The Truth Of Tuesday Night

 I am an intelligent person

I will control my emotions,

not let my emotions control me.

Every time I am tempted to use food to satisfy my frustrated desires, build up my ego or dull my senses,

I will remember - even though I overeat in private,

my excess poundage is there for all the world to see!

After having missed last week, I was ramped and ready to go to TOPS tonight.

I felt I had a pretty good week.  I followed the advice of my girlfriend and made small manageable goals for each day.  I set them so I could succeed.  My girlfriend advised me (wisely, might I add!) that if I make small changes they will help lead to results on the scale.

For this week, they did.

Last week: 255.75 lbs
This wee: 253.50 lbs

Loss of 2.25 lbs

I'm encouraged.  My simple goal for tomorrow is to get in 30 minutes on the treadmill.  I'm home alone and haven't taken advantage of that in such a long time.  I just have to make myself do it.

I won't be able to attend TOPS next Tuesday again, but I hope to keep it going and have similar results when I am back in 2 weeks.

So, on the heels of my positive scale results...what simple goal can you make for tomorrow?  What one little thing can you do to make your day better?

You take my hand, 

and I'll take yours,

and we'll start out today.

For a helping hand is what we need to help us on our way.

The way to goal is a lonely road, 

we need someone to care.

Reach out my friend and take my hand, 

and then we're almost there!

Focus On Today

In my last post, I created myself a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish for the week.  One of my super-wise friends commented and made me re-think what I wrote.  She suggested that my goals were a bit too broad and should be trimmed down and focused even more.  Her exact response said this:

I think you should just put a big red line through your first goal. To say you're going to lose weight is so frickin broad. It's no wonder you're overwhelmed! I know that you know that if you do the other goals, the first will happen so why write it! Concentrate on the smaller goals and maybe even break them up into smaller goals for the day. "Today I will walk for 30 mins". "Today I will drink at least one glass of ice water". "Today I will tell myself I'm beautiful no matter what I weigh". "Today I will not weigh myself". Don't worry about tomorrow or yesterday just focus on today.

As I thought about this a bit more, I decided she was right.  I was also encouraged by the knowledge that this woman has done AMAZING things...all through hard work and motivation.  If you need motivation, you MUST check out her Facebook page.  I know her personally and I really mean it when I say she is a down to earth, "real" person.  Her pride and accomplishments are well deserved!

I did look at my list and if I'm being honest, it really just set myself up for failure.  Let's review them again, shall we?

- lose weight and earn a "star" at TOPS
- log my food EVERYDAY
- complete 30 minutes of walking, 3 times this week
- do the bedsheet workout, 2 times this week
- update my blog at least one more time

So far, the only think I have done is update my blog (with this post)

She said to put a big red line through my first goal, so here it is....

- lose weight and earn a "star" at TOPS

I have decided to make one simple, small goal to get me through until Saturday.  It is to not eat after dinner.  I have gotten into a nasty habit of snacking after dinner.  Not out of hunger by any means, but just because.  And the snack isn't something healthy like an apple...no, it's chips or ice cream or something else along those lines.  I never used to be the type to snack after dinner.  I don't feel the need for a bedtime snack unless I have had a dinner without protein and then I truly do get a feeling of hunger.  I want to go back to being like that.  So, for tomorrow, I will not eat anything after dinner.  That is it.....small, simple and something I can realistically accomplish.  I'll re-evaluate on Saturday and add a new goal.

How about you?  What is one, small simple goal you can set to get you through to the next day?

Planning Post

I had to forego my TOPS meeting last night for some important Girl Guide camp planning, so I don't have a Truth Of Tuesday Night post for you.  I truthfully don't even really have an idea on how the scale would have performed for me.

I am still in a funk if I'm being honest.  I have this great plan laid out with friends and all the tools around me to make it all work, but somehow, I just CAN'T!

I have decided to write out a simple weekly plan to get me started.

Goals for the week:

- lose weight and earn a "star" at TOPS
- log my food EVERYDAY
- complete 30 minutes of walking, 3 days this week
- do the bed sheet workout, 2 times this week
- update my blog at least one more time

I know if I do the middle 3, I will see the first one happen!

I've said it before and I will say it again....THIS IS HARD!  Hardest thing I have ever done!  Some days I really think it will never happen, that this task is just too big, but then I see others who have done it and realize that the difference is their level of dedication to it.

TOPS Success

I've talked about TOPS on here a lot.  Our chapter is a small chapter, with about 12 members, all female, except for one.  Last year was a year of fantastic for our own lone male member.  With lots of hard work and dedication, he hit his goal weight and went from TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) to KOPS (Keeping Off Pounds Sensibly)

His story is great and I think it's important to share.  Partly because I feel that TOPS is not very well known and people probably question the success of the program.

When he started with us, he weighed approximately 282 lbs and by the time he hit his goal weight last year, he weighed 191.  This loss earned him the title of Provincial King with recognition on a provincial scale and was then flown to Milwaukee for International recognition.  We are so very proud of him.  You can read his full story here as it appeared in the paper.

I had this article on the fridge and there is one line that always stuck out for me.....near the end of the article, Richard encourages you to get up and do 10 of something....something physical.  How simple right?  10 squats, 10 lunges, 10 jumping jacks...whatever you decide your 10 to be.  Get up and shake a blanket as hard and fast as you can for 10 seconds.  The point is to just move.  The more you do it, the more you will get used to it.  Soon, your 10 of something will turn into 20, then 30 and so on!

It's a long hard journey and I feel most days I am far from the most motivated person on earth...BUT, I have not given up and I don't plan to....even if it takes me 10 more years!

The Truth of Tuesday Night

 I am an intelligent person

I will control my emotions,

not let my emotions control me.

Every time I am tempted to use food to satisfy my frustrated desires, build up my ego or dull my senses,

I will remember - even though I overeat in private,

my excess poundage is there for all the world to see!

Well, I didn't let anything be my excuse to not go tonight to my meeting.  It would have been easy to say it was too cold or that I got home to late and just want to get into my jammies and relax...BUT, I had signed up to do the program tonight, so without me, there would be nothing planned.

So, despite the fact that I knew I didn't have a great week or try as hard as I'm capable of, I went.

I'm glad I did.....turns out my weekend of painting and swimming must have worked a bit.

Last week: 256.50 lbs

This week: 255.75 lbs

That's a loss of .75 lbs.

As for the program I put on tonight, I had the members do the Bed Sheet Workout.  I found it on Pinterest early last week and told them about it last Tuesday.  I told myself I would try it over the course of the week, but of course I didn't.  So, I gathered up my materials and made the 4 of us do it.

MAN!!! Was that a work out and we didn't even do the full 10 minutes, because I didn't prep any of us to come prepared to exercise.

This truly is a no excuses work out!  It can be done in 10 minutes, either sitting or standing and if a sheet is too much to handle, use something smaller like a towel.

Like I said, we didn't do the full 10 minutes, but we were all out of breath and now, less than 2 hours later, I can feel it in my shoulder blades.  I challenge you to try this one too!

So, this week, I hope to do this work out a bit more and focus on the food again.  Even if I can do well for a few days, is better than nothing.

You take my hand, 

and I'll take yours,

and we'll start out today.

For a helping hand is what we need to help us on our way.

The way to goal is a lonely road, 

we need someone to care.

Reach out my friend and take my hand, 

and then we're almost there!

The Truth Of Tuesday Night

I am an intelligent person

I will control my emotions,

not let my emotions control me.

Every time I am tempted to use food to satisfy my frustrated desires, build up my ego or dull my senses,

I will remember - even though I overeat in private,

my excess poundage is there for all the world to see!

So, it's been such a long time since I have faithfully gone to TOPS and weighed in.  I was there for our yearly Christmas potluck in
mid-December.

Last weigh-in: 250 lbs
This week: 256.50 lbs

That's a honkin' gain of 6.50 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, it's the new year and I have our monthly challenge lined up to keep me motivated!  I've got this!  I really plan to make progress this year.

Let's compare where I was last year versus this year

January 2014: 243.25 lbs
January 2015: 256.50 lbs

Overall gain of 13.25 lbs

I have my work cut out for me...not only do I need to lose weight, I have to make up ground from all my hard work last year.

I can do this though, I just have to focus and count on my challenge peeps to keep me focused!  They have been awesome at it so far!

Here is to a good week!  My TOPS goal is to get a star each week for the rest of the month.  To do that I have to lose weight or stay the same.

You take my hand, 

and I'll take yours,

and we'll start out today.

For a helping hand is what we need to help us on our way.

The way to goal is a lonely road, 

we need someone to care.

Reach out my friend and take my hand, 

and then we're almost there!