Over 1000 page views celebration! My best tips in my 2 year journey for weight loss!

 

This week, I started the plan over, (yes for the one millionth time). I also bought the 7 day detox kit from GNC (see my earlier blogs). I am on day 5 of both the detox and “The Plan.” I have not had any sugar or wine (eek!) either just because I sincerely think that I am (or was) addicted to sugar. While I was indulging myself and feeling sorry for myself the past month, I would have a few glasses of wine, and some sort of small chocolate several times a week. This week I’m doing good! (So far!)  This week, I also did my personal training followed by the training for warriors program that I am trying out at galaxy fitness. It is very intense and I do think that it has its benefits. There are still pros to doing personal training for me because no one pushes me harder than Brad (and I need that) and I don’t cheat on something when I am doing it in front of Brad.  I am highly motivated to do it correctly and get my “good girl” at the end. What can I say? I am well trained, perhaps.

 

So, what are the most important things that can help you to lose weight? Complete strangers ask me all the time what my secret is. Well, as you all know the first thing that rocked my world was “The Wheat Belly” by William Davis. It cured my insulin resistance, helped with my thyroid, helped with my blood pressure and resulted in a large initial weight loss. I still say that gluten and wheat are evil and you should avoid them at all costs. If you insist on eating bread, get a book on the glycemic index- see how sugars in your body are being jacked up by eating certain foods- like bread. Remember, eating a piece of bread is like eating a candy bar, so if you’re eating your multigrain tuna fish sandwich from subway everyday for lunch and wonder why your not losing weight. Well, there you go.

 

Food is everything. I had a reaction to mustard yesterday. A small one- but enough that I couldn’t lose weight because my body was in a state of inflammation, inside.  “Internal” reactions may not show up like an allergy. A sneeze or an itch may or may not appear. Some people have bloating or a stomach ache after eating dairy products. Other people may not notice it because they have damaged their bodies for so long, but each time they drink a glass of milk, inflammation appears and you can say forget it to weight loss. This is the basis of “The Plan” that I have talked about by Lyn Genet Recitas. There are foods such as salmon, greek yogurt, and oatmeal that you think are healthy but could be secretly sabotaging you. If you don’t believe me, eliminate certain foods from your diet and keep a food diary. The two times these past several months I followed “The Plan” the whole way through 20 days, each time I lost 13 pounds. Numbers don’t lie.

 

But Sarah, (you whine), aren’t there any simple tips you have for weight loss and better health? Why yes, there is. First of all, I drink half my body weight in ounces, each day. So if you weight 100 pounds, you need to drink 50 ounces of water each day. Many, many, different health experts agree about getting enough water. Sleep is absolutely crucial!!! You must get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. Your body needs that time to process your food, and recover from the day's activities. If you are regularly not getting enough sleep, don't bother getting on the scale.I promise you that while you are tired and playing catch up, inside your body is struggling too and you will not be able to lose weight. It has happened to me over and over. Also, I take a 20 billion or above probiotic every day. Wal Mart has an ultra flora 30 billion probiotic for $18. Probiotics help the balance of the intestines, and can help with stomach problems as well. Further, probiotics help the flora in your digestive tract to maintain a natural balance and break down foods. Foods like dairy or wheat can be hard on the system and help restore balance. I also drink a lot of green tea (lots of antioxidants and what not) as well as other teas. Dandelion tea and detox teas with help clear the toxins from your liver and are also teas I highly recommend. I also drink ginger tea, being that ginger is a natural anti inflammatory. Giant Eagle and your larger grocery stores have a huge selection of medicinal sort of teas over in their pharmacy section. Check it out! Ginger and carrots are a big part of “The Plan” because they are both really helpful in bringing down internal inflammation.  My final small tip is eating more vegetables. Seriously, I eat a salad every day and for dinner have a huge serving of fresh vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, squash, etc. When I say vegetables, I’m not talking about your starchy potatoes, your corn on the cob (corn has no nutritional value at all by the way), or your canned peas, ok? Put those away. Stop calling them vegetables. They are not going to help you. Go buy some fresh green beans, asparagus, onions, carrots, kale or broccoli (if you don’t have thyroid issues kale or broccoli will work). Anything fresh. Not starch. Not in a can. I’m serious here, this is important. I lost the most weight when I had two at least 1 cup servings of vegetables a day (one of those can be salad, but you can’t eat all salad. Also, if you are drenching the salad with cheese, dressing, and well, crap then just forget it). A variety of fresh vegetables provides fiber and other antioxidants and vitamins that I can not even begin to tell you the value of. I also eat one or two fruits a day as well.

 

Exercise: How much do I need? What should I start with? If you are just starting exercise, try to do some bodyflow or any combo of yoga and pilates together. Try a cardio class that you like or a lifting class that you enjoy. Just get into the gym a few days a week, and do a class or even get on the treadmill for 20 mins. If you’ve never exercised before, start easy and find things that you like. The point is to get moving. As you go along, you will see that sustained weight loss, and serious results must be done when combining cardio with strength training. There are a thousand articles out there about this. I found the same to be true for myself which is why I am trying to do the TFW a few days a week. It is both cardio and strength training at the same time which will help build muscle and burn fat. The types of exercises that are done (lunge presses for example) have been shown in particular to burn belly fat. Belly fat is the hardest for me and for everyone. Weight lifting or strength training exercises with cardio and when possible, combining the two at the same time by doing kettle bell exercises, box pushes, squat presses, or doing a circuit (i.e. combination of something like a sprint or run a few laps, do some pushups, then do some squats presses, then repeat the three exercises three times) will help you to get the most out of your workout. Kettle bells are pretty amazing things that can even be done from home that also combine strength and cardio.

 

 In the new class, Training for Warriors (TFW) I feel a little intimidated. I am not the most athletic person there, although everyone seems nice. Nate, (another personal trainer at the gym, and in fact he is my son’s personal trainer and is also excellent at what he does. I highly recommend him as well), is the TFW coach and he knows a thousand different fucking pushups I swear I thought I was going to die. Also, he mentioned something about chin ups which at my weight, a chin up seems…impossible….I don’t want to relive my high school gym class days of me feeling like the fattest person there, and also the only person who can’t climb the rope or stand on the balance beam or do a “chin up.” So basically I love it and hate it at the same time. It kicks my ass, but I’m still insecure (so sue me). I’ll keep you posted as I continue to do some more classes next week. More on that and the continued success of the plan (I’m down 4.6 pounds this week in 5 days whoo hoo!) in my next post! Thanks for reading and I hope some of my tips helped you! Stay healthy!

Change. Being tired, afraid, and crabby. (Did I mention crabby?)

A few weeks ago, I have made a huge decision that has turned my life upside-down. I decided to leave my job, of six years, at Half Price Books, for another job that is higher paying and seemingly less stressful work. Without going into too much detail I will tell you that I started out at Half Price when they first opened their store in Monroeville, PA. There was nothing but concrete and drywall. I literally helped build and shape that store over the past 6 years. I had been working on my MBA when I started there, after three months was a supervisor,  and by the time I had finished my degree I had moved up to Assistant Manager.  My main reason for leaving is the overwhelming amount of student loans that I have to pay and the new job has a  higher pay with a possibility of overtime (not to mention weekends and holidays off) which is very tempting. I also feel the need to say that my opinions are my own; they do not represent half price books, my current job, or any other company/affiliation. These thoughts are my own.

 

I’m a high maintenance type of person, (I hate to admit). I worry about insignificant things and often handle change by controlling a situation and my stubborn willpower. Which is good in most cases; for example I would have never lost all of this weight, stabilized my thyroid, got off the evil blood pressure medicine, and so on so forth if I wasn’t determined to change my life. I had many roadblocks including some doctors just flat out telling me I couldn’t do it so willpower overcame the obstacles. I still have moments of weakness though, especially in situations where I can’t control or change something.

 

As I result of this new situation, I have unfortunately not lost any weight in the past few weeks (I went on vacation in July, and then since I have been back have been dealing with all of this) so for the past 3 weeks to a month have stayed where I am. I also have indulged myself more than I usually do- I had ice cream (which also explodes my body) and I also ate at McDonalds. Anyone that knows me personally knows how out of character that is for me. Indulging for me, this entire year, has been maybe eating some dark chocolate, or maybe a piece of chocolate cake. Fried foods and bread (yes bread! What the ??#$@?$#) when did I start eating bread???@@#$$ I haven’t had any bread since I stopped eating wheat yet I allowed myself a mountain pie on vacation (completely understandable) and indulged on a quarter pounder meal while agonizing over what decision to make and allowed myself an ice cream the day before.

 

So, the queen of self discipline has a kink in her armor you say! Haha! Not as perfect as you think you are! So why does our bodies crave sugar, carbs, and down right greasy goodness when we are stressed out? It’s scientific! Your adrenal glands will release cortisol when you are either tired or stressed. The cortisol release will also result in cravings for sugar or caffeine. An interesting article I found discusses this sugar/stress/inflammation connection. And as well all know, if you have constant inflammation, it prevents your body from losing weight. Here’s what happens as NOURISH Health Consulting © 2013 explains it so elegantly:

“ Sugar causes Inflammation. Food allergies cause inflammation. If it is something that is eaten frequently such as sugar, dairy and wheat, we can have consistent low to high grade inflammation going on almost all the time. The adrenals are consistently under pressure to produce cortisone to keep the inflammation under control as much as possible. The body also produces cholesterol to help compensate for the increase inflammation. Quitting the Bad Sugars and refined carbohydrates that cause much of the inflammation is a huge step in achieving optimal health. ”

“Lack of ENERGY —>Fatigue—> Need to take afternoon naps—>Cravings for sugar or caffeine to force the adrenals to give the energy that is lacking.” http://www.quadratonez.com/quitsugar1/?page_id=731

Don’t be surprised when you reach for a cookie or hamburger and coke when you are under a large amount of stress. Emotional eating during stress may happen but don’t let it become a habit; but don’t allow yourself to wallow. Don’t allow yourself to fall into despair and eating something to make yourself feel better. If you have a job that has chronic stress and you feel that it is unavoidable to grab the candy from the break room or grab that cup of coffee all I can tell you is that as soon as it becomes a lifestyle for you it will result in it affecting your health.

Having said all of that of that wonderful advice, I  have to admit to having been chronically crabby, tired, and miserable for a good month. I have been at my new job for 3 weeks and so far have been working a super early shift that I am not used to. The result is me not getting enough sleep, craving sugars, being tired, and not going to the gym as much. I am actually really disgusted with myself at this moment. My trainer wanted to see what my progress has been (take measurements) from the past two months but I held him off- I already know I haven’t lost any weight. I have spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself, being stressed out, and “treating myself” which is very out of character for me. It seems like I am either losing 20 pounds at a time or not losing any weight at all. That has been the pattern of this year. Jan-Feb I lost 20 or so pounds give or take. March and April I lost nothing at all. May and June approximately I started “the plan” and lost another 20 plus pounds. June through now??? Well, not much. I feel stronger, and cardio wise I can run 3 miles without stopping so I am in fantastic cardio health.

I guess I will refocus on the plan and focus on getting some sleep now that my shift is changing to a more normal shift for me. I have signed myself up for an ass-kicking the next two weeks I am pretty excited about. Galaxy Fitness now offers “training for warriors”- it isn’t to be confused with crossfit because it isn’t quite as “insane” in my opinion- it does do a lot of the strength and cardio combined training that I do in my personal training sessions. If you are a galaxy member in Irwin who reads my blog, it is free for two weeks offering a variety of class times starting Monday Sept. 9^th so sign up for a free class or two! I’ll be there so come say hi if you are a member! No matter where you go to the gym if you are interested in personal training (or having a weekly ass kicking as I like to say) ask for a free session with a trainer- almost any gym/trainer will do that!

 

My friend that I spoke of in my last blog, Tabby, lost her battle with cancer this past week. My heart goes out to her family and friends, and the whole state of Texas, because they lost a state treasure. I am grateful for my brief time with her. She was one of the first friends I had who made me feel like I was worth something- and made me feel better about myself despite my large size. I feel like I owe it to her and other friends/family I have lost to cancer over the years, to live my life to the fullest and to be as healthy as I can. To do everything I never thought I could do and face my fears and insecurities. To have an amazing life. To be amazing means never saying “that’s good enough.” It means never settling for less. I wrote this in a goodbye letter to the fantastic people at half price books. But it applies to everyone- and maybe, just maybe, I need to take my own advice. Be happy and healthy my friends! Next time: All of my BEST WEIGHT LOSS TIPS in celebration of having over 1000 pageviews!