It's Not a Diet It's My Future

I have black hair and brown eyes, my sister has brown hair and hazel eyes, my coworker has blond hair and blue eyes. We are a mix of tall, short, big, skinny. We are all uniquely different inside and out; so why should we all follow the same advice to lose weight and be healthy? There are tons of articles, diets, and books out there telling us how we must only eat a certain way to achieve maximum weight loss and healthy results and that all the other diets are wrong. I have read so many over them years I could probably write a combined book. It got me so confused at one point I starting thing....if we are all different inside and out why will the same diet and eating habits work for everyone equally?

Be unique and be true to yourself inside and out

A few years ago I did Weight Watchers, I gained weight. My friend Debbie did it and lost a ton of weight and continues to lose weight and love the program. We did it exactly the same. So why did she drop weight and I gained and felt sluggish? Because we are different. Our bodies are hardwired (that is my scientific term) different. Over the years my mom and I have realized that carbs and sugar are our kryptonite. Eating those can mess up our bodies pretty quick and the recovery time is very very slow. I am talking sugar coma for days just from a small intake, stomach that gets bloated and puffy and overall feeling of yuck. We stick to a low carbohydrate, low sugar, healthy fat eating routine, similar to primal eating/paleo/Atkins. I also now read labels and get pretty grossed out seeing what is in some processed foods. Now on the other hand, my dad and sister can eat pretty much whatever they desire, no problem, and as long as they watch their calories they lose weight and feel good. They are slowly learning about reading labels as well.

No cookies for me...
I am going to leave the cookies to Cookie Monster

So what is my point? My point is we are all uniquely designed inside and out. I don't recommend cutting out all food groups, but I do recommend being in touch with your body. Take notice how you feel after eating certain foods. It's a trial and error sort of thing and of course balance. Too much of anything, no matter how healthy or wonderful is not always a good thing. Be patient with yourself and be willing to learn. Maybe your body just needs a limitation in calories, but maybe you need more than that, maybe less sugar or carbs or dairy. Being open to finding out what my body needs and wants has showed me a whole new world. I still have ups and downs, and thanks to being a girl I get those crazy hormone cravings, but I have learned a lot about my body and when those moments creep up on me I feel like I handle them a little better each time. The conclusion I came to is that taking the time to learn about my body, explore foods, read research and invest in myself is more important than just a diet and weight loss, this is about my health and my future.

I hope I can teach my nieces all that I have learned from my
health journey while they are young.

Dating and Dieting Dilemmas

For all my single friends out there I bet just seeing the word dating made you do a little mental cringe. I know some people say dating is fun and you can meet new people, but my feelings have become more of where oh where is my prince charming already. Now don't get me wrong, I am perfectly happy living the single life, but it would be nice to share with someone.

Saw this on Pinterest. I got a good laugh from it

Oh the dating stories I could tell you...there was the guy that asked me to take my shoes off before getting in his car, the one who talked so much about himself he forgot my name, and my favorite story of the guy who didn't bring cash to the ice cream place, when he found out they didn't accept credit cards he threw a very loud tantrum, yes foot stomping and all and wouldn't let me buy his ice cream for him. Okay I could go on for hours with those stories and I have a feeling there are many similar stories out there (please feel free to share).

Love my friends, but yeah, this is totally me at times

For me going out was always a mix of emotions.  Will he like me, will I like him, and if I met him online...will he even look like his picture. Now I am adding my healthy habits into the mix. What will I eat and drink. I now suggest coffee for first dates because I don't really drink. I went out on a date not too long ago and ordered a burger (took off the bun) and steamed veggies on the side. He wanted me to try his pasta dish. I thanked him, but politely declined and explained nicely that me and pasta are not friends. He got all insulted, even when I explained to him it would hurt my stomach and I just preferred eating lower carb foods, he replied with oh come on just this once. I won't even tell you his reaction when I didn't want to split his giant brownie sundae dessert with him. Needless to say, we didn't go out again.

Okay men, this should go for women too, show me the womanfax

I took a little break from dating, but I am back in the dating scene, looking for someone special in my life to have fun with and who won't give me a hard time for wanting to be healthy, I would really like to me someone who wants to join me on my journey. Dating is complicated enough, but figuring out how to do it while remaining healthy and staying on the weight loss path seems to be a little more challenging. I would love any suggestions from people going through this or have already gone through it and met there match who likes them for them and not the dessert they order or not.

Sometimes you just have to keep trying...cooking and dating

Hmmm.....Maybe I should forget online dating and start looking in the grocery store so I can see what they eat first.

Struggles and Support

I don't know about everyone but I do know when it comes to me and weight loss there are times I want to take the scale and throw it across the bathroom. Times when I just don't understand how it could possibly go up and why do my pants feel snug!?! I didn't eat any oreos my nieces tried to give me. I measured and weighed all my food. I worked out every day. Sure I know my body is complicated and struggles to lose weight but this is just not fair. Well this is the point I reached the other day. I was on a solid roll for a while there. Scale and inches moving in the right direction and then it just stopped and even started going back up. Can you say frustrating! Part of me wanted to say I just give up and eat anything and everything. Then I thought about my health and how that would suffer, I thought about how horrible I would feel, and I thought about the example I would be setting for my nieces. I raised my white flag and admitted I needed backup.  It was time to call in for backup...my mom!

Yeah this is pretty much how I felt the other morning

My mom is amazing and thankfully patient and also my best friend. I can tell her anything. My mom also knows me better than anyone else and knows my struggles. She has been helping me, supporting me, and guiding me since the day I asked for help. I admit this time I wanted to try and do it alone...look what I can do. Then I realized if you have someone in your corner willing to help and support you and figure it out, you are lucky, and I have that with her.

My mom and I can have fun on the beach or even food shopping

I told my mom what was going on,  she asked me about what I was eating and came up with some ideas to possibly help. Then she even agreed to take a ride with me to Shoprite, on a Sunday! For those of you who don't know Shoprite on a Sunday, it's like any food store during a weather emergency! Madness!! But off we went for our adventure. It was like no one else existed in the store as we read labels and talked. I realized I had been slacking on protein and healthy fats while concentrating too much on fruits and other sugary high carb foods. My body hates sugar!!! I have no medical diagnosis for this, but I know. Just like anyone else reading this who knows their body. People might think you are nuts, but you just know your body. My mom showed me different types of meats and gave me ways to cook them. Without her support I would have probably been miserable today. Trying to figure out what to do and where to start to make it better. Instead after a day and a half of my changed eating I had energy. I wasn't relying on coffee, I wasn't starving all day, I wasn't grumpy, and I even had leftover energy to go swimming with my nieces. I'm hoping this is just the start to more days like these and I will keep you updated and even give some easy recipes (I don't do complicated ones yet).

Having fun and getting exercise while playing in the pool

Sometimes all it takes is someone in your corner who can see past the emotions of what you are going through.Someone to help you take a step back and figure out where you went off the path. Don't be afraid to ask for help or like me trying to prove you don't need help. I hope everyone has at least one person like that in their life and if not I am here for you. Feel free to comment on my blogs. I would love to hear your story and please don't give up no matter how challenging.