Diet Pulpit

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Tags: blissful moon, blog

My plan for maintaining my healthy weight is to stick to the rules and habits I have put in place along my journey to health – three healthy meals a day (no snacks); no nibbling, no sugar, continuing to keep a food journal and making wise, healthy choices each and every day, continuing with qi gong exercise and when the weather is nice chi walking outdoors. My daily calorie intake I am allowing 100 to 200 more a day (and will see how this works out and adjust as needed). I plan on weighing in once a week (during the losing phase I would weighin 2 to 3 times a week, but only the once a week weighin was the “official” one). I am also incorporting more green smoothies and lovely teas into my healthy options. I am also continuing to focus on cultivating health in all aspects of my life and surroundings, not just my body, such as focusing on mindfulness and living in the moment, gratitude, love.

Along with more green smoothies, herbal teas, and homemade whole grain breads (using my new bread machine), I want to incorporate more vegetarian and vegan dishes. This weekend I will be making a lentil dish with spinach, carrots, onion and mushrooms – I will post the recipe later this week.

Week 2 -134 lb (Jan 15)

With my new found energy I will be putting more time and energy into putting my house on a diet – getting rid of clutter, organizing, and not consuming unnecessary junk. So far this year I’ve given away several large bags of clothes that no longer fit. This weekend I plan on putting together as many boxes as I can for pick up by a veterans organization – they take household items, clothing, and other things.

Looking forward to accomplishing more of my goals in the year ahead!

Bright blessings, Lady Rose

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Tags: goals, maintenance, organizing, weighin

On New Year’s Day one of our family traditions is to browse a big mall, window shop, look for after the holiday bargains, enjoy one piece of Godiva chocolate each, and have fun together as a family. This year we chose the King of Prussia (in PA) mall and there was a new free service that I tried out, a My True Fit booth. It’s a large booth that you stand in and your body is scanned. It takes about a minute or two for the computer to print out a list of what size you are for various brands and what store they are in. You can imagine my surprise that for two brands (Lee and Gloria Vanderbilt) I am now a size 6. For most of the brands listed I ranged from a size 8 to 11, and one size 11 and another a size 12. The actual number doesn’t really matter, but it was a nice surprise to see it in print. It will also make shopping a bit easier when I go shopping for a piece of clothing since I can just start with the size suggested – the list included shops like Sears, Old Navy, and a few others that I do shop at once in awhile when there are good sales.

I haven’t bought clothing that is a “size” in decades. When I was overweight when clothing got worn out or too tight I would just buy whatever I could find on sale and was the least expensive in a size 1x – 2x – and at my highest weight 308 lbs I was wearing a 3x. My closest, drawers, and several containers were stuffed with a variety of clothing sizes (which I have now almost completely cleaned out and donated what no longer fits). On my journy to a healthier weight along the way I did the same thing in reverse, buying extra large and large. Currently I now buy mediums and smalls. I still wear several of the large size items even though they are too big, but I don’t have that many things to wear yet. Eventually I will weed out the rest of the items that are too big as I build my new wardrobe with items on sale. I have also been fortunate that a woman at work has been passing along several tops and sweaters that she no longer wears.

It took over 90 weeks to achieve my goal, but each day was worth it and making healthy, positive choices each and every one of those days paid off.

Bright blessings, Cynthia

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Tags: clothing size, measurements, weight loss

The last two weeks of December I took two weeks vacation and indulged in time to relax and enjoy life. The holidays were filled with love, family, friends, a little snow, fun gifts, a concert, a comedy show, and on New Year’s Day I reached my second goal of 135 lb (on the scale 134.5). This year, 2011, I will be focusing on continuing to improve my overall health and maintaining my weight – it is definitely exciting!

I had a gastric bypass surgery followup appointment two days after my weighin week 93 and my weighin at the office (138 lbs) was only a 1/2 lb more than my home scale so I was just under my first goal (140 lbs) for the “official” medical weighin too. The doctor also said that going for my secondary goal of 135 lbs was definitely ok. For my general overall health I had my long overdue mamogram (and the results were all good). I bought a lot of big containers and started the huge task of sorting and organzing the over abundance of stuff in my house – my 2011 goal is putting my house on a diet and clearing the clutter and junk. I went through almost all of my clothes and gave away the items that no longer fit (all too big!). I still have some boxes of clothes upstairs and a closet to go through, but at least I made a big dent in the piles that were in the bedroom.

Week 94 136.5 lbs 12/26/10
Week 95 134.5 lbs 1/1/11 (reached 2nd goal!) TOTAL LOST 172 lbs
**********
Maintenance begins:
Week 1: 135 lbs 1/8/11

Note: I now weigh about what I was over 40 years ago when I was 14 years old and started trying to diet to weigh the “perfect 120 lbs” for my height – a long way from my hightest weight in Jan 09 of 308 lbs and over 96 weeks ago; and the weight I was when I first started this blog on May 1, 2006 – Weight 293.5 lbs. It took almost five years to accomplish, but the journey was worth it.

Our family New Year’s tradition is we visit a big mall and browse for bargains, window shop, check out the latest gadgets, and have a great time. We rarely shop the rest of the year and hardly ever go to the mall so for us it is a treat. This year I indulged in shopping at Teavana (a very fancy tea shop). I tried the two samples they had brewed and liked them so decided to invest in a lovely glass tea maker (Teavana Camellia Cylindre Glass Tea Maker) and the two teas (Teavana Youthberry and Wild Orange Blossom Tea Blendand Teavana Ayurvedic Chai/Samurai Chai Mate Tea Blend). I have always wanted to find a tea that I could enjoy – the idea of sipping warm herbal mixtures has always been something I wanted to do and felt very earthy and magical in a witchy sort of way. However, regular teas always upset my stomach and never tasted very good. I tried dozens of tea bag varieties over the decades. I am not sure why the loose leaf tea and herbal blends at Teavana are different, perhaps my body and tastebuds have changed or the blends happened to be just right that day – but whatever the reason I am glad I finally found teas I can enjoy. Both of these are white tea blends, but I am looking forward to trying different blends in the coming months. The health benefits of tea are many, including antioxidants, fighting cancer, lowering fat, reducing stress, and more.

I am also looking forward to trying out my new bread machine that arrived this week. I am looking forward to making healthy, whole grain breads without preservatives and other addivites. After reading all the reviews, this was the machine that hands down is the one that is most highly recommended: Zojirushi BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme Breadmaker Bakers Bundle. It has a two paddles (so everythingi mixes well), can make a larger loaf (2 lbs), can handle gluten-free bread, quick start and sour dough recipes, and also has settings for jams.

It has been a long journey but every choice and each and every day have all been worth it. I am feeling great and looking forward to spending quality time filled with love, laughter, and health with my family and friends.

Bright Blessings to all, Lady Rose

Update: Just for fun here are my measurements now compared to when I started (101.5 inches LOST!):
Chest 36″ (under breasts 46″); Waist 28.5″; Hips 40″
(Lost chest – 18″; waist -18.5 “; hips -23″)
Arms: left upper arm 12″; right upper arm 12.5″
(lost left arm = -7.5″; right arm -6.5″)
Legs: left upper thigh 20.5″; right upper thigh 21″
(lost left thigh =14″; right thigh -14″)

Starting Measurements: (5/1/06)
Chest 54″ (under breasts 46″); Waist 47″; Hips 63″
Arms: left upper arm 19.5″; right upper arm 19″
Legs: left upper thigh 34.5″; right upper thigh 35″

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Tags: bread making, goals, tea, weighin

Wise Woman Life Lesson – New Year Resolutions: When setting goals and New Year Rsolutions, chose only a few to focus on, break them down into manageable steps, and don’t stress over unrealisstic deadlines or obstacles.

There are a 100 resolutions and goals I’d like to do, but I have learned that most things that catch my attention are fleeting and when I try to take on too many things nothing gets done because I feel overwhelmed and pulled in too many directions at once. What works for me is to have only a few goals with long term potential that can be broken down into small doable steps to create overall positive changes in my life, my home, and my family’s quality of life. That way I can keep focused, manage my time and energy to get things accomplished without the added pressure or guilt from too strict of a time frame and tasks that are unrealistic in size and scope.

For 2009 and 2010 I focused on only one resolution – regaining my health and losing the excess weight that I had been struggling with for decades. I lost 170 lbs by sticking with a plan, making one choice at a time, handling one day at time, and not letting anything deter me from my goal.

My 2011 New Year’s Resolutions I am focusing on the three resolutions that will improve my life the most:

Body – continue to improve my health and take good care of myself, maintain a healthy weight and get regular exercise.
Mind – focus on hearth and home. As I improve my physical health and inner spiritual life I want my home to reflect and nurture the positive changes. Also less clutter means a more peaceful mind and less stres.
Spirit – continue practicing and taking classes in qi gong. In 2010 I took my first class and incorporated daily qi gong practices. My long term goal is of course to do qi gong healing, and perhaps by 2012 organize a healing circle that would meet monthly, and long term I hope to be able to teach qi gong.

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Tags: goals, health, New Years, resolution