WEEK 7

Just finished Week 7 on the journey to a new me. I am offically down 15. 2 lbs. (6.8 kg for you metric people). This last week I have been super busy. My house looks like I have been robbed, with things laying everywhere. (NOTE: This is so not me. I get messing but not to the extreme my house is in now.) I don't know if it was because I was so busy and exhausted but food just didn't taste as good this week. I didn't have time to switch it up so I was eating alot of the same things... all healthy. Now that I am not going to be as busy I am going to try to cook some more new reciepts.
I can see a difference in my body for the first time. The board shorts that I am wearing I bought after going back to Ca 3 years ago. At that time I had lost 45 lbs. (About 13 lbs lower than what I am now.) I haven't been able to wear these shorts for the last 2 1/2 years. I have been trying them on every week to see how close I am to wearing them again and today they finally fit. :)
The last time I lost weight it was because I was under a huge amount of stress... the decision to leave Taiwan after 6 years. Working and making all the plans to go back ... I would forget to eat or just didn't want to eat. We were going to the skate park everyday.
This time around I am doing it by sweat and tears. Last night it was raining again (the story of the last few months) so soccer was a no go. I wanted to be lazy and not exercise. I had one more day of Yoga this week so I "could" skip it and still be ok. But it was a battle in my head. "You should do this!" "I don't want to!" Back and forth till I got angry with myself. "FINE, I'll do it!" It was one of the best work out sessions yet. I am stronger than I have ever been before. I have muscle. :)
I don't know why it is so hard to motivate myself to exercise before I start. It is always a battle but lucky I am winning that battle so far.

Cooking away

People have been asking what I eat. I think most people assume I am just eating salad... but that's just not true... for a couple of reasons. It is really hard to find a good salad in Taitung. (Only place I know of is Thyme.) Second I don't like salad unless it has lots of dressing which totally defeats the purpose of eating a salad.
I eat all kinds of different things. I eat chicken (cooked different ways), fish, shrimp, lots and lots of fruit, broccoli (which I don't really like), some vegetables, lots of beans, yogurt, oatmeal,egg whites etc. Here are some pictures of the staples in my house.

"You gotta beat your demons"

A friend (Matt) and I have an inside joke where we tell eachother that we "gotta beat your demons" (said with an English accent). This joke originally started when Matt ran into another friend of ours on the beach one day. The friend on the beach was eating these little tiny snails, which are popular here in Taiwan. He offered them to Matt which he declined. Our friend replied, "You gotta beat your demons!" So Matt ended up trying them after all.
Well this phrase has been running through my head alot lately. As I have mentioned this journey to be healthy is not just about losing weight... I want to be healthy in all areas of my life. So I bought Jillian Micheals new book Unlimited. Though I don't really agree or ...get what is talked about early on in the book there are some really good points. One point that has really hit home is about working through things that hold us back in our lives. Whether it is lack of confidence in yourself or running from close relationships with others... whatever keeps you from being the person you really want to be.
3 years ago I saw a theropist to help me deal with some issues from my childhood. Reading through this section in this book reminded me of that... and helped me to realize that there are things that I still need to work out. First you have to identify areas in your life that aren't ideal.
For me, I have this deep since of justice... that everyone should follow the rules, do the right thing. I can't handle it when I see people not following the rules. I get really angry and it affects alot of areas in my life. If I feel wronged by someone it is hard for me to get past that. I am also a perfectionist. Which really corelate with the following the rules thing. I want to do everything perfect. I have a hard time when I don't do something perfect or get an A++ on a test, etc. I have such a high standard for myself. I also have a hard time when others aren't perfect.
But where did this come from? That is the second step. Going back as far back as you can to see why you feel the way you do. For me, I think it has alot to do with my relationship with mom. My mom was very strict with me. As I was growing up I rarely felt whatever I did was good enough. There was such a standard laid out for me that was impossible for a child to reach. If I cleaned the entire house, my mom would find the one thing not done and complain about it. I was never good at school, a B and C student at best, even though I tried very hard. My mom tried to teach me problem solving skills. But the stress of always having to figure out the best way to do something was tough. Things that my mom considered common sense were not common sense for a 8 year old child.
The result of this is as a grown up to now repeat this same cycle over again in my relationships. I can't understand why someone will do something a certain why when it's "common sense" that it should be done this way. I don't have patience with people who don't think the way I do. I put unfair expectations on my friends and family members and on myself.
So how do I change? I am not sure... I working on that. Still reading the book but I think it has something to do with forgiving the person that made you feel the way that you do... in my case forgiving my mom for making me feel like I was never a good enough daughter.
If these words sound harsh, understand that I loved/love my mom whole heartly and I know that she loved me the same. She never meant to make me feel the way she did. (I think she had issues from her childhood too that made her the way she was.) I want to break this cycle. I don't want my children to feel the same way that I did.
There are alot of areas in my life that need changing and I hope as this journey continues that I will be able the work through these areas in by life so that I can have healthy relationships with those around me and not be so hard on myself. Really, I working towards a NEW ME!

Week 6 finished

Six weeks finished! I am offically 14 lbs down and half way to my goal for going back to the US this summer. I have lost 4 inches on my waist. I am so glad to have passed my first platue. I was getting alittle fustrated but I knew that I was doing all the right stuff and it would pass. I know that I have to step it up from here on out though. I have one more really busy week at work then it is smooth sailing till the end of the school year. I will have almost 8 weeks off from teaching. I am really looking forward this break. I have a goal of reaching my goal weight by Sept. 10th. It seems so long to wait and so much hard work to do to get there but I am really confident that I will reach my goal.

Yoga

When people used to say they did yoga I was not interested in listening. I thought yoga was this super spiritual practice of meditation that helped you try to empty the mind of all negative thoughts and so on. Sounded way too new age for me, so I never tried it.
Recently however I ran across Jillian Micheal's Yoga Meltdown and Bob Harper's Weight Lose Yoga and fell in love with the practice. The yoga in these videos aren't like the above mentioned. Basically it's body weight resistence training. Yoga with cardio. You hold different positions for a period of time and use your own body weight as resistence. It is such a good workout and actually FUN. I am stronger (great workout for surfers.) and have more energy. I highly recommend these videos if you are wanting to lose weight or a beginner's yoga video. If I can do it, you can do it.

Week Five

As I ended week 5 I was actually up about .5 up from the previous week. It didn't surprise me or discourage me. I have actually been anticipating a platue for a couple of weeks. I know that I am doing the right things and that this is nature (have you ever watched the Biggest Loser?). I am right on schedule... 2 lbs. a week which means I should of lost 10 pounds to date and I was under that so I am happy. Actually the following 2 days I dropped again and this morning was about 12.5 lbs down.
I forgot my camera this week so I will take a picture alittle late.

Week Four

Well I made it though my first month. I am officially down 11.5 lbs and I have lost 2 inches on my waist. I feel good... healthier. Though I can't really see much of a difference, I can tell that my clothes are fitting me better.
One lesson I learned is that I really have to prepare for what I am going to eat. Last night I didn't get to eat dinner until after 8pm because I had bible study and then had to go three different places to find a protein. (First store the coolers were out so the meat was spoiled. The second place didn't have chicken breast. Finally I saw the traditional market had Sausimi (raw fish) so I got that and cooked it. Just couldn't stomach it raw that night.) And to make matters worse it was raining and I was riding my motorcycle trying to not get my hair wet. (I had just gotten my hair done for today's TV interview at school.) I was getting so fustrated at the littlest things and I knew it was because I hadn't eaten yet. I learned that I need to plan ahead of times so things like this don't happen. Eating right really takes alot of time because you are cooking mostly yourself which means you have to go out and buy the food, prepare it and clean up after it. It's like a second job, really. It is worth it I know but last night, I was so close to driving through McDonald's.

It's not all about the physical

I have been doing alot of soul searching lately. There are things (character traits) that I am not always proud of. One of them that I have been struggling with is "making quick judgements". Sometimes I see someone doing something that I feel is wrong or don't understand and I immediately jump to conclusions. Then I embarass myself when I find out that they did have a valid reason for doing or saying what they did. Example: I play soccer several nights a week. Normally when we kick the ball out of bounds we will run after it. There is this one guy that always walks. I just thought he was lazy! I made a rude comment about it one time and someone told me that he has some health issues but really wants to play so to go easy on him. I felt ashamed that I thought so negative towards him for so long. Rebecca, "Where's the compassion in that!"
It's just one example and believe me I could go on for quite a while with others. What I have come to realize that everyone has a story. I shouldn't be so quick to judge or jump to conclusions. I challenge you to look at at least one thing about yourself you don't like and work at changing it.

Lunch today 5/3

This was my lunch today. Curry chicken with cilantro and lime sauce (from Mastering your Metabolism Cookbook by Jillian Michaels) , beans with cheese, salad and an apple. Super filling and I don't get hungry again until 6:30pm- 7:00pm. The chicken in awesome! I will give you the recipe if you want it.

Week Three

Week Three weigh in I was down 10.4 lbs. I am really proud of that number. I have a long ways to go but this is a good start.
That said Week Three was a hard week. The will power that I had the first two weeks was starting to dwindle. I had to fight against myself to exercise and not over eat or eat things that I knew was bad for me. I was getting tired of the recipes that I raved about early on. Though I did not "fall off the band wagon" by eating the wrong things or not exercising I sorta did in the mental game of things.
I need this was more than just losing weight and it has to be more than that for it to work. I want to make changes that will stick for a life time, not just for the time being. But old habits are hard to break and new habits are just as hard to make. Through every struggle I learn alittle more about myself and a little more about how to deal with those struggles the next time they come along. If what I did the first time didn't work then I don't do it again, try something different. It's like they say,"I'm a work in progress."



END OF WEEK THREE PICTURES.