Tag Archives: Gratitude

Starting over Fitness after injury

Happy Wednesday to all. Yesterday I got moving for the first time since my injury, and even though I don’t know the extent of the damage, I’ve continued to go to work on it. I had an X-ray ( no breaks or fractures) and an ultrasound. I did not have an mri and I may need one at some point. My knee is still swollen but I’m starting to be more mobile. So I decided to begin cardio again.

Yesterday I was able to walk 1.5 miles. I wanted to start slowly. Today I plan on doing the same and listening to my body, letting pain be my guide. My gait feels a little heavy but I’m out there moving my body, and that’s what matters. Baby steps and healing thoughts. I’m manifesting fitness, health and healing. Today I plan on matching my 1.5 miles, plus starting to stretch again.

It’s incredibly humbling to get hurt and not be in the same fitness league you once were, than you remember that you are able to walk. Everyone has their own journey and their own timetable. Don’t ever compare your journey to someone else. We can cheer on as we chase after our dreams. I know I’m cheering all of you on. Nothing but love and light.
With Gratitude,

Rose

 

I LOST TEN POUNDS

Happy Monday to all. It’s July, and I love this month. Everything is warm and happy, it’s the best of the summer. I’m starting to really focus on all aspects of my life, and I plan to post more on here what I’m doing to live my best life, and to give back to others and animals. First things first, I lost ten pounds. 

This is the first time I have lost any significant weight in two years. For new readers I slipped back when we moved to Texas from Los Angeles, after losing my Mom and our cat Rascal. It took me a bit to get back to feeling like myself and I believe I am on my way. 

I really enjoy using the WW app to track my points. I have tracked no matter what, it’s important to stay accountable. Another motivational moment for me is when I committed myself to volunteering at Henry’s Home and Horse Sanctuary. They are my first ten pound weight loss charity, and I truly hope to volunteer with them on the regular. I can’t wait to meet the horses and wonderful humans that care for them. Much gratitude to Donna at the sanctuary.  I’m coming for you 20 lbs and a brand new charity, but my intention is to volunteer with the animals long after I pick my next charities. 

My day starts later since I work nights. So right now I’m having coffee as I blog, and after I’m writing down my short-term intentions, and my long-term goals. Some of my long-term goals may seem crazy, but I’m writing them down. Today begins my 30 day yoga challenge with Melissa Bender Fitness, so after I’m done writing I’m stepping on the mat. I will begin with gratitude in the moment, and stay present and grounded. Lots of positive changes are happening, and it all begins first in positive thoughts. 

Follow the 30 day yoga challenge, here is the link to what I’m doing. Melissa is my best friend and also I look up to her as a mentor too. Love and light and reach for the stars. Rose http://www.benderfitness.com/2016/10/daily-yoga-challenge-10-sun-salutations.html

It’s a Lifestyle

Happy Day after Valentine’s Day to all. I hope the special day brought you joy, whether you have a valentine or not. I work in a restaurant at night so my day was all work and no play. That’s ok, it’s my hump day and soon my my off days will be here. I’m working hard for the money and grateful for my blessings. 

It’s day 4 of my 30 day Whole Foods plant-based challenge. I’m vegan and I’m trying to lean more towards a cleaner way of taking care of my temple. Day 4 and I feel fabulous, not as fatigued from waiting tables. For a while I thought I was getting sick, or old, and now I realize I just wasn’t feeding my body correctly. I’m doing the challenge to help myself kick it into high gear, to be accountable. At the end I will have a delicious vegan cheat day and do another 30 day challenge. I’m going to do this plan going forward. I plan to check my cholesterol in a few months, to see how this is working for my body. Staying away from all oils is the biggest hurdle, but I’m sticking to it. In 30 days I will jump on the scale, and going forward I will only weigh myself once a month. 

We had a cat health scare with Max, but it was a false alarm. I will take him in to be safe soon, but it seems he was constipated. I found out today my Mom’s sister, my Aunt Elaine in Chicago had a stroke. I think she’s going to be ok, but send her lots of prayers. In life, challenges pop up when you least expect them. No matter what comes, I’m not deviating from my food plan. This is for my heath, period. My weight loss will be an added bonus. 

Next week I will post on my fitness plans, and more of what I’m eating. I’m going forward and not looking back. Onward and upward for me.

Love and Light 

Rose

REINVENTING YOURSELF

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One hundred year old trees still recycle themselves and come out with new flowers. Recycle yourself. Know that nature gives you the clues to living.”

Tao Porchon-Lynch

 

Reinvention, I feel like I have been mastering the art of reinvention as of the last few years. Like Tao Porchon-Lynch I often look to the trees for wisdom and inspiration. They are our pillars of wisdom, they reinvent themselves but always grow more beautiful with each passing bloom. I try to always look up to them, they are my role models. I am always in the process of shedding my leaves and patiently waiting for my blossoms to emerge. 

I am not going to sugar coat it, the last two years have been challenging to say the least. Soon I will write about the crisis I was in and what is to come in the second half of 2017. My Mother has been ill in ICU in Cleveland, Ohio but she improves a little each day. I am so grateful to all my friends for keeping her in their prayers. If she can get through, I can conquer the world. This is my Mother below, at 15 in the black bathing suit. What a beauty.

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I am most proud that as a weight loss blogger going through a challenging few years that I kept all my weight off despite the changes, the plateaus, and the hard moments that came my way. A move to San Francisco from West Hollywood, a move back to West Hollywood was just a a portion of our hardships. One could just throw in the towel and I admit there were a few times that I contemplated quitting. A good friend talked me out of it, so here I am moving forward.

My weight is still holding strong at 159 lbs and I am back counting my Weight Watchers points, and eating clean most of the time. The 80/20 rule works for me, I eat clean and leave a little wiggle room for special treats. I use Weight Watchers to keep my portions in control and to keep me from obsessing over good and bad food. It is food and I am grateful for it, and I am learning balance as I lose weight and get fit and strong.

Speaking of fitness, I did slack off there a little. I fell and injured my knee and my shoulder has been injured. Tomorrow I am starting a Melissa Bender 30 day Challenge and I plan to work on my running. I hope to be able to run to the Santa Monica Pier from my West Hollywood Home in the end of the month. I can do it and so can you. Join me on my quest to be more fit and strong and to finally get to my elusive goal weight.

http://www.benderfitness.com/2014/05/original-30-day-workout-challenge.html

Love and Light

Rose

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CORRIDORS OF LIFE

Good Morning to all, it is Friday and I plan on running today. On my playlist is a song from the group Electric Light Orchestra titled I’m Alive. Each day we awaken is such a gift. If you forget that, maybe you should take a trip to your local emergency room. Nothing puts your life, your personal strife in perspective then spending six hours in the emergency room. I went to the ER this week, and this post is about my experience within those four walls of sickness, healing, anxiety, grief and compassion. My experience left me with gratitude to the Healers, the Doctors, the Nurses, the volunteers, and everyone in health care who chose such a selfless career. My ears could not tune out the agony of pain from the lady across the hall, her young sons by her side trying to console her; the healers trying without success to just make her feel more comfortable. The cries out to her lord were so intense I forgot my own reasons for being there. 

My reason for being there does not matter. My health is fine, my numbers were perfect. I was one of the lucky who got to leave. My husband James and I mused as we were walking through the hallways looking for the exit, that the hallway felt like a maze leading to the escape route back to where life makes sense. Trees and a cool breeze would await us on the other side. Cars, streetlights, people smiling; real life or the reality we all like to live in. What goes on within hospitals is very foreign to many of us, almost like a world within a world. It takes special types of humans to live and work in that center of sickness and healing, and to them I send my gratitude. We walked through the automatic doors hand in hand as if we had a renewed lease on living, never forgetting those who we left behind. Kindness and empathy for others should always be a given.

In yoga we often make an intention in the beginning of the practice, and we may offer up well wishes and healing thoughts for someone we know; for someone who is struggling. I offer this to the lady in the emergency room and her two children who stood lovingly by her side. They do not know me, but I know them. I was just on the other side of the curtain,veiled yet not blind to her suffering. Empathy for the sick and gratitude to the healers.

Namaste’  

Love and Light

Rose

 

 

 

 

LET GO, LET GOD

Happy Sunday to all.

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Sunday is the last day of my work week, I am off Mondays & Tuesdays. Sunday is the day I reflect in gratitude and plan my goals for the week. I am always looking for inspiration, and I believe there is inspiration everywhere. I try not to focus on worries and the hardships of life. If I succumb to that, I will be unhappy and lose sight of my goals and dreams. Life is beautiful, but it definitely is not easy. Nothing of worth is easy.

I met someone this week named Guy who told me when you find yourself feeling caught up in your troubles, to Let Go and Let God. I found those words to be so poetic and powerful; to let it go, and give it to God to take care of. It doesn’t matter if you do not believe in God or if you are not a spiritual being, you can let it go, and leave it to the universe. To release your worries and let go is the best way to move forward in my opinion. if you hold onto stress and pain, it only hinders your health and well being. I believe health goes beyond just the body. I am trying to be healthy and happy in mind, body, heart and soul. 

So today, I will Let Go, and Let God. I will focus on the beauty of nature. I will be silent and meditate as I do my morning yoga, reflecting on my gratitude of life. I have so many goals as I move forward in 2017, but today I will just be. I will be grateful for my life and loved ones, for the food I eat, and the nature my eyes get to see as I do my runs and walks.

Today, I will Let Go, and Let God

Namaste’

Rose

 

 

 

 

FINDING BALANCE

Happy Monday to all. If you have been following my progress you know I challenged myself to go from the summer solstice to the winter solstice without a cheat on my diet. I was eating clean, and I was going strong. Five months I pulled this off, five months of looking away at every thing that tempted my resolve. Five months of ups and downs in my life, and never once did I drown my problems with food. I am proud of this fact.

To blame my break in my challenge on someone else is weak, but it is the truth that my husband James really wanted to enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner with him. So on Thanksgiving I cheated on my diet. I didn’t overeat, but I ate foods I had deemed unhealthy, and I realized. There was no balance in my approach to losing weight anymore. I was again in a position of all or nothing. This taught me a lesson. It is ok to have the occasional cheat day, the occasional cookie, the occasional french fry. It is not ok to fill your body all the time with junk, but to occasionally eat off program is ok. There is no good and bad food, there is just food and the choices you make. 

Where did five months of eating completely strict get me? Honestly I am at my lowest weight since I started this blog but I have not lost a pound in weeks. Yes, I kept my weight off with diet and exercise but I could have done just as great following portion control and the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy 80 percent of the time and allow for those occasional treats. Going to the extreme leads to eating disorders and creates imbalance in your life. It creates a mind body struggle that is not positive. So I am moving forward with balance all while still maintaining my healthy lifestyle. I still believe in eating clean and whole foods, and I will move forward doing so. With that said I will be watching my portions and using the loseit app to count my calories. And yes, there will be occasional splurges within this new program of mine. I plan to get to my goal weight in 2017 and all of my fitness goals, without driving myself insane. After all a mere half of a muffin never hurt anyone. 

I am proud of all of my accomplishments, and as I approach my milestone birthday in less than two weeks I am motivated for all that is to come in the brand new year. I am going to stop having a love/hate relationship with food and learn to accept it into my life with gratitude as I continue with my healthy food and fitness lifestyle.

As I type this I realized I did not eat today, sometimes that happens to me but not often. I am human and with that comes flaws. As I type I “eye spy” a muffin and I am thinking of buying it and eating half or maybe a quarter. This new balance lifestyle is so weird but I feel confident I can continue by counting it in with my loseit app. and keep the majority of my food plan clean and healthy. I will soar with the 80/20 rule. I am 164 lbs and dropping. 

As I eat this beautiful sweet treat, I will savor it slowly and have gratitude for all the abundant blessings in my life. Life is sweeter when you find balance. 15357064_10154683100663617_1585865817_n

CRISIS CHALLENGES

It is Thanksgiving week and it never escapes me how lucky I am, despite being in what seems to be a long-term financial crisis. I keep dieting and exercising through my challenges. This week we had yet another disappointment, but I am not going to allow myself to wallow in my woes. I took a moment yesterday, cried in my coffee over conversation with my dear friend Mary. I shared with her some things that concern me about being in a financial crisis as a weight loss blogger. My friend is a fixer type of friend, she is completely giving and the kind of person who tries to come up with solutions to your issues. She is amazing and I am lucky to have her around the corner. I am thankful indeed for all of my friends, family, my husband James and our beloved Siamese cats Rascal and Spanky. I am thankful for life.

I decided to do a quick post and share my thoughts and concerns about being in a financial crisis and how it affects my blog, These thoughts are ridiculous to me when I type them up, but they are my feelings. Being in a financial crisis puts a limit on a lot of spending. If you know me, you know I am more interested in helping others, in reveling in nature than I am about material possessions. With that said, everyone likes nice things, and I am not immune to that fact. If you follow fellow weight loss bloggers and well as fitness bloggers it seems a lot of the things they post I cannot post because of my situation. I feel like I do not measure up. This is not a pity statement, rather a way to get it out and share and to come up with other ways to be a motivational weight loss blogger during my lean time. I love that I said lean, because despite my crisis, I can say I accomplished my lowest weight on my blog. I did it even though there were times I wanted to dive head first in a vat of chocolate cake batter. It has been five months without a cheat day, and I have one more month to go. My workouts are at www.benderfitness.com which are all free. My equipment is weights, a mat and again a pair of worn shoes. Here are my silly concerns and how I am moving past them. I keep moving.a02b9032-b84b-415f-b804-150a63cc676414705636_1268334023212061_7219886695795970552_n

  1. My running shoes have seen their best day. I almost did not go to the last Richard Simmons Slimmons class out of embarrassment. I shared this in a private group, and the beautiful support that came my way through the Slimmons family taught me I am not an embarrassment. Someone even kindly offered to mail me shoes his wife has never worn. That touched me but it was not why I posted it, I just felt the need to vent. I am grateful to him and the whole Slimmons family, and as I type I am sporting my proudly worn Asics and my new Nike’s that were gifted to me. I am proud of all my steps. I am proud where these shoes have been, and where I am going.15073486_10154639242963617_6508711910709230700_n15078580_10154628087623617_8586468506395100455_n
  2. Instagram is filled with photos of people posting work out gear. I love nice work out clothes too, so I love liking the photos. I cannot do that now, and that is OK. I will find other ways to share my journey. So I am at my lowest weight on my blog and I am not clothes shopping. It will come soon enough, perhaps when I hit my ultimate weight loss goal. For now I keep keeping on and staring as trees as I run in my worn shoes. This gives me something to work for and something to look forward to. Perhaps a fun photo shoot when I finally reach that elusive weight loss goal of 135 lbs. The new clothes can wait, I am refocusing on the work. It is all about the hard work, the health and the wellness. And of course the connections with people.12592393_10153807006948617_2827822076568560780_n
  3. Races. I have done a few and I wish to do more. They are not cheap.  I  hope to run in a race in the new year. In the meantime, I will maybe do a virtual race and ask my followers to run along with me virtually. In 2015 I ran across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and that was such a high on national 4/20 day. I can find another place to do a run here in LA, some place that really is special. As long as I keep running in my worn shoes I will reach my dream destination. I am a work in progress.unnamed-15
  4. Recipes and Food. Lately I have fallen off the wagon with cooking and shopping for groceries. We are keeping our diet simple, and I eat a lot of my meals at work. I tend to rely on the same fast and healthy options. It does not leave me much time or money to make elaborate recipes and that is OK. We have food, we eat healthy, we are grateful. Tonight I am off and trying a couple of healthier autumn treats. I am going to bake apples and make a baked sweet potato with just a few pecans, marshmallows and banana. I will post these budget friendly recipes. I can do one or two new recipes a week. I love shopping at thrift stores and finding treasures on a dime. This is my vintage Cuisinart food processor that I made black bean brownies with. 13731689_1191796280865836_7205266471736481432_n
  5. My Blanket Drive. I wanted to hold a boot camp to raise blankets for the Midnight Mission in LA for the Homeless. This is my next charity. I ended up sick and I have an injured rotator cuff so this felt like a failure to me. The game may have changed, but the prize is still the same. I am collecting blankets for the homeless and I will continue to do so from now until I deliver them to The Midnight Mission in December. It is getting Cold here in LA and the blankets are needed. Here are my thoughts on blankets for the homeless.http://mychangeforaten.com/1750-2/ I am getting to my goals despite the issues and nuances of life. My best friend Melissa Bender called me Mulan today. I am a warrior fighting my metaphorical huns. Much love and light, I am thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Remember to treat your body like a temple but still enjoy life. It is the holiday so it is totally acceptable to indulge and share delicious fare with family and friends. Try to watch your portions and maybe get out for a walk or run. xocirque11

ADJUST YOUR SAILS

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Tonight the party I was supposed to work cancelled, and I had an impromptu night off. I never got the call and went into work anyway.  Life throws surprises all the time. Instead of being upset that I went all the way there, I adjusted my sails and walked home and was happy to have the night off. I ended up making Black Bean Brownies and hanging out with my husband James and our two Siamese cats, precious time with my busy schedule. Life has been hectic these last few months but I am so happy and grateful to be back in Los Angeles. A simple night, tomato soup and my loves made me very happy.

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That got me thinking, what is the game changer when it comes to weight loss and fitness success? Why do some people gain the weight back and other people are able to get to their goals and maintain weight loss and fitness? I believe I accidentally figured what it takes, or I figured out what is keeping me on the path to weight loss and fitness success.

I gear my workouts to all the changes that my life brings me. Life is not constant, but I adjust my sails and ride the waves to the destination of my goals. I realized the beginning of a weight loss journey is the easiest, but keeping the momentum going takes work and takes consistency. It take a willingness to adapt to the changes that life brings.

I have been through a lot, a lot I write about and a lot I have kept private. I started this blog and my weight loss/fitness/philanthropic journey in 2013 with the help of a trainer that introduced me to fitness. I was having success with my LA lifestyle and it was amazing having someone tell me I can do it. I was able to help various charities and lose weight in the process. It was smooth sailing for me.

Rose Bruno Bailey Weight Loss

In  autumn 2014 my husband James and I moved to The San Francisco Bay area, a move that came on rather suddenly. There was a big fear that I would quit, that I would regress and lose all I was working on. A rational fear that everything I worked hard on would fall apart.

All of a sudden my lifestyle completely changed. I was living in a brand new city, working a lot more than I did in LA, and I no longer had a trainer pushing me. I had to adjust to my new life. It took a few months but I did find my footing in the bay area,I did some charities and met some amazing friends. I ran in a 5K with my boss and made my best time in a race. I adjusted my journey to my new reality. I did not give up, I just worked with my new lifestyle. I started Melissa Bender Fitness workouts and I realized I can do this. I believed and stayed consistent in my endeavors, despite the challenges of a brand new life. There were a lot more temptations in San Francisco, a city known for food but throughout the challenges I continued on and I am grateful for my experience there.

melrosenicole

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We recently decided to move back to Los Angeles, and again my whole lifestyle went through another transition, another new job with different hours. Yet last week I hit my lowest weight since I began my journey. What is it that has kept me going? 

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I didn’t quit, I am persistent and consistent. I have adjusted my workouts, my running, my diet to fit my new lifestyle. I find myself being too tired in the morning to work out since I am working later at night than I am used to, so I do my workouts after work.  Who said workouts cannot be done at 11 pm? Are there rules to working out? If so I am breaking them and making my own rules and it is working for me. I started a six month countdown to my December Birthday with no cheat days for the whole six months, and stayed consistent to my benderfitness workouts. I continue to meet wonderful people that inspire me.

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My advice to anyone beginning a diet and exercise program is to be prepared to change and evolve because life brings on changes and transitions. Every time my life dramatically changed paths, I adjusted my route to stay on course. I am successful despite the constant changes in my life. I am proud to say through it all I never gave up. My life continues to change, and I have changed inside and out and continue to adjust my sails to the whim of the mighty wind that is uncertainty. Bring it on life. I am a master of challenges and change.

Happy New Day

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Yesterday was the Jewish New Year, and to all of my Jewish friends I wish you abundant blessings and joy. To my non-Jewish friends I send you the same love. Tonight I witnessed people sharing well wishes for the New Year to all, no matter what their backgrounds were. I was completely in awe to see the best in humanity. It does not matter where you come from or what your background is. You can always learn something from other cultures and embrace the celebration and joy of living. I am pleased to say tonight I was inspired.

New Beginnings, I admit I have always been a fan. A chance to reinvent yourself, a chance to start over and try again. Mondays, the beginning of Autumn, Birthdays, The New Year. Every new day is a brand new beginning. Didn’t have a great day yesterday? You woke up breathing today so you get a second chance at it. 

I have been blogging about my weight loss journey, my fitness journey and my charities now for three years. I believe I have experienced many successes but at the same time I struggled with some things; I am human after all, I have flaws. With all the success I had, the 60 lb weight loss, the fitness milestones, the charities I helped, sticking to a strict diet, there are also some things I feel I failed at. In life we tend to look at our failures and not our successes. In the last two years I experienced a whirl wind of change, a lot good and some not so good.  A sudden move to San Francisco and a move back to Los Angeles. I now find myself back to where I began this journey and inspired by the Jewish New Year to start again on what I consider to be one of my failures. How perfect to embrace the newness of the holiday and give myself another go at it. Every one you encounter has a lesson to share. Are you listening?

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I keep up my fitness, I get out and run and walk every day. I workout all the time. My diet is on point. My failure is that I never made it through Melissa Bender 12 week Bikini Prep schedule. I somehow always get sidetracked and I end up just doing what I learned from my former trainer Mike and Melissa Bender, basically a mish mosh of exercises. I always wanted to make it through all 12 weeks. I have been going strong on my six month diet challenge with no cheating but I have come up short on this particular goal of mine. So inspired by the Jewish New Year and a brand new Monday, today I begin anew and start over the 12 week program. The timing is perfect and If my calculations are correct I should be wrapping up this goal along with my diet goal by the time I reach my 50th birthday 

http://www.benderfitness.com/bikini-competition-workouts-12-week-program

 

Today is day one. I do have an injury so I will do everything but also modify what I cannot do with my shoulder. I also have some physical therapy exercises I will work on. I admit I lost a lot of strength when I hurt my shoulder. Of course I am going to commit to running regularly and work on my yoga practice.

I am also committing to writing more on this blog like I did for the first year. I am going to document everything on this journey, the good, the bad and everything in between. I am far from an after, but a work in progress. I am planning my next charity and I will be posting the official announcement for Beach Blanket Bootcamp this week. I am collecting new blankets for the homeless and the Midnight Mission. The official date is November 12th at noon. More details this week. You can read about my project in the link below the photo. I finally made my lowest weight in 20 years. Now, that is a success.

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http://mychangeforaten.com/1750-2/

I love Hope

I love New beginnings,

I love dreams and all creatures of the universe.

I love life.

A quote from one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank redemption

Red: I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

I love Hope. Happy New Beginnings to all.

Namaste’

Happy New Year, Happy New Day

Rose