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Aug 31, 2012

Two Months & Goal – Now What?

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I’ve reached the end of my two month ambassador program with Slim-Fast, and I have to say it’s been a great success. I did the Slim-Fast program for four months at the beginning of the year, and that experience helped me get within two pounds of my goal weight. This two months has helped me finally reach that goal weight (YAY!!) and consider what’s next for me.

When I set my goal weight, I’m not sure I ever expected to see that number on the scale. I based my goal on the top of the BMI “normal” range for my height, which is 158 pounds. Now that I’m finally here, it’s time for me to re-evaluate and decide if I want to consider this good or continue on in weight loss. On one hand, I’m so happy to reach the goal I set so long ago and I’m ready to celebrate a little. This has taken YEARS and I’m ready to not carefully consider everything going into my mouth for once.

On the other hand, I’m still not entirely happy with myself. My doctor would like to see me lose a little more (preferably fat) around my waist for optimal health. So maybe losing another 10 pounds, with the added goal of more muscle as well, would be a better goal? I’m not entirely sure yet.

Either way, maintenance is a must until I make a decision. And I’m not taking that lightly. I’m still using Slim-Fast because it’s a nutritious, quick meal when I’m in a rush. It keeps portions in perspective for me, too. I’m not strictly keeping to the plan until I decide for sure if I’m going to lose more weight or not. But a Slim-Fast snack bar in my purse is still a fantastic snack when I’m out, and our dinners still are between 500-700 calories per portion.

Any diet program has the possibility of becoming routine, leading some to get bored with their program. I’ve been lucky in that I like routine, but also there’s enough variety and flexibility in the Slim-Fast program to give me plenty to choose from for each meal or snack. The key is to not let yourself become bored. If you feel limited by the choices in front of you, it’s time to switch it up a bit, and a good diet is flexible enough to place that control in your hands without straying from the plan.

I always like a shake for breakfast, but tend to switch up which flavor I go with. I also occasionally experiment with my shakes – there’s no need to keep just to the pre-mixed flavors! Try blending a Slim-Fast shake with a handful of berries, or a spoonful of peanut butter and a banana (great with the Rich Chocolate Royale!) – it’s like having dessert for a meal, without the calories of a fast-food shake. It does add some calories to the meal, but they’re minimal compared to binging from boredom, right?

Keeping your snacks interesting helps, too. I have a pantry stocked with different kinds of snacks that are close to 100 calories a portion. If I’m craving salty, I’ve got 100-calorie packs of nuts. If I want sweet, a Slim-Fast snack bar is perfect. If I want cold or crunchy, I’ve got apples or bags of baby carrots and hummus. I have several options available to me to fit whatever mood I might be in, and to keep me interested in my food choices.

A big thanks to Slim-Fast for asking me to serve as an ambassador again for these past two months. They helped me finally reach that elusive goal, giving me a fantastic end to my summer. I even bought and wore a bathing suit without shame when we were at Lake Erie two weeks ago! Beyond the bathing suit, I once again need (nearly) a whole new wardrobe to go with my smaller size. Size 8 jeans are here to stay, and it’s time to toss out all of my large shirts and sweaters for medium ones. (And even some mediums are loose!)

 Shopping for clothing is finally fun!

It has occurred to me that some people read weight-loss blogs and think, “Well, that’s great that YOU could do it, but there’s no way I could do that.” Allow me to just say: NO, I believe you can do it.

I’m not a glossy infomercial featuring someone who lost a bunch of weight in a short period of time (and somehow got a tan in the process – ever notice that?). It took years for me, with some yo-yo’ing and a lot of frustration and false starts. I’m naturally lazy, I love food and have been an emotional eater for years. I’m crazy busy with kids and a job that has me in front of a computer 8-10 hours a day. I have no more willpower than the average person.

Make a small change, stick to just that single small change until you master it, and then move on to another small change. The effect ads up. Get outside help if needed. Slim-Fast is great for teaching about portion control. Signing up for a group exercise class with a friend can provide accountability. Create a plan for yourself that’s as flexible as you need while still producing results.

I’ll post soon about what’s next for me. I have some ideas, but need to finalize the direction I want to go. However, I think another 5K will be in my future soon. Stay tuned!

Disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast® Summer Slim-Down Challenge. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation.

Filed Under: food, motivation, success · Tagged: , ,


Aug 21, 2012

Celebrating With A Run (& A Giveaway!)

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Since walking the runway in the BlogHer fashion show, I’ve been feeling pretty good about myself. I did gain a little bit of weight back while in NYC, but most of it was water weight and returning to the Slim-Fast plan helped it disappear just as fast.

Last week my family had the chance to take a mini-vacation, and so we spent two days at Lake Erie, with one day at Cedar Point and the other at Put-in-Bay. During that time I ate freely and enjoyed all of the fun of carnival food and fine island seafood. And yes, I even wore a bathing suit at one point! It felt great to walk around in a (non-skirted) bathing suit without feeling the need to keep a towel wrapped around me.

On Saturday we were home again (and exhausted!) and my eating habits dropped into lazy teenager: fast food and sweets. I knew it was going to be temporary, though, and by Sunday morning I was ready to jump right back into the Slim-Fast plan again. It’s really true: eating excessive amounts of junk after eating well for a long period of time does make you feel awful.

Sunday was also the day Aaron and I had signed up for the Color Me Rad 5K. If you’ve never done one of these 5K races, allow me to explain. This is a “fun run” and while everyone gets a race bib, it’s not timed and there are no prizes for coming in first. You start the run in a plain white t-shirt, and along the way you get color bombed. There are color stations set up along the route, where volunteers throw brightly dyed cornstarch at you. By the end of the run, you look like you were hit by a rainbow tornado!

It’s been months since I trained for a 5K, but I was still excited to do this run. I knew that I wasn’t going to run the entire distance, but I also knew I was going to try my hardest. This was also the lowest weight I’ve ever been at to run a race, so I expected the pride of my accomplishment to carry me through to the end.

I started the morning off with a Slim-Fast Chocolate Royale to fuel up before the race. It was just enough to give me plenty of energy without sitting heavy in my stomach. As we ran, I thought of how far I’ve come, and how much harder this would have been when I weighed 245 lbs.

Reaching each color station, I laughed and threw my arms in the air as volunteers tossed colored powder on me and I ran through the brightly dyed clouds, knowing there was a time when I may not have even reached those points in the race.

 I’m on the left wearing black capris in the front line

And at the end, I was a sweaty mess. A brightly colored, sweaty mess. It was totally worth it.

Did I run the whole thing? Nope. Did I run more than I walked? Yes. Am I proud that I did it? Absolutely. It was another reminder of how far I’ve come, and how even as I hover at my goal weight I can’t stop the fight. One or two days of unrestrained eating probably won’t do a lot of harm, but I have to always be careful that those one or two days don’t become four or five days or more.

I’m sticking with Slim-Fast for now because it’s a tasty way to remind me about portion control and keep my calories in check. The shakes and meal bars are filling, high in protein, and there are SO many different flavors to keep you happy!

Even maintaining a certain weight takes work, and Slim-Fast can help me with that, too. Once I decide I’m done with losing weight, I’ll likely continue to have a Slim-Fast shake in the morning (because it’s an easy breakfast when I’m frantically getting the kids ready and out the door) and then rely on the Slim-Fast snack bars for the occasional on-the-go snack. Having filling, lower-calorie options available to me in the fridge and in my purse will be the best defense against weight creeping back on.

Giveaway!

Ready for your own WOW moment? Enter to win one of THREE Slim-Fast “Summer of WOW!” Swag Bags. The bags have everything you’ll need to turn heads on the beach, including a $20 gift card to a top department store to add to your WOW! wardrobe, a bright beach tote, a premium infuser water bottle and a sampling of Slim-Fast products designed to help you look your best before you hit the beach.

No, really, WOW!

To enter, just follow the Rafflecopter instructions below. Two winners will be chosen after the giveaway closes on Wednesday, August 29.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast® Summer Slim-Down Challenge. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation.

Filed Under: photographic evidence, running, success · Tagged: ,


Aug 13, 2012

Strutting My Stuff In NYC

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Last week I spent four fantastic days in New York City for BlogHer ’12. I was completely thrilled to go, looking forward to visiting with old friends, meeting new ones, and participating in the first BlogHer Fashion Show.

This is quite possibly the first conference I’ve been to where I was excited about every outfit in my suitcase. I had a dress for every night, and cute tops with Lee jeans for the day. Lee sent me a pair of the newest Fall denim to wear to BlogHer before it was available for purchase. (Ivy Slender Secret bootcut, in case you’re curious. I haven’t seen them on the Lee website yet, but trust me, they’re gorgeous. You’ll want to check out these jeans and see if they make your butt look as good as they did mine.)

And? I rocked those jeans.

Mirror shot while waiting for the elevator.

It sounds shallow, I know, but it felt like such a victory when anyone told me how good I looked. The self-esteem boost was tremendous. I felt more confident and happy, which in turn probably helped me look even better. It’s the vicious circle in reverse: feel good, project happiness, glow with beauty, which then makes you feel good. Much better than the hate yourself, project negativity, mask any inner beauty, which then makes you hate yourself even more.

I apparently suck when it comes to taking photos of myself in my clothing, so I can’t show off all the dresses I wore. Here’s me in Times Square one evening. This dress is a size eight, and was almost too big in the top.

I need to track down photos from others that I might be in. And then of course there was the BlogHer Fashion Show. I can’t fully describe how awesome of an experience it was. Well, I guess I took a stab at describing it over here. It was the cherry on the top of hitting my goal weight!

Soaking in the moment, blogger style: taking a photo on the runway!
Photo credit: Leslie Fandrich

I was still trying to make good choices food-wise, but of course I was in New York and had a world of food in front of me. On Wednesday I wished I had brought some Slim-Fast snack bars with me, just to have a good snack around when I needed it.

Slim-Fast answered my wishes, however, by sending me a large box of snack and meal bars (plus coupons) to hand out to friends on Friday. I kept one box of Chocolate Nougat Gone Nuts and one Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bar for myself (and oh how I needed those at the airport on Sunday!) but shared the other boxes and coupons with friends and other bloggers.

Otherwise, I ate a little bit of conference food here and there, pizza and Chinese food for a couple of dinners, and of course had to have a cheeseburger at the CheeseburgHer party on Saturday night.

I didn’t drink enough water, and by the time I arrived home on Sunday, it was obvious. My pants were tight and I felt uncomfortable. So for the past week I avoided the scale, focused on drinking plenty of water and went right back to the Slim-Fast plan. It took about five days to reverse the bloat, but now my pants are already loose again and this weekend’s scale check has me at 159.2. Slightly higher than before BlogHer, but within a margin of error for weight fluctuation.

I should also add that one of the things I love about BlogHer is that there are so many women of all types represented. While losing weight and getting healthier is important to me, I wouldn’t have been treated any differently had I weighed 50 pounds more. Or 100 pounds more.

Some of the folks who hugged and chatted with me this year at BlogHer 2012 are the same folks who welcomed and befriended me at BlogHer 2006, when I weighed over 60 pounds more than I do now. They don’t care what I look like – they care that I am healthy and happy. We value each other for our thoughts, not our looks. But they know that losing weight has been important to me, and they’ve been supportive during the journey.

BlogHer ’12 will have a special place in my heart with a lot of positive memories of laughing with friends, meeting other friends in person for the first time, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I can’t wait to see what BlogHer ’13 in Chicago will hold!

Full disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast® Summer Slim-Down Challenge. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation. 

Also, the Lee jeans I mentioned were a complimentary pair provided by Lee, although being free doesn’t change how well they fit. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: photographic evidence, success · Tagged:


Jul 31, 2012

GOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLL!

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(Just say the title in your best Spanish soccer announcer voice for maximum effect.)

So you know how I’ve said from the very beginning that I’d just like to see 158 lbs, which is the very top of the “healthy” weight range for the BMI charts? And that number has always seemed SO far away?

Well, sometimes it’s just better to let the photo tell the story:

OK, so technically I’m 0.6 lbs from my goal, but that’s still in the 158 lb range so I’m willing to count it.

158. One hundred fifty-eight. I can’t believe I finally get to say this, but I made it!

And just in time, too. BlogHer is this week, the conference that helped me jump start my weight loss efforts many years ago through my “Hot by BlogHer” motivation. And this year I’ll be strutting my stuff on the runway during the BlogHer Fashion Show.

I practiced walking in wedges & a dress at the BBSummit last week.

It’s taken so much work to get here. Lots of counting calories and exercise. Actively making the choice to eat better foods and pack as much nutrition into each bite. Even more rewiring of my brain to not seek out foods to pair with every strong emotion.

Most recently, Slim-Fast has been helping me get these last 15 pounds off, and it’s been a huge help. This year has probably been my busiest year on record, leaving me with little time to plan meals or even eat at home. The shakes have been a life saver for these busy mornings – I drink one shake in the morning and I then have the energy to keep going until lunch.

The snack bars have been great, too. I keep snack bars in my purse so if I’m out of the house and suddenly feel the urge to snack, I can have a 100 calorie Chocolate Nougat Gone Nuts bar instead of a 200+ calorie candy bar. Same taste without going overboard on calories.

Seeing 158 has left me with a big question, though: what next? Wow…I don’t know! Being focused on reaching this goal for so long has me feeling conflicted about my next steps. I’m thrilled to be here, and if I had to stay at this weight forever I think I could even accept it. But I’ll admit it’s still not the body I was expecting. Oh, let’s be honest, I’m never going to have that body after two kids.

Maybe at this point my focus will turn to getting stronger and replacing some of the fat on me with muscle. If that results in a little more weight loss, awesome. If not, I’ll measure progress in how well my clothing fits and how I feel. Feeling healthy and strong is far better than a smaller jeans size. I wouldn’t mind giving myself a five pound cushion for the inevitable fluctuations that happen, but I’m not going to hate myself if it doesn’t happen.

For this week, however, I’m celebrating my accomplishment and having a blast at BlogHer. Next week, I can think more about my next steps and decide the next goal I set for myself.

(Oh…and…WOOOOHOOOOO!)

Disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast® Summer Slim-Down Challenge. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation.

Filed Under: photographic evidence, success, weigh-in · Tagged: ,


Jun 18, 2012

A New Milestone – My Favorite Number

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Last weekend I went clothes shopping with one of my best friends. Our husbands think it’s hilarious when we go shopping for clothing, only because we’re two of the most non-girly women they know. (OK, I’m actually really girly at blog conferences, but that’s about it.) I like going with her because we’re both sensible enough to know when something isn’t right for the other person, and crazy enough to force each other to step out of our comfort zones to try new things. It’s always a lot of fun.

While we were browsing the jeans, I grabbed a pair of Lee capris to try on, and then noticed they were only a size 8. “Ah, what the hell, I’ll give them a try and see just how far away I am,” I said. Lately I’ve worn a size 10 in Lee jeans, but in the past few weeks I’ve felt one pair feeling awfully baggy. It was my oldest pair of capris, so I assumed the pants had been worn out and must have become overstretched from too much use. Still…I had that nagging curiosity of wondering how close I was to size 8.

I took the pants, along with several others, to the dressing room. As I took the size 8’s off the hanger, I wasn’t sure they’d fit. They looked so small.

I put both feet in and pulled them up. I had to wiggle the waistband over my hips – this isn’t a surprise because Lee is great at making the waist small enough to not gap while still providing enough room in the hips. I buttoned the waist and pulled up the zipper. And then stood in shock, looking in the dressing room mirror.

“Oh my god, they fit!” I exclaimed.

“And they look good, too,” my friend added.

She was right – not only did they fit, they weren’t too tight or too loose. Perfect.

Yes, I bought them. Of all the pants and shorts I tried on, these size 8 capris fit better than anything else.

And today? I’m wearing a size 8. Woo-hoo! Eight has always been my favorite number, and now I have a new reason to love it even more.

As for my weight? Currently holding at 160. Two pounds away from goal, and holding stubbornly. The two pounds will eventually disappear, I have no doubt. For now I’m just happy with all of the progress.

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Filed Under: success ·