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(deactivated member)
on 5/6/10 2:46 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
on 5/6/10 2:46 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
Topic: RE: What are you celebrating and proud of? Weds
WAHOOO you SUPERSTAR you!!! 
Enjoy the high. Bet it makes waking again today even easier and even more enjoyable!!!
Enjoy the high. Bet it makes waking again today even easier and even more enjoyable!!!
gloop
on 5/6/10 1:51 am
on 5/6/10 1:51 am
Topic: RE: feeling a lil discouraged
I'm in the process of changing my diet, relationship with food and my lifestyle. I'm in training for maintaining.
Listen to your body, it will tell you when you need to stop and when you are ready to push on and increase the amount of activity but you must be honest with yourself. Well intentioned people may give you advice that you may not want to hear, it's want they've been trained to do and what they've learned as fitness experts but only you know how you are feeling. It's hard for someone who is fit to understand how tired overweight people feel, they just can't get it, they don't understand that 10 minutes for us is like 20 or 30 for them. Don't let that discourage you, keep your eyes on the prize and try to deal with the feelings but don't give up or eat because of it.
I'm in the process of changing my diet, relationship with food and my lifestyle. I'm in training for maintaining.
gloop
on 5/6/10 1:25 am
on 5/6/10 1:25 am
Topic: RE: What are you celebrating and proud of? Weds
I'm in the process of changing my diet, relationship with food and my lifestyle. I'm in training for maintaining.
That's good, you deserve a little fame and recognition for what you've accomplished.
Thanks for the reminder, I'm gonna have to remember to pay attention to my appearance from now on, i'm really bad when it comes to that, I've totally let myself go but recently i've been thinking I should go shopping and get myself some make up and I haven't bought new clothes in eons, I'm basically a mess but the more weight I lose the more I feel like fixing myself up
Thanks for the reminder, I'm gonna have to remember to pay attention to my appearance from now on, i'm really bad when it comes to that, I've totally let myself go but recently i've been thinking I should go shopping and get myself some make up and I haven't bought new clothes in eons, I'm basically a mess but the more weight I lose the more I feel like fixing myself up
I'm in the process of changing my diet, relationship with food and my lifestyle. I'm in training for maintaining.
Topic: RE: feeling a lil discouraged
Hi Kimberly,
BIG HUGS!
You are doing GREAT! 
And one day.....far, far from now, you will be exercising like you need to breathe, it will just be habit, and one you love. Let me tell you, you will be MORE proud of the 10 minutes you did at the beginning of your journey than what you are able to do at the end.
It's Baby Steps!
If that woman is not your trainer, and just an employee of the gym, I would lodge a complaint with administration. Your exercise plan is NONE of her business. And she is harrassing you!
You know what? We are ALL in your corner, and are here to support and encourage you to exercise as often as you can, no matter how many minutes or seconds! You will be able to gradually increase your time or intesity on your watch, when you are ready! I think 3 miles per hour is great!
Please don't cry any more over this judgmental loon. Hold your head high, you are exercising for the first time in your life. That is colossal.
I am proud of you!
BIG HUGS!
You are doing GREAT! And one day.....far, far from now, you will be exercising like you need to breathe, it will just be habit, and one you love. Let me tell you, you will be MORE proud of the 10 minutes you did at the beginning of your journey than what you are able to do at the end. It's Baby Steps!
If that woman is not your trainer, and just an employee of the gym, I would lodge a complaint with administration. Your exercise plan is NONE of her business. And she is harrassing you!
You know what? We are ALL in your corner, and are here to support and encourage you to exercise as often as you can, no matter how many minutes or seconds! You will be able to gradually increase your time or intesity on your watch, when you are ready! I think 3 miles per hour is great!
Please don't cry any more over this judgmental loon. Hold your head high, you are exercising for the first time in your life. That is colossal.
I am proud of you! (deactivated member)
on 5/6/10 1:10 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
on 5/6/10 1:10 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
Topic: Become Your Own BEST Motivator
Interesting stuff....thought I'd share....
Here's a link to the whole article on-line.
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp
There are several kinds of motivation problems that people run into, and each requires a different set of strategies. Let's start here with a little quiz to find out which motivational problems you might be dealing with.
Get out a small piece of paper to mark your answers to the following five questions. Respond to each statement with "True" if you think it applies to you more often than not or "False" if you think it doesn’t apply most of the time. Next, indicate on a scale of 1-10, how big of a role you think the statement plays in your motivation problems. If you think it plays almost no role, give it a one. If you think it is by far the most important factor in your motivation problems, give it a 10.
1. True or False: My motivation seems to depend on what the scale (or tape measure, fit of my clothes, etc.) says. I feel motivated when I see results, but unmotivated when I don’t. SCORE (1-10): _____
2. True or False: I feel like I am in a constant battle with myself. In my “normal" state, I want to eat whatever I like, whenever I want it, and/or my body just naturally gravitates towards the couch. It’s very hard to make myself do what I know I need to do. SCORE (1-10): _____
3. True or False: I really want to eat healthy and exercise most of the time, but I just can’t seem to resist the temptations that I run into most days. SCORE (1-10): _____
4. True or False: I think I would do much better if I had more control over my life and my time. There are just so many demands on me that I can’t fit exercise and healthy meals into my day as often as I want to. SCORE (1-10): _____
5. True or False: I do well for a few hours (or days or weeks), but then I have a bad time and things really go downhill. All I see is what I did wrong, not all the things I did well. I get flooded with negative feelings, and just want to give up. SCORE (1-10): _____
Interpret Your Results: Identifying Problems & Solutions
QUESTION 1
If you marked this statement True, and gave it a high score (5+), you are relying too much on external (extrinsic) forms of motivation and need to work on developing your internal (intrinsic) motivation.
There is nothing at all wrong with extrinsic motivation—we all need to see some concrete, measurable progress towards equally concrete and measurable goals. But, since these external results are so fickle and unpredictable when it comes to weight loss, you also need some internal motivation to keep you going when the scale (or your body) isn’t cooperating with your expectations. Here’s a simple exercise you can do to find out which sources of internal motivation might work best for you:
Imagine you live on a planet where scales and mirrors have never existed, where everyone wears one-size-fits-all unisex robes that effectively disguise their actual physical appearances. There are no standard height and weight charts, and your doctor has never heard of the Body Mass Index or waist-to-hip ratios. How will you decide whether your body is the way you want it to be? If you decide some changes are necessary, how will you know whether you are making progress towards those changes?
For example, ask yourself how you’re handling everyday tasks, like squatting down to pick something up, getting up from a chair, or working on your feet all day. If you’re carrying some extra weight, it may begin to affect your performance or comfort level when doing these activities. To make things easier, you may decide to reduce your calorie intake to get back down to a manageable size and building strength to make moving easier. Set a concrete, measurable goal that will make you feel better—like getting up out of the chair without using your arms—and set up an exercise program that will strengthen your muscles and improve your endurance. Keep track of your progress by noticing changes in your ability to handle your daily activities.
Use the same approach if your physical condition is causing problems with your moods or energy levels. Remember when you felt mostly good and ask yourself what you did to feel that way (not what your weight may have been). Start doing more of what you did then, as best you can, and experiment with different exercises and foods until you come up with options that help you feel the way you want to.
You get the basic idea here: weight is not the real problem, and losing weight is not the real solution. The problem is how you feel and what you can do. The solution is doing things that make you feel better (physically and mentally) and improve your functional abilities. To find out what those things are, you need to look inside yourself and observe what happens when you try different things.
Once you have some ideas along these lines, try to turn them into specific goals and measurable outcomes you can incorporate into your SparkPeople program.
QUESTION 2
If you answered True to this statement and gave it a high score (5+), you may have some inaccurate assumptions about what motivation means and feels like.
Many people seem to think that "being motivated" means not having to struggle with opposing desires. Not so. It is our nature as human beings to pursue both the gratification of our senses (eating what we like when we want it) and the psychological gratification of achieving meaningful but more abstract goals (being healthy, fit or attractive).
Judging one of these pursuits as superior to the other is to deny half of what and who you are, and set yourself up for endless inner conflict and turmoil—not exactly the stuff motivation is made of, right?
Your motivation will be much stronger and consistent when you focus on making conscious choices about what you can do consistently to meet all of your needs and desires.
QUESTIONS 3 and 4
A True response to either or both of these questions and a high score (5+) indicate that you may be assuming that your behavior is dictated by external factors (the needs of other people or the “appeal" of tasty foods), rather than by internal factors (your own values and decision-making processes). It is very difficult, if not impossible, to stay motivated when you believe you have little choice about what to do or how to manage your own feelings and desires.
One thing you can do to begin transforming these assumptions about who or what is controlling your behavior and choices, is to put the "I" back into your vocabulary. Take a closer look at how you define problems and situations in words. When you start using "I" statements to describe problems, as suggested there, you will automatically reprogram your mind to look for ways you can put yourself in control of what you think, feel, and do.
QUESTION 5
If you answered True to this and gave it a high score (5+), you probably struggle with some strong either/or and all-or-nothing thought patterns, as well as an overdose of perfectionism. These habits are real motivation-killers. The emotional upset they cause when things inevitably don’t go perfectly makes it impossible to stay focused on what really matters: what you can learn from your slip-ups to do better next time.
Unfortunately, just telling yourself to stop being such a perfectionist and to start thinking in both/and terms rarely solves this problem. You need to learn more about how this problem develops and how to effectively break the cycle of pessimism and self-defeat. See The Challenges of Maintaining a Healthy Weight - Part 2 for more help.
For a more detailed look at these issues, read:
Mastering the Mysteries of Motivation - Part 1
Mastering the Mysteries of Motivation - Part 2
Here's a link to the whole article on-line.
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp
Become Your Own Best Motivator
Take this Quiz, Never Lose Your Motivation Again!
-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert
SparkPeople advertisers help keep the site free! Learn moreGet out a small piece of paper to mark your answers to the following five questions. Respond to each statement with "True" if you think it applies to you more often than not or "False" if you think it doesn’t apply most of the time. Next, indicate on a scale of 1-10, how big of a role you think the statement plays in your motivation problems. If you think it plays almost no role, give it a one. If you think it is by far the most important factor in your motivation problems, give it a 10.
1. True or False: My motivation seems to depend on what the scale (or tape measure, fit of my clothes, etc.) says. I feel motivated when I see results, but unmotivated when I don’t. SCORE (1-10): _____
2. True or False: I feel like I am in a constant battle with myself. In my “normal" state, I want to eat whatever I like, whenever I want it, and/or my body just naturally gravitates towards the couch. It’s very hard to make myself do what I know I need to do. SCORE (1-10): _____
3. True or False: I really want to eat healthy and exercise most of the time, but I just can’t seem to resist the temptations that I run into most days. SCORE (1-10): _____
4. True or False: I think I would do much better if I had more control over my life and my time. There are just so many demands on me that I can’t fit exercise and healthy meals into my day as often as I want to. SCORE (1-10): _____
5. True or False: I do well for a few hours (or days or weeks), but then I have a bad time and things really go downhill. All I see is what I did wrong, not all the things I did well. I get flooded with negative feelings, and just want to give up. SCORE (1-10): _____
If you marked this statement True, and gave it a high score (5+), you are relying too much on external (extrinsic) forms of motivation and need to work on developing your internal (intrinsic) motivation.
There is nothing at all wrong with extrinsic motivation—we all need to see some concrete, measurable progress towards equally concrete and measurable goals. But, since these external results are so fickle and unpredictable when it comes to weight loss, you also need some internal motivation to keep you going when the scale (or your body) isn’t cooperating with your expectations. Here’s a simple exercise you can do to find out which sources of internal motivation might work best for you:
Imagine you live on a planet where scales and mirrors have never existed, where everyone wears one-size-fits-all unisex robes that effectively disguise their actual physical appearances. There are no standard height and weight charts, and your doctor has never heard of the Body Mass Index or waist-to-hip ratios. How will you decide whether your body is the way you want it to be? If you decide some changes are necessary, how will you know whether you are making progress towards those changes?
For example, ask yourself how you’re handling everyday tasks, like squatting down to pick something up, getting up from a chair, or working on your feet all day. If you’re carrying some extra weight, it may begin to affect your performance or comfort level when doing these activities. To make things easier, you may decide to reduce your calorie intake to get back down to a manageable size and building strength to make moving easier. Set a concrete, measurable goal that will make you feel better—like getting up out of the chair without using your arms—and set up an exercise program that will strengthen your muscles and improve your endurance. Keep track of your progress by noticing changes in your ability to handle your daily activities.
Use the same approach if your physical condition is causing problems with your moods or energy levels. Remember when you felt mostly good and ask yourself what you did to feel that way (not what your weight may have been). Start doing more of what you did then, as best you can, and experiment with different exercises and foods until you come up with options that help you feel the way you want to.
You get the basic idea here: weight is not the real problem, and losing weight is not the real solution. The problem is how you feel and what you can do. The solution is doing things that make you feel better (physically and mentally) and improve your functional abilities. To find out what those things are, you need to look inside yourself and observe what happens when you try different things.
Once you have some ideas along these lines, try to turn them into specific goals and measurable outcomes you can incorporate into your SparkPeople program.
QUESTION 2
If you answered True to this statement and gave it a high score (5+), you may have some inaccurate assumptions about what motivation means and feels like.
Many people seem to think that "being motivated" means not having to struggle with opposing desires. Not so. It is our nature as human beings to pursue both the gratification of our senses (eating what we like when we want it) and the psychological gratification of achieving meaningful but more abstract goals (being healthy, fit or attractive).
Judging one of these pursuits as superior to the other is to deny half of what and who you are, and set yourself up for endless inner conflict and turmoil—not exactly the stuff motivation is made of, right?
Your motivation will be much stronger and consistent when you focus on making conscious choices about what you can do consistently to meet all of your needs and desires.
QUESTIONS 3 and 4
A True response to either or both of these questions and a high score (5+) indicate that you may be assuming that your behavior is dictated by external factors (the needs of other people or the “appeal" of tasty foods), rather than by internal factors (your own values and decision-making processes). It is very difficult, if not impossible, to stay motivated when you believe you have little choice about what to do or how to manage your own feelings and desires.
One thing you can do to begin transforming these assumptions about who or what is controlling your behavior and choices, is to put the "I" back into your vocabulary. Take a closer look at how you define problems and situations in words. When you start using "I" statements to describe problems, as suggested there, you will automatically reprogram your mind to look for ways you can put yourself in control of what you think, feel, and do.
QUESTION 5
If you answered True to this and gave it a high score (5+), you probably struggle with some strong either/or and all-or-nothing thought patterns, as well as an overdose of perfectionism. These habits are real motivation-killers. The emotional upset they cause when things inevitably don’t go perfectly makes it impossible to stay focused on what really matters: what you can learn from your slip-ups to do better next time.
Unfortunately, just telling yourself to stop being such a perfectionist and to start thinking in both/and terms rarely solves this problem. You need to learn more about how this problem develops and how to effectively break the cycle of pessimism and self-defeat. See The Challenges of Maintaining a Healthy Weight - Part 2 for more help.
For a more detailed look at these issues, read:
Mastering the Mysteries of Motivation - Part 1
Mastering the Mysteries of Motivation - Part 2
This article is Step 5 in SparkPeople's Mind Over Body series, a 10-step program to ending emotional eating and creating a permanent healthy lifestyle. View the full series here or continue to the next step.
(deactivated member)
on 5/6/10 12:08 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
on 5/6/10 12:08 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
Topic: What are you celebrating and proud of? Thurs
Good day!
I'm stopping by quickly to start the thread....
Please share, tell us what you are proud of and what you are celebrating.. Filling our minds with positive, proud, thoughts helps keep good energy around us and can make life bigger and better. So focus on positive things, things you are proud of and if you want to please share with us....
Have a great day!!!
Ruth
I'm stopping by quickly to start the thread....
Please share, tell us what you are proud of and what you are celebrating.. Filling our minds with positive, proud, thoughts helps keep good energy around us and can make life bigger and better. So focus on positive things, things you are proud of and if you want to please share with us....
Have a great day!!!
Ruth
(deactivated member)
on 5/6/10 12:01 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
on 5/6/10 12:01 am - West Central FL☼RIDA , FL
Topic: RE: feeling a lil discouraged
Hi Kimberly,
First let me congratulate you for having the inner strength and determination to go to the gym. Let's face it it is not easy to do when we are so overweight. Something I was never able to do. KUDOS to you for doing it!!!
Here's my 2 cents on this...
You should celebrate that you are able to do 10 mins. I'm sure it is not easy. I know when I was at my heaviest it was a real struggle for me to do 10 mins at 3.0. I can remember many mornings thinking I will never get to 1 mile, I will never get to 20 mins forget about 60....
I'm sure you already know that science shows you need get in that magic 30 mins a day to maintain good cardio health BUT at this point I'm sure most Dr's would say 10 mins is better than no mins. Having said that, I'm sure you already know you can't stay at 10 mins forever....you have to push yourself at some point.
For me I made it a little personal challenge.....when I'd hit that 10 min point I would say I could do a little more and I'd push and push and push. Each time I did this I felt SO PROUD of myself that it actually spurred me on to do more the next day....before I knew it I was doing 15 and then 20! WOW, that was big for me. Eventually at my high point in daily cardio I was walking 90 mins and 5 miles. WAHOOOO. This is something I don't tell people to do it was just a personal challenge for me. I only share it with you to show if we get excited about doing something and make it a personal challenge we can often do much more than we think we are capable of. Hey, I flew in a little Cessna plane this week and I have a paralyzing fear of flying that has kept me grounded for more than 10 years....once I put my mind to it to do something about it I was able to face the fear and am still working on it; one step at a time.
To wrap it all up I would encourage you to celebrate what you have accomplished so far but settle for less than you are really able to do...I bet you are stronger than you think and if you give it a try one day I bet you will be so excited you did those extra steps. Every extra step you take gets you closer and closer to your ultimate goal of a healthy body.
Post again and let me know how you are doing.
Hang in there, don't give up, I just know you can do it!!
Take it easy, one meal at a time and one step at a time.
TTFN
Ruth
First let me congratulate you for having the inner strength and determination to go to the gym. Let's face it it is not easy to do when we are so overweight. Something I was never able to do. KUDOS to you for doing it!!!
Here's my 2 cents on this...
You should celebrate that you are able to do 10 mins. I'm sure it is not easy. I know when I was at my heaviest it was a real struggle for me to do 10 mins at 3.0. I can remember many mornings thinking I will never get to 1 mile, I will never get to 20 mins forget about 60....
I'm sure you already know that science shows you need get in that magic 30 mins a day to maintain good cardio health BUT at this point I'm sure most Dr's would say 10 mins is better than no mins. Having said that, I'm sure you already know you can't stay at 10 mins forever....you have to push yourself at some point.
For me I made it a little personal challenge.....when I'd hit that 10 min point I would say I could do a little more and I'd push and push and push. Each time I did this I felt SO PROUD of myself that it actually spurred me on to do more the next day....before I knew it I was doing 15 and then 20! WOW, that was big for me. Eventually at my high point in daily cardio I was walking 90 mins and 5 miles. WAHOOOO. This is something I don't tell people to do it was just a personal challenge for me. I only share it with you to show if we get excited about doing something and make it a personal challenge we can often do much more than we think we are capable of. Hey, I flew in a little Cessna plane this week and I have a paralyzing fear of flying that has kept me grounded for more than 10 years....once I put my mind to it to do something about it I was able to face the fear and am still working on it; one step at a time.
To wrap it all up I would encourage you to celebrate what you have accomplished so far but settle for less than you are really able to do...I bet you are stronger than you think and if you give it a try one day I bet you will be so excited you did those extra steps. Every extra step you take gets you closer and closer to your ultimate goal of a healthy body.
Post again and let me know how you are doing.
Hang in there, don't give up, I just know you can do it!!
Take it easy, one meal at a time and one step at a time.
TTFN
Ruth
(deactivated member)
on 5/5/10 10:39 pm
on 5/5/10 10:39 pm
Topic: RE: What are you celebrating and proud of? Weds
LOL - I do. I have had strangers stop and say hello when I'm out running errands and I'm no where near the mall that I walk in and when I ask them if I know them in an embarrassing way they tell me that they see me walking in the mall - this has happened 3 different times over this past year. So strangers - who obviously are strange people - are watching me. There are a couple of walkers that we see from time to time that we wave to - but both the lady who stopped us yesterday and the other 3 are people I don't wave to and only one of them I have seen and waved to in the mall since meeting her at the grocery store.
Do your remember your mom telling you never to wear torn underwear because you never know when you'll be in an accident and you don't want to be embarrassed in an emergency room? Well this is similar - take care with how you dress when you go to the mall or other public place because you don't know who is watching and remembering you. Lucky for me this has all been a positive experience.
On May 6, 2010 at 4:03 AM Pacific Time, gloop wrote:
Skylar, you got fans and paparazzi after you LOLDo your remember your mom telling you never to wear torn underwear because you never know when you'll be in an accident and you don't want to be embarrassed in an emergency room? Well this is similar - take care with how you dress when you go to the mall or other public place because you don't know who is watching and remembering you. Lucky for me this has all been a positive experience.
gloop
on 5/5/10 9:03 pm
on 5/5/10 9:03 pm
Topic: RE: What are you celebrating and proud of? Weds
I'm in the process of changing my diet, relationship with food and my lifestyle. I'm in training for maintaining.
Skylar, you got fans and paparazzi after you LOL
I'm in the process of changing my diet, relationship with food and my lifestyle. I'm in training for maintaining.
(deactivated member)
on 5/5/10 12:57 pm
on 5/5/10 12:57 pm
Topic: RE: What are you celebrating and proud of? Weds
Flygirl LOL - I'm still excited over your flying lesson and I wasn't even there.
Mary - I'm so sensitive to sodium in my food that if I even look at a salt shaker I can gain 5 pounds of water - but at my worst I could gain 10 pounds of water and my ankles were so swollen that I couldn't bend them. I'm really, really careful with sodium now.
I'm very proud today because I'm continuing to do some heavy spring cleaning (LOL I'm doing it slowly, should take me a year to finish with peaking at the computer regularly) so I thought I wouldn't walk today. DH dragged me to the mall and I did a brisk 5 mile walk. Near the end a really kind woman stopped us, was insistant but apologetic at the same time - so we did stop. OMG she started to tell me that she has been watching me walk for over a year now in the mall (it will be 2 years this August that I started walking in the mall) and she just had to tell me how wonderful I look and that I've lost a lot of weight - oh yeah, and she said DH also looked good - but she was amazed at my progress. OH BOY, I'm walking on air. I'm so glad I listened to DH and went to the mall today.
Mary - I'm so sensitive to sodium in my food that if I even look at a salt shaker I can gain 5 pounds of water - but at my worst I could gain 10 pounds of water and my ankles were so swollen that I couldn't bend them. I'm really, really careful with sodium now.
I'm very proud today because I'm continuing to do some heavy spring cleaning (LOL I'm doing it slowly, should take me a year to finish with peaking at the computer regularly) so I thought I wouldn't walk today. DH dragged me to the mall and I did a brisk 5 mile walk. Near the end a really kind woman stopped us, was insistant but apologetic at the same time - so we did stop. OMG she started to tell me that she has been watching me walk for over a year now in the mall (it will be 2 years this August that I started walking in the mall) and she just had to tell me how wonderful I look and that I've lost a lot of weight - oh yeah, and she said DH also looked good - but she was amazed at my progress. OH BOY, I'm walking on air. I'm so glad I listened to DH and went to the mall today.
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