Weight Loss Sabotage?

If you're seeking a truly healthy weight, this could be helpful reading for you.

Stefani breaks down important logistical tips, along with vital psychological tips that will help daily life for any of us.

I can’t tell you how many women I have worked with who continually went up and down with their weight, but could never stabilize at a healthy one.

They might not have known it at the time, but they were all sabotaging themselves in one way or another.

Fortunately, when we sit down and talk, and when I give them some feedback, we normally figure out where the sabotaging is coming from, and how to stop it.

Go forth: http://paleoforwomen.com/how-to-stop-self-sabotaging-your-weight-loss/

This Is My Body

This post by Molly Galbraith made the rapid rounds of the interwebz a wee bit ago: https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/this-is-my-body/

My fervent desire is that you could write the same sort of post, with your own picture. Edit and tweak for your body's history is, where it has been, what you have done to it. BUT finish up with these same words of love:

This is a body that I spent too much time, energy, and mental space wishing would look differently.

And today? 

Today this is a body that is loved, adored, and cherished by the only person whose opinion matters — ME.

Women: Master Defusers

I don't even know what to say about this post, other than it makes me want to Hulksmash everything in sight, because I fully identify with far too much of it.

I have too many similar stories in my own life, and I bet you do, too.

Share this post with the men in your life, more than anyone.

Maybe it will help to create a world where your daughter won't see any bit of herself in this post.

It is the boss who says or does something inappropriate. It is the customer who holds our tip out of reach until we lean over to hug him. It's the male friend who has had too much to drink and tries to corner us for a "friends with benefits" moment even though we've made it clear we're not interested. It's the guy who gets angry if we turn him down for a date. Or a dance. Or a drink.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gretchen-kelly/the-thing-all-women-do-you-dont-know-about_b_8630416.html

Gaining & Losing the Same 5 Pounds? WE ALL ARE!

This is super-dee-duper awesome. This amazing woman meticulously recorded her weight several times each day, over a week, along with other notes, to see and understand the swings.

How is it possible to gain and lose 4-5 pounds in a 24-hour period? It’s not by crash-dieting, not by detoxing all day, not by any other form of lose-weight-fast schemes out there.

It’s by being human, people.

...

This experiment demonstrates the intricate and individualized science behind weight sensitivity, but can have significantly positive emotional and mental consequences for us all! Knowledge is power – it frees us from unnecessary anxiety, stress, disappointment, discouragement, and unease.

Yet another vote for throwing away that worthless tool.

http://www.loveyourbodyproject.org/#!How-I-Gained-4-Pounds-in-One-Day%E2%80%A6-Then-Lost-It-All-By-the-Next/c1fhr/568bc0000cf23ef0cf5d9b3d

You Say You Want A Resolution (Or Not)

I'm finally sharing some specific resolution talk, three weeks into the year.

Oops.

But actually...maybe now's the perfect time to talk about them anyway.

If you've picked the right ones and are #killingit then you should pat yourself on the back, and peruse the article in case you could incorporate one or two into your new world o' ass-kicking.

And if you picked the wrong resolutions and are #awfuckit then try these on for size, for easy steps back toward feeling as though you're winning at life.

They are also good if you are completely anti-resolution.

Basically, I'm saying everyone should read it and EVERYONE WINS:

http://paleoforwomen.com/6-uniquely-helpful-new-years-resolutions/

Things You Need to Know

This list is full of stuff (21 stuffs, specifically) that I daresay could take a year (or more) to fully absorb & explore. So today seems like a good time to start, no?

It goes from simple training knowledge to nutrition to mindset. Everything. Read the list and see if anything jumps out at you as interesting, or totes wrong, or true to your very core. If anything in here makes your brain ZING, then delve in. Explore. Fully immerse yourself into learning more about it, and let us all watch it expand who you are, not simply your knowledge.

This is the one that is ZINGing hardest for me, right now, today:

Living a life of conscious, practiced positivity, joy, authenticity, and gratitude makes everything in your brain and body run better. This especially includes your immune system and your metabolism. Positivity, joy, authenticity, and gratitude make it harder to get sick and easier to lose fat.

Dig the list: http://jessikneeland.com/21-things-i-wish-every-woman-knew-about-health-fitness/

You Need Fun - Lots of It!

Sometimes the big important things are as small as this: how to have more fun in your daily life.

Here's a great little post about exactly that: http://whole9life.com/2014/02/take-back-the-fun-part-2/

You Are Perfect[ly Imperfect]

This is a quick read, but a little nugget of gold:

It is like when you really want a bag of chips. You say to yourself, "You can't have chips. They are bad for you. They have too many calories. They will make you fat"  You listen, then you go to the refrigerator and eat some carrot sticks, then some yogurt, then a piece of cheese, then an apple. None of these things satisfy the initial craving. SO..you end up with the chips anyway. Why not listen to your need in the first place?

Find your things. You will need certain things in your everyday life (my things include coffee, reading, lifting, running, time with friends, writing, daily salads), and you will need certain things in your max-stress life (my things include less running, less time with friends, more reading, potato chips).

And most of all, you need to forgive yourself for needing those things. They are simply what you need. There is no judgment.

http://www.loveyourbodyproject.org/#!Perfectly-Imperfect-Sound-Familiar/c1fhr/564227050cf21009be806611

How Dieting Can Screw You Up

Well, ^that's^ not the way the article puts it, but it's how I will put it, because it is what happened to me when I dieted hard for too long, and didn't understand what I was doing.

This post is a great explanation of how your body responds to dieting, put in terms of females and lifting progress. If you don't lift, it still applies to your sport. If you have no sport, it's still helpful knowledge - most especially as the new year kicks off and so do millions of diets.

If you want to diet, that's your choice - but read this to understand the importance of keeping your calorie restriction small, not massive.

Otherwise, your foolishness may come back and smash you upside the head so hard that you'll be a pile of tears in the corner, for years. (That was me.) (It sucked.) (Don't do it.)

While a slight caloric deficit should cause sustainable weight loss (think 300-500 calories per day), much larger deficits elicit changes in your metabolism to keep your body in an energy balance and maintain homeostasis. The body—this dynamic, adaptable machine—wants to feel “safe.” With survival as the priority, it is constantly regulating what’s going on in response to our environment.

In other words, in order to conserve energy and direct calories to necessary functions for survival, your body resorts to burning fewer calories, even as you’re exercising regularly and intensely. This means you will hold onto body fat despite eating a low-calorie diet and training hard.

Find all the #science here: http://www.girlsgonestrong.com/undereating/

EMPHATIC ADVICE: Even a "slight" 300-500 calorie deficit may be too much for some. If I am 500 calories down on a regular basis, I turn into a puddle right quick. Even 300 is pushing it for this delicate flower. "Your mileage will vary" is perhaps the most important line in the article - take it to heart, and always start on the conservative end of intake, not the dramatic end. In my experience, the dramatic end is where all the tears happen.

MORE EMPHATIC ADVICE: Forget the "ideal weight" calculator she's linked. Don't even click on it; you don't need another number to make you feel badly about where you are. Weight is just one factor among MANY to show your health status, and it's one we all need to stop obsessing over. Just figure out roughly how many calories you're eating now, and adjust from there.

Stumptuous: Rant 73

I will always read her. Always.

I don’t give a fuck about your self-righteous ideological rage regarding the Great Corporate Conspiracy or how fitspo is ruining all our lives or how People Who Do Sport A are complete idiots compared to People Who Do Sport B.

Because truly, unless there is some very pressing and important reason to know or do a particular thing in a particular way (like maybe you are actually James Bond and it would be good to know how to fall out of a helicopter properly)…

…almost none of it really matters.

Instead:

Do what is meaningful and fun and life-expanding and energy-giving to YOU.

https://www.stumptuous.com/rant-73-jan-2016-nothing-matters

100%, yes.

Find a job and hobbies and service work that you enjoy. Find the thing(s) that fulfills you, that challenges you, that helps you to become a better person, better able to help others around you, and encourage others to do the same. Not to do the same thing that you do, but to find their version of it.

A Little Fat Is Fine

I'm so, so, so WITH HER on this. It's where I've been for a while now, and it's so much easier/better/happier.

In 2016, I’m committed to using my mental and physical capacity to spread love, create joy, enrich my life and the lives of the people I encounter, and stop myself when my effort seeps into pursuing leanness for leanness sake. Because there is no additional benefit from being leaner than the optimal level for health.

(she highlighted the above...I'd highlight the below)

And the effort that it can absorb could be used elsewhere for things that actually matter.

Read it all: http://askgeorgie.com/why-im-ok-with-getting-fatter-in-2016/

Look, I don't need to know a thing about you, to know this with certainty: your appearance is not the first thing that people think of, when they think about you.

I'd bet my back-squat-built ass that it's not.

And I can tell you what is: your kindness, your generosity, your listening skills, your intelligence, your "zOMG I haven't seen you in forever"-feeling hugs, your intense gaze, your loud laughter, your playful nature, your pet-whisperer skills, your delight in simple things, your love of baking, your debating skills, your perfect pot of coffee...all of that, and more.

These are the many important ways you create a lasting, loving impact on your people. Not with flat abs, non-jiggly arms, or cellulite-free thighs.

I agree in full with her highlight on this sentence:

I dare to think my life might be more “Wow” if I stopped working so hard on making sure my body was.

http://askgeorgie.com/why-im-ok-with-getting-fatter-in-2016/

--

Side note: I haven't read her book, and I really want to put a shirt on her on that cover (because that's a pretty unrealistic target for most of us, and what's the point of those perfect abs, again?) BUT healthy habits are where it's at, and the things I HAVE read in her blog all jive with me. So, at least start there.

Support Your Healthy Self-Image

This is not just the usual "give yourself compliments!" positivity, although that can be important, too - these are simple, straight-forward actions that you might not realize can be highly impactful and relevant.

I love this one especially, completely, with every fiber of my attractive pink guts:

...when you are handing out compliments, be aware what beast you are feeding. Are you encouraging narcissistic behaviour by only ever commenting on someone’s appearance and neglecting their other qualities? When was the last time you left a comment on a friend’s Instagram telling them what a great eye for photography they have, or how you admire their original way of thinking?

http://whole9life.com/2014/09/self-esteem/

Fad Diets Could Ruin Your Life - No, REALLY

I had an eating disorder. I wasn't diagnosed, I didn't seek treatment, and it almost feels wrong to claim this thing, but I totally and legitimately engaged in disordered eating for YEARS. Those details are for another day, but I wish that posts like this were common knowledge, and that any one of the (many) people who knew how obsessed I was had recognized that I was far beyond any normal level of concern with healthy eating.

Behaviors that, objectively, would qualify as a serious eating disorder are now considered perfectly appropriate, and reinforced by a culture that is becoming obsessively fixated on food, eating and weight. I’m going to list a few symptoms and warning signs of disordered eating, taken from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. These are not normal behaviors. These are symptoms of serious, potentially fatal diseases, with long term health consequences.

https://gokaleo.com/2013/06/17/fad-diets-normalizing-disordered-behavior/

The list is 12 items, and I would've answered yes to 10 or them. That's a huge problem. It was. I sometimes can't believe I got out on my own.

--

Side note: I can't seem to find, like, ANY GoKaleo posts I've shared, which is a shocking oversight on my part. She helped to change my life, after all. This book, in particular, was a leader of the charge: https://gokaleo.com/store/taking-up-space/

Word To Your Mother

In 2015, I themed my year with one word. The word was THRIVE.

It worked. 

I didn't THRIVE every single day (I didn't completely change, yo), but I paid attention to the things I need to truly THRIVE, rather than simply survive. I found them. And I chased them hard, I made them happen - but when it felt scary to chase them, reminding myself that I needed them to THRIVE was a firm slap to the voices of fear. "I need this to THRIVE so I will have it. Shut up, fear."

It worked. 

I still plan to use it. 

But now it's a new year, so I feel I need a new word. I've been debating it for a while, feeling as though it should be one of my CDFs (generous, radiant, inspiring, thriving), but none of them felt right, and I finally realized it is because of the things I see coming at me this year that are leaving me scared. 

When I changed my thinking to that perspective, the word BRAVE came to mind and immediately felt right. With the scary things looming (not big-scary, just growth/change-scary), I hope focusing on this word will help me unearth the deeply hidden well of bravery that I normally can't find. I'm full of self-doubt, I fucking runneth over with it, and I often have to tell myself to "act as if" to get the scary things done. I like the idea of using BRAVE more than the "act as if" line, which subtly underlines the imposter syndrome; I am only "pretending" I am BRAVE. I want & need the sharper reminder to step up, be BRAVE, go ahead & shine, or go ahead & disappoint, whatever. For as long as I am BRAVE enough to speak the truth inside, I am winning at life. 

Thriving, you might say. 

Don't Be A Diderot

I never knew there was a name for this, but I recognize it fully. It's stunning to absorb how purchases lead to more purchases.

Like many others, I have fallen victim to the Diderot Effect. I recently bought a new car and I ended up purchasing all sorts of additional things to go inside it. I bought a tire pressure gauge, a car charger for my cell phone, an extra umbrella, a first aid kit, a pocket knife, a flashlight, emergency blankets, and even a seatbelt cutting tool.

Allow me to point out that I owned my previous car for nearly 10 years and at no point did I feel that any of the previously mentioned items were worth purchasing. And yet, after getting my shiny new car, I found myself falling into the same consumption spiral as Diderot.

http://jamesclear.com/diderot-effect

I feel like I have too much STUFF in my life. In some ways, I'm combating it: I am adamantly against gift-giving among my friends and family to avoid receiving more, and I have managed to stick to a rule of tossing out an item of clothing for every item purchased - but the same cannot be said of other accumulated stuff. Furthermore, I find myself coveting more stuff on a regular basis.

Time to re-focus on simplifying, and I feel certain this article will help me with that. I believe that seeing this so clearly laid out, and having a name to identify it, will help me avoid spiraling into such spending in the future. Hope it does the same for you.