Six LDS Writers and A Frog

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Bridget Jonesing

by Sariah S. Wilson

For those who haven’t read the book/seen the cleaned up version of the movie, besides launching the chick lit craze, Bridget Jones was big on keeping track of her “progress” in not smoking, not drinking, losing weight and dealing with men. She never quite conquers the drinking/smoking/weight issues but throughout the course of the books does get better about the men thing.

I don’t have drinking, smoking or men issues, all of which my bishop is grateful for.

Which would leave…something of a weight problem.

I am in awe of people who play volleyball on the weekends or go hiking or climb Mt. Everest or whatever it is active people do. I am an inert slug. My relationship with activity has never been good. I was very, very good at getting out of running in PE. There was nothing worse to me than having to run laps. I was so bad and so slow that I remember the year when the cheerleaders were put in the same PE class with the basketball team and Coach Lake had us run a mile and timed us. Anyone who came in under a certain time would get a soda. Of course I was last. I was dying, my lungs had that metallic breathing going on and as I circled around on the third lap the coach congratulated me and told me to come in. Yes, I had one more lap. It would have been more honest to keep running. But I chose to save my life instead and collapsed in a heap on the ground. I don’t think I moved for the next two hours.

And that was when I was skinny. I had muscle tone and everything because our cheerleading coach made us lift weights. I was very proud of the fact that I could do more weight on my leg press than a lot of the football players. Now, I couldn’t bench the bar even without any weights on it, but I sure could push with my feet!

I had ambitions in college to lose weight. I even joined gyms that I went to once or twice. I tried to use BYU’s athletic facilities…it just didn’t happen. I didn’t actually need to lose weight then. I was a great weight for my height, but like every other young woman in this country, I was convinced I needed to be the size of Kate Moss. My mom kept trying to tell me that someday I would look back and realize how good I looked. She was right, as usual.

I started gaining weight my first year of marriage, which is normal, right? We had some extreme stresses from outside influences and my way of coping was food. I also pretty much expected to get fat because of hundreds of years of Germanic influence. It is the way of my people. I figured there was no hope. Medications I took contributed to the weight gain, more stress, more problems, pregnancies with enormous children, more and more food with zero activity. I am now in the scary BMI zone.

My life is feeling very out of control right now. I am at the mercy of a 12 pound person who seems to enjoy being the boss (the cutest, most adorable and cuddly boss in the whole world). I’ve recognized this urge I have to eat junk to get some sort of hold back. I decided instead to focus my efforts on trying to lose weight, doing the best I can to work with the baby’s non-existent schedule.

I’ve had bursts in the past where I’ve tried to lose weight. I joined Weight Watchers, which did help, but I found the speakers so incredibly boring that I loathed the idea of going to the meetings. What I did like was the accountability. So I thought I’d be accountable here. I started a diet this past Monday and have been forcing myself to exercise. I’ll check in every Saturday and let everyone know if I’ve met my exercise goals for the week, and post if I lost any weight in my weekly weigh-in. I’m not going to tell you my starting weight because, hello, that’s totally mortifying.

This week I exercised three times for 30 minutes. I’ll do that again next week and then the week after that I’ll go to five days for 30 minutes. Yay me.

If anyone wants to try and exercise and lose weight with me, I invite you to join me and post about your progress. Or feel free to give me lots of rah-rahs in the comments. I need them.


18 Comments:

At 8/25/2007 11:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sariah, I'm totally joining you! I'm also trying to lose weight. My exercise goal is 30 minutes a day, five days a week. See ya at next week's check-in!

Stephanie (someone logged me out and I'm too lazy to log back in)

 
At 8/25/2007 11:21 PM, Blogger Tristi Pinkston said...

Rah-rah!! Rah-rah!!

I'm currently eating a Starburst and sitting on my bottom at a computer.

How health conscious is that . . .

 
At 8/26/2007 9:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll join you, too! My goal is 30 minutes or more of walking, 4 times a week, and losing weight as well, although any weight loss will probably be totaled in grams of two digits or less. Still, the downward direction is what counts, right? And I can use my walking time to think of my book ... right?

Uh ...

Melanie

 
At 8/26/2007 12:03 PM, Blogger Kerry Blair said...

A few days ago I would have wished you luck from under my rock, but thanks to Candace (www.candacesalima.blogspot.com) I may be on my way to becoming a person again so, hey, I'm in!

Walking counts even if the dog ends up dragging you and your wheeled-walker home, right? :-)

 
At 8/26/2007 12:58 PM, Blogger Jennifer said...

Sariah the best thing I did for exercising was to get a workout partner. I was lucky it just happened another sister and I were working out at the YMCA at the same time and she started walking on the treadmill next to me and now we have been going strong for about 10 months. We even worked out at 6:30 am through the summer. It is really hard to miss a workout when you know your friend is at the gym waiting for you. I started out at 30 min a day three days a week and am now at 60 min a day 5 days a week. IT CAN BE DONE, GO, GO, GO!!!

 
At 8/26/2007 1:49 PM, Blogger Janette Rallison said...

Great goal. I had this challenge after giving birth to each of my children. (I gained 90 lbs when I was pregnant with my twins.) I know two very important things about dieting.

1)Don't starve yourself. It isn't a permanent solution and will just mess up your metabolism and make things worse. Instead of skipping breakfast eat something low fat/low sugar like shredded wheat or All Bran. (Think complex carbohydrates.) When you're hungry your willpower is at its lowest and you're much more likely to toss the whole plan and grab a Snickers.

2)Find an exercise you like to do. Otherwise you won't do it. For me it's walking. I go four miles a day. Don't skip on the exercise because it is just as important (if not more) than diet. Remember, muscle burns fat. So you need muscles.

Good Luck!

 
At 8/26/2007 4:20 PM, Blogger Evil HR Lady said...

Sariah,

I did Weight Watchers (and today is the one year anniversary of hitting my weight goal--and I've kept it off for an entire year. I celebrated by making cookies.)

I hated the meetings as well. But, the weekly weigh is what made the difference. I couldn't stand the the thought of having the nice lady saying, "you've gained 2 pounds lardo."

Good luck!

 
At 8/26/2007 7:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll join you. My goal is to exercise five times this week, for forty-five minutes each time.

See you next Saturday! :)

Julie

 
At 8/26/2007 11:59 PM, Blogger Stephanie Humphreys said...

This is great seeing everyone committing to doing this together. I am definitely in. My goal this week is to try to do a pilates work out five times this week. And I really need to eat more vegetables!

 
At 8/27/2007 4:04 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Good luck, Sariah. I am exactly the same boat. I am 5'10" and was 130 pounds until I was 28. I was 140 pounds until one year into my marriage. 8 miscarriages later, too much bed rest, and untold amounts of stress and I am now overweight. Yeah, no number is going in there.

So I'm exercising too. I managed to walk 3 times last week too. Congratulations! Keep it up, it will be worth it. This is what I tell myself as I try to walk up the hill and my lungs are clamoring for a short vacation outside my body.

 
At 8/27/2007 11:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sariah,

I'm working on losing weight right now as well. I've been going to the gym 3 times per week for the last two months, and I'm trying to find the time to up that to 5/week.

My trainer told me that there's a triangle to weight loss:
1) Lifting weights (building muscle): This is important because building muscle increases your metabolism and naturally burns more calories. This will give you sustained weight loss, rather than an immediate gain.

2) Nutrition: This is the number one place to lose weight. I personally like the Body for Life plan. Eat sensible meals and eat often. If you don't eat 5-6 meals per day, your body will think you're starving it and actually start breaking down your muscle, because muscle has more energy than fat. If you eat often, the body will use the fat.

3) Cardio: Contrary to popular belief, cardio does almost nothing for weight loss. I read a study where they had two groups eat the same food everyday for a year, and one group do 30-45 min of cardio 4x/week. The cardio group lost 4lbs more than the control group. 4lbs. IN A YEAR. Cardio's important for your health, but unless you're doing 1-2 hours per day, it won't make you lose much weight.

Moral of the story? Join a gym (or head over to your mom's basement, Sariah, and work out with your little brother) and eat sensibly. Don't fad diet or starve yourself, eat smaller portions more often.

So far, I've lost almost 16lbs, and my goal is to be at 235 by the end of next year!

 
At 8/27/2007 1:55 PM, Blogger Karlene said...

Okay, I'm going out on a limb here... because my weight loss had nothing to do with diet or exercise. At least, not directly.

My highest recorded weight was 300 lbs. After that, I quit getting on the scales, but my pants kept getting tighter. So. If you don't believe me, ask Julie Bellon. She knew me in all my obese glory.

As you can tell by my profile picture, I am no longer overweight. I lost my weight using the Book of Mormon, the principles of the 12 Steps (like in AA), and a book called He Did Deliver Me from Bondage by Colleen C. Harrison. [And no, I no longer have any financial stake in this book, so I'm not plugging it to make money.]

This book is not a weight loss program; it's a "coming to Christ" program. It is both much easier and much harder than any diet or exercise program (and I've done a bazillion of them).

If Christ is the answer to everything, then that includes weight loss. The program as described in HDDMFB is the only thing I ever did that helped with my weight. I've also used it to help with depression, ending a bad marriage, creating a good marriage, raising children in the last days, and other mortality related traumas.

 
At 8/27/2007 3:31 PM, Blogger Annette Lyon said...

Wow, Karlene--that's amazing!

Lots of rah-rahs from my corner as well.

I'll have to second Jared. After baby #4 I would work out 90 minutes a day, high intensity, 6 days a week--and lost NOTHING. For me, diet is everything, especially after your metabolism no longer works like it did when you were 19!

Good luck!

 
At 8/27/2007 4:02 PM, Blogger Karen E. Hoover said...

It's interesting how our bodies are all a little different. I am the exact opposite of Annette. I absolutely CAN NOT lose without exercise, no matter how little I eat. It doesn't have to be high intensity, but if I don't move, I don't lose.

So, I'm in on this. Great idea, Sariah. I've got a friend I walk with, but we don't hold each other accountable on the poundage. See you next week!

 
At 8/27/2007 4:41 PM, Blogger Jennifer said...

A book that really helped me get on the weight loss wagon was Running with Angels by Pamela H. Hansen. Great motivator.

 
At 8/28/2007 2:31 PM, Blogger Tamra Norton said...

I'm a slug too! :) Sooo, my goal is to go to the gym and exercise every MW&F between the time I drop of my son at early morning seminary and pick him up. Last year, I slept in the car for that hour! :-/

Thanks for the nudge!

 
At 8/29/2007 12:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hee hee hee

I am all about baby steps. My goal is to go to the Friday night ballroom dance class with my hubby - we are losers at date nights too, so may as well kill two birds with one stone.

 
At 8/28/2008 7:50 PM, Blogger Patty Butts said...

Good luck on your journey to losing weight.
ALKALINE WEIGHT LOSS DIET

“We are not overweight, we are overly acidic.”

Author of The pH Miracle for Weight Loss, Dr. Robert Young, claims we are not overweight, we are overly acidic. When the body is overly acidic, the acidity starts to damage our organs and in order to protect the organs, the body goes into preservation mode and says STORE FAT. The body shuttles excess acids into fat cells so they can’t harm vital cells, and in turn, the metabolism slows down in order to generate more fat cells to protect the body. “This makes losing weight virtually impossible,” Young says.
Fortunately there is hope. It all boils down to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The secrets of losing weight include keeping your body hydrated with alkaline water, eating whole, natural unprocessed foods, and building your diet around green vegetables, healthy fats, exercise, and preparing your self emotionally.
Of course you can eat other vegetables, but green vegetables are an excellent source of alkaline salts and help neutralize acids in the blood and tissues. When acids are neutralized, there is no reason for the body to store fat. Green vegetables produce chlorophyll which helps the blood cells deliver oxygen throughout the body and reduces the binding of carcinogens to DNA in the liver and other organs. Also, they are loaded with fiber, vitamins, minerals and micronutrients.
Several years ago while my husband and I were on a mission in Tampa, Florida I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue (CFIDS) for the third time. My body was still carrying the additional twenty pounds I gained with my first bout with CFIDS, which lasted over four years. At the time, my doctor wanted to give me medical disability because I was so ill. I tried all kinds of weight loss programs, but could not lose the added pounds.
Sister missionaries introduced me to Young’s book, “The pH Miracle,” and the alkaline diet. When I started on the alkaline diet, I drank “greens,” ate a whole avocado everyday, and in the first month I lost ten pounds, and my health improved rapidly. Within the first week I had energy, the depression lifted, I could sleep at night, resume my activity, and started walking. Within a few months I lost another ten pounds and have kept the weight off and remained healthy.
Normal body functions require an alkaline reserve as well as the correct pH in the blood and tissues. To ensure these conditions, a proper dietary ratio of 80% alkaline to 20% acid foods—four parts alkaline to one part acid—is required especially when there is yeast or fungus overgrowth in the body. The goal is to create the proper alkaline balance within your body by eating 80% alkaline foods—green vegetables—like cucumbers-avocados, kale, spinach, broccoli, any sprouts--especially broccoli sprouts, zucchini, asparagus, celery, and dark lettuce.
I like to fill warm Ezekiel sprouted tortillas full of sprouts, romaine lettuce, hummus, avocados, tomatoes, Bermuda onion and then use wax paper to roll it into a wrap. through urine, sweat, and the bowels. Your blood is 90 percent water—you are what you drink. 1 teaspoon of green powder (which could be a green barley or blend of grasses). Distilled water is more alkaline and does not contain chlorine or other impurities. (copyright)
my blog: http://healingbodyspirit.blogspot.
com

 

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