June 21, 2008

Trying to get motivated

The last five years I've been putting myself on the back burner. What I mean is that as I've had children and become more focused on my family and home, many parts of me have been put on hold. The most specific part is losing extra weight. I've been at a stable weight for over 5 years, even through 4 pregnancies, which is good, but it's not where I want to be or where I should be.

It's just been one of those things that I really wanted to do, but felt powerless to make it happen as life got busier and my body was carrying babies. Now that I am finally healthier and feeling better, I'm a lot closer to accomplishing what I want now, it's just making it happen! Fitting in hard exercise and finding a diet that will allow me to lose weight without being costly or unhealthy isn't easy. There are so many diet plans that work, but which one is the healthiest?

When I lost a bunch of weight before, 70% of my daily intake of food was raw vegetables and fruits. Eggs and canned tuna are now cheaper than fresh seasonal fruits and veggies, a good part of the time that is. If I did a lower carb plan, then I would eat more eggs and veggies, but that would get old and meat isn't cheap either. Whole grains are healthy and cheaper than meat, but it can be easy to overdo it for someone like me. I love brown rice and can eat a lot of it! However I guess it's better to gorge on brown rice than cookies...

One thing I can do to help is to cut out all sugar, except some honey for tea, and to just try to eat less. I don't overeat a lot, but I could probably get by on less. Oh and drinking water wouldn't hurt either- our water here isn't just wonderful tasting so I haven't been drinking it much. Buying water isn't fun, but that's what I've been doing.

So, cut out the processed sugar as much as possible

Eat a bit less at each meal.

Drink more water.

Include more raw fruits and veggies.

Get up and walk/run early in the mornings. (it's not hot yet, and the sun is fully risen by 7am)

Anyone know how to make a flabby belly that's been stretched out a few times tighten back up again?

Being fat is a burden to me. I get depressed about it and feel nasty at times. I want to look better for my husband and children; I want to be able to shop in regular women's clothing. I'm tired of feeling like everyone dislikes me because I'm big. I've failed a lot in the past, so maybe I can do better this time and actually get somewhere :)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes you have to stop feeling that way....people don't like you because you are big! Looking at your profile picture I would have never guessed you to be big.......my first thought was that you have a very beautiful face and perfect/porcelin like skin.....because it looks very smooth.

Anonymous said...

However, your body is only what we see, on the outside - just remember, God loves you for who you are, from the inside! Try looking at yourself, through the eyes of God, and your dealings with weight will minimize and the pounds will seem to fall off. Blessings on your endeavors! I understand - I'm there right now! I started going to Curves about a month ago and it has made an incredible difference. Out the door at 5:45am to go work-out, and I love it!

Valerie Roberson said...

I am going through the exact same thing right now. I have been using Sparkpeople dot com which is a great (free!) site to track nutrition and fitness. It's been helpful-I've already lost 5 pounds. It's also has lots of articles on how to eat better, even cheaply.
Some of my favorite cheap foods are pretty healthy-eggs, tuna, beans and rice, etc.I just supplement with fresh stuff, and it's not too expensive.
Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

I think you are beautiful just the way you are! I read your blogs often and look at your pretty face on your profile picture. It brightens my day.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jessica. I feel ya trying to lose weight. I gained 80 pounds with our first child through a very crazy and difficult pregnancy. I wasn't really taught what to eat, and I was working out of the home 12 hours a day at a day care...so most of my food was fast food. Bad combination. Did I mention she was born 8 years ago???? :(

I actually started working on my losing weight last year, and was doing great for 2 full months. Then, I went back to where we're from and visited family...and it was a big let down. A lot of people were making fun of me...because I was not drinking sodas, eating a lot of vegetarian meals, turkey meat, no chocolate at all!!!, eating vegetarian meat aka fake meat, and drinking lots of water. After about a month of hearing that, I just quit.

Hubby came home and I had lost some, but not a lot. He asked me what happened; and I told him. He told me to not worry about what others say and do what I feel is best for my body and my health.

Just about 3 weeks ago, I started to work on my health again. I started not drinking any sodas or eating any chocolate. I really don't crave chocolate or sodas at all. :D YEAH! I thought I would, but I don't. I'm learning to eat other things, like oatmeal cookies, and more foods with fruit or something similar.

As far as walking/running, I'm not doing a lot of that right now because we're fixing to move in 2 weeks. First my intake and then I'll work on my outtake (exercising) when we are settled in our new home in Germany. :)

Oh, and we're going to visit family , before we move out of the country, in 2 weeks as well. But I've got my resolve to keep doing what I'm doing. Hubby knows what I'm doing and he's supporting me a lot too.

Good luck with your weight loss. It can be hard at times, but I know it'll be worth it in the end..

Anonymous said...

5 Day Abs by The Firm does a great job on toning the abs again.

Anneatheart said...

Thank you ladies for your nice comments. If you want to see full body pics then go to my label for Feminine Dress. I look the same a year later :(