Wow. It's amazing how I can really want something intellectually, and really want something else physically. I'm sure you know what I mean. I really want to be fit and healthy, and I really want to eat unhealthy food. I have always recognized the similarity between addictions to things like alcohol and drugs and my relationship with food. It's like being temporarily possessed by another self that only wants gratification. We often think of how stupid smoking is, or other addictive behaviors, but we know from experience that it's tough to say no to that brownie, or we have "just a little" ice cream. Some people say you can't be addicted to food. I'd like to suggest that you can. I've felt what it feels like to be compelled by food, and what it feels like to free myself of the compulsion. That's a beautiful feeling.
One thing I know about myself is that every day, I have to start over. I have to have new resolve, and recommit to my goals. Even so, I often don't make it through the day without making a choice that is contrary to my goals. I think the solution is greater mindfulness. Although I haven't made a practice of it, I think having a midday renewal of my commitment is a good idea for me. Once a day in the morning is not enough. My resolve is very strong in the morning. I awaken with enthusiasm and a positive attitude. But as the stress of the day begins to mount, my resolve is often replaced by compulsive, anxious behaviors. I need to reset more often than once a day. I need to do it as often as necessary to stay focused on what I truly want, what my intellectual self wants.
Today is Day One. Tomorrow is a new day. Another Day One. Each day, no matter how many days pass, will always be a new beginning, a new chance to strive for being my best. I love that.
P.S. I'm looking for accountability buddies, right now. Would you like to join me on my journey? If you do, message me tonight before 10pm PDT, and you'll be glad you did. :)
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
I am a professional plate spinner.
I had an epiphany this morning. I like it when this happens. I am a visual person. I like to have an image in my mind to help me understand things. I was thinking about my life, and how I feel like I am constantly trying to juggle the various needs of each of my kids, my home, my job, my body, my volunteer jobs (of which there are many--a topic for another time). Then the image came into my mind of someone spinning plates, and I knew that was exactly what I am--a plate spinner. Here's a video showing what I mean. The second half really demonstrates what I'm talking about. Each of the areas in my life is like a plate that I have to try to keep spinning. I get it going, but I always have to come back to it to keep it going. For example, I like my kids to stay involved in useful, productive activities. I ask them and encourage them to choose something to do that is not just a mind-numbing activity. But as soon as I get them going and turn my attention to the next child or another task, they often fall back to some useless activity like video games or whatever.
Rather than give more examples, I'll just continue by saying that this approach needs to change. I can't win if I continue to take this approach in my life. Here's what's missing--momentum. The "system" (for lack of a better word) I use for running my life has always been one that requires me to push it. It doesn't generate energy, but consumes energy. MY energy! What I need to do is come up with a system that creates energy and propels itself once I get it going. Here's the thing. I don't know what that system is. But I am determined to figure it out! I think that one key element in the system that works will be motivation. I will, of course, have to create a visual image in my mind of what works. It's just what I do. It will be a machine of sorts that I simply need to turn on, and the parts will start moving together, doing their various jobs, being propelled by the motivation I mentioned before. This post is definitely a TO BE CONTINUED post, since I don't know the end of the story yet. Have a great day!
Rather than give more examples, I'll just continue by saying that this approach needs to change. I can't win if I continue to take this approach in my life. Here's what's missing--momentum. The "system" (for lack of a better word) I use for running my life has always been one that requires me to push it. It doesn't generate energy, but consumes energy. MY energy! What I need to do is come up with a system that creates energy and propels itself once I get it going. Here's the thing. I don't know what that system is. But I am determined to figure it out! I think that one key element in the system that works will be motivation. I will, of course, have to create a visual image in my mind of what works. It's just what I do. It will be a machine of sorts that I simply need to turn on, and the parts will start moving together, doing their various jobs, being propelled by the motivation I mentioned before. This post is definitely a TO BE CONTINUED post, since I don't know the end of the story yet. Have a great day!
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Decluttering my life!
I made a video today, but I wanted to edit it, and I don't really know how. So, no video today! I hope I can learn soon. I could ask Troy, but it's 12:30am, and he's not awake! :) I'll try to post one tomorrow!
Have you heard of Marie Kondo? I just read her book called The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Wow. What a book. It's like an instruction manual for tidying your home along with a case study in OCD. I believe that I can learn something important from any book, even if I don't agree with all of what's written. Marie seems like a very nice girl who happens to be obsessed with the "art" of tidying. Without going into too much detail, let's say that I gleaned plenty of good ideas from the book. My house is a mess, and I'm always glad to try a new approach. I've gotten started with her system, which involves getting rid of anything in your home that doesn't bring you joy. I started with my clothes, as she recommends, and got rid of about 2/3 of my things. I even refolded everything the way she says to, and arranged it on my shelves in cute little bins. I'll post a picture. My house has a long way to go. We did make quite a bit of progress on our clothes, and we took about 10 garbage bags of clothes to the thrift shop today. I would be happy if I got rid of at least 1/2 of all of my property. I'll keep you posted!
On a personal note, I am still caught between trying to conquer my life by controlling it, and just finding peace with the way things are. How do I balance that? I am all for being happy with things the way they are, but how do I reconcile that with striving for improvement? I'm sure I've brought this up in the blog before. I've even read books on this subject, such as The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. Any comments on the topic are appreciated! In the meantime, I will continue to discover the answer to this mystery!
Have a wonderful day! <3
Have you heard of Marie Kondo? I just read her book called The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Wow. What a book. It's like an instruction manual for tidying your home along with a case study in OCD. I believe that I can learn something important from any book, even if I don't agree with all of what's written. Marie seems like a very nice girl who happens to be obsessed with the "art" of tidying. Without going into too much detail, let's say that I gleaned plenty of good ideas from the book. My house is a mess, and I'm always glad to try a new approach. I've gotten started with her system, which involves getting rid of anything in your home that doesn't bring you joy. I started with my clothes, as she recommends, and got rid of about 2/3 of my things. I even refolded everything the way she says to, and arranged it on my shelves in cute little bins. I'll post a picture. My house has a long way to go. We did make quite a bit of progress on our clothes, and we took about 10 garbage bags of clothes to the thrift shop today. I would be happy if I got rid of at least 1/2 of all of my property. I'll keep you posted!
On a personal note, I am still caught between trying to conquer my life by controlling it, and just finding peace with the way things are. How do I balance that? I am all for being happy with things the way they are, but how do I reconcile that with striving for improvement? I'm sure I've brought this up in the blog before. I've even read books on this subject, such as The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. Any comments on the topic are appreciated! In the meantime, I will continue to discover the answer to this mystery!
Have a wonderful day! <3
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Day 3!
Hello everyone! Of course, I didn't manage to post yesterday, but I am getting to it today! I created another little video for you. Here it is.
I'm feeling good. I haven't been 100% perfect, but honestly, I've got a lot more important things to worry about! I've been doing well and I feel really good. I have quite a bit going on these days, with four kids home and out of school right now. It's funny how managing adult children can be just as challenging as the little ones! I'm a bit of a control freak, but I like to help encourage them to be involved in good, productive activities, if they're not already working. So between the kids, the house, volunteering at church, running the high school music boosters, and trying to find time for my work, plus time for exercise and self-care, I'm stretched a little thin! I am still learning to spend my time well on the most important things.
So here's a brief overview of the weight loss program I'm doing. It's actually a clean eating program. The objective is to eliminate toxins from the body, allowing the liver to do its job of managing fat stores. When the body takes in a toxic substance, such as chemicals, hydrogenated oil, pesticides, etc, the liver doesn't know what to do with it, so it stores it in fat. One of the liver's functions is to manage our fat stores, but when it's working overtime on toxins, it can't do that so effectively. When we stop the flow of toxins into the body, that helps. When we add a detox element, and flush the toxins out, that's even better.
So that's what I'm doing. I am not eating processed foods, wheat, dairy, peanuts, soy, and minimal sugar from natural sources. On this program, there are lots of veggies, meat, healthy fats like avocados and coconut oil, quinoa, stuff like that. It also incorporates Arbonne nutritional products. I'll mention them over time, but two main ones are the protein shakes and detox tea. The shakes contain pea, cranberry and rice protein. They are vegan and don't have any artificial anything. They come in chocolate and vanilla. I like both. So I have a shake for breakfast and one midday sometime. I have healthy snacks throughout the day, sometimes a salad for lunch, and usually a big salad for dinner. I'm not very creative with my meals. I kind of eat the same thing all the time, but I try to have a lot of different veggies in my salad. One of the most important things on the program is getting a lot of nutrients from the food you eat.
My Arbonne team created a cool thing, which is a Facebook support group for this program. We start a new one every two weeks. It outlines the program, has recipes, menus, meal plans, information, and support every step of the way. I love it! Now that I've done the program a lot, I end up offering more advice than I do asking questions, but it's still nice to have a support group.
That's enough for today! I'm hoping to get into the groove of posting daily. Have a great day!
Suzy
http://suzystein.arbonne.com
I'm feeling good. I haven't been 100% perfect, but honestly, I've got a lot more important things to worry about! I've been doing well and I feel really good. I have quite a bit going on these days, with four kids home and out of school right now. It's funny how managing adult children can be just as challenging as the little ones! I'm a bit of a control freak, but I like to help encourage them to be involved in good, productive activities, if they're not already working. So between the kids, the house, volunteering at church, running the high school music boosters, and trying to find time for my work, plus time for exercise and self-care, I'm stretched a little thin! I am still learning to spend my time well on the most important things.
So here's a brief overview of the weight loss program I'm doing. It's actually a clean eating program. The objective is to eliminate toxins from the body, allowing the liver to do its job of managing fat stores. When the body takes in a toxic substance, such as chemicals, hydrogenated oil, pesticides, etc, the liver doesn't know what to do with it, so it stores it in fat. One of the liver's functions is to manage our fat stores, but when it's working overtime on toxins, it can't do that so effectively. When we stop the flow of toxins into the body, that helps. When we add a detox element, and flush the toxins out, that's even better.
So that's what I'm doing. I am not eating processed foods, wheat, dairy, peanuts, soy, and minimal sugar from natural sources. On this program, there are lots of veggies, meat, healthy fats like avocados and coconut oil, quinoa, stuff like that. It also incorporates Arbonne nutritional products. I'll mention them over time, but two main ones are the protein shakes and detox tea. The shakes contain pea, cranberry and rice protein. They are vegan and don't have any artificial anything. They come in chocolate and vanilla. I like both. So I have a shake for breakfast and one midday sometime. I have healthy snacks throughout the day, sometimes a salad for lunch, and usually a big salad for dinner. I'm not very creative with my meals. I kind of eat the same thing all the time, but I try to have a lot of different veggies in my salad. One of the most important things on the program is getting a lot of nutrients from the food you eat.
My Arbonne team created a cool thing, which is a Facebook support group for this program. We start a new one every two weeks. It outlines the program, has recipes, menus, meal plans, information, and support every step of the way. I love it! Now that I've done the program a lot, I end up offering more advice than I do asking questions, but it's still nice to have a support group.
That's enough for today! I'm hoping to get into the groove of posting daily. Have a great day!
Suzy
http://suzystein.arbonne.com
Monday, June 15, 2015
Getting Back on the Wagon
Hi all! I've decided to go public again! It's always been very helpful for me to have the support of my friends.
Over the past few months, I have stalled out on my weight loss. It's a long story, and I won't tell it all at once. It comes down to a couple of things. One is managing the physical challenges associated with a new way of eating. The other is dealing with the emotional side of the lifestyle change. If you're like me, food is way more than just something yummy. I associate food with a whole lot of different areas of my life, including recreation, tradition and celebration. I found that I reached the point where I got past the physical barrier, but I hadn't yet learned to manage the emotional ties I have to food. It was holiday time when I sort of fell apart. I hadn't learned how to celebrate the holidays without food. Anyway, I've still got a lot to learn. I really want to regain my health, and I don't want to wait anymore.
I'll be using the Arbonne 30 Days to Healthy Living Program, like I did before. It's basically a clean eating program, and uses some of Arbonne's products, like protein shakes and detox tea. I'll also try to post a video each day, just telling what I'm doing and how it's going. I appreciate any and all comments! And feel free to share the posts. Thanks for your friendship and support!
Day 1 Video
Over the past few months, I have stalled out on my weight loss. It's a long story, and I won't tell it all at once. It comes down to a couple of things. One is managing the physical challenges associated with a new way of eating. The other is dealing with the emotional side of the lifestyle change. If you're like me, food is way more than just something yummy. I associate food with a whole lot of different areas of my life, including recreation, tradition and celebration. I found that I reached the point where I got past the physical barrier, but I hadn't yet learned to manage the emotional ties I have to food. It was holiday time when I sort of fell apart. I hadn't learned how to celebrate the holidays without food. Anyway, I've still got a lot to learn. I really want to regain my health, and I don't want to wait anymore.
I'll be using the Arbonne 30 Days to Healthy Living Program, like I did before. It's basically a clean eating program, and uses some of Arbonne's products, like protein shakes and detox tea. I'll also try to post a video each day, just telling what I'm doing and how it's going. I appreciate any and all comments! And feel free to share the posts. Thanks for your friendship and support!
Day 1 Video
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