Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Biggest loser and motivation

Yesterday was one of those days when I really struggled to do everything I was supposed to do.My body was craving bad foods, my muscles were complaining that they did not want to even shower, let alone exercise, and my son was feeling the same. Those days come to us all it seems, and how we handle them makes the difference between keeping on and throwing in the towel. I finally convinced myself to get on the bike for just a minute, and then kept telling myself I could do just a minute more. It worked- I got in 20 minutes and then said okay, it is enough. Meanwhile my son was watching me and decided to drop and do push ups , sit ups ans various strength training exercises in sympathy. When we finished I gave him a high five and told him we wrestled the seven headed beast of inertia, and he laughed. I did not go off program with my intake, but I sure wanted to ! For some reason , nothing felt filling or satisfying. I wanted to eat a chocolate covered yak !

I made Barbeque lentils and rice for dinner with a salad- simple, cheap and filling. It has become one of the favorites in the house.

Barbaque lentils- serves 3
1 cup lentils
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
Place in a pan with a lid, bring to a boil and simmer 30 minutes. Then add
1 chopped onion
3/4 pound cooked ham or sauaage or 3 strips cooked crumbled bacon( I used turkey ham)
1/2 cup katsup
2 T Brown sugar
1 T mustard
1 T molasses

mix well and transfer to a slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours- serve over rice, barley, bulgar, couscous or quinoa.

We watched The Biggest Loser , and it broke my heart. The two younger guys on the show who are so heavy remind me so much of my own son, and it reinforces all the reasons why we began this journey. Perhaps it is because I am a mom, my own condition does not frighten me as much as my son's does. I have been overweight since I was 18 months old, and only spent 8 months at something resembling a normal weight. I weighed 200 pounds the day I started first grade, and oddly enough I got down to 200 pounds the day I conceived my son. I know all too well the physical and emotional pain that comes with obesity, as well as the health problems. However, in a weird way I have just accepted that it is my life and that there is a lot more important things on the inside of me, and have had numerous life experiences that affirm that. But to watch my son repeat the same life is very upsetting. To know the health risks he faced was terrifying. He began at 425 pounds by our best estimations, and now is 355 and going down. One day soon he will be a normal weight , and I will shout from the rooftops ! And then perhaps I will figure out how to live in my new skin, which is being created as I walk this journey with him.

Watching the show, it suddenly dawned on me why I was so tired and hungry all day. There is an interesting side affect when you lose weight as a couple.You have more energy and feel better about yourself. Then,the person whom you have sat with for so long paying bills, dealing with family drama, wrestling holiday plans with and all that makes up life together is still the same inside but starts to resemble on the outside that wonderful person who made your heart stop and whom you would move heaven and earth just to be with for an hour. All the experience and comfort rolled into a shiny new model of sorts. What was good about then is now back but better and refined with experience and wisdom. Truth be told, the affects of that burn off a whole other set of activity points that few people seem to count in their daily logs . And many times, it can leave you feeling pretty lethargic the next day it it robs you of sleep for too long. Sore and tired, but what a way to go !

7 comments:

Bre said...

What a great post - The last part brough tears to my eyes! My hubby is also on this journey with me as well!

Go team Angie!!

Di said...

Congrats to the both of you !!! Doing this as a couple is great not only from a standpoint of health and life experience, but can sure offer a shot in the arm to the romance department as well !

Rosie said...

LOL... this is a great post (My favorite the romantic part).

Way2Go with the exercise and staying on program. I've been having a problem all week... I think it's been TOM and not having a weigh-in (my scale is messed up and all the others around me seem to be on the same boat all giving me different numbers).

I got your comment on my blog, you can total join. I forgot to mention in the entry you don't have to be an official member, just following the program. Email me if you're interested. It's going to be fun.

Di said...

I think there is something about this first week of January that makes everything feel like it is dragging its feet. Somehow we look around and find our motivation, and then we are raring to go !

Overhauling-Me said...

I'm doing this alone. I so wish my dh would join in, he too is obese. My little girl said, mommy you're going to look so different when you are done but daddy will look the same. I'm hoping he'll join me soon. We NEED to do this for a healthier family!!!

I'm so glad you're on TEAM ANGIE!! I look forward to reading your posts!

Di said...

At first my husband decided he would just do this to support our son, but was not going to get really into it- meaning he was no going to stop eating the goodies served at the office, stay away from the vending machines or so forth. I just smiled and said do what you feel is best. I pack his breakfast and lunch every day and started following his own point level, with a little fudge room left in for snacks and stuff. Easy to do with someone who got 39 points every day. Then I started encouraging him to join in with us for easy exercise sessions, and he started to see the scale move ( we weigh in as a family every Saturday morning). He got interested for real when his pants started getting smaller. Then we added a friendly competition to the mix- the biggest loser for the week gets to pick what we do for our Saturday night game playing festival.Then he learned he would have to take a health screener at work for insurance, and he got more serious. When his results came back showing him in excellent health for his age, he was hooked.I think guys are more motivated by results than ideas, and kind of sneaking them onto a program can go a long way to convincing them.

Skye-Lynn said...

That last paragraph is EXACTLY what I look forward to!!! Very well said, Di! :o)