Diet Like a Diva

The Urban Dictionary definition of Diva is adj. pronounced (DEE-VAH)- 1.to describe a person who exudes great style and personality with confidence and expresses their own style not letting others influence who they are or want to be. 2. A person whose character makes them stands out from the rest. 3. Noun; a person's title in a group of friends or in society that is popular or famous and who many people try to copy. 4. A person who tries to achieve what they want and who do not let people get in their way, doing so with style and class.

The main thing I gathered from this definition is that a Diva does what it takes to live the life she wants.  She believes in herself and has the confidence to do what is best for her.  She sets her mind on a goal and makes the necessary steps to achieve it.  So, I have decided that from this moment on, I will Diet like a Diva. 

What a great goal, right?  To stick to the menu and WLZ plan with confidence, knowing that it will produce the results I desire.  Sometimes it is easier to go with the flow even if that means eating items that may not be the best options.  However, there is something empowering when I say no to wedding cake or go to a child’s pizza party and resist the buffet and head to the salad bar.  I get this little “GO ME” feeling.  Can you say CONFIDENCE???

 We have all been around that person who is on a “diet” that looks at what we’re eating with disgust and then goes on and on telling us every reason why not only she won’t eat it but why we shouldn’t either.  NOT CLASSY.  I understand that other people don’t have the same issues I do.  Maybe their metabolism is naturally high, or they spend hours in the gym every day, whatever the reason it is not my job to judge.  I don’t want others looking at me like I’m crazy for eating a salad so why would I look at them that way for eating cake?  I will just enjoy my healthy meal and ask them how their's tastes… no judgment necessary.  I will be a CLASS ACT.

The best part of the Diva definition is “a person whose character makes them stand out from the rest”.  On this journey there have been times when what I chose to eat did seem to make me “stand out”.  At first it really bothered me.  I suppose it might have something to do that I never wanted people to see me eat because I was afraid of what they might think.  Now I realize that when others notice it is simply curiosity.  They want to know what I am doing to help me loose so much weight.  Once I figured that out it didn’t bother me in the least.  And if people want to copy my menu… well I guess that would make a Diva.

In my life, if I want something I make it happen.  I do whatever it takes to reach my goals, why would weight loss be any different?  So here’s to Dieting Like A Diva… Who’s with me??

First Day of Spring

My Facebook Status Saturday evening read “Although I'm worn out, this has been a great week. I FINALLY brought Katy back so now operation bring sexy back is ON full speed... watch out world” and that is EXACTLY how I feel.

There have been times in my life when something has happened that has just flat knocked the wind out of my sails.  These are the times when I realize that I am truly a GREAT actress.  Please don’t get me wrong, I am in no way fake.  When I get excited when clients lose weight it is genuine, when I get sad when clients are upset it is real but I’m going to be very honest right now, sometimes, I don’t feel happy.  Sometimes I wake up and want to immediately go back to sleep.  Sometimes I have to force myself to be upbeat.  Sometimes I have to remind myself, that although life feels heavy, I’ve got to put on smile.

The last few months have been hard for me, personally.  Things have happened that made me lose sight of that inner peace and strength that I rely so heavily.  So, I did what I always do, take it one breath at a time, put one step in front of another and keep going.  But sometimes I’m such a good actress that I fool myself into believing that I’m okay. I get so use to going through the motions that I forget what it’s like to be truly happy. But lucky for me, I’m not going through the motions today.

So, you might be wondering what this has to do with my weight loss journey... EVERYTHING.  I have continued to lose during this little happy hiatus, but not like I had wanted.  I haven’t turned to food to comfort myself but I haven’t focused on getting healthy as much as I’d like either.  All of my energy was being used on surviving (emotionally) instead of going towards what is so important to me. 

Life does that sometimes, throws us a curve ball that we just aren’t expecting, and it takes time to figure it out.  It’s no fun and it can feel impossible.  So, we go through the motions and we stay the course, and eventually it passes and the season changes.

Today is the first day of spring, a new season.  I can’t wait to see what it brings.  But I do have some spring “resolutions” if you will.  I am going to enjoy the extra hour of sunshine in the evenings and walk as often as I can.  I am going to wake up in the morning to the birds singing and remember that there is so much to sing about.  I am going to take full advantage of the beautiful produce that is coming in season.  I am going to breathe the cool morning air and be thankful for the day.

You see, just as stress and sadness can affect our weight loss, so can peace and happiness.  So, the next time you see me and think “she look likes she’s lost even more weight” you can be confident that you are probably right because now that the weight of the world is off my shoulders I’m expecting the rest of the weight to come off too. 

Oh, one more resolution, I will remember to live by my motto “Life is too short to be unhappy” J

More to Weight Loss than Weight Loss

I forgot to mention one change; I have now become the go to person for most of my friends about anything concerning health and weight loss.  Now, I will not claim to know everything there is about health, in fact I openly admit that there is A LOT I don’t know, but I will say I DO know how hard it is.  The most recent conversation I had about weight loss was about plateaus.  My friend asked if I ever had a week when I didn’t lose. I quickly replied, “Girl, I’ve had weeks when I have gained!!!”  She looked at me with a bit of disbelief and responded “Really??? How did you keep going?”  My response went something like the following:

Well, it wasn’t easy, especially the first time it happened.  I had been soooo good, hadn’t deviated at all and I went up a pound.  I’m pretty sure I bawled.  Jan (my consultant) explained that there were a lot of reasons why our weight might fluctuate.  Water retention is the main reason that I fluctuate and there are a million reasons why we retain water;  Injuries, change in barometric pressure, stress, lack of sleep, starting a new exercise regimen, illness, the list goes on and on.  So on days when my water weight was up we would measure.  I ALWAYS saw a drop in inches and that would keep me going.

After a while I got really irritated with my waters affecting my weight.  I started getting extremely frustrated, and the inches just weren’t having as much of a redeeming quality so I had to do some major soul searching.  Upon a lot of introspection, I came to a realization; weight loss isn’t just about weight loss.  (At this point my friend looked at me like I had lost my mind, so I continued)  What were the benefits to losing weight? Was it just so the scale would show a smaller number? Not for me.  I had decided to lose weight for many reasons and the fact that I wouldn’t have to lie on my driver’s license was NOT one of them.  Here is my list: Better health, feel better, have more energy, improve self- confidence, decrease pain levels, wear a smaller size, to never hear “you have such a pretty face” EVER again.  None of those reasons have anything to do with the number on the scale.

Please, don’t get me wrong, the scale is a crucial part of this journey.  It is a wonderful tool to show progress.  Do I love being able to say that I have lost almost 100 lbs??? YOU BET I DO, wouldn’t you?  But I love having more energy, wearing a smaller size than I did in High School, feeling more confident, living a healthy lifestyle and all the other wonderful benefits even more.   

So, the next time you feel like giving up.  When you have done perfect all week and that scale doesn’t reward your hard work with a lower number, PLEASE remember the scale is only one factor in this journey.  Don’t give up because you are reaping many more benefits.  That scale will be kinder next week.

A Few Surprises

When I started this Journey I was only concerned about pounds & inches it never occurred to me that other changes would occur.  I didn’t realize what a trip it would be the first time I had to venture into the “normal” sizes when shopping.  I have been out of the Plus Sizes for months but a huge part of me still thinks I don’t belong in the Ladies section.  It sounds silly but when I’m shopping for the coveted smaller sizes I am afraid people are looking at me saying “Bless her heart, she thinks she can wear that…”  Crazy, right?

Another oddity for me is how much more I get hit on.  I have always been friendly and I have never had a problem attracting members of the opposite sex but it has always been for my sparkling personality, not for being pretty, or sexy, or anything like that.  In fact half the time I don’t even realize that I’m getting hit on.  My defining moment was when a friend & I were at a store and she started giggling and said “wow, that guy almost ran into me he was checking you out so hard…” I thought she was crazy but then she started to point things out to me and I started realizing… I’m not the FAT FRIEND anymore… CRAZY!!!

One not so exciting change is feeling.  All of a sudden I have to truly feel.  When I get upset it’s like this unknown phenomenon, as if I have never felt sad, mad, angry or any other negative emotion in my life.  Which is ridiculous, obviously in 29 years I have had my fair share of heartache but now I have to deal with it.  I can’t ignore it; I can’t open a pint of ice cream and pretend I’m not experiencing emotions.  The funniest thing is I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing.  I didn’t consciously say “ok, I’m upset, I think frozen yogurt will fix it” but eating frozen yogurt felt good, negative emotions not so much.  So now I feel things much more intensely.  The good thing is this includes positive emotions as well.  I wonder if it’s like when people quit smoking and say they can really taste their food.  It is as if I had sort of numbed my “feeling” senses.

I’ve got to admit I’d much rather not feel negative emotions but I think it’s a part of the journey.  I’ve gotten the eating down, now I just have to get the internal stuff under control.  I’ve got to handle life in a positive way, a way that doesn’t end up harming me in the end.  So, today I might be a little teary eyed over something that normally wouldn’t faze me but I’m going to ride this wave and figure it out as I go.  But I know that I’m getting further & further along on this journey and I can’t turn back now.  So if losing the weight and keeping it off means I’ve got deal with some demons I will deal with them because healthy feels so good and that’s one emotion I LOVE feeling.