About Me

Decent wife. Good Enough Mom. (I think, but you’d have to ask my kids.) Sporadic blogger. Crazy person. Chaos Manager. Finder of stray socks and missing shoes. Loves to cook, wishes it wasn’t demanded of her daily. Runs on caffeine.

Monday, January 4, 2016

MicroBlog Monday-30 Days of Change

I have recently embarked on a new challenge. NOT because it is New Years and I have made some sort of resolution, honestly that's just a coincidence. It's because I am 37, have recently had my 5th baby via my 5th C-section, the baby weight isn't coming off, and I feel generally like crap about my flabby, flubby, completely out of shape body. I feel like my body is wrecked. I don't make any time for myself because I have no time, or the bank account, to join a gym or take a class. The last pedicure I got I had a baby on my boob the entire time.

I have never been skinny. I'm Sicilian. I have a major booty, hips, thighs and boobs. Since puberty. And I am short. I have done All The Things before: Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, belonged to a gym, taken Yoga, owned every type of fitness tape out there, low carb diet, ect, ect, ect. Nothing sticks. I hate dieting. I hate working out. Any weight I did manage to ever lose came right back plus some when I went off it/stopped doing it. I love chocolate. I hate running. I never get enough sleep and I make bad choices because I am rushing around or so tired that I stop caring that I am eating leftover Chinese food at 10pm.

So I came across This Book at just the right time when the holidays (Cookies! Pies! Chocolate! Chips! Rolls!) derailed my good eating and I was feeling particularly down. I need something that helps me learn to actually fix all the bad behaviors I have picked up over the years, not do some fad diet or workout that's temporary. Make one Change a day? Build on the one change and make a new change every day for 30 days? That sounded like something I could do. It's manageable. It's based on the idea that Rome wasn't built in a day. I am familiar with the author. She seems...real. She seems sincere. The advice, the changes...it's all broken down very simply. It's not confusing to figure out what to do. It's almost like a plan for dummies, which is me. you don't have to read forever just trying to figure out exactly what you are supposed to do for the day. The first lines of every chapter are exactly what the challenge entails so you know right away what you're supposed to be doing. Then there's a little more helpful information and real-life stories after that. I only try to read a couple chapters ahead so I know what's in store so that I can prepare myself.

I want to lose weight, sure. But more than that, I want to make actual changes that will carry me throughout life. Nothing brought this home more than my teen daughter who recently lost weight. At dinner one night she was saying how she was just going to continue her exercising and eating right until she lost all the weight she wanted then she could stop. I had to explain to her that when she stopped and went back to her old ways she would gain all the weight back. She hadn't even thought about that. I know it all too well and I don't want to go back to this crappy way of taking care of myself.

The first change is to drink water. That's easy enough. The second change is to keep a food log and exchange it with friends to keep yourself honest and to see the changes you might make when someone else is reading Exactly what you are eating. If anyone reading this is interested in joining me in this adventure please comment with your email or send me an email too muchadoaboutnothingblogger@gmail.com and we can exchange food logs. I actually think having relative strangers reading my food log would be helpful because strangers shouldn't feel worried about calling me out if I've eaten half of a large pizza by myself. So if you are out there trying to get healthier and lose weight and you think this might be helpful for you please email me!! There is power, and safety, in numbers.

Since the changes build on each other and until I get to a place where the changes are second nature I am keeping a dry erase board with the challenges listed down. I've only written down the challenges through the day that I'm actually on So I don't get confused. That way throughout the day as I'm doing the changes I can put a checkmark by each thing to make sure I've done it. I have also been including my teen since she has recently gotten so into fitness and started taking walks with her to get my steps in (10,000 steps is change three) am recruited her to help me with the upcoming exercises to make sure I know how to do them (change 4). Hopefully having her motivation will help me!

8 comments:

  1. I tried to do that a few years ago. You definitely need something to keep you accountable- the dry erase board will definitely help (I didn't have something like that so it lasted for a while and then failed). Good luck! It sounds like you are motivated and including your teen in some of the changes will help as well so that you guys can keep each other accountable!

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  2. Food logging seems daunting to me...when I'm trying to lose weight I do find it easier to hold myself accountable for the calories I ingest and makes me conciously aware when I over eat. I love spark people and thats where I enter my stuff when I'm actively trying. Def starting doing my stairs at lunch this week. I'd like to drop 10lbs before our family beach trip in May. Really I have 30lbs to lose to be my ideal weight. My biggest issue is drinking and football. As soon as we win the National Championship I'll put down the beer and get serious LOL Then we have this 2nd adoption up in the air.....I'm a stress eater for sure. All I can do is try right?

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  3. When I food-logged, I lost weight. But I think it had to do with being really awake about what I was eating, truthfully. No way to pretend I hadn't sat down and eaten a half a bag of M&Ms, you know? You're motivating me to get back on the food diary wagon.

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  4. Wow, 5 C-sections? People are surprised when I tell them I had 3 - I can imagine the reactions you get!

    It sounds like a very doable and achievable plan, especially having your teen to help with the motivation. Best of luck to you with your challenge!

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  5. Go, you! Changing one behavior at a time, making small shifts, is a great approach; very sustainable. I have a hard time in the winter, with darker days, less time/motivation to exercise outside (I don't belong to a gym), and more junk around to eat at night. My winter body is coming back, and I don't like it. You will help to motivate us all!

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  6. What 35Jupiter said. I think the simple act of being more mindful about what I eat makes a big difference. And like Justine, I tend to eat more/move less in the winter.

    Hmmmm....I'd like to make some changes, too. Good luck to us!

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  7. This sounds like a great project! I love that it's about making healthy changes, transformations to your habits instead of a "lose weight quick" thing. I love that it's not a diet but a lifestyle. Writing down everything you eat is definitely eye-opening (which is why I don't do it, ha...). I wish you all the luck in the world in this endeavor!

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  8. I food logged for a long time, and I lost weight and kept it off for a while. And then I stopped logging and I went back to my old eating habits. I need to do something like this, but I don't have the mental energy right now. And I know when my heart isn't there, the changes don't stick. Gah.

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