Tag Archives: motivation

STARTING OVER

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Happy Thursday and happy health to all.

I had an epiphany yesterday. I have been held back by my ego, my vision and memories of all my weight loss success I had on this blog. I was really doing it, than life literally kicked me in the caboose.

To move forward I have to realize it is for my health and fitness, and accept I slipped. I need to quit focusing on my appearance and do it because it is what I love and the end reward is health. Of course looking great is a bonus but I am not going to put the emphasis on my appearance. Looking at photos from one year ago just makes me sad and stagnate. I finally had my husband James take new before photos and I plan to really get to work on my fitness. These are the only before photos I will take for three months. 

It has been a year and I gained thirty of the sixty pounds I lost. I also lost my fit body because honestly I have not lifted a weight in a year and my cardio sessions have not been consistent. I own it all and now I am starting completely brand new. This blog is now my new journey with my starting weight of 188 lbs.

We got some bad news the past week,more than one bout with bad news. That’s the thing about bad news when it is about other people than yourself, you have to keep it private even on a public forum as a blog. So not only am I starting over, I am starting over after life decided to kick but again. It is ok, kick me down and I will stand back up. 

My tools for working out this time around are simple. Melissa Bender Fitness, my hubby James who works out daily, and the gym and pool where I live. Everything else is up to me this time around. Making it happen this time after all of the challenges is going to mean so much more. I am not yet on hypothyroidism meds and I am trying to tackle this without it for now.

Here are the photos, no more shame. I own this and will succeed round two. I admit looking at these brings tears to my eyes. That is motivation enough to push hard. Thank you to all for the support and I hope I can start losing weight again and help some charities along the way. Love, light and truth. 

INSPIRATION

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Starting over is never easy, especially after you lost most of your weight and you believed weight gain could not happen to you. 

Gaining weight, it did happen to me. I lost 60 and kept it off until June and in six months I have gained 30 back. The hardest part is admitting it. Now that I have faced it I’m ready to work hard again.

How am I going to do it the second time around? The first thing I did was contact a local food bank. When I commit to doing good for someone who needs it everything falls into perspective for me. Collecting food for the food bank is my first ten pound charity.

Do I still have problems and challenges? Of course, my cat Rascal is still sick and we are doing everything we can to heal him. It’s a lot of work but that’s what you do when you love. Does this mean I can neglect my health? Not any longer, no more excuses.

I did some grocery shopping so I can be ready to face my diet days. My friend Bill gave me his recipe for a post workout protein shake. It’s coconut water, a dab of chocolate syrup for flavor and powdered pea protein from Trader Joe’s. I’m going to add banana and spinach to my daily smoothies. Besides my running, workout schedule, writing I also plan to read some inspirational literature. I have owned The Alchemist for some time but I have never read it, so it’s my first book to read for week one.

Posting from my phone is new territory for me, but I believe it will help me stay accountable. Today is day two and even though we are in the midst of the Holidays I believe I got this even if it’s my second time around. Willpower don’t fail me now.

Have you lost a lot of weight and gained some or all of it back? Was it due to a life crisis? I would love to hear from you and hear your story. 

In times of change and transition I take solace in the fact that weight gain is only permanent if I believe it is permanent. It is up to me.

Love and Light

Let’s Do This 

Namaste’ 

Rose

 

 

 

 

 

 

STARTING DAY ONE

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Starting over feels impossible, but it is just as easy as it ever was. It is all in the mindset.

Hello to all. I have not blogged in what seems like forever. I call it my hiatus. It took me some time to get back here. I am a little humbled after taking the whole summer to just rest and write but now it is time to get back to my weight loss and fitness goals. I am starting day one today. I have been busy with my writing goals and a little healing.

Below is a link to my essay series I wrote for WEHOville.com and an essay about my early days in Pittsburgh PA for Mt Lebanon Magazine.  I am also in Cleveland Magazines November issue, and I was published in Asana Journal yoga magazine. I now plan to juggle my writing goals with this blog and make it to my goal weight by the summer solstice in 2018.

https://lebomag.com/ladies-who-lunch/

http://www.wehoville.com/author/rbrunobailey/

I have gained a few pounds, but I am putting that behind me as I jump back into my weight loss program. I know what to do and now it is time to do what I do best. My health and well-being depends on it. You can choose to be happy and healthy with proper nutrition and exercise.

How am I starting over? I am starting a new beginning, and I will talk about my diet and fitness in future posts. I am starting over with a new charity. As you know I had weight loss and fitness success helping a charity with each ten pounds, and I helped numerous charities and lost 60 lbs. Well after my Mom’s passing and my move to Houston I fell of the wagon, got a little bruised and now I am jumping back on. I may be a little more clumsy in my jump than I was a few months ago, but that is ok. I will get there again.

I am starting with clean eating and exercise. Each day, beginning today I get through my day with the proper diet and water, and an hour exercise I will go to the store and buy two canned goods to be put aside. Each day I will do this, and by the end of each week I will have collected 14 cans to be donated when I lose my first ten pounds since stepping away from my weight loss blog. I plan to volunteer and deliver them to a local food bank, and my husband James is planning on joining me. I already have my cans for today, my new day one. I am getting back to basics.

It is a win win. I commit to getting healthy and working on my health, fitness and weight loss goals and I help a local food bank with my own personal food drive. I have said this before, and now I understand exactly what I meant. Feeling good and feeling healthy is far better than cheat days and splurges. I had one too many splurges this summer and I have not felt well. Health and well-being are more important to me than comfort food.

I am keeping day one short and sweet. I have some shopping to do and cardio and day one workout. I also am contacting food banks and I will announce where I am volunteering for my first ten pound weight loss in a future post.

OG original weight 220

WLW weight loss weight 159

CW current weight 179 (after my 20 lb weight gain) 

GW goal weight 135

Let’s do this, fall nine times and get up ten.

Time to get back to the grind.

Namaste’

Rose

 

 

TRANSITIONS IN WEIGHT LOSS

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Transitions in weight loss and gaining some weight back. Pick yourself up, pick up the pieces, pick up your weights. Transitions in weight loss happen, just pick it back up where you left off. Continue the journey, you got this.

Starting Weight 220

Lowest weight loss 159

Weight Gain, Current Weight 179 

Goal Weight 130-135 By Summer

Last night I woke up from a dream. I must have been at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Sunset Blvd near where I lived in West Hollywood. It was so real and so vivid that I woke up and decided I would go there today to work on my writing projects. Than I realized where I was and that made going there impossible. I was dreaming but awake.

I find myself living in this beautiful little community right outside of Houston Texas, and after everything James and I have been through I am grateful to have the opportunity to pick up all the broken pieces, to pay the debt from when James was unemployed. I miss West Hollywood but I have to focus on the now for now.  I can either wallow in self pity or get back to being the best me I can be, and do it here in Houston.

As I begin this blog again just like when I began in 2013 I took a new waitress job, and I am assuming it will be my last. This job is going to be a learning curve for me as far as managing my time to do my outside pursuits. As my Mother Shirley would say, suck it up kid. We need two incomes to be able to get us back on track. So this autumn I need to find a way to work on my goals and manage a full time server job. The gym in my complex is open 24 hours so I should be ok. I also plan to do all of this and some writing projects  and do it with a smile. 

If you find yourself in hot water, make like a kettle and sing. I am singing today, my official day two. I am also saying goodbye to my former self, the summer me who gained a few pounds and was just a little lost. Today is my day two and I am ready for a better version of me. I am using the lose it app to keep my portions and calories in control and writing up my ten goals for the month of October. I think slipping up one time in four years is not too bad. So here I am, downloading my running playlist, singing and cooking healthy food. Today I am making soup, here is the recipe I am making tonight. It is autumn and even though it is still so hot here James loves soups and football.

How To Make Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

 

Ain’t no use in complaining when you got a job to do. Bryan Adams

I have a lot of jobs to do but I like it that way. 

Namaste’

Love and Light

Rose

WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY

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Today is Weigh In Wednesday and I’m happy to report I lost 1 lb this week. That brings me to 167 lbs. I’m starting new! From now on I’m only counting my weight loss from this second half of my weight loss journey. I’m not looking back but looking forward. Here is the stats. SW is my starting weight. CW is my current weight. GW is my goal weight

SW 173

CW 167

GW 135

What am I doing different this time? I am counting every bite and point on my weight watchers app. I’m sticking to the same weigh in day always. I’m making healthy choices but with a bit of wiggle room and counting every thing always even if I go way overboard. I snack it, I track it. I bite it, I write it, I devour it, I empower me. Lying to myself is not empowering. Being accountable is. I got this. I’m also looking for a local charity here near my new home. Moving and sticking to your goals is not easy but I’m finding my new path.

I am not a before, I am not an after. I am a now. Now is the time and living in the present will keep me moving forward in my goals. Give up? Hell no!!

How are you making changes in your weight loss journey? Have you had ups and downs? We can do this.  Let’s do it together. I’m your biggest cheerleader.

 

 

WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY

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I lost five pounds my first week back on program. That brings me back into the 160’s at 168 lbs. I am on it and dedicated. Back on the road to goal. This post is short and sweet, my weigh in Wednesday update. A few things I plan to do differently this time. I will not change my weigh in day, my friend and author Marsha Miller gave me that advice and I realized when I started playing with my weigh in day that is when things started to go south. Routine, routine. I also will track even bad days, and move on from them. I noticed in the past when I slipped I thought I could skip tracking and jump back in. It is not always that easy. So here it is, and here I am. A big improvement than I was a few weeks ago. I got this, you got this. Let’s do this. Happy Losing, lets be big losers together.20428346_10155424911643617_1835308718_n

RUN, WALK, CRAWL

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“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”
― Dean Karnazes

I watched a bird walking the other day, he stepped with one foot ever so slowly, and stepped out with the other foot; walking without a care in the world at his own pace. He is not on a schedule, he is just walking tuned into his own rhythm. No worrying about the pace of another bird, he is just free in his graceful moment. 

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I feel in weight loss, fitness and running we often compare ourselves to others. Sometimes we feel we cannot compete so why bother. I am here to tell you it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. Yes, we should cheer them on and be happy for them, but at the same time everyone has a different journey.  If you commit to something just commit to doing it to the best of your ability. Do not mind what others think, and I think you will be surprised at the amount of support you get on your road to fitness and new health. 

Today I joined a Monday running club. I have navigated so many changes recently it left my head spinning, than I took a spill last week and that almost left me down for the count. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to run today but with the help of my new Saucony running shoes I was able to run a 5K this evening. Of course I ran at my own speed and listened to my body. I also met one of the veteran runners and she gave me a piece of runner’s wisdom; there is no fast or slow just your own personal pace. She also runs a Thursday running club I may join soon.

Tonight I will ice my knee and stretch but I am so proud I ran my first personal 5K since the move to Houston. There will be time for me to work on my speed, but today I am happy that I ran 3.1 miles without stopping. I am happy in the moment. No matter what your level is, be happy in the moment. You are doing more than you did yesterday, be proud and pat yourself on the back. I am working with Melissa Bender Fitness to get back to a formal workout and running schedule. Today I am proud in my moment, I put one foot in front of the other and ran to my own rhythm.

If you spend your time looking back at everyone else you will never cover any distance, keep your eye on your path. You can do it and I can do it. Here is to the beginners, the novices, the people who are starting over as well to those who are faster and inspire us to keep going. Here’s to each and every one of us.  Hurrah to day one. Are you with me? Let’s see where this new path goes. Happy Monday to all.  Let’s do this.

Namaste’ 

Rose

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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.

shirley

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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WEIGH IN DAY

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Good Morning to all, and what a beautiful Monday it is here in West Hollywood. I am off today and tomorrow, wrapping up my days of cat sitting two beautiful Lilac Siamese. Noodles and Peaches are my other Siamese loves, and my cats have been missing me so it will be time to go home. 

It is weigh in day and I am so happy I stayed the same at 159 lbs, I skipped the last few weeks. My scale broke, and I got frustrated with things. I am still 24 lbs to goal, and with everything going on in my life I admit to having just a few cheat days. Friday night I ate a huge tuna sub from subway, and I definitely felt ill the day after. It made me realize that my eating plan is not just about weight and appearance. It is about how I feel, my health and well-being. I had heartburn for the first time in a very long time, and I didn’t even recognize the symptoms. If you can see from the graph above I have plateaued again since February, but that is ok, No  weight gains is great for me.

I decided on Sunday to get back on track, still counting my points but going back to an anti-inflammation diet and every Monday I can deviate just a little. That way I am eating not to lose weight only, but to continue to feel good and energetic. Mondays will be the only day I consume things like flour. I believe in this type of program but I also know it is good to allow treats and deviations, just not all the time.

Here is a link to a good list of food for this type of eating from Melissa Bender Fitness.  http://www.benderfitness.com/2017/01/anti-inflammatory-diet-grocery-list.html

Today I am reveling in the fact the scale stayed the same. I feel good, and I will not be deviating this day because I am getting back on track. Next Monday will be my semi cheat day. Today it is all non processed foods with lots of produce.

My knee is healing and I feel my shoulder is too, so soon I will hit the pavement running again and start my work out schedule. I decided to rest so I would not be down for the count for longer than need be. I listened to my body even though I wanted to ignore it, and I am feeling so much better now. I have weaned myself off any pain pills for my knee too, I do not need them anymore and they made me feel awful. The last few weeks I have been walking but that is it. It is hard to slow down but I am healing.

That is all for today. I am going to go down to the pool and take a dip, or if it is too cold go in the jacuzzi.  I am celebrating that the scale stayed the same, it will be much easier now to get back on track.

It’s a lifestyle not a diet. Love and Light to all.

Rose

 

TRANSFORMATION TUESDAY

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Good morning to all. Happy Transformation Tuesday. Yesterday was my weigh in day, and I stayed the same holding steady at 159 lbs. Being at this weight gives me a little anxiety. You may ask why being the lowest weight since I began my weight loss would cause anxiety. This is the reason: I know that weight can go up and down, even during a weight loss journey. I stayed the same for two weeks, and I lost 9 lbs since the middle of January. I know there will be a time when I do everything right and the scale will stay the same or tip back up. I just do not want it to go up when I am in the high 150’s. This may seem silly, but I am so proud to make it to the 150’s, and I want to stay here for some time. Since I broke my plateau in January 2017  I lost 10% of my body weight. That is a win to me.

This photo was me in 2013, well above 210. This is me today at 159 lbs and so proud.17190854_1425955677449894_8538028883844596331_n

This begins a brand new week. I am really loving Weight Watchers Online and having the app on my phone. It is freedom and totally liberating to me. I eat healthy and have done so since 2013, but the little bit of wiggle room I have now makes this feel more like a lifestyle than deprivation. If you remember I went six months without a cheat day, and that drove me crazy, and I didn’t lose a pound in those six months. Balance, I am finding my balance. Yesterday I had a inspirational brunch with a friend Emily at Mel’s Drive in West Hollywood. Eating out doesn’t have to be impossible. We split our entree and made healthy choices. The omelette was egg whites with veggies, cooked dry with no cheese. I had a few of the grilled potatoes. It was all about the coffee and conversation. Balance is key to life, and enjoying yourself makes it worth living.

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Speaking of balance, I am working on my fitness, my yoga and my running. I am also a bit of a klutz and I bruised my toe. I do not know how, but I have injured two toes in the last few years, and bruised one toe I previously injured. I did not trip on my own feet, it was choreography. They say dancers and former dancers tend to be klutzy, and I am here to say that is a true fact for me. Today I feel so much better, so I will get out for a walk and perhaps a run. I do really need proper running shoes. I have learned that shoes make all the difference. I prefer Saucony. Do you have a favorite running shoe?

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I am learning that weight loss and fitness is not linear. It is up and down, and back up again. There will be times when your body tells you slow down, and times when you kick it up a notch. The key is to listen to your body. Don’t let setbacks stop you, take a rest than keep moving forward. It is Transformation Tuesday and for me transformation would be impossible without the day in, day out daily hustle to get to my goals. Have fun while you are out killing it.

Lee Strasberg once said, It’s about the work. 

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