by

basics on Weight Management

A tipped cow. Taken near the Cliffs of Moher i...

cow-tipping

A day or two ago we talked about life-ers.  You and I gave our own.  Whatever yours is, you are not alone.  We share that being a friend to ourself means embracing our flaws, going towards our flaws and letting the shame dissipate in our familiar presence.  Weather it’s cigarettes, weight, yelling or cow-tipping, resisting our instinct to hide it, to ignore it and deny it brings us into a place of friendship and connection.

In all my blah-blah’s, sometimes people just want me to get down to the specifics.  I’ve never found those to be too exciting for me personally, but they do help when afraid.

Today I’m going to hit weight management up.  When hope seems to be leached out by failures, these are my efforts that keep me connected to my journey.  I eventually always go back to these.

Three Things That Have Long Term Influence on Weight Management:

1.  log your food.  For example, Sparkpeople.com or myfitnesspal.com are both wonderful sites that will help with this free, including apps for our smartphone.

2.  weigh yourself every day.  Just weighing in has long-term benefits.  Sweet.  Improves presence with our bodies, awareness, goes towards shame, etc…

3.  compete/support network

4.  the rest of it.  This is for all the other stuff that is critical on many levels.  However, only the three things I’ve mentioned have been shown to have long-term effects.

I know.  Where are my references?  This is my blog, so me.  But there are references if you like.  I don’t have time to pick them off of my under-table unfortunately.  Hope that doesn’t keep you from participating with us.

Self-Care Tip – Know where to go when you feel afraid – towards it and not away.

Related articles

11 thoughts on “basics on Weight Management”

  2. In 2008, I lost 11 pounds from the flu and decided to take advantage of the jump start. By the end of the year I had lost 28 pounds and have kept it off. How did I do it?

    1) I keep a notebook. Pick one that appeals to you. Everyday, I record my weight, every meal I eat, the exercise I do, and how I feel about it all. It brings a bit of mindfulness to my meals, which were often eaten without awareness.

    2) I exercise 5-7 times per week, even if it’s just a quick walk around the neighborhood. That’s because even a short walk is better than nothing. It reduces stress, which reduces cortisol levels in the body, which will help keep that belly fat off. There’s nothing like a walk to clear your head and calm you down after a tough day. Plus, it keeps you in touch with your body.

    3) I eat a lot less than I used to. Raised in an Italian family, I was always told to mangia, mangia. But when I didn’t eat a thing for two weeks with the flu and lived to tell about it, I realized my grandmother might have been wrong about food portions.

    4) That 6-11 servings of grains the USDA food pyramid says you’re supposed to eat each day is a bunch of lies. If I ate that many grains per day, I’d be the size of a house. I don’t believe human beings were meant to eat like that. Clearly, in our early days on earth, there weren’t fields of grains to graze. I’m leaning more toward a paleolithic diet these days.

    Thanks for a great post, Sana.

    Reply

  3. Great advice, Sana! Those three things may be essential. I may start logging my food. I can see where that would slow down my compulsiveness. I weigh myself everyday and have some support from others. Log my food. That’s a big step! Blessings to you…

    Reply

  4. Looks like about 142 pounds on that scale. Where did you say it was located?

    I like to log my weight, belt notches, hours slept, blood pressure, mood, and workout weights.

    Since I must log mileage for taxes I guess I may as well log food too.

    Not sure this relates entirely to the post but who’s counting?

    Reply

Leave a Reply