Trials of a Long Haired Girl

This has not been my best week; I’m not even going to lie.  I will likely go weigh in tomorrow morning to see just how bad it was.  However, I have decided that I would take this opportunity to re-focus on my weight loss efforts.  I feel like I’m recycling the same pounds over and over again and this cycle needs to stop.  I was listening to Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes.  It brought some things to the forefront of my mind including how important certain things are in my life and how I need to stop being afraid and focusing my mind on all of the “what if” and “could be” options that swirl in my brain.  Bad habits like soda have been creeping back in to my workday.  I have decided, honestly, that I am going to try to focus on what I CAN do this week.  My goals for this week are to: I will pack a lunch/snack each workday. I will change up my breakfast at least 2 days out of the com...

It's been a few weeks, but I feel like I am making progress working on me.  I know that self-help books/audiobooks seem to get a bad reputation, but I do think they can be food for thought.  Most recently, I was listening to an audiobook by Beth Moore called “So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us”.  This book truly spoke volumes to me.  I can honestly say there was much in that book (things I’d rather not admit) that reminded me of the past me, I mean years past me.  I did not realize that I came across as a complete lunatic, but listening to stories so similar to my own that I have no doubt that I did sound like a lunatic.  It was a rude awakening to hear some of those stories, but to be honest, in this struggle to be a better me; it is a truth I needed to hear.  I actually discussed a situation that happened over seven years ago before we even got engaged.  One of the things that I love about my husband is that he was understand...

First off, let me apologize that it has been so long.  Secondly, I just want to see if anyone else has experienced this as well.  For some time, I have been feeling an urging to be a better me.  I have been reminded of hobbies that I used to enjoy and things my Nanny did (sewing, canning and such) and just the way she was when I was younger.  I know she was raised in a different time than I, but even when she and my grandfather weren't in agreement, she still respected him as the head of the household.  To that end, I have been working on ways that I can be a better me. I have recently been reading Darlene Faye Schacht's The Good Wife's Guide: Embracing Your Role as a Help Meet.  If you are interested, she also has a blog called  Time-Warp Wife .  I will be honest, while there are many things that I will not be implementing as I am not a stay at home mom, I have found several things that I am going to try to implement slowly.  One of whic...

I was going through my blogs on Bloglovin' and ran across a blog post from Coffee Cake and Cardio entitled  Focused on the Wrong Thing .  I have to say that I was a little blown away and it felt like she was in my head.  Although I have not been working with a behavioral nutritionist, I can definitely relate to what she is saying for sure.   I have been doing Weight Watchers for a number of years and, honestly, I should have hit goal a number of years ago.  I managed to successfully lose over 40 lbs on Weight Watchers when I first joined, but with the stress of job changes and planning a wedding, I re-gained my weight.  I know that when I was a small child (and I do mean small since I was wearing toddler size clothing when I started school) my focus was not on food for comfort.  Unfortunately, between my second grade and third grade year, everything changed.  I am not overly fond of change but my school district decided to close my school...

I recently saw this article pop up on FaceBook about The Biggest Loser on the  NYTimes  webpage entitled After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight .  Honestly, Danny Cahill was one of my favorite contestants ever.  I hate that he has gained back his weight, but it honestly explains a lot about several of the previous contestants and their weight gain.  I then read the  Snack Girl  blog about the study.  I have to say I agree with Lisa's statement: " Society also has a long way to go to accept people of different sizes."   As a whole, society tends to frown or look down at those who have weight issues.  From time to time, even I have found myself passing a judgment against people who are bigger than myself.  It is something that I struggle with and I get frustrated with myself for judging anyone even in my head.   For me, this is a big reminder to myself not to beat myself up over regaining my weight. ...

So much has happened since I have posted last that I hardly know where to begin, but I celebrated my 45th birthday on Tuesday, the 29th and on Wednesday, the 30th, my mom was taken by ambulance to the emergency room for breathing difficulty and swelling in her legs.  She was diagnosed that Wednesday with congestive heart failure, which add to her previous diagnoses of C.O.P.D. and Diabetes.  To an extent, I walked this road before with my grandmother. We moved forward with her admission to the hospital.  On Thursday, we were told that she couldn't eat because she was having a procedure.  Hours later, we became aware that her procedure was being pushed to later in the day, so she was able to have liquids.  A few more hours passed and we were told that it was being moved to the following day, so she was finally able to eat late in the day.  On Friday, she was pulled down for her procedure.  When it was over, there were no stents placed but it was deter...

I have had a lot of stress going on of late and my food and workouts have been suffering, to say the least.  I had lost 2.2 lbs last week, but gained 3.4 lbs this week.  There is much going on, but I have to figure out how to handle this and move forward.  I do not want to go into 46 (45 is approaching too quickly for me to finish losing the weight before it arrives) being overweight and not happy in my own skin.   This is about me finding what works for me with my life now.  I figured out what worked for me 7+ years ago, but it is not the same now.  I was a single mother with family support and had workout buddies, etc.  Now, I have a husband and children and my mother to take care of and it isn’t always easy to make the schedule work.  I need to figure out how to juggle the schedule.  I am blessed to have a supportive and helpful husband and children, so I am not handling everything completely by myself.   I have made some big change...