Don't Throw In The Towel

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No baby yet! Sorry for the lack of blogging recently! I only have one week left until my due date and things are busy, busy, busy!

This morning, I finally had time to sit down and answer some emails from my blog readers/followers. I am so thankful that I took the time to do this, because it gave me inspiration for my blog post today!!

Today, I want to try and offer each of you some encouragement!! I receive emails on a regular basis from men and women who are trying to lose weight. I am so thankful for your willingness to be open and vulnerable about your struggles to lose weight. I appreciate your transparency so much!!

A pattern I’ve notice is that many of you begin your weight loss journeys and then within a month or two you are so discouraged that you already want to quit! Why are you so quick to throw in the towel? It’s so hard to read emails like this, because I know that if you stick with your weight loss program you will be successful. I know what it feels like when you don’t think you are getting anywhere, but I do not think that’s a reason to give up.

Below are three different ideas that you can try if you experience discouragement along your weight loss journey. These things helped me so much in my own journey and I know that they will work for you too!

First, you need to adjust your expectations. Healthy, long-term weight loss is slow. I know that none of you want to hear this, but it is true. You did not put on your weight in one night and you won’t be able to take it off that quickly either. If you are coming into your weight loss journey thinking that you will lose 4-5 pounds per week, you need to readjust your expectations so that you can avoid discouragement. Take time to create healthy and realistic expectations for yourself!

Second, celebrate EVERY victory, no matter how small you think it is!! You must being to change your mindset if you are going to be successful in your weight loss journey. A loss on the scale is a loss…period. I have heard from you all in emails and from my own Weight Watchers members that they, “only” lost 0.2 pounds. I know that you get frustrated that you did not lose more weight. However, please remember that loss is a loss. All of those 0.2’s and 0.3’s eventually begin to add up to whole pound! Change your attitude and begin to be thankful for those small amounts of weight that you lost, knowing that eventually it will add up to something bigger.

Finally, do not give up. You must keep persevering! You are worth it, no matter how much time it takes to lose weight! You need to become committed to your weight loss journey no matter what! Do not believe lies about yourself that you cannot do this, because it’s not true! It takes 21 days to make something a habit in your life. That’s quite a bit of time! Be patient while you learn to undo a lifetime of bad food choices. This was so important for me while I was losing weight in 2008-09, because I did not care how long my journey would take me. It didn’t matter, because I had already decided that I would be on Weight Watchers no matter how long it took me to get my weight off. Are you truly committed to your weight loss journey?

It is okay to be frustrated, especially when you are following the program and it does not seem to be working the way you thought they would. Just don’t let your frustration lead you to quit your weight loss journey, before it has really begun!

Have you been frustrated throughout your own weight loss journey? What are things that you did to avoid discouragement and get back on track?

Adding Nutritional Facts

For a while now I have been receiving emails and comments from readers asking me if I would be willing to post nutritional facts, instead of just the pointsplus values, on the recipes on my blog. Up until yesterday, I have been putting it off and telling people that I am not willing to do that at this time. I knew what a HUGE undertaking this would be and that I really do not have time to do it right now. I thought that maybe I would get around to doing it, but I was not in any kind of hurry.

However, yesterday everything changed after I conversation I had with my youngest sister, Vivian.

Me and Vivian at her wedding in May 2011

Vivian is the mother to two beautiful children! She is blessed to be able to stay home with them full-time. Since having her baby girl in April, it has been Vivian's desire to lose her baby weight and get healthy. It has not been easy, but she is doing it with My Fitness Pal. She is tracking her calories each day to make sure that she does not go above the amount that her body needs.
Vivian's desire to lose weight and count calories is what pushed me over the edge to add additional nutritional facts to the recipes on my blog. I want my sister to be able to visit my blog and use my recipes as she is on her weight loss journey!

I'm so sorry that I did not realize how important this was sooner! I am so thankful that God's using my sister to teach me how to help the rest of you who are trying to lose weight and be healthy!

This process is going to take some time and with my new baby coming soon it might take longer, so please be patient with me. So far, I've only got nutritional facts for six of my most recent recipe reviews. I will continue to work on them and hopefully get done sooner than later. Below is a sample of what my recipes will look like with the added nutritional facts.

I am so excited about this change. However, as I said above, please be patient with me as I work on this project! I hope that this hardwork pays off and continues to help you all as you lose weight!!

Spousal Sabotage Survey

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Last week, I received an interesting email. Amanda, a PhD candidate at Clark University trained in Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy, is seeking volunteers to participate in her survey on spousal interference/spousal undermining with weight loss.

Amanda needs volunteers to complete an anonymous online survey as part of her research for her dissertation. Amanda is offering to donate $1 to charity for each survey completed (the 5 charities she’s selected are: Playworks, The Carter Center, Teach for America, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, or MAP International) Additionally, Amanda is offering a total of $325 in gift cards to participants, via drawing.

In order to participate in the survey, you have to answer ‘yes’ to the following questions:

1) Are you at least 18 years of age?

2) Have you been participating in a weight loss program for the past consecutive 5 weeks?

3) Have you been in a committed, cohabitating relationship for the past two years?

4) Do you ever feel like your partner/spouse gets in the way of your weight loss?

So, if you’re eligible and willing to doing so, please take the anonymous survey here. It should take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete and responses cannot be traced back to you. Any question may be left unanswered. Participation is voluntary and may be withdrawn at any time. Upon survey completion, you will be provided with an email address and subject line to enter a drawing for 1 of 10 gift cards (one $100 card and nine $25 cards). Each participant who completes the survey may also select to have $1 donated to one of the charities mentioned above.

More on Amanda’s research: her advisor is James Cordova who has been on the Rachael Ray Show to discuss “The Marriage Checkup,” on which she was a founding student-therapist. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in health psychology at Duke University Medical Center.

From Amanda: “This dissertation brings my interests in couples and health psychology together in order to develop a measure of partner undermining. My aim is to help individuals and weight management professionals better understand the barriers to weight loss introduced specifically within the couples context.”

We all know that the people around use have a huge impact on our weight loss efforts! I am excited to see what comes out of Amanda's research!

Reader Question: Excess Skin

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Good Morning!! I’ve received several emails in the last few weeks from people who read and follow my blog. They are people just like you and me who are in the midst of their own weight loss journeys. These people need some advice and/or encouragement to help them along in their journey.

Normally, I just email the blog reader back and let that be it. However, I think that there are other people out there who have similar questions. So, I’ve decided to start using some of my reader questions as my inspiration for blog posts. I’ll post the reader’s question and my response to their question.

This past weekend I received an email from Sarah, who had a question about excess skin. Read below to check out Sarah’s question.

"Do you have to deal with extra skin, or has your body adjusted to the new weight? I look all over the place for weight loss blogs for inspiration, I have 92 pounds to lose. However, I recently came across a blog where a girl had to have a "lower body lift" which is basically plastic surgery to remove excess skin, and this kind of scared me. I'm a big fan of your blog, so I thought I would ask you and see if you had any issues with this after your weight loss. Thanks for your help."

Here is my response to Sarah and anyone else who is nervous about dealing with excess skin.

First, I just want to thank Sarah for having the courage to email me! I love hearing from my blog readers/followers! Talking about weight loss issues can be uncomfortable, especially when you are talking about it with a stranger.

My mother-in-law asked me this same question just a few months after I reached my goal weight. In answer to your question, I did not have to deal with extra skin. I have not had any kind of "body lift" either. To be completely honest, I did not lose all of my weight and find a six pack under the layers of fat that was hiding it. My stomach does not look like anything that you would find on the cover of a magazine. It is bigger than I like and still has a few larger rolls. However, I do not have lots of flabby skin just hanging around that I have to deal with.

Now that I’ve been too honest with you, let me tell you a few reason about why I have not had to deal with extra skin.

First, I lost my weight at a slow and healthy rate. As I lost the weight my body was able to make adjustments. People who choose to lose weight very quickly often have to deal with a lot of extra skin, because their body does not have time to adjust to the weight loss changes that are taking place. I would highly recommend that you lose your weight at a slower pace. I know that it can be challenging, but losing the weight slowly really is the healthiest way to go.

Second, half way through my weight loss journey I began to exercise. I believe that the walking and running that I was doing as I lost my weight helped to naturally tone my body. If you are not exercising regularly I would highly recommend it!

Don't let the fear of having excess skin keep you from losing weight!