Chick-fil-a Update #1

I have got to step it up! I just came back from a week long business trip where I definitely indulged more in the social beverages than I usually do when I'm at home.  Those calories seriously add up. On the plus side, I did workout as usual so at least I came out even in the end. However, with only 7 weeks left I am starting to sweat it a bit. 

I'm starting to think that my "stick" wasn't big enough. The idea of eating a Chick-Fil-A meal if I don't lose 10 lbs. by May 1 (as disgusting as that still sounds to me) obviously isn't something that motivates me as much as I thought it would.  The other thing is that my "carrot" (reward) of a new guitar isn't a big motivator either. Although I've been wanting to replace my guitar, it's not something I think about on a daily basis.

Time to call a new play

Body
I think I need something to jolt my system so I'm thinking of trying a detox. Dr. Oz seems to have a decent one. Please send me a message or comment on my Facebook page with any good ones. 

Mind

When I first began this challenge a couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend printed and posted pictures of Chick-fil-a meals around the house. In principle, a good idea.  After a couple of days, however, they became a part of the landscape and I became immune to them. I need to devise a better way to keep this challenge at the forefront of my mind.

So, in the words of Woody Harrelson's character Tallahassee in Zombieland, "It's time to nut up or shut up."

Wish me luck! 

How Chick-Fil-A Will Help Me Lose 10 lbs

When landing on enemy shores, ancient Greek warriors would burn their boats thus eliminating the option of retreat. It is in that spirit that I present the Chick Fil A challenge!

P.S. You can hear my dog, Molly, panting in the video. Sorry about that. She was under my desk :-)

6 Ways to Resurrect Those Dwindling New Year’s Resolutions

As I mentioned in a previous post, I personally don’t set New Year’s resolutions. This doesn't mean I don’t set goals for myself. It just means that when I make up my mind to do something, “now” is just as good of a time as any to start so I don’t wait for New Year’s.

According to a study by the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology, however, nearly half of all Americans make some sort of New Year’s resolution, but that only 8% of those were successful in achieving their goals.  If you’re on your way to being one of the 92% who fail to maintain those resolutions, here are 6 ways to help you get back on track:

1)    Try to rely on willpower as little as possible. The American Psychological Association has found that willpower is a limited resource capable of being depleted. Instead of constantly tapping into your willpower to help you overcome temptation, try avoiding temptation altogether or give into it, but just a little. In other words, if that ice cream is calling your name and a low fat alternative just won’t do, have some, but just don’t eat the whole carton!

2)    Eliminate all-or-nothing thinking. Just because you’ve started to slide on your promise to yourself is no reason to completely throw in the towel.  Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again. And don’t wait until “tomorrow” to do it! Every moment is a chance to start again. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being consistent.

3)    Choose your battles wisely. If you were over-ambitious in your New Year’s resolutions and set several goals, try focusing on just one or two. Put the others on the back burner. You can always return to them later.  If you try to bite off more than you can chew, you’re liable to just drop them all.

4)    Find Support. Do not underestimate the value of a good support group. Finding support  can be as easy as listening to a podcast on iTunes or reading an online discussion board.  The internet is full of useful resources you can tap into from the comfort of your home.  If you prefer to interact in person, try finding a local Meetup.  All of these options provide great opportunities for mutual support and encouragement.

5)    Find people who will hold you accountable. Support groups are great for this, but be sure to look for opportunities to be accountable in your everyday life as well.  Talk about your goals passionately with these people so that they know what you’re doing but be careful to avoid the naysayers. Only share your goals with people who you know will want to see you succeed!

6)     Eliminate negative self-talk. Above all else, you can’t succeed if you aren’t in your own corner! When people ask me how I’ve managed to drop 65 pounds, I always stress this point the most.  I recommend thinking about the person you love most in this world and imagine talking to them the way you talk to yourself. If you could never imagine talking to them in such a way, your self-talk needs a tune-up! If you are kind and gentle with yourself, you might actually start having fun as you see the positive changes taking place in your life.

Hi, I'm Vickie and I'm a Vegetarian!

Today my girlfriend, Larissa and I began our new lives as vegetarians!  This decision was a long time coming but I was finally pushed over the edge by watching the documentary films Vegucated,  Fat, Sick,and Nearly Dead, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and Forks Over Knives.  If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can stream all of these for free through your membership.  We watched all three this weekend and I finally decided that I can no longer consume animals both for health and spiritual reasons. 

Yesterday, we went to Whole Foods and bought a TON of organic fruits and vegetables (see pic below). Although it may appear that we overbought, it goes quickly when you make juices out of it. We also did a full freezer, fridge, and pantry clean out and donated a LOT of stuff to a family member.

So What's the Day 1 Verdict?

To be honest, we've both been a bit shaky today and concluded that we made one of the biggest rookie vegetarian mistakes one can make and that is, we consumed neither enough whole grains nor enough protein.  Additionally, I went for a three mile run.  I felt like I had run out of steam by mile two.  Definitely not what I'm used to since my runs usually make me feel pretty stoked and energized which is why I love running.

We realize that there will be an adjustment period, but have made this commitment not only to our bodies but to our animal friends we love so dearly. The terrified look in the eyes of the animals being slaughtered in Vegucated is something I will never forget.  While we hope to go vegan eventually, I know that we need to take it a bit slowly to give our bodies time to adjust.  I am one who ate some form of meat with almost every meal so I expect that my body will rebel for a few days but, as long as I'm being smart about it, I'm sure it'll thank me later.  While the primary reason I'm giving up meat is for the animals, I believe the health benefits will pay off as well.

Any tips or recipes you'd like to share are always welcome. Please comment or visit my Facebook page. More updates (and recipes) to follow!

The Three Book Diet....I Can't Do It!

I was listening to a podcast a few days ago and the host announced that for 2013 he was going to follow something called The Three Book Diet.  Essentially, the idea is to pick only three books  (yes ONLY three!) that you will commit to reading this year.  The point of this tactic is to permit reading at a much deeper level which should, in turn, allow you to absorb and implement more of the content.  

Initially, this sounded really cool because I am easily reading three or four books at any given time and get through about ten to twelve a year.  I admit that going through these at such a pace doesn't allow me to dig deeper and may cause me to miss things that I would catch during a more in-depth reading.  

Once I started going through my library to decide on three books, however, my enthusiasm quickly changed to something more like to this:

I realized the extent of my book addiction as I tried to make this terrifying prospect work.  I tried to bargain. "Surely he only meant non-fiction! I can't imagine he meant fiction AND non-fiction," I thought. "Well, maybe I'll do four instead..yeah four is good. Oh but wait, I just borrowed like four books from a coworker so I can't hang onto those until next year...."  AAUGH!!

l decided in the end that there are FAR worse addictions to have in the world, so I will not put myself through the torture of withdrawal.  I did however, realize something.  Some of these gems do deserve a second reading, and a third, and a fourth.  So rather than limit myself, I promised to give the following books a reread this year because they have had such an enormous impact on my life. Here they are, in no particular order:

• Getting Things Done by David Allen - The MASTER of productivity!! I picked up his book a couple of years ago and it has LITERALLY changed my life and my ability to get things done. I have done quite a few presentations and individual coachings around the basic concepts of his approach to productivity.  AMAZING BOOK!
• The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss - Tim Ferriss truly treats the world as his playground. He is described as a serial entrepreneur and essentially finds the quickest ways to get things done, from speaking new languages to mastering new skills. As a result of reading his Four Hour Chef, I have improved my free throw shooting in basketball to over 90%!!! Yes, from a cookbook!
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield - This book really got me moving! The author talks about procrastination and why we sabotage ourselves from doing what we want to do. More importantly, he gives you some ideas and tips for overcoming self imposed obstacles.

OK, now one honorable mention!!

• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon - Oh how I just LOVE this guy!! Just going out to his website always gives me a creative blast of energy!  I first came across him speaking about his art on a TV show that I don't normally watch.  I checked out his website and have been a fan since. I recommended this book to a friend whose daughter is an artist and she loved it too.  It's a quick and easy ready so I'm sure I'll be going through that one again too!

What books would make your list?

Take it or Leave it in 2013

Millions of people will be making their New Year's resolutions tonight and I am glad to say that I will NOT be one. It's not that I don't believe in goals, but rather that, for me, New Year's resolutions tend to be more excuses than drivers. In other words, if I make a resolution and then "blow it" by not sticking to it, I  have an excuse to put it off for another year. That's more of the "all or nothing" mentality which doesn't work so well for me.  In fact, this is the kind of thinking that helped me gain a bunch of weight right after college. 

While I don't believe in resolutions, I do believe in the importance of reflecting upon the year just passed.  What did I do in my life that had good results?  What didn't work so well?  By doing this, I can make a conscious decision to carry forward those things that worked well for me and leave behind those that didn't. 

One of the ideas that worked well for me in 2012 was the idea of  practicing the art of non-interference when it comes to my body.  If it's one thing I've learned about dieting for almost 25 years is that diets don't work. Yes, they can work in the short-run but by their very nature, cannot work long-term. I think the reason for this is that diets promote a reliance on an external factor (the diet itself) to tell you what and when you should eat. This severs the relationship between your mind and body, thus interfering with your body's innate ability to tell you what, when, and how much it needs to refuel.  Diets reprogram our minds into thinking those cues are wrong.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "If my cues were right, I wouldn't be overweight! My cues are all screwed up!"

Here's why I don't believe this is true.  I will guess that if you're anything like most serial dieters (like I was!) you swing from starvation to binge eating very frequently. Both of these states involve one common factor: ignoring your body's signals. When you starve yourself or eat things you don't like or want, you're ignoring your body. When you gorge yourself during one of those frequent all-or-nothing swings, you're ignoring your body.

What if you gave yourself permission to eat whatever you wanted in whatever amount you wanted, provided that you were tuned into your body at such a level as  to know when to say enough was enough? Scary thought, right?  "I won't be able to stop!" you might be thinking. Well, at first, you probably won't know exactly when to stop but you have to be okay with that. Recreating that link to your body that has long since been broken is going to take a bit of time and patience. For me at least, the good news is that it hasn't taken as long as I would have thought.  

The same holds true for exercise and moving your body. For so long, I pushed myself through grueling workouts only to see the scale barely move. In some cases, it even went up! How deflating is that? As with dieting, I allowed my mind to interfere with my body's signals telling me when it had received the amount of exercise it needed. That doesn't mean that now I don't push myself to have a great workout. It just means that I'm more in tune with what I feel like doing and how much I feel like doing on any given day.

So, the the art of non-interference is definitely going into the New Year with me and the all-or-nothing mentality of past diets is in my rear view mirror. What are you taking with you into the New Year, and what is yesterday's news?

Being Enough

A coworker and I were discussing the pictures in my previous post, Paying it Forward.  I mentioned to him that one thing I've noticed when talking to people about  their own experiences with trying to get healthy is that people are so hard on themselves.

Here's an example of a typical conversation that might take place with someone who hasn't seen me in a while:

Friend: "Vickie, you look great! You've been dropping some weight, huh? How have you done it?"

Me: "Just eating smaller portions and exercising. Who knew, right?"
(We both laugh here because I am so darn funny).

Friend: "That's great. I've tried so many things and nothing works for me. It's so hard. It's an uphill climb."

Freeze frame. At this time, I usually notice a change in their physical posture as they are speaking. The energy seems to drain from them.  I recognize this because for many years I was that person. Any time the subject of losing weight and getting healthy came up, I felt like a boxer who was on her last legs. 

The first thing I usually tell people is to not be so hard on themselves. Beating yourself up inside only makes the situation worse. Give yourself a break.  I was listening to a podcast the other day in which the host said it perfectly, "Treat yourself like you would treat a loved one."  Wow! How's that for a concept?  If you're constantly beating yourself up inside, nothing you do will ever be right or enough.  I would never dream of treating my girlfriend like that (or she probably wouldn't be my girlfriend for very long) so why would I do it to myself?

Instead of beating your self down, set yourself up for small wins and give yourself credit when you hit your marks. For example, when I first started working out after not having done so for a while,  I told myself that my goal was to move for a minimum of ten minutes a day.  By "move", I meant walk, stretch, anything; just move!  If I felt like doing more after ten minutes, then I could, but the deal was a ten minute minimum.  Instead of setting a lofty goals that left me destined to fail and feeling like I had once again let myself down, I set a small, attainable goal.  Ten minutes was doable.

Once I started hitting this mark consistently, I felt more confident and my workout time started increasing.  Twenty minutes, then thirty...always keeping in mind that the deal was still only ten minutes.  You might be thinking, "Why not up the ante?"  By keeping the bar low I was winning on a daily basis. Because I started feeling like a winner on the inside, I started acting like one on the outside. My life was no longer a string of disappointments and broken promises to myself.  The point of these ten minute exercise sessions was not to burn calories  but to catch myself on fire!

What small wins can you set up for yourself to help you catch fire?