Drop the word cheat, replace it with "choice"

I chose this salad, the roll got sequestered.

 Wheat roll, just before the slam dunk in the trash, bye bye

I'm picking a rule, with a sub-rule from Refuse to Regain (by Barbara Berkeley, MD) to write about. My opinions are my own, your experience may vary.  I would highly recommend the book.

Replace the word cheat with choice. I always disliked the word cheat. Being the glasses wearing, test taking student that I was, I had my fair share of students in school trying to cheat from my paper. I disliked it a lot. Ask me for tips before the test, study with me, but try and cheat during the test- forget it. Find somebody else! Go away and stay away. What a waste of effort! Weak!

Anyhoo, the book talks about using the word cheat and how you can turn it into a "burden that's being imposed on you" rather than making the life long choice changes that need to come with weight maintenance.

The author recommends getting rid of the word cheat and owning the "I made a choice and I've got to deal with it".  I LOVE that. Ownership, responsibility, focus on your mental game, on steps to take to correct a failure ( think slippery slope thinking, lapses, loss of focus).

In the photos above, I chose a Cobb salad with no dressing, and a cup of coffee and ice water for the road (not pictured). I had been hiking all over the place, all afternoon. In the past, I would have chosen something similar with a cookie, and the roll. "I've earned this cookie/roll" or it won't hurt to eat/cheat this meal because I hiked sooooo long.  Or, I just weighed in at WW, I can have this cookie! It won't show up on the scale next week.....

Yeah, right! That so did not work for me.  Now I can choose  acceptable food from my basic paleo primal-ish template. I choose not to eat wheat or most processed sugar. I choose low inflammatory foods. And, those choices are paid back to me everyday. I own it. I choose to feel good, to have my clothes fit, and to focus on my goals- both weight and non-weight. Sweeter than any cookie or roll could ever be. Sometimes I lapse but I do not cheat.

Discuss!  I know is just wording, but how powerful is it to OWN it? Yeah! Stepping off soap box now....

6 and a half month maintenance check in

The months in maintenance are stacking up!

 

 

 

 

 

6 months and 2 weeks into maintenance

Current weight: 1.4 pounds below goal

Recent return from vacation: 2.5 pounds over goal weight

Root cause : not tracking food, higher sodium food, and too many golden raisins (fresh from Central Coast, CA)

Corrective action: start tracking food, carbs 50-100g

Preventive action: do not buy more than 1-2 servings of fruit that is that high in sugar at a time while traveling.

I'm still really happy about my commitment to weight maintenance and my ability to look the challenges and changes that life brings and find away to manage them. Yeah!  It's taken 40 years to get to this point. Very well worth it.  :)  Never easy, but easier this time and so worth it.  Sweeter than the golden raisins. ;)  Karen P.

Best Cities for Succesful Aging- link to website

The Commons has aged gracefully, Crystal Cove State Park, CA

I found this 2012 ranking calculator (because I LOVE data) for Best Cities for Successful Aging from the Milken Institute very interesting. Here's the link to the calculator.

Here is the link to the Successful Aging web page with PDF down loads and more.

Weight loss and weight maintenance play a huge part of my long term goals for health, fitness, and living as well as I can until I die. Sometimes it's hard to think about aging, health in my 50's and beyond.

It feels good to know that the work I'm doing now will help me down the road, hopefully, long and healthy. And it's fun to think about where I may travel or live in the future, too.

First time setting a "schedule" for my blog posts. Hope this works...

6 month Weight Maintenance check-in- post vacation

Red Rock Crab, Tide Pools, Pacific Grove, CA

6 months and 2 days into weight maintenance

Weight: 0.4 pounds over goal weight

71.6 pound loss maintained.

I feel fantastic. Just returned from a nice relaxing vacation with the usual 1 pound gain. I find that no matter how many of my own foods I purchase or bring with me, I always have 1-2 pounds of gain due to the higher sodium content of foods while traveling.

The immediate plan: eat in my regular routine, start food tracking by Wed if the weight is not under my goal weight or pre-vacation weight.

Feeling fantastic because the vacation was relaxing, needed, and I stayed on track with my weight goals, eating , and exercising. I also got a chance to spend time with family, friends, and with my camera(s).


The usual vacation strategies worked well: Bring my own food, buy some along the way, stop at a farmers market, choose places to eat that matched my food template, and making sure I had some healthy snacks with me. Adding in the usual walk a lot, take photos, and gym work out (when possible) and it all makes for easy return to normal.

Upon return from vacation: my first stop was at the grocery store for kale, asparagus, broccoli, shredded cabbage, etc. And my first thing to do after unpacking the car was to make some grilled mahi-mahi, kale, and a cabbage salad. So good. Now to restock my staples of eggs, avocados, and tomatoes.  So much different than the stuff I don't buy anymore  (for myself) like milk, bread, and cheese.

I would do a cartwheel in the side yard, but I know I'd end up flat on the lawn. LOL.  Weight Maintenance is still a LOT of work, but much more do-able than I thought it would be when I first started my weight loss.