met a dear friend, Laurie. She introduced me to nutrition as a cure. She was going through a similar plight but much more obvious and she needed to find a cure for her own illness. Since I didn’t “hurt” too much yet it was hard for me to make the changes necessary at that point. However, I started to get into supplements and understanding the need for them. I also really got on board for organic eating.
About the same time I also started listening to a local radio station. On Saturdays they had a show called Dishing Up Nutrition. I don’t remember now but something about what they were saying totally made sense to me. I looked into their company further which is called Nutritional Weight and Wellness. (If you want to see more about the company their website is www.weightandwellness.com)
My first meeting with NWW was great! I loved it! The nutritionist gave me some great ideas of what to eat and what to try to take out of my diet. I was successful for about a month. Then life got in the way... I wasn’t able to see the nutritionist again and I was getting bored. I also didn’t have all the information I needed. I just hadn’t learned it yet. I unfortunately went back to (mostly) my old way of eating... :(
I knew I needed to go back to NWW. I knew in my heart of hearts that they would have the answer. So I went back. I saw a different nutritionist. I loved her and she was able to be “real” about what I needed to do. However, life got in the way again. I was in school again and it was hard to make a new habit. I tried to keep what I had learned but I pulled in some of my old habits, little by little...
After graduating from school, I knew I needed to get back to NWW. I have now done that. I have made changes. Even though it has been a month, I know it is life long changes because of how I feel, how easy it is, and because I need to be better to live a long life.
I will post another post to point out the current program I’m on and what I have planned for the near future. Thanks for reading! :)
My current picture... I'm on the left in the black.
Also, current weight is 341 down from 350.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A Brand New Way... errr.. ME!
All my life I have been obese. It has always been so heart breaking to me but I am DONE!!! I am ready to become a BRAND NEW ME and this is the blog toward my journey!
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