Tonight (January 4, 2023) as I was sitting in between people who were eating things that aren't for me, I had this thought: "Being overweight is hard. Resisting temptation is hard. Choose your hard." Just thinking that really helped me--I was choosing the hard of not eating things that weren't for my good health over the hard of continuing to be less healthy/overweight, and it actually made it feel not hard! So I thought I'd share my experience. It's based on a great little quote:
“Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.
Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.
Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.
Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.
Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”
Unknown
Another insight that I had that was helpful to me:
Today (January 30, 2023) while I was thinking about the challenge of being restricted in what I eat, I remembered that at church yesterday our speaker said that all commandments and standards given to us bless us when they are put into practice. He also said that commandments free us from the bondage of sin and give us more freedom. I sat there in the congregation thinking that I wholeheartedly agreed. Commandments are such a great blessing and not restricting but freeing.
So today the thought came to me that I have "food commandments" that if I follow will be a blessing to me, give me more freedom, and free me from the bondage of food addiction and many health problems. I hope to keep this thought in my mind to help me realize the lines aren't restrictive but freeing.
If we see healthy eating and exercise as something only our doctor expects of us, we will likely fail. If we see these choices as who we are and who we want to become, we have a greater chance of staying the course and succeeding....
When our attention is mainly focused on our daily successes or failures, we may lose our way, wander, and fall. Keeping our sights on higher goals will help us become better sons and brothers, kinder fathers, and more loving husbands....
My dear friends and brethren, no matter how many times you have slipped or fallen, rise up! Your destiny is a glorious one! Stand tall and walk in the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine. You can do it now!
~You Can Do It Now! by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Priesthood session General Conference October 2013)
Eliza R. Snow:
"Let every sister be energetic in carrying out this movement, let plainness, with respect to food become fashionable, make no apology for not having a greater variety, the time has come when we must live for holy purposes. We are not here by chance, we must prove ourselves faithful; the time has come when we must lay the foundation for the prolongation of life, our diet has much to do with it. Overloading one's stomach with a variety of food is not healthy we have not that clearness of intellect, we should eat slowly, and take time to masticate our food well. Said there are many evils arising from our present mode of entertaining our friends, it fosters ambition and pride.
The mode we should adopt saves time; has a purifying tendency, we need not be definite as to what our food is, but let it be plain and wholesome as far as daily living is concerned there is no need of speaking
" If our living was plainer our babies would be stronger and our minds more active, we should take care of our bodies and spend more time in refreshing our minds".
Weigh ins over the years:
college low 160's
1-21-89 143 lbs (wedding day)
4-1990 birth of 1st child weight up but don't know by how much 15-20 lbs?
~3-1991 about 145 lbs (after doing Weight Watchers)
8-8-92 156 (about 8 1/2 months after 2nd child born)
3-3-96 172 (about 3 months after 4th child born)
8-18-01 168 (about 10 months after 5th child born)
3-4-03 188
4-26-04 186
5-28-05 195 (my highest weight)
1-25-06 185
1-2-07 167
6-19-08 174
7-31-09 180
5-16-10 175.5
10-10-11 174
1-1-12 180.5
2013 ?
2-3-14 ~193
1-1-15 172.0
1-1-16 172.5
1-1-17 193.0
1-1-18 181.5
1-1-19 156.5 (had started Bright Line Eating-BLE- in June 2018)
3-1-19 149.0 for four days lowest I had been since pregnant with 2nd child
1-4-20 160.0 (then my dad died and then COVID hit)
2021 ? (I had thrown out all my weight charts since my weight never varied much)
1-1-22 177.5 (high for 2022 was 182.5 in May)
1-1-23 151.2 (had started low carb, intermittent fasting, some BLE end of August 2022)
1-21-23 147.4 (our 34th anniversary)
2-23-23 144.0 (after 31 3/4 years of being in the overweight/obese category, I am now "normal" weight-now if I can just stay there)
My high weight for 2022 was 182.5 (and for my life was 195 which I've reached several times). I weighed 182.5 on May 27. I lost almost 40 pounds by the end of the year. YouTube videos from Dr. Sten Ekberg and a few others have been a huge help in my journey.
My current Eating Plan is a mixture of The Daniel Plan (my newest find that I'm still figuring out), Bright Line Eating (BLE), and Low Carb Higher Fat (LCHF) eating, Intermittent Fasting, with usually 2 meals a day in the time frame of about 6 hours (e.g. 9 am to 3 pm, or 11 am to 5pm) and an avocado for "dinner."
A typical breakfast being 6 oz of fruit (usually berries), a handful of chopped pecans, 2 eggs, butter or coconut oil, sautéed vegetables (mushrooms, green onions, red bell pepper).
"Linner" is about 1.5 oz of spring mix greens, chopped red bell pepper, English cucumber, cilantro, drizzled with EVOO and a bit of salad dressing, and maybe some avocado, hard boiled egg, cooked chicken. Sometimes if I feel the need for something a little later, I eat 1/2 to 1 avocado.
Exercise Plan is a water exercising classes 2-3 mornings a week with a hand weight routine that is done 2-3 non-pool mornings/week. When the weather gets nicer, it will probably include riding bikes again.
Language Study Plan is still being worked on. I do Duolingo everyday but I need to get back on a daily Mandarin Blueprint study plan.
Piano is basic for now. Practice at least one hymn daily.
Morning scripture study includes a chapter in the Book of Mormon, one General Conference talk, and the Come, Follow Me New Testament assignment for the week (which I have made a reading schedule for). I have a notebook for writing my thoughts from the New Testament lessons.
I also have the goal to edit and add to my previous posts on Turning Our Hearts, my family history blog. When the editing is done, I'd like to print what I have posted.
And majorly, I need to do a better job in ministering. And in keeping in touch with my family.
Other quotes I like for motivation:
Patience. Persistence. Prayer.
One day or day one. It's your choice.
Fear is always best replaced with a plan.
You can't exercise your way out of a bad diet.
If you want success, figure out the price and pay it.
Health is not something that happens automatically.
Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret.
Sometimes fear does not subside and you must do it afraid.
Anything that doesn't take us closer to our goal is a distraction.
A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there.
Big things happen when you consistently do the little things right.
Think of calories like money. Spend them wisely. ~Dr. Daniel Amen
If the food doesn't serve your health, get rid of it. ~Dr. Daniel Amen
You'd better want the consequences of what you want. ~Neal A. Maxwell
It is the lies that you tell yourself that keep you in chains. ~Dr. Daniel Amen
When you become aware, you become responsible. ~Susan Pierce Thompson
Use only that which works and take it from any place you can find it. ~Bruce Lee
We all have a sad story. You're either going to use it as motivation or as an excuse.
Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end. ~Robin Sharma
Failure is normal; it will happen. Don't allow failure to steal your hope. ~Dave Ramsey
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. ~Stephen R. Covey
There is always an excuse to hurt yourself. You need to find an excuse not to. ~Dr. Daniel Amen
Love yourself enough to deny yourself whatever it is that is keeping you unhealthy and unhappy.
Excuses make today easy, but tomorrow harder. Discipline makes today hard, but tomorrow easier.
You are consuming the nutrients that are helping you, or the toxins that hurt you. ~Dr. Daniel Amen
Life is somehow a dance between the events happening to us and our ability to adapt to them. ~Aneta Grabiec
The reason why people give up so fast is because they tend to look at how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have gotten.
In order to lose weight you need to get healthy. Weight loss will become the side effect of healthy living, not the focus! ~Aneta Grabiec
“It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” ~Hugh Laurie
It is possible that the greatest character trait of people who win is simply perseverance.
They are usually not smarter.
They usually don't have higher IQs.
They usually didn't go to a fancy-schmancy school.
They usually don't have rich parents.
They simply course-correct and NEVER QUIT.
~Dave Ramsey
Without self-control, your schedule will be managed by your opportunities and not your priorities. If you don't decide how your time is spent, other people will decide for you. Your time is important because once it's gone, you'll never get it back. ~Daniel Plan Devotional
Quotes from "O My Venus:"
"Sleeping, eating, walking, moving...you have to re-do everything. The accumulation of all your repetitious habits, that is what brought on your illness and probably made your body the way it is." (4/45:20)
"If you eat all that sugar your body will curse you." (5/28:00)
"Is your body only single use? Are you going to use it only one day and throw it away? Since it's something you'll use for a lifetime, wouldn't it be better if it was healthy and fine?" (7/7:00)
"Something simple that you can do often is the best exercise." (7/31:55)
"The inside is more important than the outside." (12/31:50)
"Being healthy is the sexiest." (13/38:30)
"Being in pain is not easy.... Not letting that stop us and giving it a try, not letting that stop us and having faith, and also working hard for it, isn't that what living is? What in life is guaranteed? If you walk, there's a chance you might fall. Just because we might be unhappy is no reason to not be happy, right?" (16/32:30)
