Weighty Goals Update 2013 #2

"The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends." ~Author Unknown~


 So, my 42 pound weight loss has turned into more of a 33-ish pound weight loss. Still good but considering that I'm going in the wrong direction it's discouraging! This change of life over the past 14 months has been difficult (why did I move to Mongolia?) and there have been so many times when I've been incredibly tempted to go back to my old ways of bulimia. However, (and thank goodness there's a however) because I have a loving Father, I have not gone back and in fact, this August will mark my 6th year of not purging! You can read my CR journey by clicking here. Since August, I moved and live only a 5 minute walk from school and to get to the city, I take a bus now so I don't walk nearly as much as I did when I first moved here. While my feet are grateful and blister-free, my weight loss slowed way down. I sometimes climb Zaisan, a monument on top of a hill not far from my apartment, but I haven't made that a regular thing like I had planned to.

Inspired by my mom who has lost over 30 pounds this year, I decided I needed to clean my diet up also. I have a fear that I while I'm home this summer I'll binge on all the foods I've missed over the past year (there's no fast food here or Chili's, Chipotle, Blue Goose, Babes, Denton County Hamburger, Texas Roadhouse or any of the other restaurants I used to love...it's sad isn't? Poor Mongolians don't know what they are missing. But I'm supposed to be talking about weight loss. Ahem.) And then of course, having access to a car and not having to walk at all really (and therefore, my exercise gets cut dramatically) also scares me. My mom was able to get herself off caffeine, sugar and bread - no easy feat but if she can, I can! Here is a picture of us when she came to she came to visit me in Mongolia!

Something that I've found to help greatly in the past is accountability. If you read weight loss success stories (and there are TONS out there), many of them include some sort of accountability whether it be a trainer, doctor or just a few like minded friends. Enter my fellow UB teacher, Pam! Here is my favorite picture of us on the left. At this point, we both have our weight loss goals and plans on how to do this and will be keeping each other accountable through an app we share on our computers. My hope is that I can wean myself off of some of these foods before I go home and hopefully, won't be tempted (or as tempted) to binge on them.

I have proved this impossible but know Who this is possible with!
If you would like to join us, email me and I'll fill you in!

Weighty Goals 2013 Update 1

I haven't done an update on this since I moved here ten months ago so here goes.
Progress since I moved from Texas:

• 40 pounds lost
• 3 jean sizes down
• I went from walking 20 minutes in UB and wanting to cry, to walking for a couple of hours and not wanting to cry.
• I went from climbing three flights of stairs and being really, really winded to climbing five flights of stairs and being only slightly out of breath. (My first apartment was on the third floor, my current apartment is on the fifth floor).

This progress was mainly made by not having a car anymore. Needing to walk EVERYWHERE I go has been so good for me. At times, I've walked for two or three hours a day on a regular basis. Other times, just about 10 minutes a day but either way, it's more than I was doing at home. Many times, I'll skip taking the bus or a taxi just for the exercise - even though I'm walking in sub-zero temps and I'm living in the most polluted city on Earth during the winter months (I wear a mask to help with the pollution). 

This is my PE teacher from Elementary School!
I didn't use the picture in my blog before
because she closed her eyes but it's
a good "before" picture.

This was taken last month at Thanksgiving - not
the best picture of me but I think you can tell the
difference. 

Most people that come here start to lose weight also due to all the walking. However, I'm still struggling with eating too much and hate the fact that if I weren't still eating too much, I would probably have lost twice as much. But there's no point in "shoulding all over myself" as a good friend puts it. 

And the great news is that I now have gone over FIVE years without practicing bulimia - and after being bulimic for over 20 years, that's saying something! Thank you Celebrate Recovery! The spiritual warfare over here is very difficult and I've been tempted to go back to trying to control my weight loss in that way but He is so good and victory has prevailed!

I leave for a months worth of vacation in a couple of weeks and will be back in the States for half of that time...where there are tortilla chips, Dr. Pepper, and fast food restaurants in abundance...little nervous about this. Will do my best to take it one day at a time and keep up some form of physical movement - wish me luck!!!!

"Do not rely on your own understanding..."

This is part of one of my favorite sayings and has come in very useful when things seem to be falling apart or going in the wrong direction. For the past month, I've been working my tail off and the scales really haven't shown an improvement so I've been tempted to think something's wrong with me.

But I kept it up and yesterday I went to see my nutritionist and while I only lost about 6 pounds, so much change was going on that I couldn't see!!! Here are a few of the changes that were going on:

• I lost 13 pounds of fat
• I gained 12.5 pounds of muscle 
• I also completely detoxed – got over a perfect score
• My metabolism finally kicked in and to maintain my current weight went up about 400 calories which is awesome
• I lost 8.5 inches 

I have to say that I'm so grateful to have a nutritionist - I would not have known all this (and several other good things) were happening as the scale really doesn't reflect all this! I would have judged the situation based on the scale and gotten discouraged.

Plan b...or somthing like that

Well, after about three months on Weight Watchers and not losing more than a few pounds, I decided that I needed something more. A friend of mine recommended a nutritionist and several revelations were discovered - things like the fact that I was dehydrated even though I drink roughly 150 ounces of water a day. Aside from taking natural supplements, cleaning up my diet (like cutting out artificial sweeteners, over processed foods, etc.), writing down everything I eat and so on, she also recommended that I hire a personal trainer.

Knowing I couldn't afford a gym membership and a personal trainer three times a week, my Father provided a FABULOUS friend of ours who said he'd come to my house for a fraction of the cost those at the gym charge! His name is Lance and if you're interested in hiring him as well, email me and I'll give you his info - WORTH EVERY PENNY!

So, I get to meet with this guy three times a week doing girlie push ups, planks, squats and the like - it's been about three weeks and I already feel stronger.

I'm still doing Zumba and after getting my mom hooked on it, a few of my aunts "drank the kool-aid" as well:

Jennifer is the instructor (on the left) and she's ADORABLE! Then my Aunt Nancy, me, Aunt Karen and mom. We decided to take the picture before class to spare you from the tired, sweaty, red-faced looks that we have after class. The first class I took, I noticed this blonde out in front who knew every step and was really good - didn't recognize her until my mom pointed her out - she was my P. E. teacher in Elementary school!! She looks incredible and credits Zumba with helping her to lose weight so she's inspired me! We took a picture with her too but our eyes were closed so I may try to get another picture.

Doing Zumba 3 x's a week, meeting with Lance 3 X's a week, and extra things like walking and cleaning offices (for donations)...I'm pooped.

Weight Update #1

Hello, my name is Brandie and I hate fruits and vegetables. I know it's wrong to be so prejudice about an entire food group but the first step of recovery is admitting I have a problem...with mainly veggies.

So to get some of them into my diet, I have to sneak them in and one way I do this is with V-Fusion - made by V8. I have found that if I mix it with Orange Juice, I can't taste the veggies anymore and I can play like I'm just drinking some fruity drink. So there's a tip for my fellow veggie haters - you get two servings by doing this!

I got my mom hooked on Zumba now too. I looked over at her after the first song and could see she was drinking the Kool Aid. Which is good because I love the extra accountability to go. We're going to see if we can get a few others addicted as well.

So, this week I drank some fruits and veggies and went to a couple of Zumba classes.

It paid off with a 3.4 pound loss - YAY!

Weighty Goals

Besides fundraising, another goal of mine is to lose weight and get more healthy before I leave for Mongolia. I've been warned that I'll be walking several miles a day and climbing tons of stairs as most buildings do not have elevators...not too excited about that part.

I've come a long way as far as health goes as next month will be my TWO YEAR anniversary of not practicing bulimia - a HUGE deal as I practiced for 20 years (HE is so good!!!)

So, to work on this weight loss goal and getting healthy, I've begun two things. One is Weight Watchers. I've found they have a good program, easy to follow, convenient and we have a great leader on Saturday mornings so I'm hooked at the moment.

Something else I've discovered is Zumba.

Here is an example - it's a video done for raising funds for Africa but you can see how fun it is. I'm usually in a class room half this size with 50 -60 ladies - CROWDED - sweating, huffing and puffing but having a blast. Something I like is that the class is usually filled with women of all ages and sizes so I don't feel too self conscience. I do find that I still watch the clock to see how much longer until I can collapse but at least I'm having more fun than when I'm in a gym. Most classes will cost about $5-$8 each unless your gym offers it for less. According to the Weight Watchers point system, I gain about 18 activity points each time - about half a day's foods worth - YAY!