Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Happy Tuesday, friends!  First day back to work today.  Routines are good for me so I think it will be a positive thing for sure.  I feel set up for the week after spending some time meal prepping.  So, let't take a moment and talk a little about setting yourself up for success.  Since I decided to go with Barrett Pastor 's plan of 23 Freestyle SmartPoints, but staying with 33 net carbs beginning September 1st.  I didn't really hit the grocery store or was prepared when I got up on Sunday morning.  I winged it, but it was hard.  My breakfast started out with Alpine Valley Sprouted bread and 2 eggs.  It started my carbs off really high.  I decided after church to make sure that I was prepared for the week.  I spent time on Sunday afternoon after church shopping and preparing some of the food.  Yesterday, I did take some time to relax and catch up on some YouTube videos.  Then I got up, I fixed meatloaf muffins and chick...

Happy Tuesday!  Today's Tuesday talk is a topic that I know I have struggled with for many years and it is such a great reminder for me - Body Confidence.  Yep, I said it.  I have absolutely struggled and can remember calling myself fat for years.  Here's the thing, when I was calling myself "fat", I was smaller than I am currently.  It wasn't until I originally started WW before my DH and I even started dating that I really realized that I needed to change the way I talked to myself.  I am blessed to have some fantastic people in my life who remind me that I am unique and I need to be thankful for the "me" that God created.  I try hard to focus on the more positive self talk.  There are some parts of my body that I'm not entirely happy with, but I am focusing on things that I can do.  I wish my arms were in better shape...as I was moving my arms last night and noticed that my arms were waving back, I was not entirely happy about that....

Happy Tuesday friends!   How's your week going?   For this week's Tuesday Talk, let's talk about Fats.   I don't cook with a ton of oil, I do like to spray my veggies with olive or avocado oil before I roast them.   There's so many great options for adding some healthy fats into our diets.   I love to add a little avocado to my smoothies or to my veggies bowls.   I also love adding some sliced olives to my salads.   I also love to snack on some nuts, although, those can add up calories and points-wise.   I know that fats got a bad wrap for years.   Flashback to Susan Powter and the low-fat craze in the 90's.   Although, let's be honest, she wasn't completely on the wrong track when she said "read the labels, read the labels"!   Those are some great things that we should all take to heart even now.   Fats can be such a confusing topic and I can't honestly say that I'm 100% on top of it, but I am a firm believer in everything...

Happy Tuesday friends!  I hope everyone had a great Monday!  Today I wanted to take a minute and talk about something we all need to focus on from time to time.  Yep, I mean activity.  I know not everyone needs to workout in order to lose weight.  For your overall heart health, I do think that it’s an important part of the plan.  How do you get started?  Sometimes it’s as simple as setting a goal for yourself of working out for 5 minutes or 10 minutes, something that you can attain.  Do you have hobbies?  Things you like to do that you don’t do often?  For me, that was dancing.  I loved to dance and then I found Zumba. It didn’t feel like a workout to me.  Much the same way that Jazzercise did not feel like a workout to me.  These days mostly I walk because it’s easier on my body with my back issues flaring up.  Focus on things you can do such as walk around your house during commercial breaks, while brushing your t...

Happy Tuesday friends!  Today we're going to take a minute to discuss something that, if you have been on this journey for any length of time, you have probably experienced and that is dealing with setbacks.  This really sort of goes along with last week's topic about the all or nothing mentality.  There are times that we feel we have set ourselves up for success, but then we give in to a few more chips or we have a dessert or we have something that is a little higher in sodium and wind up with a gain.  Or sometimes you do everything right, but your body just doesn't want to give up the weight at that weigh in.  What we need to do, however, is not throw our hands up and say well this is a bust and I'm never going to make progress. It can be easy to beat ourselves up and not focus on what we need to do to move forward.  We each need a game plan, no matter what our journey is, to move forward.  No matter what happened that got in the way of our g...

Happy Tuesday friends!  Today I thought we'd talk about something that seems to plague all of us from time to time no matter what our journey is...all or nothing thinking.  For myself, I know it has plagued me when I was practicing for my piano recitals when I was in grade school, when I was working on my routine for competition or even in my weight loss journey.  Why is it that even if it is something that we aren't "experts" at, we expect perfection?  I don't know about you, but I somehow expect myself to doing something like I would if I had numerous years of experience at it.  Let's be honest, there are things that I am not and will not be perfect out.  As the saying goes, should you throw the baby out with the bathwater?  Um, no.  One of the things that I do to remind myself not to expect perfection is to ask myself if I'd say that to a friend or how I would feel if a friend said that to me in the way that I was staying it to myself....

Happy Tuesday friends!  Hope everyone had a great Father's day and is doing well.  We decided on a Make Your Own Nacho bar and pineapple cake for my sweet husband.  It was a good day overall.  While my meals are not 100% planned, I do have a general plan in my mind.  I was trying to think of a meal to go with rolls.  After the damage done by the storms a week ago this past Sunday and many people in our neighborhood were without power, a neighbor turned a negative into a positive by sharing her baked goods with the neighborhood.  I was able to try some of her baked goods and will definitely be making my way to a retailer to purchase some of her baked good.  They were delicious.  Last night's meal may not have been 100% on plan but it was delicious.  I fixed a salad mix, shells and cheese and we put some frozen "fried" okra in the air fryer.  It made for a tasty dinner.   This has been a difficult few weeks with my back ...

Happy Tuesday friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!  It was a busy weekend but I enjoyed it so much.  I ran around on Saturday getting groceries and necessity items for the house, then came home and made cookie bars.  Sunday, we got up had cinnamon rolls before church and we enjoyed church service together.  After church, we had macaroni and cheese and cherry cobbler with ice cream.  Probably not the most on plan day I've every had, but I enjoyed the day and was back on track come Monday.  Striving to stay on track this week, especially after I had a loss on Saturday of 1.2.  After having to be on Prednisone for 5 days, which manages to increase my appetite.  I truly hope I start feeling better soon because I feel like I've felt bad longer than I would care to be.  Meal planning is definitely a must for me to stay on plan this week.  How do you get back on plan after you have gotten off track?  

Happy Tuesday friends!  Hope that your week is going well so far!  I know there are many who have been on this healthy lifestyle journey for some time like myself, but I think this week's talk is definitely one that we should all revisit from time to time.  Being kind to yourself.  I think I have mentioned this before, but a boss and friend from the past when I was at the beginning of this weight loss journey that I really shouldn't say things to myself that I wouldn't say to a friend.  I have really tried to take that to heart.  I know I have really struggled with negative self talk, as I know others have.  It is really a struggle in my everyday life, not just where weight loss is concerned, not to talk down to myself.  I have found that the struggle is absolutely worth it for me.  Trying to take time to phrase things differently has really helped me to change my focus and not always talk down to myself.  Can you honestly say that cal...

Happy Tuesday, friends!  Hope your Monday went well.  For this week’s “talk”, let’s talk about eating out.  I don’t know about you but when I was still firmly in the “diet” mentality, I struggled with eating out.  Honestly, I cringed at the thought of going out to eat, especially if I couldn’t plan ahead.  There are still some days that I feel that way.  I am learning more and more what I can have that keeps me within my daily points allowance, what might take me into my weekly points allowance.  For me, one of the biggest parts of this journey has been learning how to do this for a lifetime.  My sweet friend, Heather, reminded me that I am not benefiting myself if I’m overthinking things while I was in the midst of my bad food week.  I was eating out at two different restaurants in the last couple of weeks.  My primary focus was to make good choices for myself to stay within my daily points in order to get my blue dot.  I was abl...

Happy Tuesday friends!  Hope your week has started out well.  The topic for this week, much like the WW topic is Tracking.  Let's be honest, tracking can be a bit of a pain to do until you get in the swing of things.  In the past, I have tried the plans that don't require tracking, the former "Simply Filling" method, but I truly struggled with it.  I know, for my good and for my peace of mind, that I need to track using my WW app.  That's my preferred method, but I know other people that use LoseIt or MyFitnessPal and others that prefer to write it down on paper or in a notebook.    There are all sorts of different ways to track your food.  The big trick is to find one that you will actually use.  For me, I find the WW app works best.  One of the things that really makes me appreciate the app and tracking is that I can go back and look at what I ate if I've had a good week or if I had a not so good week.  It provides informat...

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I hope everyone enjoyed their MLK day!  I thought I'd start sharing the WW topic of the week here.  This week the topic is "Choose Your Moves".   While not everyone moves at the beginning of their weight loss journey, it sometimes becomes necessary to add in movement to get to your goal weight.  The big thing no matter which way you choose to move, is the pick something that you enjoy.  Try something new.  One of the changes that WW has implemented is how activity counts.  During my journey, I've tried various workouts including strength training, cardio on an elliptical or a bike, taken some classes such as Zumba and yoga and Nia.  Aside from being good for your health, I have found that it helps me sleep better at night.  Quite honestly, I feel much better when I have worked out.  Starting my day with workout and a prayer, well, it just makes my day go better.   These days, I mostly walk....

Happy Tuesday friends!  Hope everyone is doing well.  I was drinking a cup of Yogi tea last week.  If you haven't had Yogi tea, they have little sayings on their tags.  My saying on this tag was "There is nothing more precious than self-trust."  This is so very true.  Honestly, I have repeatedly failed myself and failed to keep promises that I have made to myself.  A big part of this journey is learning to trust myself again.  Knowing that if I do what I promise myself, that I will be successful.  My Mom always told me that I could do anything I set my mind to and I am truly in a place now where I know she was right about this.  It's taken me some time to figure it out, but I think I'm finally in a place where I can rebuild that trust with myself.  It may still be a slow process in some areas, I think that other areas are already on their way.  I am a work in progress.   I have been listening to different ...

Happy, happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone has had a great start to the week!  It has been a number of years since I felt like I even remotely had a handle on my diet and meal planning.  I finally feel like I am finally getting a handle on my meal planning.  My family really enjoyed last night's meal and I think I may have to do it again.  I will probably share that on Wednesday's blog.   My workouts are not really going right now, but I am definitely feel like I'm going down the right path.  I'm feeling good about where I am and the direction that I'm headed.  I truly feel like the mind shift is happening before my very eyes.  While I know I can enjoy my food and I do, trust me, I don't feel like I have to indulge at every meal or snack.  That is really a big step in the right direction for me.  I feel like I have reached a point where I am giving my body what it needs and I have to say that's a really great feeling! ...

Happy Tuesday friends!  I hope everyone is doing well.  I hope no one minds, I was recently reminded of something and I thought I'd share it here in case others are having the same issue.  I was reading one of the Chris Powell books some time ago but something he said in that book came to me and gave me pause.  He said that oftentimes during our weight loss journey that we get to a point where we have failed ourselves so often that it takes time to rebuild trust with ourselves before our bodies and minds trust that we are going to do what we say we are going to do.  It's not always an easy task to rebuild trust with anyone, much less yourself.  This month, and quite possibly, into the new year, I am working on rebuilding trust with myself.  I have told myself on multiple occasions that I would do whatever and then I fail in following through with whatever.  How am I going to combat that?  I'm going to make a point to follow-through with mys...