Starting out With A Clean Slate

WARNING:  This blog may encroach the boundaries of TMI, but in an effort to stay true to the process, I'm going to spill the beans anyway!  Skip now, if you don't want to read further.

Part of my weight loss journey begins by starting with a clean slate.  That means I've enlisted the help of a colon cleanse.

During past weight loss programs, I've used some pretty great stuff - not specifically CALLED a colon cleanse, but supplements that were designed to do just that.  One of my favorites was alfalfa.

My problem, however, had always been the taste.  After a while, I could no longer stomach the taste and I created an aversion to the tasted, smell and texture of any alfalfa supplements.  Which was a shame, because they worked marvelously!

Be that as it may, if you can't swallow the stuff, it's worthless.  I tried the Vidazen version, which had alfalfa, but none of the taste.  It was awesome in that regard.  Plus, it wasn't anything overwhelming - as in, I-can't-leave-the-house-for-fear-that-a-catastrophe-may-happen, sort of overwhelming.

Needless to say, I was quite happy using this product as a stepping-off point, especially after this weekend, when my husband surprised me with a kitchen re-model, resulting in a whole-lot of fast food and not nearly enough healthy stuff.  This was the perfect way to offset a little bit of that naughtiness.

Why my weight loss will not be a priority in my life

So, I thought it might be a good idea to join Instagram.  I thought it would be fun to encourage others struggling with the same weight loss issues I am.  So far, all I've found are a bunch of very muscular, skinny people who probably spend more time in 1 day working on health and fitness than I do in a week.  Of course, that may be why they're all skinny and fit and I'm 150 lbs overweight.

That's great.  That's fine.  If that is your priority, I'm all for it.  It's an honorable endeavor.  However, before anyone judges me on how I go about this whole weight-loss thingy, I want you to spend a couple minutes in my shoes...or at least check out a typical day for me so that you'll understand WHY I do not plan on spending 3 hours a day on my health and fitness. But I WILL put it on my schedule and make sure I carve more time for it.

• 5:30 a.m. My 4-year-old son with Down syndrome wakes me up.  If I'm lucky, I can get him to lay with me till 6, but chances are, he's been up since 4:30, run through the house, torn everything to shreds, and finally came to me when there was nothing left to destroy and he was bored.  Don't worry - all dangerous items are locked safely away, and the house is locked up tight.  
• 6:00 a.m. I begin the arduous process of waking up my 15 year-old and my 6 year-old.  This process usually entails pounding on my teen's door 3 or 4 separate times, flipping his light switch on, threatening him with bodily harm, yelling, and occasionally laying on him until he surrenders and climbs out of bed.  Between visits to the teen, I must sing (yes, sing) my 6-year old awake to avoid any little-girl tantrums, help her find her clothes (because she is incapable of finding the outfit I laid directly next to her when I walked in the room), cook her breakfast, and make sure she eats it.  Then, I run after my 4 year-old trying to change his pull-up, and wrestle him into his clothes so that we can take said teenager to early-morning seminary. 
• 7:00 - Teen gets taken to seminary.  We pick up more kids for the Elementary school carpool, drop them (and my 6-year-old) off, then head home.
• 8:00 a.m.  I try to squeeze in a bite to eat while simultaneously running after my son who has climbed up onto the counter (or kitchen sink) and is now dumping any and all food the older kids left behind all over the floor or counter - or eating it himself.  Then, I try to convince him (I usually fail) to keep his clothes on while I spend the next several hours following behind him cleaning up mess after mess.  Finally around 10 a.m. I give up and let him go at it.  Screw it. I'll clean up his mess when he goes to pre-school (Don't judge me). 
• From 10:00 am - Noon: We work on his speech therapy, I try to squeeze in a little time returning e-mails and doing social media, he's fed, re-dressed for school, I make any phone calls needed for the day, etc. 
• 12:00 a.m. my son goes to school and I collapse into a heap on the couch.  I love the boy DEARLY but he is some serious work!  From 12 - 2 is when I race around like a maniac getting everything done that can't be accomplished with children in the house: dentist appointments, personal doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, filling orders, last-minute work on any one of my websites, running errands, etc.  
• 2:00-4:00 the 6-year-old and the teen come home and we prep for evening.  Go through school work, check our schedule to see what is on tap for the evening, start dinner, last-minute cleaning, mow lawns/water grass and plants, etc.
• 4:00 - 7:00 is dinner prep & eating, activities for the kids, the 4 year-old comes home, and I field faxes for my part time job doing transcription work at home.
• 7:00 - 9:00 the evening bed-time ritual occurs for the little ones. 
• 9:00 - I work out
• 10:00 - 1:00 a.m. - I do my transcription work, followed by any other work that needs to be done on my business, websites, and writing my books.  At 1:00 I fall into bed and try to remember to breathe. 

With that said, I think I'm going to call it a night and go to bed an hour early.  Looking at my schedule for tomorrow already has me tired.  Whew!

Let the Epic Games Begin! First official Day of my Weight Loss

30 minutes on the treadmill feels like an hour on the trails!!

As of this morning (Sunday the 17th), I'm weighing in at 296.2, which is already a loss of 7.2 lbs.  But the weight lost up until this point has been due to sporatic attempts to be or eat healthier.  Today is what I would call my official "Day 1" because I'm journaling my food and working out. 

I like starting on Sundays because I don't eat out on Sundays, which forces me to eat healthy(er) and allows me a little more time to focus on myself before jumping head first into my week.

So just a couple quick heads-ups for those who either don't know me, or have never had this much weight to lose: 

1)  I have little or no filter.  I think filtering this experience gives a person a false sense of simplicity when it comes to losing weight of this proportion and to leave out the undesirable components of my weight for the sake of the 'eww' or 'TMI' responses keeps those who are struggling with the same issues as I am from feeling isolated because they won't identify completely with my experience.  So, for those who are faint of heart, be warned.  And if you find a particular post disturbing I'll tell you a secret:  You can delete it!  I'll never know and nobody will tell.  Just come back the next day to when things are normal :)

This is what I concentrate on while I'm on the treadmill.  Hundreds of motivational quotes!

2) I can get a little hard core at times.  I have an all-or-nothing personality. This means that in order for me to successfully lose 160 lbs I will need to be 100% all of the time.  I cannot fudge.  Not working out even ONCE will cause me to fail.  This is a personality flaw.  I understand this.  And it has taken me years to come to grips with it.  If you are NOT all-or-nothing, that's OK.  But this is who I am.  Thus, there will be lots of posts on some days because I tend to obsess on occasion to stay focused on the end goal. 

3) I will NOT be following any specific diet.  They are too restrictive.  However, I can say that of the weight loss programs I have used (and I've used nearly all of them), I will probably adhere closest to the 6-week-body makeover, which is what I was using 6 years ago when I lost 80 pounds.  I would have succeeded in that program if I hadn't gotten pregnant half way through and forced to stop.  

I am not following any specific diet, but am instead choosing to take bits and pieces that have worked for me and incorporating them all into a method that I will be able to maintain indefinitely.  The problem with diets is that they are temporary.  I am looking for a way of living that will be permanent.  Nothing less.  I have NO intention of regaining this weight back. Ever. 

4) I will be eating a LOT.  Why? Because it requires a lot of food to maintain a body this size.  So, a normal person might be on a 12-1500 calorie diet to lose 2 lbs a week.  Me?  I'm on an 1800+ calorie diet and I'll be losing nearly a pound a DAY.  Never fear, though.  The smaller I get, the less I'll be eating - in spite of the increased exercise.