New Concept for Me

Maybe I have been living in a hole for a couple of years but WHO KNEW there were so many resources on physical well being as it relates to spirituality.  This weekend I attended a service at a religious science center.  While my personal belief system leans toward the "New Age" I have never before attended a "celebration" like this.  I really enjoyed the logical approach to spirituality so I did a little more research.  It looks like one of their points of practice is health and excercise.  "Tending to the needs of our physical and emotional body is tantamount to our spiritual growth and development."  Now that I think about it, I must be pretty slow.  Every weight loss guru says that one must figure out the emotional reason for being overweight . . . shouldn't that translate to spiritual well being?  Dur.  I just got that.  Anyway, I did a little search for books on "spiritual weight loss" . . . I cannot believe how many there are.  As I am new to this concept of weight loss via prayer/spirituality, I don't have any recommendations yet.  If I find one I love, I will let you know.

Recipe Audition - Rosemary Chicken

Thanks to Glorious One Pot Meals, I had a really easy and healthful meal last night.  The green beans came out crispy, the potatoes tender, the acorn squash not-mushy.  I was a little ambitious with the rosemary and would proabably add Garlic Salt instead of regular salt next time.  But at 339 cal, 3 g fat and 8 g fiber?  Totally worth it.  Plus, my 3 quart dutch oven made enough food for me and Mr. ShrinkingT with enough leftover for one large (veggie heavy) meal.  He said he liked it but didn't go for seconds.  Still success.

I was really impressed with Yarnell's story.  The way she has used nutritional healing is admirable and her attitude is worth emulating.


Plus, it's really fun to see how uncomfortable the hosts are cooking!

Gain Some and Lose Some

Truth is this week is more like "Gain Some and Gain Some".  Granted it was the last week of the year and I alternated my time between sleeping, eating, watching TV and drinking . . . drinking A LOT.  I'm giving myself a little break here and deciding to focus on some of the other things I've gained, namely insight.

Things I've figured out this week:

1. At that point where I get close to a breakthrough and really improve myself; at that certain point in every self-improvement journey I have taken, I have quit.  I believe that I am, somehow, not worth it.  Logically I know this is ridiculous but emotionally I haven't caught up yet.  And, if I take that one step further, I can say that the reason I am overweight is that I don't believe myself to be worth the effort of treating my body well.
2. I have decided to lose weight for two reasons.  The first is that the healthiest I have been in 10 years was 5 years ago, directly following a 25 pound weight loss.  I don't believe in coincidence.  I know I need to do this to get my health (and sanity) back.  The second is that I am pretty tired of always thinking of myself as the fat one.  It's a constant thing.  Walking to lunch today with my friend I thought "I wonder if people are looking at how much bigger I am than she is".  If my friend told me that I would smack her silly because NOBODY has time to think about other people like that.  And, if they did . . . I wouldn't want to be their friend!  Ridiculous!
3. If I look at numbers 1 and 2 above, it follows logically that I have been unsuccessful in maintaining my weight loss because I sabotage myself.  If I believe that I am not worth the work and if I think that nobody else believes I am good enough as I am, then I can conclude that I am acting in ways that contradict my ultimate goal.  It makes logical sense that it is easier for me to be overweight and unhappy than to be proven wrong in my deep-seeded beliefs.  Emotionally I think it's because I lack follow through.  But, if I'm ever going to GAIN follow through, I need to get going.  Further (and in some ways more importantly) I need to get over my fear of failure.  Not trying to live a better life is cowardice.

Big stuff this week.  Tomorrow I'm going to try a new recipe from a book I saw on WeightWatchers.com.  If it turns out and if Mr. ShrinkingT likes it, I will let you know.

First Book for T.I.S.T.

The Best Life Diet by Bob Greene

As with all lifestyle makeovers, this book is a step by step guide to making permanent changes to an unhealthy life.  What I love is that Bob Greene asks the reader to ease into the changes instead of going cold turkey.  I mean, I love cold turkey as much as the next person (especially in the form of Thanksgiving leftovers) but when authors tell me to cut down my calories and start doing a minimum of 45 minutes of cardio to start, I take issue.  So I was particularly pleased when I read the phase one section of this makeover plan and saw that I'm only really supposed to be trying to eat 3 meals a day, bumping up my exercise up one notch and eliminating alcohol (eeek).  But that wasn't the best part!  Every author emphasizes the importance of goal setting.  However, Greene takes this idea to a new level by asking me to really think about what I want and why I want it.  Before making any major changes, he asks the reader to be a little introspective by answering the following questions:

1. Why are you overweight?
2. Why do you want to lose weight?
3. Why have you been unable to maintain weight loss in the past?
   

Um, that's a lot to think about.  So, my goal for this week is to be a little introspective and answer those questions.  And, while I think about it, I am going to keep on reading this book cuz Bob is kind of getting me pumped up.

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