LADDventure

Next in June

My theme word for the year is "next," both a reminder to take one step at a time, and to keep going when things get tough. To do the next right thing to move me toward the big goals and happenings of this year. So, each month I'm looking ahead to what's next. Here's what's coming up in June...

Next in travel...We are taking a mini vacation to Key West! Mr. Ladd is working in Miami for a couple weeks, so I'm meeting him there for a long weekend getaway to Key West. I'm looking forward to cooler temps, ocean breezes, and a tropical drink or two!

Next in adoption...Our adoption classes started (more details on Friday)! So that's where we'll be every Monday night for the next 12 weeks. It felt very real to be actively involved with other adoptive/foster families, learning about the process and preparing for parenthood!

Next in writing...In case you missed it, my book, Candid Classroom: What Parents Want to Know & Teachers Want to Tell Them, has a cover and a release date! It will be available August 4th, and I couldn't be more thrilled! Be sure to head over to The Candid Teacher and sign up for the email list to stay up to date with ways to help spread the word and upcoming events.

Next in food...We started a supper club with two other couples! We call ourselves Foodies With Booties, and the first month was tons of fun. It's our turn to host in June, so I can't wait to share all the details with you later this month.

Next in life...I'm working really hard to lose weight and get into shape, and although progress has been slower than I'd like, I'm determined to stick with it. I just moved on to Level 2 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, and I'm still sweating. I don't do it every day, but 4 times a week, and yoga twice a week, so it's more working out than I've ever done! My goal for this month is to finish Level 2 and move on to Level 3. Yikes!

In Alignment

I went back to the chiropractor this past week, and immediately wondered why I ever stopped going. For me, going to the chiropractor regularly is very closely related to how I'm taking care of my body. It holds a special place in my heart. The first time I ever went was at the end of my last year of teaching, when I had hit my mental, emotional, and physical limits. I had been out of school for three days because I could barely turn my head, with so much pent up tension and pain in my neck.

I sat in her office for my initial exam as she asked me general questions about my health, stress levels, weight, etc. and tears just started rolling down my face. I hadn't realized how many symptoms I was experiencing until that moment, and it was a lightbulb turning on to what my body was trying to tell me. I realized it wasn't OK or normal to feel like this all the time, and that I could do something about it. I started paying attention to and working with my body, and making some serious life changes to get in alignment and stay that way.

I felt amazing, but then I stopped being intentional. I stopped reminding myself I was a living, breathing being and paying attention to that person. Busy stepped back in as the familiar enemy and excuse. We got hard news, I was writing a book, and I stopped making going to the chiropractor a priority. Not coincidentally, I stopped making other things a priority too, like making healthy food choices, and exercising consistently, even doing my hair and makeup regularly. My default under stress is to stop taking care of myself, to crawl inside my yoga pants and baggy t-shirts and hide under a messy bun, pretending I don't care.

I flew through a fascinating book, Women, Food, and God a few months back, and a few things have stayed with me and started to change how I view my body. While I didn't connect to everything she had to say, the author's overall message was how (especially as women) we are so disconnected from and disdainful of our bodies. We do things to them instead of for them. We try to change them because we hate them, not because we love them. We punish, deprive, or ignore all together. We feed ourselves crap, and wonder why we're starving. 

It's a lesson I'm continually learning, how much my mind and soul are connected to my body. Living intentionally cannot mean living compartmentalized. You can't ignore one whole aspect of your being, but expect to be your best in other areas. So, I decided I did care. My weight had crept back up to that number I'd promised myself I wouldn't see again. My clothes weren't fitting, and I was uncomfortable in my own skin. I was tired, crabby, and unable to focus. So the past couple weeks, I've been focused and back on Weight Watchers, which works for me when I'm willing to be mindful. That's all it is, really, being mindful and consciously making choices. It's not about eating less of something, but more of the things that actually feed me. I'm moving this body and putting it to good use. I'm reminding myself that I'm young and capable-trying new things like biking, feeling clumsy and tired, but doing it anyway. I'm pushing myself to sweat and stretch; holding up my entire body weight in certain yoga poses, and focusing on feeling strong instead of on each individual pound.

This is a struggle I've written so much about here, and been back and forth with. But that's life, right? Continually reevaluating your priorities, and bringing everything back into alignment.

 

photo credit: by Janine via photopin cc

Next in February

February is here!  The Super Bowl is always a great way to kick off the month, and I'm a fan of Valentine's Day.  I think any excuse to show the people you care about a little extra love and make a day special is a good one.  Looking forward to a V-day dinner reservation with Mr. Ladd, some fabulous AZ weather, and lots of hearts and chocolate this month.

My word of the year is Next for 2014.  It's both a reminder to take big goals one step at a time, by just doing the very next thing in front of me, and a motivator to keep moving forward and thinking about what might be next for me and trying new things.  Each month I want to refocus on my word.  So here's what's next for Februrary.

 

Adoption:  We've contacted an agency and they've sent an initial questionnaire to fill out.  Once that is turned in to them, it will be reviewed by a supervisor and we'll be assigned an adoption specialist.  The specialist will then contact us to set up an initial home visit, go over the next steps of the process, and get us signed up for our mandatory classes!

Writing Career:  I've submitted my manuscript for Candid Classroom and should be hearing back from them soon about revisions and making some decisions about cover design, layout, etc.  I'm enjoying the "break" from daily book writing for the moment and am focusing on this blog and The Candid Teacher.  The Girl Next Door Podcast launched this past month, and is such a fun creative project to tackle with my good buddy.  I'm also heading to Storyline Conference in San Diego at the end of this month and am beyond excited about that.

Personal Goals:  January, I got back together with my Weight Watchers online subscription, and have been tracking eating choices and paying attention again.  So this month I want to continue making the next right food choice, but add in the exercise component.   Starting today actually, I'm starting a 3 month trial membership at a gym I've been wanting to check out for a while. 

Happy Februrary!  Here's to taking the next right step, and looking forward to a new month.

photo credit: Darwin Bell via photopin cc

WAIST Management - Week 15

Current Weight:  176.2

Weight Lost This Week: 1.2 lbs

Total Weight Lost:  10.1 lbs

It's been a few weeks , I know.  Lots has gone on around here, and I've been less than exactly focused on weight loss.  But, I have been focusing on getting lots more exercise than I have in the past.  It seems to be working, because the good news is, since Jan 1st, I have finally reached the first 10 pounds lost mark! Holy buckets it has taken a while, but my first mini goal has finally been achieved.  The really exciting part to me is that I know how much more I can lose if I really ramp up my efforts and focus.

Tank top season is upon us here in the desert, and I'd like to wear them with a bit less bingo wing.  Swimsuit season is just around the corner too.  I have a pool, and people want to come over and swim in it.  I would prefer to host them comfortably, and with a bit less obsessive towel covering up.

We are meeting some friends in Vegas in late June.  I'm sure it will involve pool time, nice dinners, and sexy heels.  So my next mini goal is to be at 160 by that time.  That's an average of 2 pounds a week for the next 8 weeks.  

So that's an update on where I am and where I'm headed.

186 pounds

176 pounds

WAIST Management - Week 12

Current Weight:  177.4

Weight Lost This Week: 0.6 lbs

Total Weight Lost:  8.9 lbs

I've heard it said that motivation is what gets you started, but habits are what keep you going.  I am finding there is a big difference between motivation and habits. I'm definitely motivated to lose weight.  I have not slipped back into any sort of "I don't care: slump.  But, I do not yet have the habits in place to make consistent progress. Exercise is an occasional occurence that I have to majorly gear myself up for instead of a regular ritual as it should be. I don't need motivation to exercise.  I have that in the form of swimsuit season looming in the next couple of months.  What I need is a habit in place to make sure I do it.  Even tracking my daily points on Weight Watchers is not yet a habit for me.  I have days where I do great and track everything that enters my mouth and other days where I just wing it for no real good reason other than it's not yet second nature for me to do it.

So, I wanted to know some tangible steps I can take to start forming new habits and did what everyone does - Googled it.  Here are some common sense steps, taken from this blog post I found:

Seven Steps to Developing a New Habit

First, make a decision Decide clearly that you are going to begin acting in a specific way 100% of the time, whenever that behavior is required. For example, if you decide to arise early and exercise each morning, set your clock for a specific time, and when the alarm goes off, immediately get up, put on your exercise clothes and begin your exercise session.

Second, never allow an exception to your new habit pattern during the formative stages. Don’t make excuses or rationalizations. Don’t let yourself off the hook. If you resolve to get up at 6:00 AM each morning, discipline yourself to get up at 6:00 AM, every single morning until this becomes automatic.

Third, tell others that you are going to begin practicing a particular behavior. It is amazing how much more disciplined and determined you will become when you know that others are watching you to see if you have the willpower to follow through on your resolution.

Fourth, visualize yourself performing or behaving in a particular way in a particular situation. The more often you visualize and imagine yourself acting as if you already had the new habit, the more rapidly this new behavior will be accepted by your subconscious mind and become automatic.

Fifth, create an affirmation that you repeat over and over to yourself. This repetition dramatically increases the speed at which you develop the new habit. For example, you can say something like; “I get up and get going immediately at 6:00 AM each morning!” Repeat these words the last thing before you fall asleep. In most cases, you will automatically wake up minutes before the alarm clock goes off, and soon you will need no alarm clock at all.

Sixth, resolve to persist in the new behavior until it is so automatic and easy that you actually feel uncomfortable when you do not do what you have decided to do.

Seventh, and most important, give yourself a reward of some kind for practicing in the new behavior. Each time you reward yourself, you reaffirm and reinforce the behavior. Soon you begin to associate, at an unconscious level, the pleasure of the reward with the behavior. You set up your own force field of positive consequences that you unconsciously look forward to as the result of engaging in the behavior or habit that you have decided upon.

Most people say it takes 21 days to make a new habit.  According to those steps, there are 2 things I am going to do every single day for 21 days and see how it affects my weight loss -
1.  Track everything all food and activity choices (no exceptions).
 2.  Get some form of exercise.
Something I've been good about is the third step, which is to tell others (hello world wide web), but the second step, never allowing exceptions during the formative stages of a new habit is the key for me right now I think.  I can rationalize anything, and it shows. 

This past week, I lost a little over a half pound, but did not make it to my 10 pound weight loss like I had wanted to.  Never fear, I am also learning that not achieving goals does not mean they should go away.  Just set a new one and keep going.  So my goal is to reach that 176 mark by Easter Sunday.  (and then possibly reward myself with a Reese's PB egg or three.  Just keeping it real, but I promise to track the points for all three of them.)

photo credit: EvelynGiggles via photopin cc

WAIST Management - Week 11

Current Weight:  178

Weight Lost This Week: 2.2 lbs!

Total Weight Lost:  8.3 lbs

Weighing in yesterday, I was thrilled to see 178 on the scale.  My short term goal is to reach 10 pounds lost (176) by the end of next week, which meant I needed to lose at least 2 pounds a week this week and next, and I am on track for that!  I did not do yoga or walk quite as often as I wanted to last week, but I did do an all day marathon cleaning session on Friday before Mr. Ladd came home from being away for work, and burned a whole bunch of points with that one.  Actively cleaning for sustained periods of time actually is a good form of exercise.  So, laziness the rest of the week actually paid off in the form of a calorie burning sweaty cleaning session.  I tend to live like a college bachelor when Jeremiah is gone, leaving dirty clothes laying about and eating random things I mindlessly pull from the fridge, but this week I was actually much more mindful of preparing decent meals for myself and intentional about keeping track of what I was eating.  Now to work off the Guinness I consumed this weekend to see that 176 on the scale next week!
 

WAIST Management - Week 9 & 10

Week 9

Current Weight:  178.6

Weight Lost This Week:  1 lb

Total Weight Lost: 7.7 lbs

Week 10

Current Weight:  180.2

Weight Lost This Week:  Gained 1.6 lbs

Total Weight Lost:  6.1 lbs

Week 9 was the week of the parental visit.  I did great actually.  I lost a pound that week even with the extra eating out and treats that come along with house guests. I ordered fruit instead of fries, had one egg at lingering breakfasts instead of two, and ordered an In-N-Out burger with no cheese or sauce and again no fries (a large accomplishment for me).

Week 10 in contrast did not go so well.  Inconsistent tracking, far less exercise and PMS brought about a gain.  Boo.  I am a major water retainer, but still, I have lost weight even during the dreaded week in the past and know it can be done.  The problem for me is saying no to cravings and yes to exercise.  I was a carb and cheese monster this past week and that does not help the number on the scale.

I've also decided I need some SMART-er goals when it comes to my weight (thanks Jackson from Biggest Loser).  So I spent some time thinking about that this morning, and here is what I've come up with.  For now I'm just focusing on making the next 2 weeks better than the last 2 weeks.
  
 Over the next 2 weeks

• I will weigh 176 for a total of 10 pounds lost by March 24th. (4 lbs lost in the next 2 weeks)
• I will track all food and activity choices every day on Weight Watchers Online for the next 2 weeks.
• I will go for at least a half hour walk 4 times a week for the next 2 weeks.
• I will do my yoga DVD at least 4 times a week for the next 2 weeks. 

WAIST Management - Week 8

Current Weight:  179.6

Weight Lost This Week:  1 lb

Total Weight Lost: 6.7 lbs

I've said it before, but I'm saying it one last time, I'm saying goodbye to the 180's forever.  I never want to see that unhealthy-for-my-size number on the scale again.  I'm so tired of losing and then finding the same few pounds hovering right around 180.  No more.  And the thing of it is, there are a lot of things in life that are out of my control, but my weight is not one of them.  It is directly and exclusively related to every food and exercise choice I make.   

Many of us make the unpredictability of life an excuse for not taking care of ourselves.  Yes, I could walk out the door and get hit by a car tomorrow, but it would be a lot less mortifying if I didn't have frosting all over my mouth at the time.  True, I could be struck by lightning in my own swimming pool, but is it too much to ask that I could at least be proudly rocking a bikini again when it happens? I might even have a chance to outrun that bear that randomly attacks on a hike if I could actually run, or if I hiked on purpose


In all seriousness though, I know we're all going to die, but I'd like to live before that, and being overweight limits the amount of living I do if I'm being honest. Don't get me wrong.  I also don't really think a life without cheese and the occasional cupcake is really worth living, so if I can teach myself healthy habits and true moderation when it comes to those things, I think I can die happy, and hopefully without any frosting on my face.

 

photo credit: bruce... via photopin cc

WAIST Management - Week 7

Current Weight:  180.6

Weight Lost This Week:  1.8 lbs

Total Weight Lost: 5.7 lbs

I am back on track, which is a good place to be after last week's lovely weigh in (sarcasm).  I not only lost the 1 pound I had gained, but also an additional 0.8 lbs.  I am the type who easily gets thrown off track and uses it as an excuse to stay that way, not even bothering to locate the track again much less get back on it.  It is so motivating and encouraging to me when I make an honest effort all week to make the right choices and it pays off. Here's what I did right this week:

I got some exercise every day except Saturday - I dusted off my Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga DVD, and Bob Harper made every muscle I own hurt so good three days last week.  Then I took the dogs on a nice long walk every day, and yard worked my keester off yesterday.  Mr. Ladd even commented that he noticed I didn't complain once about the physical effort while doing the yard work.  This may not sound like much to some, but for me it is major progress.  In general I hate to sweat and love my couch, so doing something physically active, sometimes twice in one day, is good for me.  Baby steps.  What I really like about yoga is that I am dripping sweat at certain points with muscles I didn't know I had shaking with the effort of holding a position, but at the same time I can do it in bare feet, and it involves laying down at some point.  Score.

Budgeted my intake well - I knew we were going out for a romantic dinner Valentine's Day, so I was very mindful of  saving weekly points for that splurge.  It worked, and I didn't feel at all deprived at the end of the week.

A set dinner time -  With both of us having flexible schedules, it is sometimes difficult to manage meal and snack times, because they can be whenever.  But, I found that I was eating a lot between lunch and dinner because I was starving.  So we are going to try to have dinner around 6 or 6:30 every night so I can plan my lunch and afternoon snacks accordingly.  I don't make good choices when I am ravenous and mindlessly munching while making dinner or holding myself off.

Some go to snacks that are saving my life right now -
Cherry tomatoes (0 points) - I love them sliced in half and drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper with an egg and whole wheat toast for breakfast.  But they are also great by themselves as a snack while I'm making dinner and want something more savory.

Light string cheese (2 points)- I am a cheese nut, and typically I think real food is better than fake, so I try to avoid the reduced fat business in favor of just more fruits, veggies, etc.  But, this string cheese has been great for those cheese cravings.

Turkey pepperoni (2 points for 17 pieces!) - I actually prefer it to regular pepperoni now and snack on it with a piece of string cheese and the cherry tomatoes when I'm feeling like something pizza-ish.  It's a very satisfying snack or mini meal.

Bananas (0 points) - Can we all just take a moment to reflect on the individually wrapped naturally sweet goodness that is the banana?  I am going through probably 2 bunches a week right now.

How are your fitness goals going?  Any great healthy snacks you couldn't live without right now? 

WAIST Management - Week 6

Current Weight:  182.4

Weight Lost This Week:  Gained 1 lb

Total Weight Lost: 3.9 lbs

Ok, so I could hand you a line about how it's only one pound and weight can just fluctuate especially in women, and blah blah blah. I had almost decided that I wasn't even going to weigh myself this week and just check in next week.  But, I didn't because I know better, and I need to be honest.

Basically I was emotional and PMS-ey (a word?), and so I ate all of the things this week.  I ate when I was hungry, which was all the time, and it should come as no suprise that it was not always fruit and veggies.  I ate when I was sad or happy or bored.  I ate things I haven't eaten in a while, and I paid for it, with a big fat stomach ache and feeling like absolute garbage by Saturday.  I felt like such garbage that I needed to leave my friends' house early Saturday night because it was going to get ugly. Then I pretty much spent the entire weekend on the couch.  I may have had a little bug or something, but it is more likely due to the perfect storm I had been creating all week with my food choices.

I could be discouraged by that, but it actually encourages me to know that my body is no longer used to that crap.  I'm encouraged because I know exactly why I gained a pound this week and what I can do to fix it.  I'm encouraged because I didn't actually like the way last week felt at all, and it motivates me to be better.

So here's to a new week of making one good choice at a time and being intentional about my health.