Then & Now

There's a change in perspective in my life. Because I've come to realize it's an amazing life. One filled with privilege and wonder. A life that is fortunate.

Don't get me wrong.  Complaining is an art I've perfected.  A career I treasured has been changed completely by new personnel.  My kids make me yell at my kids far too often.  There are days when cleaning poop off of two children and pee off the floor happens.  There isn't a car I can't curse into being a lemon.

But but but... I can run.  My body works reasonable well for all the extra weight.  When I'm running, I think about the other amazing things in my life.  Some of the highlights are:

• My wonderful husband who really couldn't be any better suited to me.
• An amazing family of 3 healthy little girls who each have their own personalities.
• The leave-it-to-beaver home life I had as a kid and the sisters and parents that continue to be part of our lives.
• Friendship offered by many of the same people who have been my friends forever, for half my life or even just a little less.
• The opportunity to learn, read, speak, write and argue without fear.
• Never knowing the fear of poverty, or questioning whether there was enough to feed, clothe and keep ourselves comfortable.

@Jen_Saunders said the other day, "there is no before & after, only then & now".  I think that defines a shift I am beginning.  There will be no after to weight loss.  No after for running.  There will just be what was then and what is now.

It's time to stop thinking about before as the day I ran 10km or the day I realized 300lbs was inevitable with my lifestyle.  It's time to stop thinking about after as a picture in a WW magazine with my size 24 jeans held in front of me.

There is just what was then and what I am now.

I define the now every day, every hour and every moment with the choices and decisions I make.

Eating better

Obesity Boot Camp taught me that the little things count. That I shouldn't be trying to change everything at once. That I shouldn't be focused on losing big amounts of weight over a little amount of time.

Since Canadians can't get on Biggest Loser, I kind of have to agree.

I think it was Health Psychologist Michael Vallis that spoke about a theoretical weight loss of 50lbs. That most of us would see success as losing 50lbs in 6 months and keeping it off for 5 years. According to him, long term success would look more like losing 10lbs over 3 months and keeping it off for a year. Then losing another 10lbs. Rinse and repeat until the last 9 months of year 5 you are at goal weight.

To do that? You make small changes and stick with him.

My small change last week was to drink 64oz of water everyday. To help me make it happen I've been putting a container of water (just for me) in the fridge each night to chill. (No more foot stomping and childish behaviour when the kids and husband use up all the cold water in the family pitcher).

It worked. I lost a 2.6 pounds.

This week my goal is high fibre cereal (Fibre 1 Honey Clusters) 5 mornings a week.

On Thursday I'll know if it worked.

Fibre1 Honey Clusters has the following nutritional information per 1 cup.
Calories 200
Fat 1.5g
Sodium 300g
Carb 43g (Fibre 13g)
Protein 5g

Plus it has 50% of my daily iron (something I need).

Running Advice on Weight Watchers

Just a couple of articles that Weight Watchers pushed out to me. Thought they might be helpful to others.

How do I move from running to walking? actually has some good advice. I think starting at two minutes would be too long for me, but everyone is different.

The bottom of Running 101 includes some suggestions on nice runs in Canada. I also liked this piece of advice, "Running is not sprinting. It is not done at a breathless, my-heart-is-going-to-explode-at-any-minute pace". So slow down and enjoy learning to run.