The Battle of the Bulge

Since it's the end of the old year, and most of us have probably over-indulged our appetites and feel a bit packed into our pants, I thought a post on eating would cause us all to cringe, I mean, REJOICE!

A little over two years ago, I found myself the heaviest I'd ever been (except for my two pregnancies). I joined Weight Watchers and lost about 20 pounds after 6 months or so. Since then, I have gained about 10 back, bringing me to my current conclusion: weight control is a lifetime project! As a hedonist, I'll always be tempted to overindulge and/or under-exercise. Truthfully, however, I like to exercise, and I know not everyone does. I like the feeling of working my muscles and making sure they are in good enough shape to keep me able to do the physical things I love to do: volleyball, hiking, biking, hunting, fly fishing, skiing, pontooning, etc. An added bonus of my daily exercise is that I KNOW my metabolism is better than most women my age or even that of some younger women. While I was in Weight Watchers, I actually had to add calories to my daily quota, simply because I found myself too hungry and lacking energy if I didn't, and I still lost the one to two recommended pounds per week, and I'm positive it came from my exercise habits. So prepare to hear me harp on exercise! I have heard it said that if there were a magic health pill, it would be called "exercise," and I totally believe it.

My favorite health bible, "Younger Next Year" by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge, completely reiterates the magic effects of exercise over and over again. Crowley is 70-something, but has an internal age of 40-something. His exercise regime allows him to bike long distances competitively, and though he watches what he eats, he himself admits to hedonism and sometimes giving into the temptation to overindulge. The book lists seven "Harry's rules"; here I'm just going to list four, as the remaining rules have nothing to do with weight: 1. Exercise 6 days a week. 2. Do aerobic exercise 4 days a week. 3. Do strength training 2 days a week. 4. Quit eating crap. I'm pretty good about the first three, but I like crap, so I have modified rule 4 to say, "Eat crap in moderation." Which brings me to my second point (my first is EXERCISE, even if you hate it! It's necessary, period.): it's all about controlling portion size. I have friends who think they are controlling their portions, but I take one look at their helpings and nearly pass out with astonishment, and then they take seconds! That is NOT portion control! I believe in small helpings and very rarely take seconds. I have learned to leave food on my plate and throw it away. My health is more important that guilt trips learned as a child about starving children in Africa.

 So my first two points are practical and easily done, but the monkey wrench here involves Emotional Eating. Sometimes referred to as mindless eating or eating comfort foods. What about that? Those who never emotionally eat can't relate, but as a food rewarder, I understand emotional eating. It doesn't have me tightly in it's grip, but I do emotionally eat, especially when bored or feel I need a reward for hard/menial labor. What about that? To risk sounding overly simplistic and callus, DON'T emotionally eat. Do whatever it takes not to. Remove tempting food, get a new hobby, go for a walk, read a book, do a craft, take a hot bath, pray, eat only raw veggies for emotional eating, stay away from t.v. commercials, get a accountability buddy...brainstorm other alternatives.

So Peggy's rules are these: 1. Exercise 6 days a week-alternating aerobic and weight-bearing, no excuses. I walk three plus miles every other day, and do exercise videos in between walking days: 30-45 minutes a day-I'm too cheap to pay for a gym membership. 2. Keep portions small, and stop eating when full. 3. Don't buy much junk. 4. Have several books/hobbies going at all times, so they're easy to jump into, 5. Remember that food is meant to be enjoyed, so don't be a food Nazi-eat crap in moderation. And 6. Settle for less than perfect (I'm 50 and allow myself 10 extra pounds...no biggie), but don't let 10 pounds become 20, 30, etc. The more you exercise, the more you'll like it, trust me.
 "Exercise and temperance can preserve something of our early strength even in old age." Cicero (106 BC-43 BC) Roman orator and statesman. So we know what to do-exercise often, and eat in moderation. 'Nuff said.

Dr. Phil-isms

I love Dr. Phil. I rarely watch his program, but every time I do, I am impressed with his wisdom and forthrightness. I love it when he says, "To continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results is the height of insanity." Amen. Here are a few of my other favorites:

"Awareness without action is worthless."
"Failure is no accident."
"If you want more, you have to require more from yourself."
And finally this one: "Your feelings? To he** with your feelings!" Oh...ooops, maybe not that one :)

I guess what I really like about Dr. Phil is that he squarely places responsibility for our lives in our own laps, right where it belongs! WE are the only people who can change our lives for the better. We can continue to blame everything in the universe for our "bad luck," circumstances, or the short straw we've drawn, but truthfully, that sort of blame does nothing for us. We CAN change our lives for the better, but it takes courage to admit we need to fix some stuff, and action to make productive, positive steps in the right direction. All we need is motivation, and that isn't always readily available to us. We need to figure out how to harness what motivates us. I have found that if I somehow realize that Rome wasn't built in a day, and small, positive changes, over time, accrue into HUGE changes, I become excited and motivated.

For most of my adult life, I struggled with the realization that I waste time and procrastinate, with the ready excuse of over-busyness. Well, who made me too busy? I did. Now that I've become much smarter (at 50, you will become much smarter too), I don't overschedule. I realize that I hate being too busy, and when I am too busy, I fall into self pity, and then reward myself with silly, time-wasting entertainment, to compensate for the overwork I feel bombarded with. Most of the time, I over-volunteered. Volunteering is good, even necessary, to a point, but when it begins to suck you dry, it's time to pull the plug on it.

So let's get to motivation. I personally have discovered that IF I write down what I want to change in my life, and then ask myself, "what is ONE thing I can do TODAY, that will move me in the right direction?" For example, I scheduled a coaching session with my brother (coaches NEED coaching as much, maybe even MORE than the average person) and I expressed the desire make it a regular habit to keep up with my scrap booking. First of all, he asked me the question, "what's stopping you from scrap booking?" After I thought about it for awhile, I realized I was focusing at the end result of having ALL my scrapbooks completed, and what effort and tasks that would entail, so I found the whole process completely overwhelming. He then asked me, "what steps would it take to get started?", and we began to brainstorm, together, how I could implement small, doable tasks that would get me going. 

What a relief! I stopped thinking of the whole job and instead concentrated on ONE thing at a time I could do to move me in the right direction. That coaching session was 6 months ago, and I have since completed 2 scrapbooks, working at them little by little until they were done. I have many more to do, BUT it doesn't matter. I don't care WHEN I finish them, just that I am working at my goal little by little and am not overwhelmed. Better yet, I'm totally enjoying the PROCESS, not just having completed albums. I do the same thing with any future event that stresses me out. I now implement a list of all the activities that must be done for the event to take place, and start mapping out a calendar of each day leading up to the event, and what I will do that day. For example, when my daughter scheduled her wedding day, the prospect of putting on a wedding terrified me. Rather than panic, my daughter and I got together, wrote down EVERYTHING that we needed to do (thank God I have a hard-working, diligent, and highly practical child), and broke it down into a schedule. We accomplished it all, and in spite of the usual mishaps, the wedding pretty much met our expectations.

So what stresses you out about your life today? If you could change ONE thing about your life, what would it be? Write it down. What is ONE thing you could do this week, today even, that would move you one step closer to realizing change in that area. Then do it. Take your second step tomorrow, repeat, and you will begin padding purposefully down the river of life, rather than hanging up on the sandbar of disorganization and procrastination. Again, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are accomplishments. They are made up of small, deliberate, daily steps taken regularly, and that is ENTIRELY do-able!