Tuesday, June 28, 2011

In which I publicly declare "It's time to lose weight!"

Dear Nikki and Danny friends, followers, and family,

I'm on a mission to eat healthier and lose weight.  Visiting my family for the past week and a half plus attending two weddings and three receptions has not helped.  No indeed.

My family, bless their hearts, have a comfortable relationship with food. 
We're happy.  Have some food!
I haven't seen you in ten years.  Have some food!
It's a wedding.  Come eat food!
It's a party.  Eat!  Eat!
Aunty said you're looking chubby.  Eat some food to drown your sorrows!
Strawberries are on sale.  Let's make pie!
You're on vacation.  Eat some food!

Please do not blog your delicious brownies because I will have to make my own-- complete with cream cheese-- and proceed to eat half the pan by myself. 

Please do not blog horrible in-laws stories or potty-training nightmares-- because it will give me anxiety and I will return to the pan of brownies and proceed to drown out my anxiety with another piece.

Don't tell me about the deals you got on Cheetos using a coupon or whatnot.  I'll have to "save" too by adding to my waistline. 

You may:

Choose to follow me in my journey and leave comments filled with awesome low-fat meals that are frugally minded too

Leave encouraging comments that will boost me up and keep me going

Come visit me so I feel the "omigosh my bestest blogging pal is going to meet me in real life and now I seriously need to lose weight" encouragement.

So, now that you're all curious, and likely will go back through 800ish posts to find a picture of me (good luck), I have 85 pounds to lose.  85!

Even if you don't need to lose or maybe just want to lose 10 lbs. or less, I appreciate all encouragement and LOVE to hear success stories and what worked for you, or your neighbor. ;)

Sincerely,
Chubba-Me.

14 comments:

Susan said...

Dearest Nikki,

Although I can't believe that you really need to lose 85 pounds, I will nonetheless give you my very best pep talk!!

ahem

Nikki!! You can do it!! It's going to be hard, but that will make it all the more worth it!! I'm behind you all the way and I think you are terrific!! Just remember that every ounce lost is a success!! YOU CAN DO IT!!

Love,
Susan

Mary Ann said...

You can do it! Make sure your goal weight is reasonable.:-) My husband and I have been eating differently for weight loss since March. Our nutritionist/chiropractor friend advised to set small goals of 5-10 pounds then as they are achieved, to set another goal until you reach the goal weight.

We cut out all breads, doughnuts, pasta, sugar, starch and most processed food and used portion control. Not only have we been losing weight but we feel great!

Our doctor friend also advised against eating beans, carrots, fruit juice. Beans keep the weight on, he says and carrots and fruit juice converts right to sugar. He also advised eating fruits as a snack between meals rather than with meat/protein for digestive purposes.

So we eat mainly protein, fruits and veggies with some dairy thrown in there. We're not as strict as we were at first and do allow small splurges occasionally, usually when eating with other people.

If you're nursing, make sure you get enough calories. It also helped us tremendously to look at this as more of a lifestyle change than a diet.

I have low-carb menu plans on my blog if you are interested and am planning to do a short series on our eating plan with low-carb meal ideas. Sparkpeople.net is also a good resource if you decide to go with counting calories; it's free and includes menu plans and recipes plus you can track your weight, inches, exercise, etc.

Made To Crave by Lysa Terkeurst is a really good book on how we were made to crave God and not food. I'm reading it now and highly recommend it.

Mary Ann said...

And since I haven't blabbed on and on enough... as far as carbs go, we eat brown rice, sweet potatoes and lentils and of course, fruits. Also recommended is a good amount of healthy fats; helps you to feel full longer and helps to burn fat.

Anonymous said...

If I write a post about celery will that be okay? Good luck!!!r

Laurie HF said...

We had the best dinner last night - and even Bryce agreed! I made chicken salad: mixed greens topped with stuff I had around including radishes, pickled beets, some frozen peas that I ran hot water over, some toasted walnuts, craisins, grape tomatoes, and of course some chicken that had been left from the whole chicken I cooked to make broth the other day. Of course there was salad dressing, but not a ton of it. I'm getting more creative with salad and finding out it really is pretty good! Keep going!

feywriter said...

I'm also feeling the need to visit a gym. It's been way too easy to eat whenever and whatever during the day. Let's all eat healthier. :)

It was so good seeing you and your family.

A. said...

I want to encourage you not to shot for a weight that only anorexics aim for. :P

Just kidding. GO NIKKI! It's all in the mind, really. Look at junk food as though you can feel it clogging your arteries. Think of it shaving off years of your life. Make it "the devils food". haha! Seriously though!

I found that through my forced diet cutting out dairy and gluten make a HUGE difference. not that I haven't since found substitutes and eaten all my weight back. eek!

Hey! i'll do the challenge with you! I need to do it too. Even though I've had half the pregnancies you've had. Cut youreself some slack there too, considering peach is still so young.

So glad you're back and hope you post some pictures and stories soon!

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

Hi Nikki! Just wanted you to know that I featured your "Saving Our Boys" post on http://megafamilies.blogspot.com. Thank you for your courage.

Laureena said...

Go Nikki!!! I need to jump on this bandwagon! So, what's your plan? Are you planning to post pounds lost on a regular basis? If so, I'll join you!? First I have to buy a scale... no joke! I really needed to get away from it for awhile, so I did. My thyroid issues and PCOS can make it really difficult to lose weight, and I was incredibly frustrated and just felt terrible about myself. BUT- I think I'm ready to get going again! BTW- it's a good idea to take measurements, too. I've had weeks where I didn't lose anything in pounds, but I saw a difference in my measurements. That helps a ton to keep you motivated!

Nikki said...

Laureena- I've actually started with myfitnesspal.com. You log your food and exercise on it as well as encourage others. It's free and there's a community of other people to help motivate you. My first goal is just to log what I'm eating and exercising for 100 days. no matter what. And so far, it makes a difference. I will be updating with what I'm doing, what's working, what's not. How much I've lost will show on the ticker at the top of the blog. If you decide to join MFP, email me at my blog email address: floorneedsmopping(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll add you as a friend so we can encourage each other!

lvs2dance said...

Oh sweet Nicki! I see that you are using myfitnesspal. I use that as well. It is soooo helpful! I love that you can see exactly how many calories you are eating. I will tell you this, it can be discouraging not hitting your weight goal that the fitness pal says you should have lost. I'm still waiting to hit those said goals and I've been doing it since the beginning of April. Good luck to you and both of us! I started running a month ago and it is so hard! I hate it. But I still do it every day hoping that someday I will fit into my 'skinny jeans' again. I feel your pain, I really do. Long gone are those days of us competing in swim suit competitions in our pageants! LOL Good luck my sweet friend!

Julie V. said...

85! Really? Avoid discouragement by setting a reasonable, reachable goal and then go up a level when that goal has been reached. I really like Mary Ann's advice...eat whole grains - avoid white stuff (bread, potatoes, rice), cut out the sweet snacks, watch your portions, drink lots more water. Exercise - (yes, changing fifty diapers a day, running around after toddlers, and doing laundry for a family of nine IS exercise, but you will need to add something more to help eat up the pounds). Do "Mousercise" with the kids! Check with your doctor for advice - then you'll have another important person you have to report progress to!
Instead of rewarding yourself with treats, think NEW CLOTHES! Smile a lot! (really)
Good luck! You can do it!!!

Ms. Leigh said...

Hey Nikki - It's Jenny by the mountains. :-)

I had some decent success at losing weight in the last few years and the biggest help for me were counting my calories (I didn't always make the best choices but I would adjust the rest of my eating to accomodate. Never did I feel deprived of the sweets I like) and hard-core exercise. Obviously you have to work up to hard-core exercise, but I find that it is much more efficient calorie-burn wise and mentally satisfying to run 30 mins of hills at a decent pace or do higher resistance on the elleptical. I also try to fit in weightlifting when I have time. It's suppose to up your metabolism. Good luck!

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