Vibrant, Healthy and Strong...a Journey to Wellness

[wendya]

Aloha Birdlady! Thanks for stopping by. Must be tough to have to go shop for everything. I am very spoiled having a farmer in my life

Today I'm daydreaming. Looking at the calendar and wondering what size/shape/weight I will be in 48 weeks. If I manage to average just one pound a week, then I would see numbers in the 210-220 range. Last time I was that weight, i remember having a favorite pair of pink pants (size 16), pink high heels and a great little top that I'd run around in. It was right after my son was born and I was so sure I'd lose that extra 10 pounds I still had. Funny how the years slide by and wow, 3-4 pounds a year adds up!

Now I'm wondering what my wardrobe will look like as I shed some of these inches. Before I ruined my knees, I traveled quite a bit. Got used to clothes with one or two color schemes and all mixing/matching. Everything is easy wash/wear and no wrinkles. Even though I don't travel so much anymore, thinking that I need to come up with a tropical version of said wardrobe. What will it be like to try on a pair of shorts and have them go over my thighs? Or zip a pair of jeans that hugs my butt?

Today's project is changing dressers and cleaning the closet. Trying on a few things along the way. Hoping one or two things are already too big so they can go This time, however, they hit the 'rug bag'. I've been learning how to crochet rag rugs...turns out a lot of my clothes are just the right colors for my decorating scheme. Have to admit there is no way I'll ever reuse my 'fat clothes' if they are cut into strips and turned into a rug! Will be a good reminder that I don't ever want to wear clothes that are big enough to make a rug - LOL!

I'm down a solid 8.2 pounds, and hoping for 9 tomorrow - the beginning of week 5. Maybe I should start counting by months and weeks - Month 2, Week 1. So very amazed that I've made it this far. So very thankful I live on an island where grass fed beef is the norm and we can purchase 1/2 a cow for a reasonable price.

Holding space for the next month to be as amazing and full of blessings as the first month. Wendy, Cheryl and Kathryn - you are among my blessings for my first month.

Much aloha to my new friends. Lets do it again!

[wendya]

Another amazing result of eating the FF way...my knees don't hurt!

I'm bone on bone in both knees. Can only walk a limited amount and stand for a few moments. When I do too much my knees swell. I actually have "edema of the bone marrow". Every minute has been extremely painful for months and months.

Today i was sitting in the sun sipping my lemon water when I realized my knees don't hurt! Still limited in what I can do, but MY KNEES DON"T HURT!

I'm thinking the flax oil has a lot to do with it. The other thing is the sweet potatoes. Ancient Hawaiians treated arthritis with "at least two finger sized sweet potatoes a day".

Oh Happy Dance!

[Kathryn C.]

Wendy, I am proud of you. Losing 8.2 pounds is terrific. I am sure you are so happy with yourself. Congratulations and keep up the good work.

I would love to have grass fed beef. I have the next best thing, venison. My husband hunts on our 110 acres. I would rather have the beef. Does grass fed beef have a gamey taste? Found a good way to take the gamey taste out of the deer. You soak the meat in buttermilk overnight. It works really good. I also have a vegetable garden. This year was a terrible year for the garden....so dry and no rain for so much of the summer. I also had a vole (sp?) in the garden and it ate the kale, carrot tops, radicchio lettuce, peas. I was not happy. My husband made 4 raised beds that are 2' high. Love them.

You have been on the plan a month....I can't wait til I have been on it for a month. I want to see results.

You said, "funny how the years slide by and how 3-4 pounds a year adds up. It doesn't happen that way for me. When I start gaining weight, I get so mad at myself, that I punish myself by eating even more. Then I gain more weight and I punish myself by eating more again. It is a vicious cycle and I know it is but I cannot stop. Then I am back at my top weight and saying to myself, "There, see what you did". Now so depressed, I truly give up and say, "What's the use?". Then I start saying, "I will start eating right tomorrow, so I will eat everything I can today and tonight because I won't be able to after today. It doesn't work the next day, so again I say, "OK, I will start tomorrow...so eat all the sweets you want today because you won't be able to have them after tomorrow". And so, the cycle begins again. Hope that all made sense. I am getting so upset while I am writing this that I don't even know what I am writing. LOOK WHAT CONTROL FOOD HAS. But we know that it doesn't have to be that way. With this FF Plan and all the wonderful people on this forum, it makes US have control, NOT the food!!!

Oh my gosh. I really got started and could not stop. I am tired...going to bed. See you all tomorrow. I hope I have dreams of me wearing a beautiful dress (OK not only beautiful dress but a sexy one too), and looking GOOD!!

[wendya]

Good Morning Kathryn,

Thank you for sharing from your heart. I hear you and I feel you. There is a story in your life that comes out in the eating cycle. Someday , maybe, you'll share the story - but not here. Just know that you have made a giant leap in that paragraph. YOU ARE IN CONTROL. FOREVER. Congratulations!

So cool that you have venison. I love venison. We have deer here, but no guns yet, so just get what folks give us. The grass fed beef isn't gamey - but it can be tough. I figure chewing is good for the digestion, so I don't care. I do love my gardens...but I'm the newbie here too and am learning how to grow in the tropics. Bummer that you lost so much of your garden. We get to grow year round so if some crop doesn't come in, well in 60 days we'll have more. You don't get to do that.

I am so all over the sexy dress!!! I have several sexy dresses, but now I want to REALLY LOOK SEXY in them. This one is on the bucket list for sure. I'm gonna take some 'before' photos so I can compare later. The day I can slide into something smaller than a 14, I'll be shopping for the most daring, red dress ever. Love it!

You'll have to tell me what your dress will look like. Hope you have a great morning.

and remember...any dress is beautiful when it's on a woman who knows she's beautiful. You are a beautiful woman Kathryn. I can see it in your heart and your openness. Thanks for being here in the forum for both of us.

[birdlady]

Wendy, add that sext dress to my bucket list! hee hee
I love to wear dresses and skirts. I feel more feminine in them. Besides, a man is more likely to hold open door for me! I like that!

I love grass fed beef! Only, here is Chicago, I gotta pay a little more for it at some stores. Yup, us city folks gotta pay for it. I can also order it online and have it shipped. And with the drought we are in, it has driven food prices up more. It's estimated that 75% of Illinois crops are devistated with this drought.
Last time food prices went up was because of Katrina hurricane and how it shut down a few oil refineries that drove up fuel prices to $4.25/gal. Then, when gas prices went down, some how, the price food never really did. Funny how that works. Now gas prices spiked up .30 cents/gal over night. The never-ending roller-coaster ride of economics...

[wendya]

Sounds like we're all going shopping for sexy dresses! I wear dresses here all the time. Too hot for anything else.
Think we should add lingerie to the list too

Wendy - You might try calling some of the ranchers/meat processors. If you can buy a quarter or a half (and you can rent a locker to store it), it's way cheaper. Even here on Maui our next cow will cost about $3.00 a pound cut. That is nothing compared to the $16/lb at costco! With the drought the ranchers are going to have to slaughter more of their animals because they can't afford to feed them.

Busy day today. Gotta get my life back on track and do more than just plan my food. Sound familiar? Eating right and moving are my first priority, but building my businesses has to find a spot somewhere.

Thanks for checking in. Makes my day to hear from others.

[wendya]

Just a quick check in from my day. Up early and picking peppers in the garden, checked out a new farmers market and got some fresh Aku (fish). Normal prep here is to make Poke - raw fish with soy sauce, garlic and green onion. Since I can't have the soy, my wonderful man made ceviche, served on a bed of cabbage topped with tomatillo salsa. Talk about a nutrient dense meal! Almost all veggies and a punch of flavor. My mouth is still dancing with the experience.

Had my lomi lomi massage today. Was so great to have her arrive and here "Oh my gosh I can see the different" when she saw me. Then the whole session was full of giggles and congratulations as she identified where all the inches were gone. So wonderful to have that reinforcement and acknowledgement.

On the fun side, I buttoned and zipped a pair of size 22 shorts that I haven't worn for at least 2 years. Little tight on the waist, but plenty of room around my thighs (a first). Next month they will fit like a dream.

So happy that this is working and that it's been easy to keep to the plan. Loving the daily evidence of how good it is for me!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Don't forget to look for the meteors. It's all cloudy here, but hoping it will clear enough that I can see them too.

[wendya]

Yippee! New Numbers! Goodbye 262! You are taking one inch from my hips with you Happy travels!

Hello 261! So very nice to see you again. Been a very long time.

It's kinda been a frustrating five days if I look at the numbers between my toes. I totally do an up/down teeter totter thing as I become healthier. Does anyone actually lose weight in such a way that the curve always goes down? I don't think so. So why would I expect such a thing? I think it goes back to all those Dr's and diets and charts in books that plot the curve to 'thinness' in one easy, graceful swoop. I've always fallen for that and thought there was something wrong with my body because I've NEVER lost weight that way.

This time, I know it's a journey. Just like a walk through my yard has hundreds of mini ups/downs, so this journey will. Each is a part of the process of letting go of the safety of my excess fat and the welcoming of the leaner, healthier me.

Had to laugh yesterday. My massage therapist said, "You have a waist! Your real body is starting to come out. You have quite a figure!"

You mean I haven't had quite the figure all these years? I still see the 38-26-36 I was when I weighed 128...in 6th grade - LOL!
WAKE UP TIME!. I'm even getting used to seeing ALL of myself in the mirror. My body is changing and it is good.

Time for some lemon water and my yummy smoothie.

Water workout later today with my sweetheart.

Enjoy your Sunday!

[Kathryn C.]

Congratulations of fitting into those shorts you haven't worn in 2 years. Congrats also on the lower "number between your toes". Both of those makes a person really want to continue the course.
The best part of looking different in the mirror for me is seeing my stomach go down.
I still haven't started the exercising part yet. Will try to exercise later tonight. Many things going on right now. Come Sept. things will calm down so that I can get into a better routine. I know that is not an excuse because exercise, just like eating right, is something I have to do for the rest of my life (to make my life a VIBRANT, HEALTH AND STRONG one).

Happy Monday!!

[wendya]

Thanks for the congrats Kathryn! It really makes me feel good to have a cheerleader! We deserve Vibrant, Healthy and Strong bodies and lives.

Yes, wearing something that used to not fit and seeing the scale move is a total motivator. I'm really down 18" all over my body -
three off each of my 'tummys'. Can't wait for this next month to see what else is missing. It's kinda a fun guessing game. Will my waist lose a bit or my hips? What about my breast or my hips? Perhaps my thighs or my chin? No matter where, it's a joy to see and feel the difference.

I'm still kinda stuck in the make a chart/plan mode. But being very gentle, I'm estimating that I'll be able to move from one set of numbers to another every two months. So if I'm in the 260's right now, I will be moving through the 250's for the next eight weeks or so. That's a really small, slow loss, but following this 'estimate', I'd be in my 220's by my 53rd birthday in March. That would make me ecstatic!

One of my favorite visuals/motivators is realizing that every pound lost is like removing a pound of butter from your body. Every three pounds is a can of Crisco. I'm now up to three cans of Crisco. I've been known to go to the store, put the corresponding number of cans of crisco in the cart - snap a picture with me in it and post it in my office. Seeing how many cubic inches I've released is immensely satisfying!

Time to go get the ohana ready for it's next guests. We manage a little studio for our landlord.

Have a wonderful, satisfying day the Fat Flush way!