Week 4 - Making it about you

One day I was in the car with my husband and we began talking about our health goals. He told me that he had been struggling and I commiserated with him. Partway through the conversation he made an interesting comment:
  "I wonder," he said, "If my lack of motivation is actually a lack of self-respect."

When I hear people tell me their different reasons for not watching what they eat or exercising, the two excuses I hear most often are: 1) I don't have time or 2) I just lack the discipline (I just like bad food too much, I don't like working out, or I just don't care)

I think the excuses really boil down to what my husband said. We most likely are not lacking in time. I have sat down with plenty of clients and actually made a chart of what they do every waking hour of every day of the week and we have always found SOME time to log food and work out enough to get to their goals. Sometimes it is JUST enough time but there has always been enough. And when it comes to discipline, we all have discipline. Discipline simply depends on what we find important. If you find work important, you will have the discipline to work hard despite work being difficult sometimes. If we believe that our family is important, we will work hard to fulfill our family's needs.

Basically, we spend time and effort on what we believe is important. We all believe that health and fitness are important, of course (why else would you be reading this?), but do we believe that WE are important enough to put that sort of effort into?

Here are a few ways you can remember to make it about you:

1) Think about airplanes
   - We've all heard from the flight attendants that if there is a sudden drop in air pressure in the cabin, masks will fall from the ceiling. They then tell you are sitting next to someone who needs assistance to put your mask on first before helping someone else. Is that because the airlines want you to be a selfish jerk? NO! It's because you can't help someone if you pass out. It is the same with your health. Yes, there are a lot of people in your life. You are a very selfless person who is trying to take care of many people. You will be much better able to help the important people in our life by putting your mask on first.

2) Don't wait until you get to your goal to feel good about yourself 
  - This is one I need to work on. I tend not to take the time to put makeup on, do my hair, or dress in anything but sweats and one of my husband's comfy, oversized t-shirts. My excuse is usually about time. But I know that when I spend the time to look and feel nice outside, I am much more likely to treat my insides nice as well.

Let's also be truly honest with ourselves: getting to your weight loss goal will not magically make you feel better about who you are.

A sadly true meme: my husband has a saying - "If we aren't generous now when we don't have a lot of resources, then we won't be generous even if we get rich." The same is true for your self esteem - "If you can't take care of yourself/ like yourself now, you won't when you get to your goal." So don't put it off. I think you are great!

3) Follow the Golden Rule... Backwards
  - Don't just treat others the way you want to be treated, treat yourself the way you treat others. You would never tell others that they can't reach their goals or that they are not worth it. You would never tell a close friend that they look terrible in their favorite jeans because it's that time of the month and they feel a little bloated. Honestly, you are never as critical with others as you are with yourself. Be your own best friend. You are the only person you have to spend every minute of your life with so learn to get along with you.

4) 'No' is not a swear word
  - It is okay to put yourself first sometimes. I honestly don't think I would ever stress eat if I wasn't always spreading myself too thin over-committing myself. After a while I realize that something's got to give and my exercise followed by nutrition are the first on the chopping block. It is okay to decline and even back out of a commitment if you find that you are starting to put someone else's mask on before yours. I know you don't want to disappoint anyone but, again, if it comes between disappointing yourself or someone else, who are you going to be spending more time around?

I hope this is helpful for many of you. These are what I have found most trying for me. It may not apply to everyone. Feel free to comment if you have any other suggestions that have helped you make the journey about you.

My Progress: 

Weight: 186.6 lbs. I have no idea whether I was at a deficit during the time I stopped logging but I do know that I logged about .6 lbs of body fat loss between Monday and Friday (8/25-8/29). 

Successes: I got back to logging and was able to have a Buffalo Wild Wings night, date night eating out, and a pizza night with my husband and still reach my goal of an average 500 calorie deficit per day. See why I stress the food log? It makes you FREE!

Confession: My beautiful two-month-old is progressing every day. She is sleeping even sleeping through the night some nights and is more active during the day. Though I am getting lots more sleep this way, her schedule is still forming and I am having trouble figuring out when I can get stuff done for myself. Exercise is the commitment I have shirked.

Confessions

I had an interesting experience this week:

I know that I have not posted in a few weeks. I know that in my last post I went on and on talking about how there is no better time than the present to work on your fat loss goals. Remember how I mentioned that there is no magical land where it is suddenly going to be as easy? Well I had a rough week. I was sick, my husband was out of town leaving me with our two-month-old, I went to Newport for a few days, then I had a family reunion in Bend for a few days and then I had my mom and brother out here for a visit. I will be honest, I stopped logging and trying to get activity because I wanted to wait until life settled down...

Oh, Kerri... Sweetheart...

See? Even I do it.

I honestly didn't think anyone was paying any attention to this blog so I saw no harm in postponing an entry for two weeks. I received an email from one of my old clients (who I haven't seen in months) telling me that they not only read my first blog but had NOTICED that I hadn't written anything! I'm not sure this person would like me putting their name out there on the internet but you know who you are and I am dedicating this post to you. Thank you to anyone and everyone who is reading and following! If you are, please let me know! The more eyes on this journey the more obligated I feel to fulfill my commitment!

So let's get back on track starting... NOW!!! My new commitment starts now to ...

A) Log my food intake every day no matter how badly I think I may have blown it
B) Start strength training at least three times a week
C) Record my calorie burn with the Basis armband my husband got me for my birthday and try to do an hour of physical activity a day
D) Fulfill my 90-Day challenge (I haven't mentioned these, but I am adding mini-challenges every month for 90-Days to help myself develop other healthy habits. Currently, I am staying away from fast food for 90-days. If I can fulfill that challenge, I get to redo all of the doorknobs and hinges in our house)

Again, thanks for paying attention! I'll write again before next Sunday (8/31). Hold me to it!

Week 1 - Making a plan

Hello again! Week 1 of Kerri's Weight Loss Challenge is now over.

Last week I posted about why I started the blog and discussed how to properly set a goal based on what you really want to achieve. If you missed it, I would highly recommend going back and reading about the important difference between body fat percentage and BMI (weight).

This week I want to talk specifically about making your plan:

1) Start with an attainable timeline: If you have never used body fat percentage as your goal it is important to know that I usually expect to see .5 - 1% body fat loss per week. I would recommend starting there to set your timely goal. I am hoping to lose closer to 1% body fat per week to reach my goal by January 12th.

It is VERY important to get real body fat measurements periodically to know where you are in your progress. I will be posting later how to estimate body fat loss on your own but I would still recommend going in for measurements at least every 3-4 weeks. I am choosing to see my trainer for measurements every three weeks.

2) Reward yourself for hitting certain milestones. I will talk more in depth about rewards next time. In the meantime just be sure to set rewards that you actually want to work for.

3) Know what you need to prioritize in order to reach your goal. Again, I will talk much more in depth about this later but I want you to ask yourself these questions before you begin your plan:

• Do I know how many calories I burn in a given day? How many do I need to burn to reach my goal? When will this change?
• Do I know how many calories I ate yesterday? How many calories do I need to eat to reach my goal? When will this change?
• Do I know how to use macronutrients to my advantage to build muscle and burn fat? Do I know what a macronutrient is (careful, googling this may lead you to misinformation)? When will my ratio change?
• Do I know how many sets and reps I need to do to gain or maintain muscle? Do I know what weight to use? When will this change?
• What am I using as motivation?
• What am I using to keep myself accountable?

If you don't know the answer to these questions, don't worry. I will discuss all of them in their own posts. It is just something to think about. Remember, if you are beginning your own journey while reading this, I would recommend talking to a trainer about these questions rather than googling them yourself. There is a lot of misinformation out there about every single one of these topics. 

4) START NOW!!! I know that many of you may be like me. You may plan and plan and plan to start your goal. You may plan so much that you push it off for weeks. You may be waiting for the right time. Maybe when summer ends, the holidays are over, Monday, Next Monday, or New Years... 

There is no magical land where it is the perfect time to start your goal. Things are always going to come up. The best time to start working on your goal is a year ago. The next best time is this very second. What is that you tell me? You are eating a Big Mac as you read this? Fine! Start eating better at your next meal! You don't have every piece of information to make a foolproof plan? Fine! There is no such thing as a foolproof plan and I guarantee you have enough information to start doing a little bit better today than you did yesterday. So get to it! Feel free to email me or make comments if you have any specific questions to get started and let's do this!

My Progress: 

Weight: 191.7 lbs (yes, that is 6.3 lbs less than last week. I used to get really excited about that but I have been tracking my calorie deficit and I have really only lost about half a pound of body fat. The other 5.8 lbs came from weighing in on an empty stomach and water weight loss)

Successes: I thought it might be fun to put Lizzie in her car seat when she falls asleep and going on walks in her stroller. One day I tracked 1 hour 25 minutes of physical activity.

Confession: It was honestly a pretty rough start. I had a maintain week. I had friends in town over the weekend and woke up on Monday with a fever. I didn't have much opportunity for physical activity and my antibiotics have to be taken an hour before a meal but also two to three hours after a meal making my eating plan VERY difficult to stick to.

I have to admit that this blog is keeping me pretty motivated despite some setbacks. Thank you everyone who posted comments and letting me know that you are watching my progress! I won't let you down!

The Story Behind the Blog

My name is Kerri Moore and I am a personal trainer at Hawthorn Sport and Spa in Hillsboro, Oregon. I have just had my first child six weeks ago; a baby girl. I love her with all of my heart but bringing her into this world took a major toll on my body. I just got measurements from my personal trainer (and manager) Byron Hall, and set a goal to get back down to my pre-pregnancy size. I have to admit, this is the largest amount of fat I have ever had to lose. It is especially daunting after an 'all I can eat' attitude for the past 9 months.

I was planning on setting my goal, making plans to reach it, thinking of some fun prizes to give myself when I reached my goals and going for it. I have done this countless times before. I have tried it with Jenny Craig (I tried it so many times with them that they hired me right out of college), Weight Watchers, Medifast, low carb, and anything else you can imagine. I wasn't truly successful until I started working with Byron about a year ago. Now I have a lot of experience in the field. I have a degree in Exercise Science and three national certifications including Weight Loss Specialist. You would think that I would have no problem with my own weight. NOT! I have learned over the years that most people (including myself) don't really need more knowledge about what to do to lose weight.  The most important thing Byron taught me during our sessions together was to keep things simple and have lots of ACCOUNTABILITY. I lost 10% body fat and I don't want to brag but I had a pretty killer bod. Byron didn't really teach me anything that I didn't already know. He did help me realize what was most important to prioritize for my particular goal. But most of all he kept me ACCOUNTABLE. Notice how I keep capitalizing that word?

There I am last year at my goal with a client who was finally down 100 lbs!

Accountability is KEY when trying to change your lifestyle. So beginning this particular weight loss journey felt much less achievable not only because I have more to lose but also (and most importantly) because I didn't have any accountability.

While I was leaving the gym after my initial measurements, Byron asked me if I was going to document my journey. I had not considered it but I thought it might be the answer to that accountability problem. I could start a blog which I would update weekly with my story: successes (and maybe a few confessions), my plans, and some science and experience-based facts and tips to perhaps educate and inspire others in the same boat as me to reach their goals.

So invite anyone you can think of to follow my journey. I figure the more people watching me, the more motivation I have to stick with it. So here it goes:

The goal: I am currently 198 lbs and 35% body fat. That means that of my 198 lbs, 69.5 lbs are body fat. That is the bad news. The good news is that I have 128.5 lbs of everything else - the stuff that burns calories.

I would like to have 20% body fat. Notice that I don't have a goal weight in mind. Everyone would like to think that every pound of weight they lose in a weight loss program is from fat. That belief is incorrect. When you put yourself in a significant calorie deficit, you do not have the energy needed to maintain fat or lean body mass. That is fine as long as you lose more fat than lean body mass. The more lean body mass you keep, the higher your calorie burn. So it is better to weigh more at your goal percent body fat because you will be able to maintain a higher metabolism, eat more, and keep the fat off longer. So for my goal I don't want to lose more than one pound of lean body mass for every two pounds of fat. If that is the case, I anticipate that I will be about 145 lbs at my goal.

Here's the 'before' pic. 

The Plan: Stay tuned for the next entry!