Thursday, December 29, 2011

Hope

My word for 2012 is HOPE!
What a way to start the new year! My gastric sleeve consultation is January 3, 2012. I could have the surgery around the middle of February. I know it won't be easy but I feel hopeful! It feels like the start of a new life and I can't wait to get started! I keep reading others blogs who had the surgery ad they are all so encouraging. I just keep thinking that by summer I could be looking and feeling good!

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

The truth is that it amazes me that people just let it all hang out....I mean literally let it hang out. I saw several blogs with before and after pics of people in their underwear. While I am looking at the photos I am amazed at their progress. It gives me hope that I will have the same results.
However, the whole truth is that I find it way too personal for me. It's the Internet, it's out there forever. Also, if it stays anonymous, that's one thing but once your picture is up its not really anonymous anymore.
Maybe it's just me because I am a teacher, I have to be careful. I want to be truly honest about my feelings without censoring my thoughts and feelings. I do that a lot in my professional life. So, I have decided that in order for me to be truly honest, I will use the pen name Mia(me in Italian). I hope that doesn't offend anyone reading because I am truly excited to have people reading my blog.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Amo La Mia Vita Bella

I love my beautiful  life!
What would make it better?
Losing weight would definitely make a difference. Right now, my body hurts. Imagine a 5 pound bag of sugar. It gets heavy after a while. I am carrying about 20 extra bags .Yes...really!!!! I think my health,energy and overall well being would be greatly improved if I lost @ 100 pounds. I just don't think it will happen on my own. That is why I am strongly considering getting the gastric sleeve surgery done. My cousin did and she looks fantastic. I got pre-approved for a loan and am going in for a consult. I will keep you posted!

Starting Today

I posted this last spring. It still holds true today.


I was thinking about my life today and my dreams for the future. I decided to start a blog about me and the changes I plan to make in my life. I am 44 years old and my only child just graduated from high school. I feel like I am entering a new chapter in my life.
One of my goals is to lose weight. It has been a life long battle for me. I have lost and gained the same 100 lbs over and over again.I want to lose it for good this time. I have tried almost every diet that is out there. 
   The first time I lost 100 lbs,.I was following Susan Powter. My son was in his play pen while I did her workouts and I thought for sure he would start calling her Aunt Susan.The second and third time I lost a substantial amount of weight I was following weight watchers. Last year, I read The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone and became a vegetarian for 8 months. Lately, I have been reading about the Mediterranean Diet. 
     I have finally realized that I need to take what I like from each to create my own path.     
    Weight watchers is great but I am tired of counting points. It consumes my life. I think about eating all the time. Even when I am not hungry if I had points left I would eat anyway.I was constantly looking for food that is low in points and many times it turned out to be processed garbage which I ate because I could have a lot of food for a little amount of points. I consumed calories that had little nutritional value.
   Being a vegetarian is great but extreme. At times I was truly limited to what I could eat. I started buying fake meat. I live in New Orleans and I love sushi. I didn't want to stop eating seafood. I have always been the kind of person who went to extremes. When I followed Susan, I worked out for 2 hours a day. I never went out to eat or socialized with friends because restaurant food didn't fit into a low/no fat diet.I realized that being a vegetarian had me in the extremes again.
           I am seeking balance in my life. I want to change my lifestyle.
  The Mediterranean diet speaks to me. It focuses on eating little meat and lots of fruits and vegetables. I'll be honest and say that most Italian things speak to me.( I was raised in an Italian household but I will save that topic for another time). There are parts of the diet that I don't like about it as well. I am going to combine all the things that I have learned over the years and incorporate it into a lifestyle that works for me.
    This is a journey, my journey, that I plan to share with you.
    

Always Something


I posted this on my other blog in June 2011. I figured a good way to simplify my life is to have one blog.


I started trying to lose weight again last Monday. I did well until Thursday when I had lunch with friends. Then Friday I had lunch with my family. On Sunday, we had a huge birthday lunch for my nephew.It is always something! I want to have a healthy lifestyle and to make healthy choices but I also don't want to feel deprived.That is why I don't want this to be a diet. To me, "to diet" means "to sacrifice". I try really hard to the point of obsessiveness and then eventually get tired and quit. Thus the cycle of losing and gaining. I want to break the cycle once and for all. Part of me thinks that if I give it time, it will become second nature to make the right choices. However, living in New Orleans, there always seems to be food involved. Our lives revolve around food.... good food.....really good food! All celebrations revolve around where and what we are going to eat.We do lunch! We do dinner! When we go to the park there is food. I mean, where do we go that doesn't involve food? Maybe in other states and countries it is different but not here. I am just glad that I don't drink my calories. At age 44, my metabolism has greatly slowed down. I also quit smoking 11 months ago. This hasn't helped either. I have gained 40 lbs. since I quit. On top of that, I had a full hysterectomy almost 3 years ago. Obviously I am not losing weight as fast as I use to and this gets frustrating as well. 
Okay, I want this blog to be positive so I need to switch gears. There will always be something. I can't change that. What I can change is my reaction to it.( I am hearing the Serenity prayer in my head right now). I need to figure out what that reaction will be. My first thought is to figure out how a healthy person responds when faced with a situation like this. My cousin is very healthy. She works out everyday...I mean EVERYday. There is no junk food at all in her house. Everything is low or no fat. I'll be honest, I don't want to live that way. For one reason, I don't think low or no fat is necessarily healthy for you. Another reason is that I want balance in my life. Everything in moderation!
What do you do when faced with this situation? Do you go hog wild and order appetizers and dessert. Do you order grilled something and feel deprived while everyone else splurges? Do you plan ahead and eat fruit or vegetables only to save calories for that lunch or dinner? 
I  am going to give this some thought-food for thought?!!haha