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Old 09-18-2011, 10:10 AM   #1  
Wandering in the Woods
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Default "The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step"

Greetings Everyone. I come here feeling very unhappy. Today I woke with a sad and low realization that my whole physical problem is out of control. How I know this is that I am sabotaging my every effort unconsciously. One day I resolve, and by the end of that day I have forgotten completely. Not just cheating, but forgot. I realize the brain works in mysterious ways, but this is indeed out of control.

Also, I realize that I am far too sedentary now. Sure, I may go for a 40 to 60 minute hike 4 or 5 times a week, but when I'm not hiking, I'm on the computer or sitting, eating, or feet-up-on-the-couch knitting. On top of that, I sleep 8 hours every night (always have though, even when I was really fit ).

I am shocked to realize what a sedentary person I've become as the last decade has molded me from a pretty active person into a very sedentary one. I've got to figure out how to better use my time, because inertia physically creates inertia in the mind, and cycling around, worsening gradually. I feel life is slipping away from me as I'm turning into a beached whale incrementally, though certainly not unnoticingly. I am so inflexible... it's scary. I mean really scary. I feel like I'm slowly suffocating and being crushed to death by my own weight. I need help , and going to have to make some decisions.

In a few months I turn fifty, so I think I'll just get a head start and hang out here. I really need the more secluded forums as I feel easily overwhelmed by the large main one. I did come here some months ago, introducing myself , but like my eating plans, forgot. I will come here EVERY MORNING now, promise, because this is going to be a long and challenging and very difficult journey, and I am going to need to hunker down with the experienced ~ and to just make the choice to be in control, every single morning.

Last edited by Hermit Girl; 09-18-2011 at 11:23 AM.
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Old 09-18-2011, 10:57 AM   #2  
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Hermit Girl - sounds to me like you've got a good plan in place to begin your weight loss/get healthy journey. Don't look back, but instead, focus on he here and now. What type of program are you following? What are your main stumbling blocks? How can we help you overcome them?
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Old 09-18-2011, 11:09 AM   #3  
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Thank you Jane. This thread is paramount to my focus. For now, I have no real diet plan, but Lifestyle Changes I am trying to incorporate :

Eat fruit first
Eat protein ~hardboiled egg, chunk of grilled chicken in the fridge, handful of nuts
Eat SuperFoods (leaving little apetite left for anything but)
Mindfulness~ 'what about no butter/icecream do you not understand?'
Walk daily ( even if only 15 minutes, I live in the woods, have trails at my doorstep, and a dog walking companion)
Begin floor exercises with stretching (omg... I can't believe this one is stumping me)
Veggies for dinner (just sample the entree, if at all)

That is my simplified weightloss plan so far. Anything I'm missing? I think I keep skipping into the 'maintenance' mode , 'a little icecream, a little butter is okay'... but I have got to let those comforts go for a good long time. I am not sure about 'splurging' on dinner out once a week or month, or whatever, just to allow myself a piggout...for a piggout is not a part of my ultimate lifestyle... ever. I am through with pigouts.

Last edited by Hermit Girl; 09-18-2011 at 11:27 AM.
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Old 09-18-2011, 11:13 AM   #4  
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Oh, I've got to learn to recognise my (now often) pigout impulses *before* they happen, and feed myself fruit or tea or any number of good things first. Veggies and yogurt dip... anything. Oh, and drink water.

I realize I eat out of a sense of lethargy, loneliness, excitement ~ anything to sedate or wake me up. I have used food as my way to experience life. I guess I'm rather afraid of what might be left in it's absence, if I were to control my impulses.

I'm such a nervous personality, a worrier, and eat to stay calm and preoccupied.

I suppose I have to learn to change from a worrier to a warrier. lol.

Last edited by Hermit Girl; 09-18-2011 at 11:31 AM.
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Old 09-18-2011, 02:06 PM   #5  
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hello!

come on over to the september chat - we would love to get to know you. Is that your house? very pretty

Rie
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Old 09-18-2011, 05:02 PM   #6  
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Hermit Girl,
You don't have to go the the September Chat if you're more comfortable in a smaller chat group like this thread. I tried that once, and there were so many people who were already friends that you spent a lot of time looking back to see who commented about what and making comments on all of the group - wore me out!

Hang tight here and you're get some good support!
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Old 09-18-2011, 09:55 PM   #7  
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Thanks WebWoman ! I will eventually wander about...
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Old 09-19-2011, 09:53 AM   #8  
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I have for some time thought about a Lifestyle Diet where I eat the bare minimal I feel I can maintain for a lifestyle. Not a program, but a lifestyle that is pretty much the same day in and day out with exceptions of ’special occasions’ (just so I don’t make ’special occasions’ a regular thing, or it must be calculated into my lifestyle at some point. Its the very same with exercise, and for me that’s hiking around where I live, with my dog. I am still in need to figure what that Bare Minimum of eating and exercising is. I mean, once I find it, it will become my Magic Formula. If that includes a slice of yummy cheese at 3pm in the afternoon, and a wee cup of my home-made icecream 2 nights a week, then great, but it must be factored in , and it must be consistent. Yes, those treats should be consistent, or the math will not work.

Magic Formula is : what I like to eat, in the proportions which I seem to feel most comfortable with and can maintain, along with the bare minimum of walking in a week… and then LEARN the formula. Practice it ! Live it ! My weight ought to drift down to a reasonable healthy weight ( not my 30’s athletic weight, just a healthy weight for less active fifties). What that weight is, is what it IS. If it's 145 pounds, then I will find after I've not budged another pound and waffle around for a few months. That will be my Happy weight.

Now, if it is not enough weight, then I must do the process again, but by then, I will likely be better able to tweak a few hundred calories either way… like take up cycling again, or fruit fast for a day a week ... or whatever.

I have called it the Drift Diet before, but unfortunatley, my ‘mind’ has not been on plan and since I concieved of this Lifestyle Diet about 5 years ago, I’ve gained another 20 pounds. I have been pigging out and hormonal and perimenopausal enough for two women, and meanwhile, adopted the next level of sedentary lifestyle. Enough. I am ready fresh and new (about to turn fifty)to focus again on my Personal Magic Formula, and find out what it is. How apropo that it will be my new fifties project.

This Drift concept would be different for everyone, based on what they want to eat and how much they want to exercise… for life… not just a program, but for lifestyle… as in every day. I think that the thing is, one can’t publish or purchase a method, but one has to factor in a lot of variables, and do a little math (okay, a lot of math) and ponder long and hard one’s actual determination and even self image one feels comfortable in . Okay, that's another thing ~~~ the heart of the matter ~~~ visualization. The motivation and visualization is key for me, but I must be careful with how I do that. For example : Truth be told, I can’t imagine wearing jeans now , 50 pounds obese, and I can’t even visualize myself wearing jeans 50 pounds thinner ~ (even if I lost 60 pounds). So, for instance, ‘looking good in jeans’ , might actually be detrimental to my honest self image.

I know my program may sound a little esoteric, complex, and abstract, but seriously, I think I’m on to something here with Projection and Visualization, in order to factor the goal weight into my lifestyle of who I *really* want to be. For life. Not just a program for an occasion or a beach vacation. Do I really want to be thin? No… just thinner. I have been robust and stout my whole life, even when I was in prime fitness, so to imagine myself ‘thin’, just will never align right with me. I am happy, fulfilled with healthy food , eat a lot , move a lot. I doubt I’ll ever be seen in public with sleeveless shirts or shorts… but thats okay.

Last edited by Hermit Girl; 09-19-2011 at 10:21 AM.
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Old 09-19-2011, 10:07 AM   #9  
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Hermit Girl, I take my dieting one day at a time. Just one.
Every morning I log into LoseIt.com and list all the foods I will eat that day. Exercize also.
Then during the day I stick to those foods. I like the charts they make up.



It has worked out well for me. I lose around 1 pound/week.
And then I join a couple of challenges on this site to keep me motivated.

Best of luck on your weight loss journey!


I wake up every day knowing that this is it, that there's only one shot at this life,
and I can either enjoy the ride and live it to its fullest and to my highest potential,
or I can stay the way I am.
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Old 09-19-2011, 11:30 AM   #10  
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Hermit Girl

I am part of the Golden Girls group, and would like to welcome you. You've taken the first step. it is one day at a time. I find that planning is the key. I plan the food I am going to eat. I plan the exercise. I know what my pit falls are and I make sure that I deal with them. You mentioned ice cream. Can you stay strong right now and not eat more than what you plan? If not, don't have it in the house right now. It's not forever. it's untill you can take control. My thing is corn chips. If they are in the house I know I will eat them, no matter what I have planned. Having them in the house doesn't make sense for me. Doesn't mean that I never have corn chips, but I buy them in the individual bags and Plan when I'll have them.

Web woman is right, you don't have to go to the Sept. chat if you're not ready. It does take awhile to get ot know everyone. BUT, you get so much support. We all started out as the new guy and it takes awhile, but you become part of a "family" that cares about you and cheers you on.

Good luck
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Old 09-19-2011, 11:42 AM   #11  
Wandering in the Woods
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Thanks everyone !
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Old 09-20-2011, 09:40 AM   #12  
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Hermit Girl - you're off to a great start, recognizing what works for you: motivation and visualization. Rather than trying to see yourself in jeans after losing 50 pounds, what about seeing yourself being more mobile and feeling so much better after losing 5 or 10 pounds? Baby steps, and all that.
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Old 09-21-2011, 10:10 AM   #13  
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Thanks Slim Me, Jolina, and Jane. I'll find a way, as what is for sure is as long as I start my day posting on my 3fc blog, checking in my weight on my ticker, and writing on this forum ~~~ I'm focusing.

Yesterday I came to some key realizations. One is that I want to learn ballet for exercises (barre), and I realized that I have the perfect platform (with a barre!) to do this, and that is the landing of the stairs on the second loft story of my house, which has an iron rail ! I have figured out how to make playlists of youtube and I can plug in the computer audio to the house, and…voila… I can hear all through the house. (I have been listening to Celtic music, as Ullean bagpipes, this way on Youtube playlists for a few weeks now, and it's fabulous!).

I am going to figure out how to do a floor exercise routine if it takes a year. I am not going to buy any equipment, and I am going to lose 50 pounds while attaining the grace of a ballet dancer. I yearn to do my cycling too, but I am going to wait until I’ve lost twenty pounds and have hit a plateau, because then I’ll need another tool to up the ante. I’ve thought about the inevitable plateaus, and about planning ahead for them, and having a line of artillery ready and waiting. First will be the cycling, and that might carry me to my goal weight, but I have yet to think of another, probably will be packing weight on a long hike once a week, alternating with a distance bicycle ride. But that is too far ahead to worry about.

For now, my first line of artillery is to walk 30 minutes a day, and to start to learn a stretching, isometric type ‘floor routine’. For now my eating is about to not think about depriving myself of foods I love, but implementing ’superfoods’ as much as possible. Which brings on a new topic …

… my absolutely wonderful new kale and pasta dish !!!

OMG…(notice I said kale and pasta, not pasta and kale). I am going to stop running away from the foods I love, but to relearn to incorporate superfoods at every turn, for a lifestyle I can keep. I went down to the garden and snipped a handfull of fresh Russian Kale (softer, nearly like spinach) and cut into thin strips, and put in a bowl, with a little olive oil, a crushed clove of garlic, and when I dumped the hot pasta on it ( much less mind you), and tossed it about,,, the kale wilts and then it’s just perfect. OMG …then a little red chile flakes and nutritional yeast on top of that… and I swear it is as satisfying as my old habit of loads of pasta a la carte. Mixing in the greens, and lots of them, is key. Dominating my diet with super nutrition rich food, eventually my taste buds are going to cooperate.

I’m feeling very happy and hopeful today about my Lifestyle Project !

Last edited by Hermit Girl; 09-21-2011 at 10:14 AM.
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Old 09-21-2011, 08:28 PM   #14  
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I can tell the difference in your enthusiasm level - it comes through in your post! Sounds like you've got the perfect set-up for ballet, and the music will keep you going, as well as lift your soul! You are inspiring us, Hermit Girl.
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Old 09-23-2011, 12:34 PM   #15  
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oh hermit girl. I too dream of returning to my inner ballerina and I am channeling her every day. I sit up straight and pinch together my butt muscles. I breath deep and lift my sternum. yes I am a graceful dance emerging from this 51 year old fat witch who swallowed me a few years back. I will shed the ols skin and be born anew.
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