Category: General Weight Loss Tips

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General Weight Loss Tips

The Power of Believing

I have to tell you the first word that comes to mind with this blog post is “shewweeee!” and it’s not even a real word, but it describes my life at the moment. I’m in the place right before a new chapter is about to unfold. The exciting, scary, gray area when you’re sure something fantastic is about to unfold, but you’re not even sure it’s real yet. I keep pinching myself.

Tomorrow is the first day with my new business partner/program manager. She has been a creative friend for well over a year now. We first  bonded over making and selling jewelry and now we’re merging our talents. When I met her I knew we would one day work together. I didn’t know how or why, but it was a feeling that collaboration was inevitable. She will be working with me on design projects and a combined project 17 hours a week in my home office. Did I mentioned that she is a yoga instructor and a massage therapist on the side too?

I say all of this to say that a dream of mine is coming to life. I knew that I would eventually get to this point, these were thoughts that I put out in the universe many years ago. Probably while watching an episode of Designing Women, I’m sure of it. I wanted to own a business and work collaboratively with other creative women with lots of positive energy. I didn’t know the details, but I knew it was something I felt passionately about.

Tomorrow I will be able to say that I am a fully insured business owner with a project manager who works with me part-time. It’s insane. Truly crazy.

I believe in putting thoughts/dreams and goals into writing. I’ve been writing this goal every year since I was in my early 20’s. It didn’t happen over night and I had many experiences that  lead me to this very beginning stage. It makes me believe that I’m slowly getting to a better place emotionally and physically. I trust that I’ll not always weigh close to 300 pounds. Just like I knew that I would some day own a business.

It’s not that I put these thoughts out in the universe, as I call it, without the work to get here, but it helped that I always believed I would bring myself to this path. All of the days, months and years of experience were leading up to this point. This is how I choose to look at my weight loss efforts. I know, and truly believe that one day I will wake up at a weight that is comfortable and healthy for my body. I know  there will be a day when I step on a plane without anxiety of fitting in the seat or a day when I can be adventurous without worry of my weight.

When I was 15 years old I knew I would some day live in NYC. I didn’t know how I would get there or what I would do when I arrived, but I knew it was going to happen. And it did. Three years later, when I was 18, I met Josh on his way to the big apple. I also knew on that day ten years ago that I would one day marry him. I didn’t know how it would happen and I surely would not have expected all of the events that would unfold to get to this point, but I knew deep down that he would be my husband and it would be one of the best decisions I’d make.

So is there power in knowing? I can’t say for sure, but one day my next chapter will be that of a business owner who lost 150 pounds. I don’t just believe it, I know it.

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Birthday Food

I have a secret to share. Are you ready? If it’s your birthday, and you approve of my cooking, there’s a good chance I’ll make you something delcious to eat. Because I love you. Just ask my husband.

For his birthday I put together this easy Vietnamese dish that happens to be one of our restuarant favorites. It’s a good thing I know how to make it because the nearest Vietnamese restaurant is three hours a way.

This dish hits all the important notes, sweet, savory, slightly salty, tangy and a little sour.

Grilled Pork Vermicelli with Nuoc Cham Sauce

This recipe is extremely easy to put together. And I love that because it looks pretty darn impressive. Here’s what you do. Purchase a small roast of pork picnic/shoulder/roast. I’ve bought this cut of meat many times and it’s gross and big. I’ve warned you. I use a sharp knife and slice off the layer of fat from the roast and then I cut thin 1/4 inch slices of meat for marinating.

For the marinate I’ve made this Nuoc Cham Sauce several times without fail. Chopped greens onions are helpful too. Let your pork marinade in half the recipe of Nuoc Cham Sauce for 1-4 hours.

I boil water for vermicelli or angel hair pasta. Once the pasta is cooked rinse it under cold water and portion into bowls.

Grill pork inside on a griddle or outside. This is important, the grill makes it magical.

Chop up a few carrots, peanuts or cashews, ice burg lettuce (this is one dish where ice burg makes all the difference), cilantro or mint, and cucumbers. A wedge of lime and bean sprouts are good too.

Arrange all the ingredients in the bowl and top with more Nuoc Cham Sauce. Sprinkle with peanuts. So, so good!

Please let me know if you make this dish, only so we can talk about how awesome it is.

I wanted to share a couple more things with you.

First, here is a photo Josh took of the cats and rabbit on the bed. I wasn’t in the house when this went down.

Yup two cats and a rabbit on our bed. Nothing strange about that. Apparently the rabbit scared the cats away.

In other news, I’ve been taking one-two days a week off of my “eating better for me” plan to enjoy carbs. It hasn’t hindered my weight loss too much as I’m down 15 lbs. so far. It’s helpful to be flexible, and I’m honestly okay with it as long as I continue to count calories.

And for even more news, I’ve been cleaning out my office because I’ve hired a real live project manager to work with me three days a week in my home office. This is a big deal, as I’ve dreamed of working on projects with another person since I started my business(es) a year ago. It’s scary and exciting to have someone to give work to. I just love that I’m in a place right now to afford health insurance and hire a part time employee. Trying to stay positive, and not negative which is a default of mine when things start going well. I worry about the most insane things when things start going well. Am I alone here?

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What I Need

I’ve come to realize that what I need in life to be happy, is much different than what I always thought I would need. For most of my life I believed that hard work and sacrifice meant pain, uncomfort, and burnout. I would avoid these feelings  by quitting. This isn’t to say that I wasn’t a hard worker or a good employee, student etc. I just never applied myself, as they say. I knew how to complete a task for something else, but not for myself. I would get so far as the first or second bump and decide it wasn’t for me. Move on and continue the cycle.

Coincidentally, my adult life has been filled with bouts of anxiety, depression and insecurity. Just a slight feeling of unease that I was always trying to suffocate with excesses. Material items, food, and neediness have all been the way that I would cope. Often I would just hole up and wish the pain away. I thought these feelings were a result of what I was missing in my life, rather than what I wasn’t doing.

But lately, as in, the past couple of months. This course has changed. I’ve come to realize that my past actions of inactivity made the feelings worse. And thus the cycle of never being fulfilled. What makes me happy now is so far removed from what I wanted to believe would make me happy. Shopping or a pint of ice cream. They are like alcohol to the flame. They are good in the moment, but never filled the gap.

Today, as I write this, I’ve found that completion makes me happy. If I set out to do something in a day, I’m not content until it’s done. Inactivity makes me anxious. I notice that when I slide out of my good habits, old feelings begin to creep up again.

The funny/weird thing about all of this, is that I’ve rejected the notion that energy=energy. I always thought that I needed to reserve my energy to gain it, but I only get positive energy when I put it out there.

Today happiness looks like this to me:

– A balanced diet. This means eating when I’m hungry, stopping when I’m full. Eating what I only truly love to eat, not because I used to think it was indulgent, but genuinly enjoying the meal. Vegetables and fruit are also very important for this balance.

– Exercise. Any sort of movement is absolutely neccessary for me to deal with stress and anxiety. Even if the movement is cleaning the bedroom, clearning off the deck, or washing a load of dishes. Movement in all forms makes me feel better.

–Focused work. Everyday I have a set list of tasks. I’ve gotten in the habit of setting a timer for 30 minutes just to get started. If I am overwhelmed with projects I say to myself “just do something–anything”. Checking off items on my to-do list brings me so much pride and contentment.

– Time to relax, alone. I find that my work/life balance is only in harmony when I have time to do absolutely nothing. It feels better and is more appreciated when it’s earned. I have never been bored a day in my life. I could sit on the couch and read for hours and be totally happy. I could sit with a notebook and pen and write and draw until my hearts content. I look forward to doing nothing, I cherish the art of inactivity only when it’s balanced with work.

– Making things happen. I’ve always struggled with the notion that things just happened. Growing up we are sent to school, then we are sent to high school and then, sometimes we make our way to college. This course is set out for us. And the whole “making things happen” idea missed me. I had no concept of making my dreams come true. When there wasn’t a clear path or map to my destination I got lost. I didn’t understand how the world worked, how businesses were ran. I just assumed that I was destined to follow course and just move on to a normal job with a steady paycheck. And then I woke up and realized that everything is totally up to me. And I was scared, am still scared, but figuring it out anyway.

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