Well, I'm back down to where I was the second week. But at least it's down from the beginning of the month and not up! I'm posting a grand total loss of only 2.2 pounds for the last 4-1/2 weeks.I gotta say, I'm not real pleased with that. Especially since if weigh-in day had been on Monday, I would have been able to say a total loss of 3.8!!
I've decided to return to what worked the best for me in the past ~ a return to the eating plan recommended by the Bible study that kicked off this whole blog. There's no counting, no calculating, no planning ~ just no breakfast and lunch some days! As tough as it might be for some to understand, I find it easier to just not eat than to care about what I can or can't have, how much, how many points it's worth, or how many fat and calories it contains. I even find it easier than days when the eating plan allows half-portions all day. I guess I'm a bit of an "all or nothin'" kinda gal in that way!
I quit using this eating plan two years ago once summer rolled around. When my girls were home during the day, I didn't want them to see me "starving myself" on the liquids/fasting days. This year, with deciding to start again only a month before school's out, I'm faced again with the dilemma of how to handle it or if I will continue at all. (My past experience with quitting and then trying to resume 2 months later would tell me it makes more sense NOT to take a break!!)
My girls know I'm overweight, and they know it's because I eat more than my body needs for daily function. They understand the relationship there, and they also understand that because I wasn't more self-disciplined all these years, there's hard work to be done in order to reverse the effects ~ the weight AND the attitude/habits. So I'm not sure I really NEED to hide it, yet I'm not sure I can do it successfully in a way that doesn't seem like I'm just consumed with meeting the beauty standards of the media. So the jury's still out on that one.
But it is a return to the plan that netted me my loss this week, so I'm looking forward to at least another four weeks of good progress before summer begins!
7 comments:
Tammi, first of all, congratulations on your loss! It might be hard to understand an eating plan that requires you to skip meals altogether, but sometimes you have to do what you know works for you. The kids seeing you is another thing you'll need to be careful with. Gosh, I wish I had some advice for you on that. I think it's important for them to see you have a healthy relationship with food, but at the same time, is it really healthy to skip meals completely? Clearly you already know this, and it's why you brought it up! So I'm basically no help, but I do want you to know I'm thinking about you and hoping you find the right way!
While my girls are all grown up I understand how hard it is to make that decision. It's obvious that you are giving it a lot of thought and consideration so go with what your heart and soul tell you. It will be what's right for you and your family. Good luck!
Good job for having a loss this month! Doing what works best for our body and our lifestyle is what this healthy lifestyle is all about. Do what you know and do the best to explain it to your kids if they have questions. Hope you get it figured out!
Good for you for making the brave choice to do what you know works for you! I think the best way to go is to be very honest with your kids and to explain the reasoning as you would explain it to anyone else. It is important that they see us as we are and that they see that not everything is black and white - not every plan fits every person and the fact that you are doing what you know works well is a huge example to them. Hope that makes sense... Great work!
Well, I think you sort of know what I'm going to say since I've talked about this before - at least on my sister's blog anyway (maybe not yours).
I don't normally post my opinions on controversial topics because I'm terrified about offending someone, and I'm just plain terrified of disagreeing with someone and I get nervous about any sort of 'rebuttle' I might get. But I'm trying to speak my mind a bit more, so here goes:
There's just something about the "fasting for the purpose of losing weight" that doesn't sit right with me, regardless of whether there's young kids around to witness it or not. But adding in the kid factor just increases my level of discomfort with it.
I do think it's great that you talk to your girls about your weight and how you got this way and that now you need to work hard to reverse the effects of your past decisions. But at the same time - especially with having young girls as opposed to boys - this can be a very dangerous thing, in my opinion. Obviously I'm no expert, of course. This is just my opinion.
As things stand right now, obviously your girls don't have any reason to be concerned with their weight since they are very slight. But even if they stay this slight all of their lives, there may come a time where *they* see themselves as overweight. They will look back and remember that when their mom was unhappy with her weight, she skipped meals. So they might start doing that too. And while YOU might have a way of balancing it properly (i.e. not doing it EVERY day), they might not.
To me, there's a red flag when there's even a consideration that you might try to hide this from your girls. I think any and all methods that we use to try to get healthy and lose weight should rather be things that we WANT them to see. Things that we want them to adopt in their own lives. For example, I actually love it that I am not a morning person and therefore don't get up early to do my work-outs before the girls even get out of bed. I like it that they SEE me do it every day. And I like it when they see me saying no to Pepsi sometimes (not often enough, perhaps!) because they know it's healthier for me.
I know there are things that we as adults can do that we don't want our children to do. You know, 'cause we're adults and we can make our own decisions. But if they see us modeling certain behaviours, they are much more likely to do it themselves. So my fear is that even if you explain to them why you are doing what you're doing...their minds might not process it the same way yours might and it could be cause for trouble down the road when they find themselves in a position where they are unhappy with their bodies.
I know of a 9 year old girl who said to her mom that she didn't want to have bedtime snack anymore because she didn't want to get fat. And this child was nowhere near being overweight. I'm not saying that avoiding night-time snacks is a bad thing...but if she's worried about becoming fat at the young age of 9 already and wanting to skip bedtime snacks to prevent herself from getting fat -- what if on top of that she saw her mom skipping meals to manage her weight?
Okay, that's all I have to say. :) And now I will nervously be awaiting any sort of response to what I just wrote...eek!!
while this may sounds like a cop-out response have you prayed about it? God cares for those girls of yours more than you do, even though sometimes that doesn't seem possible. Talk to Him about it.
You already know that I also find intermittent fasting to be the easiest way for me to lose weight as well. And it's a myth that it's not healthy for you. First of all, if it's something God expects us to do (for spiritual reasons) it would not be bad for us. For anyone interested in the secular reasoning though - see here for my review on intermitten fasting http://tammyisblessed-30dayshredchallenge.blogspot.com/2009/07/intermittent-fasting.html
As far as the girls, I think one of the most important things is to model self-confidence and self-respect to our daughters, especially in regards to how we look. If we constantly complain about our bad hair days, our flabby tummy, our saddle bags, or whatever - that's going to affect them WAY more than witnessing a particular diet plan that's been appropriately explained to them.
Post a Comment