BetterMe Coaching Tool

BetterMe Coaching Tool: "The Go Red BetterMe Coaching Tool is the perfect companion to the Go Red BetterU 12-week program. Every day, you'll get tips, reminders, and more sent directly to your tool. You'll also be able to chat directly with other members of the program on the “Wall” share tips, motivational quotes, and work through barriers with others. You can also access and edit your journal entries directly from the tool."

The emotional side of weight loss

You might not really think that your emotions have much to do with losing weight, but that is a very large part of why we struggle with losing weight. More than likely you are an emotional eater. We all are in one way or another. Many it for comfort, to feel better. Or from boredom. That was me. I would get so bored that I would turn to food.

When we are infants we are emotional eaters. It gave us comfort to eat, to deal with the stresses of begining life. As we grew we should learn to find other ways to cope, but many like myself never learned that. It was easy to turn to food. Because I was never taught differently. When I was growing up food was where much of my family found comfort and happiness. Family gatherings always revolved around lots of food. So whenever I was alone and extremely bored I would grab junk food to not have to think about what or how I was feeling. And that is what had gotten me into trouble where food was concerned. As I became an adult other factors came into play with my weight, I let my emotions control more of myself because of depression and illness and again boredom. And even some self loathing. It wasn't until I began to experience even more health issues that I finally came to the realization that there was nothing and no one that could fix things and make them better. Food doesn't fix things. Medication doesn't fix things. And my Dr's certainly couldn't fix things. There was only one way things could change. I had to start loving myself and taking care of myself. And I then could change things and begin to lose the weight that I have fought all my life.

So making the choice to love myself, and realize that I am a worthwhile person is when losing weight began to really work and it was then that I found that choosing to live a healthier, more productive life was actually very easy. It is how I have learned that rather than being an emotional eater I eat to give my body energy and fuel to live the best life possible. But that life does not revolve around food. I choose to live my life to the fullest and no longer need to depend on food or others to do it. It's time to choose life. If I can do it you can too.

So many Changes....

As I have been on this journey of weight loss and self discovery. So many changes have been happening. But all of very exciting. Today another new change. I have lost enough weight lately that I realized I needed to get a new pair of jeans. So today during my lunch break I decided to go the Gap and see if I could find some jeans. The salesperson was really nice. He asked what I wanted in a pair of jeans. And when I told him, he gave me a few different suggestions and one even was a smaller size then what I currently have been wearing.  And so I went to try them on. And found that I actually could not only wear the smaller size that he had given me. But it was even a little loose. So when I told him that he recommended try the next size down. And believe it or not they actually fit. So I bought my first pair of size 12 jeans. Unreal. I have not been able to wear a size 12 for a little over 10 years. Feels really amazing!!!

So my motivation just keeps going and keeps growing stronger. I can't wait to see where I will end up when I reach my goal weight in January. Maybe one of my friends at work is right and I will be a size 6....giggles. I will be really happy if I can be a size 6 or 8. More than anything I am most looking forward to reaching the point where I will never be considered Obese or even overweight again. Especially since I have battled my weight all of my life. I have already decided to surprise my Dr. when I reach goal. Because then I will be able to make him take the Obese diagnosis off of my health chart. And I know that might seem silly but it will be so amazing to be able to not have that on my chart. Because that will be another health issue that I have been able to completely reverse. And I never imagined that this would be possible and now it is.

Life is pretty amazing now. And my confidence just keeps growing as my body keeps shrinking.  So watch out world this butterfly really is spreading her wings.

Race for the Cure...

This morning I got to be a part of Portland’s Race for the Cure. We finished in exactly 90 minutes. It was a good day because we got lucky that it stayed dry until just after we finished. Although some did get wet. Our Race was actually pretty awe inspiring because Portland is the largest Race for the Cure per capita. And we are the third largest race in the world. It’s such an amazing thing to know that we could be a part of something so big. And that so many people at one time would be able to come together to help fight breast cancer. And there were so many from the very young, like my co-worker’s son who was only 5 months old, to many in their late nineties. Truly inspiring

So this was a great way to spend my morning doing something that makes a difference as well as continuing to do something that helps me to remain strong and healthy and lose weight. I will definitely do it again next year. Makes me want to do more fitness events. In fact I am thinking about joining the local Road runners club. Being fit and healthy now feels pretty amazing. So why would I want to stop now?

Can't believe that I am this close....

I just got back from my weigh in with MRC and I had lost another 2 pounds since Saturday's weigh in. So that means 53.5 pounds lost. So that means that I have 6.5 pounds to go to reach halfway. I can't believe that I am this close to reaching my halfway point now. So the goal is to focus on losing the 6.5 pounds over the next week or so. Hoping that I will be able to reach it by the end of next week. So to accomplish that I am going to work on increasing my water intake a little each day. And then I am also going to work on strength training. So that I can strengthen my core and work on building more muscle in my arms and legs. So excited to know that halfway is just around the corner. I am going to be there before we know it.

Doing Meta-Quick

Ok, so for the past 5 days I have been on what MRC calls the meta-quick plan. I drink a meal replacement shake for breakfast and either a shake for lunch or a meal replacement bar. And then also make sure that I have a total of 5 high nutrient supplements throughout the day. And then have a regular meal for dinner of Chicken, tuna or Turkey, with vegetables and a starch. I wasn't sure how I would do on it at first because it seems drastic. But you know it is great. I still don't feel hungry. I did the first day, but I think that was because my body wasn't used to the fact that it wasn't getting the normal amount of food 3 times a day like it was used to. So my tummy growled at me a lot that first night.

But I think I have gotten used to it. Or maybe I just don't pay as much attention to it anymore. Because often I know its not that I am really hungry. But then it also could be because I try to stay busier now adays. And maybe because my new guy friend has my attention more. Not sure what it is. but I am still losing. It has been almost a pound a day drop since thursday when I started. So hopefully on the 7th day which is wednesday it will put me within 4-5 pounds of reaching my half way point. Which is extremely exciting. I think what makes me really excited has been that I am wearing regular size 16's and not having to shop in plus sizes.  And right now I am one pound from being at my lowest weight in 2 years.

Things keep changing for me in such positive ways. I am getting healthier  by continuing to lose weight. I have met a pretty amazing guy who really appreciates me and respects me and treats me like I have always deserved to be treated. And I just am loving life. I am really looking forward to the future and can't wait to see what happens in the coming months.

Steppin Out to fight Diabetes

I just had the most amazing Sunday morning. I had decided to participate in the local Step out to Fight Diabetes walk. It was a charity fitness walk to raise money to fight Diabetes. And since it is a disease that has effected my family and many close friends in many ways I thought what better way to give back and help by giving my time to walk and help raise money.

This was a great walk, and you had a choice to walk either 3 miles or 6 miles and I had never done a 6 mile walk so I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could do it. And I did it! We had started the walk at 9:30am and I crossed the finish line at exactly 11am. So that was 6 miles in an hour and 30 minutes. I will admit that my feet and my hips felt sore as I was nearing the end of the course but it is amazing feeling and I don't feel tired. Actually the opposite. Energized!!!

So now I am looking forward to my next adventure which is to do Portlands Race for the Cure which is next Sunday. Probably wont be able to finish as quickly but it will still be fun. And I get to do it with a group of friends from work so that will be great.

With all this fun fitness between now and next Sunday I am anxious to see what will happen this week when I go to weigh in. I will keep you posted.

I did it and you can too....

I can’t believe it,  I DID IT! As of this morning I have lost a total of 51.5 pounds. So now I am only 8.5 pounds away from reaching my half-way point. And considering the fact that I am doing Meta-quick and have 2 charity fitness walks one tomorrow and another next sunday. I should get pretty close to reaching 60 pounds quickly.

I really can’t believe how easy it has been to change to a healthier lifestyle, just by eating better and getting regular exercise. And drinking at least 125-130oz of water everyday. And it might seem hard to cut out sugar, caffiene and really watch the salt intake. But all of those things has helped me to completely reverse the effects of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and even Multiple Sclerosis. And if I can do this and be sucessful at losing the weight once and for all, anyone can.

 But you have to want it more that anything and you have to realize that you are worth it and you deserve it. It wasn’t until I finally realized that and started loving myself that it all began to work. So don’t be afraid to try, and don’t beat yourself up if you choose to go off plan and have something that might not be the healthiest choice. Just remember it is a choice. You can’t cheat with food, it’s impossible. Food is just fuel for your body to give you energy. Nothing more nothing less. And when you think that your hungry and want to eat that cookie or cake. Get up and go for a walk or call and talk with a friend instead. You’ll see that you really don’t need food like you had thought.

We all can win this battle with weight and we can do it together.

Nothing tastes as good....

Can't believe it! I just got back from weigh in at Metabolic and I had lost 4 pounds since my last weigh in. And so that puts me at exactly 1 pound away from losing 50 pounds. I can honestly say that NOTHING tastes as good as being thin feels. I am seeing it more each day in how my clothes fit, how much more energy I have and how others react to me now.

This week my focus is going to be to increase the water a little more and then I am going to get really strict and do what's called meta-quik which will involve taking 2 meal replacement shakes and then eating a regular meal for dinner as well as having a total of 5 of my high nutrient supplements. So hopefully that should help me blow past the 50 pound mark by Saturday. Which will be great. Never imagined that I could be this far already. That leaves 11 pounds to go to reach my half way point. Woohoo! By the end of September hopefully I should be there. I will keep you posted.

Only down a half pound...

Weighed in at metabolic this morning. And I had only lost a half pound. But still happy about that. Considering that I had taken my MS medication Monday night it could have been worse. So hopefully I can finish the week with a good loss on Saturday. We will see.

It has been a great week though. Many positives continuing to happen for me health wise. Got the results back from my blood work for the liver function and everything is normal. In fact my White blood cell count improved over 6 months ago. Found out that I do not have Gluten sensitivity. Which is great. But I think that by choosing a healthier diet and regular exercise that I have elmininated the health problems that were causing me to get sick to my stomach so much 5-6 months ago.

I also found out from my Primary Doctor that I am 1 of only 10 patients in his entire career that has successfully been able to come off of Blood pressure medication just by losing weight. So that says a lot for adopting the healthier lifestyle, to be able to completely reverse the effects of high blood pressure. And to also have the Multiple Sclerosis go into a benign state, where it will probably never be an issue again.

I also found out that 2 dear family friends have made the choice to join Metabolic and begin their own journey to losing weight and gaining a healthier lifestyle. So that makes me feel really good that I can help encourage others to make a healthy change for themselves.

So this is just more motivation to keep losing the weight and keep living the healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. If I can do it and have this much success with changing my health, anyone can.