Yup...we have all heard that phrase before...the key to fitness isn't in a gym. It is in your kitchen. 95% of weigh loss/fitness successes is the direct result of what you put in your body. You are what you eat, right?
For most of this year, I have been really making an effort to eat cleaner on a regular basis. No fast food for me - staying away from all of the processed goodies. That kind of thing. Despite making vast improvements, I was still struggling with my "will power" and my choices were not always the best. Regardless of my gym performance - which has been pretty solid - I wasn't losing and I was often gaining. I can feel myself getting stronger - but I still want my ass to be smaller!
Then, something happened. I was in the gym, mid-workout, when one of my favorite gym rats started chatting with the PIC about carb cycling and how he has had so much success with it over the past few months. Sean, the gym rat, is kind of built like a brick shit house, so I didn't really pay attention when he first started talking. Then he did it: he showed us pictures.
The brick shit house was right. There was a noticeable difference over just a period of three weeks. Three weeks! A noticeable difference on a guy who didn't look like he had any body fat to lose before he started. I had to ask for more information.
What is Carb Cycling? Simply put, it is managing your carb intake to maximize the way your body burns fat. Sean was following a simple 2-2-3 plan: two high carb days, 2 low carb days, 3 no carb days in a 7 days period. I did some research (see my links below...these are just a few of the places I went to read up on this lifestyle).
I am one of those people who don't do well with absolutes. I never quit smoking - I just stopped for a while. The thought of giving up cigarettes, which I used to LOVE, was more than I could handle. When you tell me that I need to deprive myself, it makes me want to stop whatever it is I am doing. I don't want to never eat pizza again. I love pizza. I LOVE macaroni and I ADORE desserts. The thought of walking away from these delicious foods makes me shudder.
Carb Cycling isn't extreme deprivation. It is control through planning, so I ultimately decided to give it a try. DISCLAIMER: I don't consider myself to be a Carb Cycling expert. Truthfully, I am probably not very good at it. One of the basics is to eat 5 times every day. I definitely don't do that every day! (But I am working on it!)
Last Monday was my first day. No carbs. The goal was no carbs for two straight days, to be rewarded with a high carb day on Wednesday. I made myself no promises - just did the best I could. I started my Monday on the scale with my "initial" weigh-in. I took a picture of the scale and every time I thought of quitting, I looked at that number. I know it isn't going to go down by itself.
Monday went OK. I made sure my food choices were yummy (eggs with spinach ended up being both lunch and dinner...but I enjoyed it, so who cares?). My carbs were limited to my morning coffee (girl needs some caffeine). Tuesday started OK, but by the afternoon, I was crashing. PIC threw me two strawberries to try and take the edge off...and it did!
So I woke up on Wednesday and hit the scale. DOWN 4.6 pounds! Shut up!
And then I ate my face off all day.
Thursday I limited my carbs to some alcoholic beverages after dance. Friday I did absolutely none. Saturday, the next high carb day, I hit the scale again. Guess what? DOWN another 2.4 pounds! Really? 7 pounds in a week? I didn't feel hungry. I didn't feel deprived. I was social. I drank. I ate. I had fun. I didn't feel like I was giving up anything! I ate my face off again yesterday - and you know what happened? I felt sick. All. Damn. Day. So, to balance the crappy feeling of yesterday, I haven't had any carbs today. And I feel kind of awesome.
I really didn't expect this to work - and there is a part of me that is convinced it might not work tomorrow. But I am going to continue to keep this up until I stop seeing results...and then I will reevaluate. For the meanwhile, though, the brick shit house gym rat got me to do something that has been eluding me for a year - I shed 7 pounds without being miserable.
http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/fat-burning-machine
http://chrispowell.com/carb-cycling-101/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wescott4.htm
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
The Journey
I joined a gym for the first time in 2007 because my mother made me do it.
She realized I had a severe case of the New Mom Blues and I needed to snap out of it. I started working at that same gym right after I had my second child...primarily because as a work at home/stay at home mom, I was lonely and needed other grownups.
I didn't learn to love the gym until my third child was 6 months old. I was deep in the overwhelming throes of postpartum depression and PTSD...which made for an amazing biochemical cocktail and resulted in me never wanting to leave the house. I was eating a box of devil dogs, in bed, every night while I nursed my daughter and watched reruns of Bones on TNT. I was surviving not because I wanted to but because I had three small children, all under 5, who needed me desperately. And that is when the gym saved my life.
I had not tried to do any kind of a work out in more than a year when I met Dave Fiore. He dared me to try something new (as though he knew my stubborn personality couldn't walk away from a dare). I told him I couldn't. I doubted my physical capabilities. I doubted my willpower. I doubted my strength. He coerced me into trying anyway. I started on a mild anti-depressant. I started walking on the treadmill. I started saying "I'll try" instead of "I can't." One step at a time...I did it.
I stopped eating devil dogs and ring dings. I stopped crying and I gave up feeling sorry for myself. I lost 10 pounds. Then 20. Then 30. I grew stronger. I could carry two kids up the steps. I could chase them. I hit 35. Then 40. I started lifting. I stopped taking the anti-depressant and lifted instead. Daily. It worked. It cleared my fog. The gym became my therapist and Dave became my best friend. I would be lost without either.
In the past 10 days, I did things that I never imagined. I started carb cycling and went without carbs for two straight days. (And limited today). I benched 135. I gave advice to some meatheads at the gym and was taken seriously! (#equalrightseverywhere)
I am stronger now than ever before. Mentally, physically and emotionally. My body is tired and my muscles are sore but I can't wait to do it all again tomorrow. I read this article tonight (below) and it made think about my journey. I am learning to embrace my own story - and I am going to try and capture some of the stories from other influential people in my world too...because we can all learn from each other.
http://aaronbleyaert.tumblr.com/post/109959086957
Friday, March 6, 2015
Weekend Warriors
Back when I was 22, Weekend Warrior took on a slightly different meaning than it does now. Then, I was a WW of the fun variety. From the time I left work on Friday until I went to bed on Sunday, I had one focus: have as much fun as possible.That meant happy hours and pub crawls. Dinner with friends, breakfast at diners at lunch time. Some Sundays, it meant not getting out of bed at all.
Now, I am a different kind of warrior. I fight the battle of the bulge from Friday night until Monday morning and I shoot myself in the foot many weekends. I am still a social creature that lives for the thrill of the weekend. I am a Karaoke Queen who craves the Friday night microphone at the local hole-in-the-wall pub, where the drinks and bar grub are cheap. I love having people over to watch football and we all love pizza and wings. Do you see my trend?
FUN = Social Activity(food+drink+friends)
FITNESS = Dedication(eating clean+working out+drinking water+sleeping well)
See my problem?
I still hit the gym on weekends. (I really love the gym...) But my weekend workouts tend to be more social in nature too. I see a bunch of people I don't see during the week...we chat in between sets... and before I know it, I have killed two hours without touching a piece of cardio equipment.
How do you balance SOCIAL with SMART?
I like Vodka. Like, really LIKE Vodka. I like my whipped vodka mixed in my diet Coke by Anastasia on Friday nights at Fullerton Pub. I enjoy coming up with new alcohol concoctions to try at parties. And I LOVE parties. Really LOVE parties.
So what is this weekend warrior to do? This weekend, I think I am going to try going out and being social WITHOUT a drink in my hand. Gotta start somewhere!
Raise your glass!
Now, I am a different kind of warrior. I fight the battle of the bulge from Friday night until Monday morning and I shoot myself in the foot many weekends. I am still a social creature that lives for the thrill of the weekend. I am a Karaoke Queen who craves the Friday night microphone at the local hole-in-the-wall pub, where the drinks and bar grub are cheap. I love having people over to watch football and we all love pizza and wings. Do you see my trend?
FUN = Social Activity(food+drink+friends)
FITNESS = Dedication(eating clean+working out+drinking water+sleeping well)
See my problem?
I still hit the gym on weekends. (I really love the gym...) But my weekend workouts tend to be more social in nature too. I see a bunch of people I don't see during the week...we chat in between sets... and before I know it, I have killed two hours without touching a piece of cardio equipment.
How do you balance SOCIAL with SMART?
I like Vodka. Like, really LIKE Vodka. I like my whipped vodka mixed in my diet Coke by Anastasia on Friday nights at Fullerton Pub. I enjoy coming up with new alcohol concoctions to try at parties. And I LOVE parties. Really LOVE parties.
So what is this weekend warrior to do? This weekend, I think I am going to try going out and being social WITHOUT a drink in my hand. Gotta start somewhere!
Raise your glass!
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Working Through the Workout
There are days when I am very envious of my friends with 9-5 jobs. This week has been three of those days in a row.
I really like my job - love my boss and my team...but I have this problem. For most of my career, I have worked for small companies. I have learned that working for a small company means my #1 most important task is "all other duties as assigned." My official title is "Director of Operations: Baltimore Office." My primary job is to make sure the call center, which I launched a year ago, is running smoothly, 18 hours a day. My "office" hours are "supposed" to start at 10...but the call center doesn't close until 4am...so I rarely actually get "off."
I've worked everywhere. Doctor's offices. My brother's wedding. My best friend's wedding. Bed. Hospitals. Parking lot at church (would have been in church - but I leave my phone in the car). During my kids' assorted sporting events. During movies...my favorites shows...school functions. You get the idea. I am hard pressed to remember a workout that wasn't interrupted by work.
Sometimes it is just a text message here or there - sometimes it is a phone call. Sometimes, I actually need to leave the gym because the fixes aren't going to be quick ones. There is no one else who does exactly what I do - which means I'm "on call" for all but 6 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are days when I don't know how to maintain a balance between my job, my family and myself. I took this job in November 2013 on a part-time basis. It was a major adjustment for me. I had worked from home for years and it was strange being in an office again. It caused a shift in the delicate balance of our household. Once I started to get the hang of it, my youngest child started school and I was suddenly working full time. I felt pressure. Pressure to be in the office. Pressure to be on call. Pressure to be carpool mom. Pressure everywhere! As the PIC can tell you - this turned me into a raging beast. I was legitimately miserable.
Finally, the PIC sat me down and gave me the hard truth. I wasn't fun to be around anymore. Not for him, not for the kids...I just wasn't pleasant. I had to regroup - for everyone's sake. I had to regroup, refocus and reevaluate where I was headed. It didn't take me long to realize what I had to do - I had to make ME and MY FITNESS a priority. I will rearrange my work schedule to take my children to their doctor appointments, cheer practice, hockey practice, dance class...I'll make sure that they get fed. Why do I not do the same thing for myself?
I had the realization that by letting my health and fitness fall to the wayside, I am setting a craptastic example for my children. Not only am I way more grumpy when I don't have my stress relief - I want them to grow up in a world where fitness is a given...not something they need to "work on," like me.
So - I decided that my last cohesive thought of the day should be about tomorrow's workout. Every night, I need to plan the when and what of my work out for the next day. I make sure that I am planing a 2 hour workout in between conference calls and kids activities and carpool pick ups. If that means that I have to work until midnight to make sure my work gets done...well, I would be working until midnight anyway!
Since decided to make my fitness journey a priority, I find myself much happier. I yell less. I smile more. Shitty days sometimes result in a second workout. (Like tonight). Those second workouts change my mood for the better pretty much every time. Yes - both of today's workouts were interrupted by SEVERAL work related text messages and phone calls. Yes, I had to hop off of the treadmill to take a call from the rep who needed help with a customer. But at the end of the day - I got it all in. I'm a full time Mom, a full time Director of Ops...but I am also a full time Kris...and that has to be a priority before I can be good at anything else.
I really like my job - love my boss and my team...but I have this problem. For most of my career, I have worked for small companies. I have learned that working for a small company means my #1 most important task is "all other duties as assigned." My official title is "Director of Operations: Baltimore Office." My primary job is to make sure the call center, which I launched a year ago, is running smoothly, 18 hours a day. My "office" hours are "supposed" to start at 10...but the call center doesn't close until 4am...so I rarely actually get "off."
I've worked everywhere. Doctor's offices. My brother's wedding. My best friend's wedding. Bed. Hospitals. Parking lot at church (would have been in church - but I leave my phone in the car). During my kids' assorted sporting events. During movies...my favorites shows...school functions. You get the idea. I am hard pressed to remember a workout that wasn't interrupted by work.
Sometimes it is just a text message here or there - sometimes it is a phone call. Sometimes, I actually need to leave the gym because the fixes aren't going to be quick ones. There is no one else who does exactly what I do - which means I'm "on call" for all but 6 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are days when I don't know how to maintain a balance between my job, my family and myself. I took this job in November 2013 on a part-time basis. It was a major adjustment for me. I had worked from home for years and it was strange being in an office again. It caused a shift in the delicate balance of our household. Once I started to get the hang of it, my youngest child started school and I was suddenly working full time. I felt pressure. Pressure to be in the office. Pressure to be on call. Pressure to be carpool mom. Pressure everywhere! As the PIC can tell you - this turned me into a raging beast. I was legitimately miserable.
Finally, the PIC sat me down and gave me the hard truth. I wasn't fun to be around anymore. Not for him, not for the kids...I just wasn't pleasant. I had to regroup - for everyone's sake. I had to regroup, refocus and reevaluate where I was headed. It didn't take me long to realize what I had to do - I had to make ME and MY FITNESS a priority. I will rearrange my work schedule to take my children to their doctor appointments, cheer practice, hockey practice, dance class...I'll make sure that they get fed. Why do I not do the same thing for myself?
I had the realization that by letting my health and fitness fall to the wayside, I am setting a craptastic example for my children. Not only am I way more grumpy when I don't have my stress relief - I want them to grow up in a world where fitness is a given...not something they need to "work on," like me.
So - I decided that my last cohesive thought of the day should be about tomorrow's workout. Every night, I need to plan the when and what of my work out for the next day. I make sure that I am planing a 2 hour workout in between conference calls and kids activities and carpool pick ups. If that means that I have to work until midnight to make sure my work gets done...well, I would be working until midnight anyway!
Since decided to make my fitness journey a priority, I find myself much happier. I yell less. I smile more. Shitty days sometimes result in a second workout. (Like tonight). Those second workouts change my mood for the better pretty much every time. Yes - both of today's workouts were interrupted by SEVERAL work related text messages and phone calls. Yes, I had to hop off of the treadmill to take a call from the rep who needed help with a customer. But at the end of the day - I got it all in. I'm a full time Mom, a full time Director of Ops...but I am also a full time Kris...and that has to be a priority before I can be good at anything else.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Juice, Juice, Baby...
Day 2 of Juice cleanse.
I have learned that I can't cleanse two days in a row...at least not while I have walking pneumonia. Today I was weak, stumbling and ended up with a wicked headache. So I am going to eat me some dinner now...but I will be back to juicing tomorrow. In the meanwhile...here are my juice recipes...and my notes and modifications.
Beet & Ginger Juice
2 beets
1 small ginger root
1 apple, cored
1 lemon, peeled
3 carrots
Mix with equal parts water
Review of the recipe: holy shit, the ginger was harsh! I literally couldn't drink it. At all. But I made some minor modifications...and it ended up being my favorite!
My recipe:
4 beets
1 small ginger root
2 apples, cored
1 lemon, peeled
6 carrots
Stevia (to taste)
Mix with equal parts water
I basically just doubled the recipe and it was fantastic. Like - I CRAVE it fantastic.
Minty Pineapple
1/2 pineapple
1 green apple, cored
2 handfuls of mint
Mix with equal parts water
My only modification was to add a little more mint...on my second batch...cause this stuff was pretty awesome without any modifications.
Spicy Lemon
3 lemons, peeled
1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of agave nectar
Equal parts water
I did about 1/4 of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, doubled the water and added stevia until the lemon didn't overpower me. (It ended up being 3 stevia packets in a 30 ounce cup). I am not a fan of lemon anything - so this was a long shot for me. Once I diluted it and sweetened it up a little, I sucked it down.
Green Goddess
1/2 head of romaine lettuce
2 sticks of celery
1/2 cucumber
1 green apple, cored
2 stalks of kale
handful of parsley
1 lemon, peeled
I won't be making this one again. Need to come up with some modifications to make it worth while
I have learned that I can't cleanse two days in a row...at least not while I have walking pneumonia. Today I was weak, stumbling and ended up with a wicked headache. So I am going to eat me some dinner now...but I will be back to juicing tomorrow. In the meanwhile...here are my juice recipes...and my notes and modifications.
Beet & Ginger Juice
2 beets
1 small ginger root
1 apple, cored
1 lemon, peeled
3 carrots
Mix with equal parts water
Review of the recipe: holy shit, the ginger was harsh! I literally couldn't drink it. At all. But I made some minor modifications...and it ended up being my favorite!
My recipe:
4 beets
1 small ginger root
2 apples, cored
1 lemon, peeled
6 carrots
Stevia (to taste)
Mix with equal parts water
I basically just doubled the recipe and it was fantastic. Like - I CRAVE it fantastic.
Minty Pineapple
1/2 pineapple
1 green apple, cored
2 handfuls of mint
Mix with equal parts water
My only modification was to add a little more mint...on my second batch...cause this stuff was pretty awesome without any modifications.
Spicy Lemon
3 lemons, peeled
1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of agave nectar
Equal parts water
I did about 1/4 of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, doubled the water and added stevia until the lemon didn't overpower me. (It ended up being 3 stevia packets in a 30 ounce cup). I am not a fan of lemon anything - so this was a long shot for me. Once I diluted it and sweetened it up a little, I sucked it down.
Green Goddess
1/2 head of romaine lettuce
2 sticks of celery
1/2 cucumber
1 green apple, cored
2 stalks of kale
handful of parsley
1 lemon, peeled
I won't be making this one again. Need to come up with some modifications to make it worth while
Monday, March 2, 2015
What the JUICE?
 |
| The fruits and veggies of my labor...$50 worth of supplies, 12 servings of homemade juice |
What is Juice Cleansing?
According to wikipedia:
As we all know, I have fallen off of the scale this year. The best of intentions have fallen prey to illnesses, mild depression and a bad case of the fuck-its. Both of my weekends away in the month of February turned into all-out eat fests...stuffing my face with everything from Fettuccine Alfredo to little poofy cheese balls and topping it off with a bunch of delicious alcoholic beverages. February was a month of gluttony.
I decided I needed to do some sort of "cleanse" to get myself back on track. I did a cleanse over the summer. For 12 straight days I mixed this nasty orange stuff with a glass of water and then an hour later shit myself silly. But day 7, I was just praying for the end to come. I don't know what was in that "cleanse" that cleared me out - but it certainly wasn't natural. It came in a little white tube.
I wanted to get back to basics - so I looked into juice and tea. I Googled juice cleanses - and looked up a bunch of different articles. (Read some yourself...this is where I started: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20679227,00.html)
I decided a short, 2-3 day juice cleanse was the way to go. I researched a bunch of them - and decided that anything that could be purchased could also be made. The search for recipes began. I came up with four basics that I was going to try. (I'll put the recipes in a separate post). I made the initial batches last week - but yet another round of illnesses kept my plan sidelined. So, today was the official first day of my juice cleanse.
It was kind of awesome.
Confessions:
1 - I absolutely stole two bites of my kid's cinnamon roll ("yummy buns") before I drank my breakfast juice this morning.
2 - I added 2 different types of V8 with my homemade concoctions
3 - I sampled 3 tortellini while I was making my kids dinner
4 - I had 3 more tortellini after I took antibiotics to get the nasty taste out of my mouth
Aside from that - here was my day in review:
(two bites of cinnamon roll), A tall glass of V8 purple juice. One my way to the gym, I had a solid helping of my homemade Beet Ginger juice. I didn't have a lot of time after my workout, so I grabbed a shake before I left the gym. Once I got home from getting kids, I had another serving of V8...this time the green kind. My plan was to have another serving or two of juice...but then I realized that I needed to take my antibiotics with food...so I made myself a salad with some chicken on top.
And you know what? I feel good. Not just because I'm cleansing - but I was in control of today. I woke up, made a decision and stuck to it. Despite this stupid walking pneumonia (what does that even MEAN?!) and feeling like crap - I juiced, I cleansed, I worked out and I feel good.
So, yeah - I spiraled out of control a little for the first two months of 2015. I got off track and let my life drive me. But today? March 2, 2015? Yeah. I owned today. It was mine, baby.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Healthy Competition?
Back in December, a friend and I were out to a decadent lunch when we came up with the idea for a weight loss competition. It seemed like a good idea - $25 buy-in per person...weigh-ins every two weeks...bi-weekly prizes....person with the highest percentage of weight lost at the end took the pot. Seems easy enough, right? I set up this great spreadsheet to help me track progress...send individual text messages to discuss goals. I thought I was prepared and was setting up a successful contest. I should have known better.
My first clue that this wasn't going to work out for my group was during the goal setting texts. Out of the women involved, I had the most amount of weight to lose. I looked at my calendar, counted my weeks and decided that a pound per week was healthy and ideal. No one else had that logic. Suddenly, I felt pressured to have twice the goal I had initially set for myself - I wanted to win, right?
Second clue - shortly after the goals were set, the excuses started. "I am at a disadvantage...I don't have a trainer." "I am at a disadvantage because I can't work out." "I have XYZ physical condition so I believe working out is impossible for me." "I weigh less than everyone else in this group, so I have no chance at winning." Lordy.
I'm not a fan of excuses. Ever. I have a pretty good reason for it - but that is a blog topic for a another post.
Week 1 went great. We were all encouraging each other, texts back and forth. It seemed great! Then the first weigh in happened. We all did pretty good...but smoked by the sleeper of the group. The one who said she wasn't able to work out...she somehow lost 10 pounds. Damn. OK. Paid the "fat tax," (another sign that this was going to be an epic failure...the use of the term "fat tax" for paying into the pot every two weeks...) and kept on trucking.
Week 4. Smoked again. What the heck? How is this possible. The Dark Horse was eating less than 700 calories each day!
For me, that piece of knowledge was the end of the competition. All signs were there from the get-go...but this was the straw. I couldn't put money into a pot that was supporting an eating disorder. I couldn't support destructive and extreme behaviors being employed to win a competition. So...I dropped out. I called an end to it. Everyone else was pretty much OK with it - but I still feel bad that I couldn't help the woman who was starving herself. I saw her just after our most recent weigh in - her eyes sunken into her face...her skin had a pale gray undertone. She didn't look good. And I worry.
So that led me to think - is there such a thing as a "good" weight loss competition? Does the term "competition" automatically imply that someone is going to abuse the system? If the goal is slow, steady and maintainable weight loss, does a competition with money on the line open the door for more drastic measures in an effort to win the prize?
I'm a little disappointed that this didn't work out for us. I had this vision in my head of a community. A forum. A group of people who would band together and not focus on the end prize but instead encourage each other to lose a little more each week until we all reached our goal.
We are back to being on our own. I'm ok with that - actually - since my greatest competition is the sense of doubt that lives within.
My first clue that this wasn't going to work out for my group was during the goal setting texts. Out of the women involved, I had the most amount of weight to lose. I looked at my calendar, counted my weeks and decided that a pound per week was healthy and ideal. No one else had that logic. Suddenly, I felt pressured to have twice the goal I had initially set for myself - I wanted to win, right?
Second clue - shortly after the goals were set, the excuses started. "I am at a disadvantage...I don't have a trainer." "I am at a disadvantage because I can't work out." "I have XYZ physical condition so I believe working out is impossible for me." "I weigh less than everyone else in this group, so I have no chance at winning." Lordy.
I'm not a fan of excuses. Ever. I have a pretty good reason for it - but that is a blog topic for a another post.
Week 1 went great. We were all encouraging each other, texts back and forth. It seemed great! Then the first weigh in happened. We all did pretty good...but smoked by the sleeper of the group. The one who said she wasn't able to work out...she somehow lost 10 pounds. Damn. OK. Paid the "fat tax," (another sign that this was going to be an epic failure...the use of the term "fat tax" for paying into the pot every two weeks...) and kept on trucking.
Week 4. Smoked again. What the heck? How is this possible. The Dark Horse was eating less than 700 calories each day!
For me, that piece of knowledge was the end of the competition. All signs were there from the get-go...but this was the straw. I couldn't put money into a pot that was supporting an eating disorder. I couldn't support destructive and extreme behaviors being employed to win a competition. So...I dropped out. I called an end to it. Everyone else was pretty much OK with it - but I still feel bad that I couldn't help the woman who was starving herself. I saw her just after our most recent weigh in - her eyes sunken into her face...her skin had a pale gray undertone. She didn't look good. And I worry.
So that led me to think - is there such a thing as a "good" weight loss competition? Does the term "competition" automatically imply that someone is going to abuse the system? If the goal is slow, steady and maintainable weight loss, does a competition with money on the line open the door for more drastic measures in an effort to win the prize?
I'm a little disappointed that this didn't work out for us. I had this vision in my head of a community. A forum. A group of people who would band together and not focus on the end prize but instead encourage each other to lose a little more each week until we all reached our goal.
We are back to being on our own. I'm ok with that - actually - since my greatest competition is the sense of doubt that lives within.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)