Did you lose less than a pound this week?
Feeling frustrated?
Watch this episode to see the significance in your weight loss… even if it’s small!
[Read more…] about What Everybody Ought to Know About Losing Less Than A Pound
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50 Things I Can Do After Losing 170 Pounds
by Heather Robertson
Because of the positive response to my post on 40 things I won’t miss about being 170 pounds overweight, I’ve written a list of the benefits and non-scale victories (NSV) that have happened since I reached my goal weight.
So, here (in no particular order) is my list of 50 things I can do after losing 170 pounds!
I can:
1. Get off the ground without any help.
2. Do pushups on my toes.
3. Run for longer than a minute.
4. Put on jeans without having “love handles” to grab.
5. Get lifted off the ground by my hubby.
6. Smile when my kids ask why my husband is bigger than me.
7. Get asked to coach a Pre-K Physical Education class.
8. Maintain the energy to keep up with my kids.
9. Jump on a trampoline with my kids.
10. Swim with my kids.
11. Go for long walks or hikes with my family.
12. Hold a hover or plank position.
13. Run with my kids (and win sometimes!).
14. Realize that anything is possible when I put my mind to it.
15. Pick a size 6 off a clothing rack and have it fit.
16. Get dressed up for no reason other than “because it makes me feel good.”
17. See muscles in my shoulders, arms, and back.
18. Hear my doctor say I was at a healthy BMI for my height.
19. Know that I’m the most physically active person in a room regardless of gender.
20. Sit in an armchair and have space on either side of me.
21. Try on my wedding dress and realize it’s huge on me.
22. Loving the way I look in clothes.
23. Put clothes I like back on the rack because of my budget, not my body.
24. Wear sexy underwear.
25. Renew my commitment, every day, to living a healthier, fuller life.
26. Look at myself in the mirror.
27. Cross my legs.
28. Wear size B panty hose.
29. Buy size small shirts and workout clothes.
30. Experience people not wanting to offer me junk food because, in their words, “You obviously don’t eat it.” (What they don’t know won’t hurt them! 🙂 )
31. Hear people refer to me as in shape or healthy.
32. Know that, even after 3 C-sections and a hernia operation, my body is stronger than before.
33. Realize my husband and I together weigh only 34 pounds more than I did at my heaviest.
34. See everyone smiling bigger at me because I smile bigger at them.
35. See how strong I am both physically and mentally.
36. Watch my doctor’s expression when she pulls out my chart and sees how much weight I’ve lost.
37. Challenge myself by running a race.
38. Play with my kids without accidentally hurting them because I’m out of touch with my body.
39. Do jumping jacks.
40. Choose to play with my kids or sit and watch them because I want to, not because of my weight.
41. See myself as beautiful for the first time in my life.
42. Finally accept who I am.
43. Look forward to challenging workouts.
44. Say “no” to what I don’t want and not worry about what others think of me.
45. Create any new habit I want if I’m patient and willing to commit.
46. Feel, for the first time, that I’m in control of me.
47. View food as fuel for my body and not as “the enemy.”
48. Celebrate others achieving their goals, instead of being jealous because I couldn’t achieve mine.
49. Be a role model for other moms by showing them healthy is an option worth working for.
50. Realize that people are capable of so much more than what they think they can achieve.
And here’s one extra:
51. Prove that no matter what the obstacles in your path, you can achieve your health and fitness goals, or whatever you set your mind to!
How To Deal With Weight Loss Jealousy
by Heather Robertson
I recently got an e-mail from a listener. I’ll call her Ellen. She was dealing with weight loss jealousy from her co-workers.
Ellen was healthy, physically fit, and better educated than many of the people she worked with. But she felt certain people were jealous of her and she wanted to fit in and make friends.
So, to protect herself from this jealousy and judgment, she gained weight. She even gave up her favorite clothes and jewelry to fit in and avoid the resentment of her so-called “friends.”
Because she was worried that others might resent her success and achievements, Ellen wasn’t living her life to its fullest potential.
Ellen’s story struck me as one of the saddest things I’d ever read.
The idea that someone would change who they were, that they would undermine what they’d worked so hard to achieve, all out of fear that somebody might be jealous? Is that even possible?
And then I realized it is possible, because I’d done it myself.
We all do.
You cannot control anybody else’s feelings
I’ve talked about this many times before on the podcast. You can’t control what somebody else thinks or feels or does. You can only control yourself.
We often assume we know what others are thinking. But what if you found out the people you thought were jealous of you, weren’t jealous?
You’d discover you lived a sub-par life all those years for nothing!
It wasn’t anyone’s thoughts or feelings of jealousy that held you back, it’s what you thought about those thoughts and feelings that held you back.
And guess what? Whether others are really jealous of you or not… the choice of how you live your life is still yours!
Seek out friends, not “frenemies”
Anybody in your life who doesn’t want what’s best for you is not your friend.
Period.
End of story.
A friend is someone who wants what’s best for you, no matter how it affects them. That’s what true friendship is all about! You didn’t get to choose the family you were born in to, but everyone else is in your life because you invited them in.
So, ask yourself, why would I invite anyone into my life that doesn’t enrich it, that doesn’t encourage me to reach my highest potential?
If you’re constantly stressed about what someone else is thinking about you, then you aren’t living your fullest, authentic life. If you have to be less than your best possible self around someone, then ask yourself, “Why do I want this friendship?”
The truth is, that many of us (me included), want an excuse. What we’re most afraid of is accepting total responsibility for our choices and actions. When we tell ourselves that we shouldn’t lose weight, or be healthy, because those we care about will be jealous, what we’re really saying is I don’t want to take responsibility for my situation and it’s easier to be a victim.
That’s the attitude that causes so many of us to lose control of our lives. And it’s this loss of control that can lead to morbid obesity, loss of self-esteem, and life-threatening health issues.
In the end, if your friends really are jealous, that’s their problem. Their happiness is their responsibility, not yours.
A simple self-experiment
Try this experiment: For one day, pay attention to your thoughts. Notice whenever you try to “know” what someone is thinking or feeling about you.
Write down your observations if you can. Or just make a mark in a small notebook every time you have one of these thoughts. Then, at the end of the day, add them up. How many times that day did you try and view yourself through someone else’s eyes?
You know what? If you repeat this exercise every day, soon you’ll begin to see you can’t control what others think, so why even try?
When you can remove this imagined burden from your shoulders, you’ll find true joy and happiness. Then you’ll start living your best, fullest life.
And you’ll begin to see yourself through the only eyes that matter… your own.
Are you trying to live inside someone else’s head? Does it affect your day-to-day choices?
Listen to Heather’s Weight Loss Success Story on the Eat. Sleep. Move. Podcast
by Heather Robertson
Several weeks ago I was interviewed by Wendy on her Eat. Sleep. Move. podcast.
On her blog, Wendy is documenting her own weight loss journey to lose 240 pounds.
She’s also interviewing people about their inspirational weight loss success stories. I was honored to be invited on as a guest.
Be sure to check out Wendy’s other episodes and show her your support by leaving a positive comment on her site.
Please click the link below to listen:
Click here to listen to Heather’s weight loss success story interview
Why You Must Draw Your Own Weight Loss Treasure Map
by Heather Robertson
Every journey needs a map
At a recent Weight Watchers meeting, we were discussing how weight loss is a journey. We all have a similar starting point and we all have the same end goal in mind: to reach our goal weight.
But then, somebody compared it to a treasure map. There’s a star to show where you began and a big “X” to mark the spot of your personal finish line. Between the two destinations is a long, winding road. It’s a path filled with many unpredictable (and predictable) obstacles.
This got me to thinking.
Often, especially when we’re first starting our own weight loss journey, or if we’re still not sure how to follow our own map, we might look at someone else’s map. We hope to get some idea of how they reached their destination. And we hope their path can help us better understand our own.
It’s true that we all have a similar starting point (to lose weight and get healthy), and the same end goal, but everything in between is drastically different. Why? Because no two people are the same.
We are all unique individuals. We have different pasts, and a different present. None of us really knows what the future holds, but you can be sure your future won’t be exactly the same as any one else’s.
So the idea that we’re all going to travel down the exact same road at the exact same time and in the exact same way is… well… it’s B.S., that’s what it is.
There’s only one right path
And that’s the path you create for yourself.
It’s the path you can live with. It’s the path that helps you reach your ultimate goal. And while you may have the beginning and ending of your map all laid out, it’s up to you to draw the line connecting the two points.
But how do you draw that line?
First, make sure you’re not spending your energy focused on other how successful other people are at losing weight. Why not take that energy and focus and use it to set and achieve your own goals?
Does that mean you can’t learn from someone else’s experience? No, of course not! Obviously, that’s the reason I started Half Size Me. I wanted to share what I and others have learned with you to give you hope and help as you travel along your weight loss journey.
But if you’re not taking action on what you’ve learned, if your not making those lessons part of your experience, then it’s doing you no good.
In my case, I wasted so much time cycling around the same mental “cul-de-sac” over and over again, never really getting anywhere. I spent countless hours and dollars, reading and listening to all the experts. And while I believe much of the information had value, I almost never put any of it into action.
Then one day, I had my “A-HA!” moment. I realized that if I wanted anything to change, I had to do things in a completely different way.
From that point forward, I sprang into action, And although it took time (almost five years to lose 170 pounds with stops and starts because of my three pregnancies), I finally reached the “X” on my own treasure map.
Focus on you and take action
You are the unique factor in your weight loss and weight maintenance experience.
There is no diet out there that’s unique. There’s nothing special or out of the ordinary about diets. Most of the diets around today are regurgitated from older diets. They may have a new name, or a new cover on the book. Maybe they’ve even thrown in a few new tips and tricks. But inside, it’s the same old story. Some will work. Some won’t.
That all depends on you, because you are unique, and what you bring to your weight loss experience is what makes the difference.
So, don’t beat yourself up if you and a friend started working out at the same time and she’s lost more weight than you. Don’t worry about what somebody else in the meeting room has accomplished. Just be happy for them. And don’t compare yourself to someone who has already reached the destination on their own map.
When you’re plotting out your goals, pound by pound, each one drawing you closer to that beautiful “X” at the end, remember, you draw your own map by doing the work. By taking action on your goals.
And by never, never, never giving up.