Reflections on weight loss

Jared and I have been asked multiple times how we have lost weight. His approach has been different than mine, so you can ask him about his approach. For me, my approach has included MANY items, so I thought I would take a moment to document my thoughts. First of all, I watched Jared lose weight for about a year before I decided to do much for myself. I knew it was going to be a big commitment to change my life, so I had to wait until I knew I was ready. Second, I know it helped for Amy to get more independent before I tried to make such big changes. It takes me about 2 years after a baby is born to have any sense of normalcy to my life. Third, I decided this was going to be a journey, not a sprint. This was going to be a lifetime commitment rather than a short term diet. So there was no telling myself things like, "when I lose the weight, I'll eat (blank) again". Instead my conversation was more like, "I will be eating this way from now on." One thing that really jump started my desire to change was hearing Jared quote President Thomas S. Monson from a home teaching talk in the January 2012 Ensign magazine. President Monson said, "Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve. Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.” Jared summarized the article by saying that we will never reach our goals if we don't actually take action to reach them. That hit me hard. I wanted to lose weight, but I realized the obvious truth that I never would by just wanting it. I had to do something about it, or it would never happen and I would be in the same wishing situation years from now. That was my turning point. So, since this was a journey for me I decided a few things. I would educate myself about losing weight and fitness from various sources and see what made sense for me personally. I would read my scriptures everyday and exercise everyday except Sunday. The scripture part of my commitment was to keep my perspective in line with eternal truths. I knew I needed to feel grounded in doctrine as I would be diving into an often secular topic. Exercising everyday was a must for me because if I tell myself I will exercise 4-5 days a week, it will be more like 2-3. If I know it's a given everyday, it happens. Now with these two goals, I had to tell myself that if I got those two things done (scriptures and exercise) it was a successful day. That meant I couldn't beat myself up if the house was a mess or I didn't have a clue what we were having for dinner. It felt good to tell myself I had kept my goal by getting those two things done. Now here are the things I have done that have yielded results. 1. Read the book Mindless Eating. Fascinating book and I've adopted some of the suggestions. 2. Start watching the reality tv show, "The Biggest Loser". It's really very inspiring and motivating. 3. Use Myfitnesspal to track calories and calories burned from exercise. It's a free online tool! 4. Read the book Never Say Diet. I utilized some of her ideas, and it was an inspiring book. 5. Use exercise dvds such as The Biggest Loser Cardio Max and The Biggest Loser Cardio Knockout or any Jillian Michaels dvd. They're tough workouts, tougher than anything I've ever done, but they work quickly. 6. Start a running program like this. 7. On days when I don't feel as strong, I just make sure I at least go for a walk. 8. Switch to whole grain everything and eat fruits or vegetables at every meal. 9. Lower sugar intake. This hasn't meant no sugar, but very low sugar. Basically I don't bake much anymore. For dinners I serve meat, vegetables and whole grains. This actually has been easier than trying to make casserole recipes with lots of ingredients. We still do have casseroles occasionally, but not like we used to. 10. I enrolled in a course through Jared's work called Living Lean. It's a 5 week program (at least through his work) and it's designed to eliminate addictions to foods and eating patterns. I've had a love/hate relationship with the program, but overall I've learned some really powerful things and I now feel I can be in control of food instead of cravings controlling me. 11. Educate myself about the Church's teachings about fitness from Providentliving.org. So, nothing can be simple for me. When people ask how I've done it, it's hard to give a short answer, because obviously I've had a somewhat complicated approach. But, my philosophy has been pretty simple...do something, anything, consistently for the rest of my life and enjoy the journey.