I have to lose weight for my health...isn't that a great reason to have to do it?

I have Multiple Sclerosis and my being overweight dramaticaly affects my health. The biggest reason is that the additional weight is a stressor to my body. Anything that puts stress on me irritates my disease symptoms.

Here is a great blog that I go to: www.mylifewithms.com

I believe that I am having more problems functioning right now because I have gained 20 pounds in the last year and a half. This is not good.

I read this really interesting method of eating for people that have this type of autoimmune disease:
- no canned food
- no frozen food
- no processed food
- no saturated fat

Suspiciously, this same method of eating will help me lose weight and improve my lifestyle with MS. Hmmm. How about that!

Why is weight loss so hard and chocolate cake so delicious?

I am desperately trying to lose weight and I have got chocolate cake in the fridge that is calling my name like nobody's business. It is not even really that good but it is calling me like crazy.

Now is the time of year to immerse ourselves in the amazing food we have available with summer harvests. I have already gone ape over the fresh strawberries, blueberries and watermelon. I am also going to try my hand at summer soups. Anything to get my mind off the delicious chocolate cake in the fridge! If I can get past this, I can get past anything!

I just have to focus on good stuff in and good stuff will appear on my body!!

Maybe you shouldn't eat pizza when you are trying to lose weight?

Last night I ate a ton of pizza and cheesy garlic bread. Instead of beating myself up about it this morning...I bounced out of bed and worked out. I also planned a better quality food day so I will be less likely to get in trouble on my weight loss path. The more I get derailed, the more determined I am. I find that if I plan out my day, I will be more inclined to make better choices should a juicy eating opportunity pop up.

So what am I going to do different today?

1) Drink a ton of water to flush that pizza out.
2) Be discerning about my food choices all day long and realize that I do have a choice.
3) Quit thinking of food as the devil and fighting it. I can have anything I want to eat. I just choose to make better choices and not eat that ________ right now!

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!

Weight loss and your head!

I am continuing in my struggle to lose weight. I must say that I am getting a certain resolve to lose these remaining pounds. I look at it as really small (37 pounds) because I used to weigh so much. Plus, I know I will look and feel amazing once I lose 10 pounds so it is not really the amount of weight I need to lose that worries me.

I am stressed out about how I look right now in my tight clothes.

You always look great when you are losing and awful when you are gaining. I believe that is the way the fat appears on your body at the two different points in time. I could weigh 170 and seem slim because my body fat is shrinking. I could way the same weight but be going the other direction and I have saddle bags as big as the vacuum cleaner!!!

That is where I am now. Really flabby and that is why I can not show my arms. I have been making some poor quality choices for months so I am not surprised. I just have to get myself on the other side of the hill so I am talking myself out of bad choices or pumping myself up for weight loss and how great I will look and feel.

Nothing tastes as good as skinny looks (no matter how delicious I think that chocolate will be)!!

Week after week I say "okay this is it - I am back on the weight loss program." Each week I sacrifice my good weight loss habits for the snack of the moment. Well, yesterday I went to try on clothes and I am almost in a size 14 pants. THIS IS ENOUGH!

For two years I have needed to get back on track in my weight loss efforts. I had two cold hard slaps in the face over the last couple of days. The one mentioned above plus I was horrified when I wore short sleeves the other day and caught myself in the mirror. I had giggly arms!

This is it. I weighed 172 this morning. My goal is 135. That is 37 pounds to lose. I have already lost 70+ pounds of weight. I can lose 37. More importantly, in about 12 pounds, I will be able to wear sleeveless again. That is huge as sleeveless is my summer wardrobe!

I will succeed. Just watch me. The only I can control is what I put in my mouth.

The Key to Weight Loss

No matter what I try to do to lose weight, it seems that I can't win. There is one exception to this strange enigma. When I eat six to eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day I tend to

- eat less in general
- make better quality food choices
- and elect to take the high road when it comes to cheating.

And guess what? I am actually putting healthy nutrients in my body. When I stay on course with this eating plan, I don't have to manage my eating habits the rest of the day.

What are your weight loss good luck charms?

Do you really want lap band or gastic bypass surgery when you could take a potentially safer and more effective route to weight loss?

I weighed 75 pounds more than I do today just a couple of years ago. I lost it slowly. Just the same way as I put on my body. I gained the weight over several years so it seems logical that the safe way to lose the weight was to take it off slowly. In hindsight, it took longer than planned but I am so glad that I didn't lose the weight (seemingly) overnight.

Losing or gaining weight is very emotional. It takes time to cultivate and process emotions. I don't know how people move through the phases quickly as must be what happens during quick and dramatic weight loss. I saw a dear friend of mine go through a huge range of emotions when she had lap band surgery. She looked amazing at first but she struggled through a lot of things long after her body had changed. Part of her weight came back because she wasn't physically prepared for the emotional part of the weight loss and she wasn't logistically prepared for her new way of eating.

Coincidentially, every one that I know who has undergone weight loss surgery, has gained some amount of the weight back. Have you seen Al Roker lately?

Weight loss is hard and it needs a certain amount of attention which takes time, wouldn't you agree?