Went to the gym today....

I went to the gym today,

Since it is not easy for me to get there, and it was not inexpensive to join, I am going to make it my business to be sure I go at least twice a week, even if for now it is only on the weekends when it is easy to get a ride.

Once I get in the swing of things again, my gym momentum will take care of itself, it always does.

I did 45 minutes of water walking and a full set of work on the ab machine  Upper, lower, obliques. My goal is to pull in my abs, and burn more fat off my quads too. Walking works in a whole body way which is absolutely what I want to do, and is the best technique I know for working on my balance issues too.

I also did my 20 minute Morning Cardio Power Walk a la Jorge. At this point I have done 331 days straight, not missing a day since the first day of doing it in the FT class, on an empty stomach of course, lol. And contrary to popular opinion I am still alive and well and kickin', lol. Better than that in fact, and I am grateful for it.

Some of the women at the gym noticed and commented favorably on my weight loss. I thought I would care more about this, but oddly I did not, beyond encouraging them that they could indeed do the same if they chose to.

Most people want a quick fix though, and they don't want to hear that it will take time to lose the weight, just as it took time to put it on.

They don't want to hear that you need to do more than simply diet to succeed, that you in fact need to permanently change your lifestyle. Commitment is in short supply these days on just about every front, certainly on the weight loss front.

Getting Back In the Swing of Blogging...and the Gym...

I have not blogged for over a month, no clue why. I think I have gotten out of the habit. I am going to try and refocus into it. It was good for me last year, no clue if it is good for me now.

Just thinking it through. I have changed. Oh I have changed. Maybe I have outgrown it, maybe not. We shall see.

Today I rejoined the gym, and went to the pool. I should not have spent the money, but it was TIME to do it. Money or not, it was time and it will take me somewhere further that I need to go.

Tired out now, but this is another thing I want to do again. I may have outgrown it. Don't know. I want to get out of the house, work on my balance and tone it all up. Get that abdomon flatter if I can. Can I?

OH YES I KNOW I CAN. and this time I am not pretending and hoping. I know what to do and how to do it.

Now it is December. A month I always find hard. I feel out of step, the holidays do not light up my life. I feel like they should but they don't. Maybe if I write some of those feelings out, I can move forward and move on.

I want to fly. I don't want to be wieghed down by those old leaden expectations.

From A Moment At A Time Until Now, Part Two, Cruising the Fast Track

I am not sure why I hit a plateau on the BFC. I followed it to the letter, kept track of everything I ate, and added in some regular weekly sessions of water a roebics too.

For whatever reason, my weight stayed at 150 and would not budge.

Just when I needed it, serendipity or divine intervention intervened again and Jorge Cruise announced online that he was going to do an online class in January 2011 on doing the Belly Fat Cure Fast Track.

Although my money was tight, the timing was perfect, and something told me to go for it, so I did. I was nervous about trying it, what if I spent the money and did not lose any weight, what if I looked like an idiot, what if people thought I was a fool...I did it anyway, inspite of my fears, and I am so glad I did.

 If the online FT class is ever offered again, and you think it might be worthwhile for you, my advice is to go for it. You have nothing to lose but weight. And even if you don't lose a pound during the class, you will learn what you need to know to lose weight as time goes on.

The Belly Fat Cure changed my life and so did the online Fast Track class. It was worth every penny, and I loved every minute of the class. Let me begin by saying that I DID NOT lose any weight during the online FT class. Others did, but I did not, inspite of following the menus to a tee.

This was discouraging to be sure, but I kept on keeping on regardless. I had made a deal with myself to keep going for the entire class regardless of how things went, and I did.

Jorge encouraged us every day, and reminded us that sometimes it takes time for the scale to catch up with your intentions and sometimes it takes time for the body to readjust to another way of living after doing things differently for so many years.

In my case, I think one thing I needed to do was get a stronger probiotic, and give it time to work at repairing the flora in my gut that had been damaged by YEARS of using artificial sweetners. I loved Splenda and used it every day over and over in all the sugar free stuff I ate. I thought all that sugar free stuff would help me to keep my calories low, satisfy my sweet tooth and get me thin. Boy was I wrong!

The online class taught me that. It also taught me not to worry about eating 3 meals a day if I was not hungry, and to forget about the scale. I have put in lots of weight numbers in these posts so far, but actually I seldom weigh in at all. I just rely on how I feel and how my clothes fit. Since I plan to continue to eat this way for the rest of my life, what difference does the scale make?

Although for the sake of continuity I now use the numbers on the scale, I don't really worry too much about it. I believe in trusting my body, in trusting the process to work for me. When I am at goal, I will know, because I will not have excess body fat. What the number on the scale will be when that happens I don't know.

For the purposes of the class Jorge posted a hieght/weight chart and asked everyone to choose a goal based on their hieght. At 4' 10" my weight goal is 115. I am still working towards that goal and am currently at 128 pounds as of Oct 2011. 13 more pounds to goal.

Jorge also asked us to choose a waist goal, which is half our height. For me that goal was 29 inches. I have passed that goal and am at 27 and one half. I am hoping to reach a goal of 26 inches. This was my waist in college when I weighed in at between 110-120. It might be possibe for me now, we shall see.

I am currently a size 8, hoping for a 6, but if not so be it. As long as the excess body fat is gone, I will be content.

From A Moment At A Time Until Now. Part One. Me and the BFC

I used to have a blog called A Moment At A Time.

I started it in 2010. I wrote it for over a year, and then ended it. I took the summer off to rest, and reassess, and have now begun a new blog. Before I begin the new blog, I want to bring it up to date by recapping what came before in A Moment At A Time.

I began my previous blog to encourage myself in my attempt to lose weight using Jorge Cruise's The Belly Fat Cure.  I did not really think that I could succeed, but I felt as though I had nothing to lose by trying, except weight, lol.

As a battle scarred veteran of what I call The Diet Wars, I had been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight with various popular diets for almost 25 years. Along with dieting, I worked out at least 3 times a week on a regular basis. I got strong and fairly flexible, but in spite of all my diligent, consistant effort, I stayed fat.

I worked out hard. I came home ravenous. Though I thought I was eating all the right "healthy" things, like pasta, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, sugar free puddings and so forth, I never got thin eating that way.

I often felt as I could eat everything in sight. I was always stressed out about eating. In an effort to deal with cravings I applied the same discipline I used in working out and I kept track of everything I put into my mouth.  I counted calories. I added in still more exercise, if I felt I had gone overboard in eating. In spite of all my efforts. I stayed fat.

I am 4' 10" tall. I was 110 pounds in high school and college. I was 120 pounds when I got pregnant at 31. I gained 30 pounds with my daughter. I could not get the weight off. 2 years later I gained another 30 pounds with my son. After the 2 pregnancies I weighed 180 pounds. 180 pounds I could not budge, in spite of eating "healthfully" and exercising consistantly.

I felt like I was living in an alien body. Physically I was not at home in my own skin. I never looked in the mirror. I avoided having my picture taken. I have no pictures of myself at 180 pounds.

I had a serious disconnect inside myself that lasted for years and years. There was a me I knew at 120 pounds, and a me I knew at 180 pounds. They were both me.  And not me.

I felt hopeless and helpless, living in a body that did not feel like me, but I buried those feelings and went on living my life, as a daughter, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, a wife, a lover, a mother, a friend, a teacher, a writer. A dreamer and a seeker.

A busy life. Caring for others, and letting myself go along as best I could. I got older. In what felt like a snap of my fingers I entered my 50's. Over time, my life changed and became less busy. At 56, done with childraising, done with menopause, I began to think about myself, who I was and what I wanted. I began to feel like I would try again to make some changes. I could not stand being fat another day. Period.

By accident, or serendipity, or divine intervention, I found info on the Belly Fat Cure on the Internet. I got the book out of the library. I read it. I bought my own copy. My daughter encouraged me to try it. She made meals that were BFC friendly.  My husband, my daughter and my son ate what I ate, without complaint and without reference to my effort at doing yet another diet that might not work. Again.

I can never thank my family enough for helping me, without criticism, encourging me once again, and doing it with me. My sisters encouraged me too. One of my sisters went on the BFC too. She and her husband are still doing so. And, losing weight.

I did the Belly Fat Cure for about 9 mo. and lost 30 pounds. Amazing. I could not believe it, but my daughter assured me it was so. This was the very first time I had ever lost a significant amount of weight that I knew I would NEVER put back on.

The Belly Fat Cure is NOT a diet, it is a lifestyle change. A wonderful lifestyle change, that limits your sugars and carbs, and shows you a simpler, better way to live your life. It made sense to me, and because it did, I could do it. And, it made me feel great. I slept well, my stress levels decreased, and my energy increased.

ON THE BFC I WAS NEVER HUNGRY. My feeling of needing to eat everything in sight disappeared. No will power needed. It was so fantastic to finally feel good, I could not believe it.

I lost weight. Amazing. I felt fantastic, and in control of what was happening in a way I never had before.

Though I never really thought I could succed on the BFC, I pretended I could. I proceeded as if I could. I took it A Moment At A Time. A step at a time. Jorge said, add up all those small steps, and before you know it, you are a mile ahead and wondering how you got there. So true.

I can never thank Jorge Cruise enough for all that the Belly Fat Cure has taught me. For the encouragement of his words, and his beautiful smile, which encouraged me every day, though I don't know him, and he does not know me. Jorge reminded me that if you want something badly enough you CAN make it happen.

Along the way to losing weight, I blogged. I have met so many nice folks through blogging. Folks in the same boat as I am, working a step at a time, to reach their own goals, and encouraging others along the way to reach theirs.

I cannot thank all of you enough, especially Kasey, Diana, Maxine, Katie and Janie. Your encouragement meant so much to me.

After losing those 30 pounds on the BFC, I hit a plateau. At 150 pounds, I still had plenty of weight to lose, but I was stuck in holding pattern.

More on that next post...