I am sad because I think of the people I have met in the 2 plus years I have been on BS.  I have met people whom have lost significant amounts of weight.  I haven’t seen them latlely, but I do hope that they are still at their goals.  I have been buddies with people very excited about losing their first pounds, and then suddenly they are gone.  There are very, very few people who have been here since I started.  It’s very sad to me to get close to a buddy and then they stop coming on, and then I have lost a friend.  Maybe I am too sensitive.  But it bothers me.  I put a lot of time and effort into getting to know you!!! 

     I feel I make a commitment to my team to participate and show up.  It’s my duty.  I love my team and my teammates!!  I think part of being a good buddy is to be committed to take part in your weightloss and not to give up on yourself.  We all have bad days, and we all gain weight, and we all lose weight.  It’s ok.  You are not unique.  Don’t quit because you can’t get past your plateau, or quit because things are getting difficult, or now you have to exercise and you don’t want to.  You owe this to yourself!!!  We are here to help you and thusly to help ourselves.  By me reaching out to help others, it motivates me to work a little harder, to try a new workout, to eat better, and to be more accountable.  I am actually a little angry.  I see myself in those quitters.  If only I knew that quitting and not doing anything would lead to the diabetes I have today…..maybe I would not have quit so many times in the past! 

     I am proud of myself today, and for my buddies that are still here, not giving up.  Yeah, maybe we are not liking the scale right now, but we are not going to give up today!!  I am in it to win it, and by God, I plan to be on buddyslim a long, long time!!!  Thank you everyone for your particpation in keeping buddyslim alive for me and I thank you all for not giving up!!  We will do this!!!  Be it 5 years, I am going to reach my goals!!!!

I thought about how many people come and go here.  They start out ready to go.  They work hard, exercise, eat right until it gets hard then they bail.  I could do that too I kept telling myself.  No one will care…..but someone did.  That person was me.  I thought about why I couldn’t quit.  I am a type 2 diabetic, and to quit could mean suicide for me.  To quit could mean my heart condition would get worse.  To quit would mean my blood pressure would spike up again.  To quit would mean my cholesterol would not finally be normal anymore, it would go up again.  To quit would mean that I would lose the muscle tone I have only begun to start seeing the definition of.  To quit would mean I wouldn’t have anymore buddies.  To quit would mean I would regain all of those pounds I worked my butt off for to lose!  But the most important reason to me was I thought if I quit it would mean I would eventually have to go back on diabetic meds again, and not taking those pills had given me the most satisfaction to date.  So, still feeling like quitting, I got back up, pretended I wanted to be here, got more involved in my  forums, and did not stop exercising.  I brought my body (as they say) and my mind followed.  Before long, I was wanting to do this, wanting to exercise, wanting to get better, wanting more and feeling I deserved more.

Today, I finally made my mini goal of 210, and if I had given up last month as I wanted to, I would not have made that goal!  We all have those slow days, weeks, months, or even years.  The point of the matter is that no matter what, don’t give up!  Never ever!  You are worth it!  Believe it!

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When You Just Don’t Feel Like Exercising

Psych yourself up to get your butt moving when your motivation to work out is low.

By Martica Heaner, Ph.D., M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness

Q: How can I wrap my brain around the motivation to exercise? I know it’s important to do, but I never have the urge to do it and even if I try to do it anyway, I have a hard time fitting it in.

A: People who work out are as busy as people who don’t. The difference is that some way, somehow, they make themselves exercise—even when it’s the last thing they feel like doing. Sports psychologists, behavioral nutritionists and exercise physiologists have spent years trying to pinpoint what motivates regular exercisers in the hopes of using that information to spark the less motivated.

There’s no easy answer.

Some research points to a possible genetic component connected to the tendency to be active. Put a group of mice in a cage with an exercise wheel and some will jump right on, others do so sparingly. Likewise, some people literally can’t wait to get home from work and throw on their exercise gear and go out for a run or hurry to their favorite exercise class. But others can’t think of anything less appealing.
Let’s face it: You can rationalize your way out of doing anything. You can always find an excuse for why you don’t like an activity or why it’s not right for you, or why there are a zillion other things you could—or should—be doing. But when it comes right down to it,there is absolutely no acceptable excuse not to fit some daily physical activity into your life. Even if you already have illness or physical limitations, you still need to figure out what you can do and how to make yourself do it.

And you can’t afford to put it off, either. The more you avoid exercise, the more negative repercussions you face. Not only are you at higher risk of many diseases (or at risk of exacerbating illnesses you already have), you’re likely to have an earlier death. And in the shorter term, you’re likely to gain weight. Plus, you’re going to get flabby, feel less energetic, and become weaker. And this atrophy speeds up the older you get. So while you might not notice many deleterious effects of being inactive in your 20s, by the time you’re in your 50s or 60s it will make all the difference in how you look and feel. Want to be a 50-year-old who looks like an old fogey? Just continue not to exercise (and while you’re at it, eat badly, too). Or do you want to be one of those vibrant, active, inspirational 50-, 60-, or even 70-somethings? Well, you know what you need to do.

The question remains: How in the heck do you motivate yourself? There is no one perfect approach, you may need to have an arsenal of make-yourself-workout tactics to pull out when appropriate. Here are some ideas:

1. Give it 10 minutes.
This approach is surprisingly effective. If you can simply lace up your sneakers and get that patooty out the door, that’s 90 percent of the battle. Chances are you’ll get into the groove once you get started. Very few people quit once they are actually moving, but lots of folks never even make it to a genuine workout moment, despite their best intentions.

So, if you need to bribe yourself by committing to a mere 10 minutes only of walking or hopping on the cardio machine, then do that. Chances are, once you’re moving, you’ll keep on and extend the workout. But even if you did stop cold at 10 minutes, you will have still achieved something—climbed out of your rut. Plus, even a daily 10 minutes adds up to more than an hour a week of exercise that you might have otherwise missed.

2. Repeat  the reasons why you want to work out like a mantra.

Are you hoping to look better for a college reunion or wedding? Or are you wanting to look in the mirror and feel better about what you see? Are you wanting to have more energy to play with your kids or grandkids? Whatever it is that you know you can get from regular exercise, you need to wield that expectation like a weapon to bat away your urge to plop on the couch. Visualize what it is you want and how you will feel. Let that vision push you out the door, or onto an exercise machine.

3. Find an activity you like or a way to enjoy something you don’t.

Yes, it’s true: Cardio machines are boring as hell. But that’s what iPods and TVs are for. Cardio machines are tedious, but they are also a tool, and if you re-jig your perspective you might appreciate the multi-tasking ability you can take advantage of. For example, if you want to learn a language, load your iPod with some French or Spanish lessons and commit to listening three times a week while walking on the treadmill. Or, rather than laze on the sofa and read, load up an iBook and listen as you sweat. If you are a Lifetime movie fan or a political news junkie, what better way to waste all those viewing hours than by pedaling your way through them?

But gym machines are far from your only option.

Group fitness classes are designed to motivate you. That’s what an instructor is for. So promise yourself to try every single type of class on the schedule of your local club until you hit upon one that makes you want to go back. It could be sports conditioning or tap dance or step aerobics or Spinning. Better, commit to attending two different classes of each type, taught by different instructors. Some teachers have a personality that will inspire you. And some teachers have such excellent teaching skills  that they can present an aerobics routine in a way that has you empowered and actually doing the moves, rather than tripping your way through them. (By the way, if you feel like a klutz in a class, that’s the sign of a bad teacher; one who’s showing off their own moves, but not bothering to break them down into achievable steps that can be performed by non-pros.)

The gym might not even be your scene. Check out parks for group sports lessons like tennis or volleyball. Or check out dance and/or martial arts studios. Somewhere there’s bound to be an activity that clicks for you.

Do you have a fitness or weight-loss question for Martica? Send e-mail to experts@microsoft.com. Please include Ask Martica in the subject line. Each of our experts responds to one question each week and the responses are posted on Mondays on MSN Health. We regret that we cannot provide a personalized response to every submission.
Martica Heaner, Ph.D., M.A., M.Ed., is a Manhattan-based exercise physiologist and nutritionist, and an award-winning fitness instructor and health writer. She has a Ph.D. in behavioral nutrition and physical activity from Columbia University, and is also a NASM-certified personal trainer. She has written hundreds of articles for publications such as Self , Health , Prevention , The New York Times and others. Martica is the author of eight books, including her latest, Cross-Training for Dummies. (Read her full bio.) ]]> http://staceycapps.buddyslim.com/2009/07/15/battling-not-wanting-to-exercise-and-found-this/feed/ http://staceycapps.buddyslim.com/2008/12/04/my-heart-valves-are-leaking/ http://staceycapps.buddyslim.com/2008/12/04/my-heart-valves-are-leaking/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:40:45 +0000 staceycapps Weight Loss http://staceycapps.buddyslim.com/2008/12/04/my-heart-valves-are-leaking/ So, today I go see my cardiologist because they want to do a cardiolite stress test and I have been very afraid and thought going in and seeing the dr would alleviate some fears.  I haven’t seen him for awhile and I was very excited to note that I have lost 28 pounds since I saw him last.  The last time I had seen him I came in for a cardio ultrasound test but I hadn’t gotten the results so thought I’d get them too at this appointment. 

So, I am all smiles and he drops a bomb on me.  He says, “Your ultrasound has shown that your heart valves are leaking fluid”.  I have been feeling these fluttery feelings on the left side of my chest and thought it was gas.  So, I tell him about it and he tells me that’s what he’s talking about and I feel this when my valves are malfunctioning.  He says it can be remedied by weightloss.  I told him I have lost 28 pounds since the last time he saw me and he tells me that I still have a long way to go.  I agreed a long way!  But, I was feeling very scared!  I told him how scared I was about everything and the upcoming test.  He was good at reassuring me.  He says that he already knows I have this problem which can be corrected, the other test will show if there’s any damage and if anything further needs to be done but he’s going to put me on some meds after the test is done.  I take a lot of meds already for diabetes and high cholesterol.  My blood pressure was good tho, thank God or I would be on that too.

So, next week I go in for a Peripheal Arterial Test which will be an ultrasound of my lower extremeties, and then the 17th I have the stress test.  I am worried about the results but the dr convinced me it’s better to know ahead of time than to suffer a heart attack, but it’s pretty stressful!  I feel so angry that I let myself get this way and gain all this weight and that all of my illnesses are the result of my obesity.  I am hypersensitive to the fluttery feelings now and I seem to notice it all the time now which is adding to my stress.  And it seems to be taking me forever to lose weight these days and it’s mandatory that I do!

For those of you who do not know what a cardiolite stress test is, it is a heart test where they will give me an IV of some nuclear substance and then I will walk on a treadmill and then they take pictures of my heart.  Then, a few hours later, I come back and get more nuclear stuff and I will lay down.  It’s going to look at the blood flow and valves and all that stuff.  I am trying not to act like this is a big deal so I don’t have a complete panic attack when I go in.   But, I am pretty scared! 

I smell them and they do smell great!  So I think to myself, “Should I just eat these babies and start over tomorrow”?  Well, no.  I decided to let myself have a taste and that’s it.  That way I am not depriving myself.  I start to feel angry because he knows I am diabetic and that carbs and sugars will raise my blood glucose dangerously high.  I have told him time and time again that I can’t eat them.    Then I got to thinking, I have to realize that I am the only one in my home that has diabetes and it’s not fair to make my husband withhold from one of his favorite treats.  But, did he have to rub them in my face and wake me up with them?  No.  Hahaha, to get my revenge, I wrote all over the pink box, things like, “Death”, “Diabetic Coma”, “Stacey, do not eat these”, and I drew a big tombstone on the front which my husband got a chuckle out of.  I mean, my husband doesn’t bring me a lot of gifts so it’s hard not to be appreciative and it was a tough decision not to eat the donuts but I have to make my health more important than people’s feelings getting hurt.  I know he meant well.

Anyhow, while typing this, he came in and saw that I have started this blog.  Guess who’s in trouble now?

To try and get some momentum going I am starting the fruits and veggie challenge for us starting today.  The goal is just to try and eat 5 - 7 servings of fruits and veggies and check in with us how you are doing.  It will go until next Friday.  I think veggies are important to every dieter as the fiber is great, they fill you up, they are loaded with vitamins, and you can eat a lot of them for little calories.  I am hoping to implement this into my diet to help me with my plateau and then I got the idea to do it for the group. 

Come join the HipChicks under Weightloss Forum.  The more the merrier!!!

My solution is to just take it one day at a time.  I do hope I can get a part time job in 2009 to assist with some of the bills around here, and that is a driving force that keeps me motivated to lose weight.  Every pound I lose helps my diabetes to get more under control, and I need that to return to work.  I go for walks every night and I am seeing more homes in my neighborhood being moved out of and more foreclosures.  It just gets to me and I feel sorry for these families.  It could be us as we have no savings.  So, I am just wondering how you are all handling this and not overeating comfort foods.  I am trying to not turn to food for this, and believe me the walks really help!  Thanks for listening.

Well, since I have been active on Buddyslim, after a year of just sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else losing weight, I had the opportunity to start getting rid of some of those old clothes.  I can’t believe I wore some of them out of the house!!!!  They were covered in grease stains, mystery stains, and eeewwwwwwww,  what was I thinking?  I usually try to dress up better if I am going somewhere like the grocery store, out in public, etc, but why did I think I didn’t deserve to look better FOR ME???!!!!  I can’t believe how low my self esteem was.  It’s getting better but I do have a long way to go.  I still focus on what I can’t do a lot rather than what I can do. 

I have been walking everyday trying to get healthier to battle this diabetes I have and I hope to be an example for others to see that I have it and I am living with it.  I am trying to believe that I deserve to look good for me.  I have gotten so deep in that comfort rut that anything but baggy pants and baggy shirts are not appealing to me but I do look much better in the better fitting clothes.  So, this is a weightloss journey, and for me it’s about rediscovering me and learning about my attributes and stop trying to hide myself away in some old, greasy, baggy big ass shirts. 

Yes, I still have a long way to go, but I am on a path to get there.  The weight didn’t come on in a couple of months so it’s ridiculous to think I can lose it in a few months.  I am tired of being depressed and feeling lazy!!!  I am always talking about how i faked or pretended getting motivated in the beginning to start losing weight.  Basically, you just set a mindset and you pretend that you want to go for a walk even if you don’t.  So, you end up going for a walk.  It worked before, so today I am going to fake being motivated and enthusiastic.  I am going to fake feeling great, and by golly, I betcha I end up having a glorious day.  It usually works.  It helped me lose 28 pounds so far, so hopefully, this will help me get back to my happy self!!!

Being a diabetic, I look at the whole picture.  Yes, I am stuck at the same weight, but my blood glucose numbers are doing great, and I have dropped a size in my clothing, and I feel so much better!  It must be good as my endocrinologist went around his office telling everyone I was morphing and he called me “mildly diabetic”, and was just thrilled with my “excellent” numbers on my labs.  So, I guess if this is what it’s about being on a plateau, I surely can’t complain!!!  I have faith that if I keep doing what’s working for my health, then of course I will be weighing in one morning and the scale will actually say 236!!!!