Support is nice, until it's hurtful

I bought McDonald's last night.  I bought for myself and Lilly, while Nick was at class.  It was a rough day.  Lilly was into all sorts of things, we were stuck inside the house, I was looking up stuff for us to do, I told her "no" and she hit me.

She's hit before.  It's not often and it's only when she's super upset.  We're working on it.

Anyway, this led to me sitting on the kitchen floor crying out of frustration and my dearest Lilly coming up to me, rubbing my head and asking "Are you okay?"

Which led to me telling her she could have whatever she wanted for dinner and she asked for french fries.

I bought for both of us.

Of course Nick saw this and texted me "I'm disappointed that you got it for yourself when we are supposed to be working towards meeting your goal"

We.  We?  "We're" working towards me losing weight.  I guess.

Well, I decided I was disappointed in myself enough that he didn't need to be disappointed in me and from this point on he'll have no part in my weight loss journey.  He won't keep my scale for me (I found it and took it back), he won't ask about my day or my food, he won't know how it is or isn't going.  Life will be like I am not even attempting to lose weight.  If he asks if I want fast food or to go to a restaurant or whatever it will be up to me and only me to say no.  I will not tell him not to ask me those things because I always say yes.  Because that's an unfair burden on him.

I can't do it.  I wanted him for support but I can't have someone like my husband being disappointed in me for one bad day when I AM trying.  Maybe he doesn't get that it's easy for me to slip up or to fall back to food for emotional support.  I know he doesn't.  I know he's very logical.  That words he thinks are encouraging and would be encouraging for him are in fact words that hurt me and hinder me and honestly made me want to eat the whole house and then some.  "I'm disappointed".  I wanted to eat whatever we had.  But we didn't have much and so I didn't.

So he will not be my support in any form.  Because support is not "We are working hard"  Support is "I'm trying hard to help you reach your goal".  Not "We are working hard"  Because the one doing most of the work and worry and dealing with food, well, that's ME.  And his words pissed me off because it is hardest on ME.  And he hasn't been doing a whole lot to help me meet my goal anyway, so it really IS me.

ANYWAY....other than that, we have a treadmill on the way and I've been adding things to my Amazon wishlist out of boredom.  I painted my nails, I've drawn a little, put the Christmas decor in the garage and organized the bedroom again.  I put boxes of clothes in my trunk to donate and cleared out some trash.  There are dishes to be done but not many.  I'll survive.  I will do this.  I will be successful.

And my husband will not have to stress out about it because it will be as if it isn't even happening.

My damn sinuses again...

My sinuses have decided to act up again, leaving me with a stuffed up nose and a dry itchy throat that comes with a nasty cough.  This is the third time in the past two or three months.  I am not happy.  I'm taking the cough pills I never finished (which don't work but hey, why not?) and allergy meds and sudefed and hoping for the best.

I've been on my new meds three full days and one half day and I'm really surprised at my lack of need to root through the kitchen to find food to eat because it tastes good.  I have still had some cravings (Such as a spicy chicken from Wendy's) but I have no had any desire to eat all the time.  I hope they continue to work like this.

On another much more silly note:

I need this purse from Modcloth.  Seriously.  It's even 25% off with a code through the end of today.  For some reason I want this purse so bad, I can barely contain myself.  I've been looking at it all week.  Several times a day.  It does not help that I do, in fact, need a new purse.  However, Nick says this purse is not an everyday purse.

I mean, I guess he's kind of right.  You see, whereas the model with the purse looks pretty chic and cool with her ripped skinny jeans and black over-sized turtleneck and booties, I'd probably look like a 12 year old.

I mean, with my flare jeans with rips on the bottom from being a smidge too long to the white paint splotch on my tennis shoes to my forever in a pony tail hair because I have no idea how to actually style hair and when I wear it down it just gets in my face and annoys me.  To my makeup-less face because it takes me too long and the random T-shirt that's either Cardinals baseball or Supernatural because that's all I have.

I would look like a 12 year old carrying a dog purse.

I would not look like this model.

I would not look this cool carrying around a dog purse.  I would look ridiculous.

But I want it.  Because it is cute. And I need a purse.  Because mine has a rip and the corner fabric is worn out and the damn thing is four years old and has definitely seen better days.  My poor worn out scraggly purse only adds to my disheveled 12 year old look.

Next month, I'll look for a new purse.  I probably won't get the dog purse.  I'll conform to society's basic standards of what an adult should wear/look like and I'll be too afraid I'll look like I'm 12, and I'll end up ordering some other purse that is square and neutral and lacking personality.  Not to mention it will likely be sold out.

Some purse that is not a dog face.

I want the dog purse.

I No Longer Believe I Can Do It

I am really lost and depressed at this point in time.

I no longer believe I can lose any more weight, in fact all I see in my future is weight gain.

Nick once again proved to me the other night that he doesn't listen to me when I discuss my issues with weight loss with him when I told him I really shouldn't be eating the rice and he said "It's just portion control"

I thought I had made it blindingly clear that I have a food addiction because I actually eat food because it tastes good.  Not because I am hungry.  It's not even a "I'm hungry, and I want to eat Food A rather than Food B, because Food A tastes better"  No.  It's "I am bored and what can I eat that tastes good?"

My gut has expanded.  I weighed in at 195 today, this is one pound under obese for me.  I am terribly depressed.

I cannot seem to control my eating and in fact right now all I want is some chocolate and a subway sandwich.  Maybe some french fries.

I feel as if nobody cares if I lose weight.  I don't think anyone would care if I gained it all back.  I feel like, I'd probably just prove to people what they likely were thinking all along, that I couldn't do it.

I feel alone in this journey.

I feel pretty helpless at this point.

In fact, before I got pregnant with Lilly, I had been stuck at 203-207 for a very very long time, and I am feeling just about like I was then.  I gave up when I got pregnant.

I've pretty much given up on eating in a manner that will help me continue this journey.

I do not like low carb, nor have I ever.  I am tired of eggs and chicken.  My plan did not allow much red meat or fatty meat (like bacon) and the salt does effect me.

I attempted 21 Day Fix meal plan but also did not lose weight.  I ended up eating a few extra cups of things because the booklet said I could and I always chose the things like the frozen waffles.

Peanut butter has become a trigger and I in fact melted butter, peanut butter, and dark chocolate chips in a bowl the other day and ate it.

Then I threw out the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

I need someone to hold my hand through this journey and I hate it but I know I need it because I am not enough for myself and if nobody is monitoring me it doesn't work.  But it has to be someone that I feel would be disappointed in me or that I would be embarrassed to have gained or maintained at my weigh in.

I attempted a while ago to have Nick weigh me every week but it was me who had to remind him and on the weeks where I didn't take care of it, well, I didn't remind him and I just dropped it.  In fact, I don't think he cares if I gain weight to be honest.  I almost feel like he would rather I not loose any more weight.

But I am overweight.  I lost 60 pounds and I am still overweight and in fact, I am AT THE TOP of the Overweight scale.

I want to be comfortable in my body.  I have never felt happy with how I look.  I have never been comfortable in clothing in front of others, I feel my stomach roll protrude over my waist band and I try to sit with my arms around it.  I despise pictures because I still have a double chin, large arms with hanging bat wings, and my legs are pretty chunky still.  Pictures make it look worse and remind me exactly what I know: I HATE HOW I LOOK.

I will always hate how I look.  This is how I feel.  I feel like I will never be a normal sized human being.  That I will never be able to look in the mirror and enjoy my appearance.  That I will never put on a piece of clothing and be happy with how it fits.

That life, for me, right now, it seems like it will never happen.  That it is not for me.

It may be a pitty party for one, but that is my mental state, and that is what I want to share because it is the truth.

One Scale To Rule Them All and in the Darkness Bind Them!

Seriously.  Let's talk about the evil scale.

Last year, I threw my old scale out.  It was driving me crazy because it was all over the place as far as accuracy.  But then, after my wisdom tooth removal and getting off track with my eating I freaked out and went and bought a new one.

I've tried to get rid of it a few times, or well, put it in another room and forget it, but it kept coming back.

Last night I took the batteries out, threw them away, and put the scale up.

I had seriously forgotten one of the major reasons I had started this journey in the first place: HEALTH.  That's right.  My health.  Now, at 242 pounds that scale number was rather important to my health.  At 180-something not so much.  I am still overweight by all basic standards but after so long trying to reach a healthy weight I had become obsessed with the scale and was using it to determine all progress.  It just doesn't work that way when you're building muscle and whatnot!  Add on the fact that women can gain 5-10 pounds during their period, it really isn't the best tool to use.

Neither, for me, is the tape measure.  Because I can bloat and I can bloat bad.  Usually induced by carbs I can see two inches of bloat on my stomach.  I can feel when I am, I can see when I am, but sometimes I still crack that tape measure out to see.  Then I get depressed.

Now, this won't happen to everyone.  I am someone who has lived my entire life pretty much not liking what I see in the mirror.  That's right.  Even now I look in the mirror and I fail to like my body.  I've never known what it is like to look in the mirror and be happy with what I see.  Even on my wedding day I looked into the mirror with disappointment.  I was pregnant and had gained weight and my dress didn't fit at all like I wanted it to.  When I look at pictures from my wedding that is about all that I see.  

So, of course with those issues which I am sure many women and men have, the scale and the tape measure aren't really my friends.

I needed to take a step back, remember my daughter, who will be watching my every move, and put the scale up.  I was stepping on it several times a day.  I became way too familiar with how my weight could and would fluctuate and it started creeping into my eating habits.  As in, I was become afraid to eat.

This, my friends, is how eating disorders are developed I'm pretty sure.  So I'm stopping myself before it gets out of control and I will focus on getting back to low carb which has worked for me when other food plans haven't, and tracking what I eat and working out to get strong.

Because I tell Lilly I am working out to get strong and when I put on my exercise clothes she says "Mama exercise, mama get strong" and I want her to keep that in her head.  That exercise is for getting strong, not losing weight.  I don't want her thinking I hate my body, and developing those same hateful thoughts.  It's why I teach her "we love our tummies" even when I don't love mine.  I will fake it until I make it because I'll be damned if she grows up with my insecurities.

So, back to the basics.  Low carb for more than a few days, tracking what I eat, and hopefully just seeing the changes through pictures.  Eventually I'll pull the scale back out, but for now, the important part is stress free progress.

When Holding Yourself Accountable Isn't Enough

They say to lose weight you can't do it for someone else, you have to do it for yourself.

To an extent I believe this.  On the other hand...I've never been enough for myself.

My initial journey started because I have a daughter.  She will not struggle with body imagine her whole life like I have and I need to start that young and it starts with being healthy.

My early found success was because I frequently saw my doctor and I knew he would know I wasn't following his plan if I wasn't losing weight.  If you follow the plan, you will lose weight.  If you follow the plan.

So I followed it because I wasn't about to pay him and walk in there not having lost any weight.  It would be embarrassing.

However as time progressed and I saw him less and less because I was doing so well I started to slip more and more.

Which has led me to my current state.  It's all food.  It's 100% all food.  That is where my issue lies.

I am 100% disappointed in myself for being the same since October.  It's unacceptable.  I workout, I'm a Beachbody coach, I really should be staying on track.  But I'm not, because there is nobody there to keep track of me.

So, in an effort to get at it I have pushed my goal back to October 26th (my anniversary) and I am having my husband weigh me every single Sunday night.  He'll know if I've been true to my word or not and all I have to do to reach my goal is two pounds per week.

I know I can do this.  I know it.  I've done it before and I seriously have so little left to lose comparatively.

What are your GOALS and what are you doing to make certain you reach them?

Don't Let FEAR and PRIDE Get In Your Way

I was miserable here.  My heaviest weight, and you can see it in just my eyes.  I take up almost the entire door.

Yeserday, a new survey/study showed that the obesity rate of women rose to 40%.  Forty flippin' percent.  That is HIGH.  Even though BMI is not the be all end all, that is still a high number.

There are many different reasons we are obese at this high of a rate.  I think most of it has to do with food and office jobs.  Our lifestyles have us on the go, eating crazy processed packaged foods, with little time to actually pay attention to ourselves.

Even if you don't have high blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood glucose levels right now if you're overweight or obese, eventually that crap catches up with you.  At 246 pounds my blood work came back in the normal range with the exception of my Vitamin D levels.  No duh there, I'm never in the sun I turn into lobster woman.

The truth is, even with nothing back on the blood work my weight was still effecting me.  I couldn't even walk a mile without getting winded.  I had heartburn every night.  My ankle would swell if I did too much walking, and I just felt generally uncomfortable around other people because of my size.

Our bodies are not made to carry that much extra weight.  It causes a lot of stress on our spines and joints.

Admitting that we have a problem with our weight can be extremely difficult.  It can be embarrassing.  It can be difficult to admit that we don't have the information we need to change it.  Embarrassing to say "I really don't know where to start".  With all the gimmicks and plans out there it can make you feel like you're swimming in an endless sea and lord knows which one will work for you.  Embarrassing to ask for help.

It can be a serious hit to our PRIDE to step up and say we need help with something like our food or fitness.  Others in your life may make it look so simple to do but for you it might be one of the most difficult things.  I know for me it's not just deciding that I'm going to do it.  I have to work at it every single day.

Then there is the fear:

What if I fail again?

What if I still don't like how I look?

What if it doesn't help my high blood pressure, back pain, etc.?

What if?

Those "what if's" are terrifying.


But let me start:  My name is Shannah, I am almost 31.  I have a problem with food.  I eat when I am stressed and when I am bored and I eat when we have something yummy in the house just because I know it tastes good.  Sometimes I want a sweet so bad I will go out of my way to bake.  When I start eating things like that, I find it difficult to stop.  In that moment and even later on I may continue to make poor food choices for a day, a week, or even a month.

I tried and failed Weight Watchers at least four times.  I tried and failed calorie counting probably just as many.

On my honeymoon I was 220 pounds and I could barely fit into the plane seat or buckle the belt.  It latched but barely.  I may have been three months pregnant but the truth is that it was just baby weight and 20 of those pounds I had gained in the three months before because I had been trying to lose weight prior to pregnancy but used pregnancy as an excuse to eat what I wanted.  My thigh rubbed against the person next to me on the plane and it was embarrassing.  

By the time I went into labor I was 260 pounds.

It would be a year later that I finally could admit to someone I didn't know, that I needed help and I sought out my doctor.  I didn't believe I could do it because I never had before.

Asking for help was hard.  I didn't believe in myself.  But I tried.  I was willing to give it one last shot.  I was embarrassed to admit I needed help.  I was a grown woman for crying out loud how could I not control my eating?  But I did it, because frankly I was tired of heartburn every night and being so physically uncomfortable.

I am here for you.  I understand how difficult it can be.  It is scary and it is hard.  Changing our lives, changing our eating habits, our exercise habits, it's hard.  We have to fit it in with work and family.  Sometimes we are lucky enough to have family members on board and sometimes they just don't want to do it too.

The cost can be worrisome.  Will my grocery bill be higher?  Do I have that money to spend?  I ask you, how much is your deductible and co-pays for that surgery you may need down the line?  How much is a visit to the chiropractor?  Heartburn meds?  Blood pressure meds?  Insulin?

The time can be difficult to figure out.  Kids. Family. Work.  But you CAN fit it in.  30 minutes a day.  That's all you need, and not even every day of the week!  Healthy meals take no longer than any other meal to cook and there are many affordable options out there.

It is scary.  It an be embarrassing.  It is difficult.

It can be done.  Don't wait for a better time.  There is NEVER a better time.

However, I am here to help.

About Ready To Throw Out the Scale Again...

I have a love hate relationship with my scale.  I step on it way too much often but often times when I don't have it I don't pay attention to my eating and my weight goes up.

But if I'm doing everything right and I say bloat due to that time of the month or one day of carbs, I get a little loose because what's one more day of carbs and then it goes up.

And thus, this has been my life since October.  This is why I am stuck in the upper 180's or lower 190's.  I love food, I love it a little too much.  I did well most of the day until dinner and I made a dessert that I shouldn't even have bought the items to make.  It was delicious, but really.  I regret it now.  I almost feel like I need to put "You will regret it" on just about every kitchen cabinet and surface possible.

I have goals.  I want to get to 155.  It's so close and quite honestly if I had just cracked down on myself for a few months I'd totally be there by now.  But I've been pretty relaxed with myself.  I've gotten comfortable.  Too comfortable.  I no longer see my doctor so the only one holding myself accountable is me.  My husband certainly doesn't, and that's okay, that's not really his job.

I have stopped caring about what others think of my progress.  I am still overweight but no longer obese and in a normal dress size so I don't feel as uncomfortable around others who are healthier than me.  It's funny how being uncomfortable can make you do things.  Now that I'm not feeling like crap about my appearance I'm not making progress.  Yes, I want to be healthy, I want to get rid of my stupid protruding stomach, but it's not 100% pressing.  Ya get me?

I gotta get my butt in gear.  I've been stuck at a weight before and I got super frustrated and then got pregnant and got up to 256.  I do not want to ever be there again.  It's not an option.

So, that leads me back to the scale.  The way I weigh the way I eat around what I weigh.  Last year I threw it out.  I did well for awhile and then freaked out and bought a new one after I had my wisdom teeth out.  I'm thinking about getting rid of it.  I've tried hiding it in the house but I just go and get it back out.  I need to focus on my food and the way I look and feel but I am so very dependent on the scale I'm quite afraid to get rid of it again.

What if I do so and I end up eating whatever I want?

This is my fear.

My Love of Cake

If you know me, you know about my love of cake.  I love to bake cakes, I love to decorate cakes, and I love to eat cakes.

I also love food.  I love to eat food even when I am not hungry because it tastes good.

This led to me reaching 256 pounds after my daughter was born.  It was not baby weight it was "I'm going to eat whatever I want" weight.  I had heartburn every night.  I couldn't even go on a walk with my husband and daughter without huffing and puffing and cursing inside my head.  I took up a lot of space and I was miserable other than being a busy new mom.

It took finally having enough to go to my doctor, get some blood work done, and get on an eating plan.  This worked great for a good while.  I lost 60+ pounds (I currently fluctuate in the 180's).

I still have about 30 pounds to go.  That's okay.

I'm good with working out on a regular basis.  I have found some awesome workouts I love to do (21 Day Fix, Cize, and Insanity being a few).  But food.  Oooh, glorious food.  And cake.

I have been struggling.  But that's okay.

I am back on track, and I will get rid of this last 30 pounds!