Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Broken Record Maybe, But I Think It Is A Critical Concept

If you were so inclined, you could go back through this blog and my social media and other such forms of communications I use, and the one thing I have said ad nauseum, I truly believe to be a key component to a successful lifestyle change. I think that no matter what progress you make, you have to embrace that and treat it as a reason to celebrate (and I don't mean by going to grab a Snickers bar, I just mean rejoice in the moment! haha).

For example, and here is another thing that if you would look, I have droned on about as well, I have a night time eating problem. I can be spot on nailed it, holy crap he is good all day. But come 6 o'clock, Katie Bar the Door!! I will devour anything that comes into my sight! So for the last 3 evenings, I have had a yogurt after supper, and that is it. Is that a huge deal? Nope. But I got to bed each night overjoyed that tonight, I did not fall off the wagon and go binge like I wanted to! That first night, that was the cornerstone of something big to come, but really, was it a hooping and hollering event? YES, YES IT MOST CERTAINLY WAS!! Will it be an even bigger event when I have done that a week straight, or a month straight? Sure, but never ever take away the gravity of a small victory. 1,000 small victories in battles, lead to wars being won.

Secondly, never ever let a goal you didn't reach in the time frame you set out erase whatever progress you did make. Ever. Progress is to be celebrated no matter what! I have a weird fascination with doing pull ups right now. In February, I bought myself a pull up assist band so that I could get started doing them properly, and eventually wean my self off the band. My goal was to be doing 4 sets of 10 with the band by the end of this month. That was not to be though. However, on day one with the band, I could do two sets of 3, and then for my last two sets, I could do 1 pull up, then I jumped up to a finished position and lowered myself down slowly as I could. Yesterday, I did 1st set 7 pull ups, second set 5 pull ups, third set found 7 more in me, and final set was 5 again. I will not have reached goal by weeks end obviously, but man, yesterday I was much much better than I was starting out. I walked out feeling pretty dang studly!

This is kinda unrelated, but I want to put it out there. I have known that I have had insulin resistance for quite sometime. It went away when I lost weight in 2010-2011. But when I started gaining again, I did the ostrich move of putting my head in the sand and choosing not to see how well my blood sugar was doing. I have pulled my head out (of what you can use your imagination as needed) and started tracking my blood sugar again. I can tell you this, I am much more motivated to eat right and exercise based on seeing those blood sugar numbers. If you suspect that you may have insulin resistance, my suggestion to you is to go buy a meter and the test strips, and begin to track your blood sugar and how the foods you eat affect it. I learned yesterday, I do not need to be eating bananas. I learned last week that eating that "diet soup" that was the rage in the late 90s actually lowers my blood sugar. It is a great tool and will fascinate you, which in turn keeps your mind focused on the task at hand of losing weight and getting healthier!