live your life with purpose
Guaranteed 10 pound weight loss in 2 weeks- Can anyone really guarantee results? Is that even possible? I see it all the time. All over the internet. All over gyms and in print ads. Back up a second. What kind of results could be …
Well, not MY house, but the house I lived in as a little kid. 409 North Euclid. The busiest street in Pierre. The main drag. The cool place to be. The simple life of being a kid. I learned so much during that time. …
I have to admit that I have tried so many different ways of eating. I wanted the quick fix. I wanted to feel fabulous in 10 days, or 30 days or however many days. I wanted to just make that fucking change to start the ball rolling. Who doesn’t feel that way? I tried so hard I developed an eating disorder because of it and a few other factors. Enter high school gymnastics…
I can remember being in high school and I had a gymnastics coach who wanted me to lose weight. He wanted me to lose 10 pounds. At that time I weighed 116 pounds. I remember feeling so shitty and so defeated and most of all I felt like a big fat cow (even though I wasn’t). Bulimia became my thing. I was really good at it. Want to know what foods come up easier? I can tell you. Want to know which ones don’t? I can tell you that too. t lasted for about 3 or 4 years. For some reason I just stopped. I honestly think I was tired of hiding it. Tired of eating a ton of food and then trying to find a place to throw up. Being ashamed and just wanting to feel healthy and not tired and run down. I wanted to be normal. It is a scary and powerful disorder. Once in a while though, and I mean once in a while, like maybe one or two times a year, if I have been overeating, that dark place in my mind, that asshole called doubt comes creeping in and tries to tell me to just get rid of that food. I don’t let it control me. I move on. Sometimes that is a hard thing to do. I have grown a ton and I do know that would be the worst thing I could do for my health, so I move on. I think to this day, however, I still have some body image issues, but I will say I am pretty happy with how I look. I also have a pretty healthy relationship with food now. I am super strong and I have muscles. I will never be skinny. I’m not built that way. I have super strong shoulders and legs. I actually like my body type. My body functions well and I love that.
You don’t have to eat perfectly. You don’t have to be perfect. Perfect is, well, perfectly stupid. NOBODY is perfect. You need to quit telling yourself that you will start Monday or when you get back from vacation. Stop putting it off. If you don’t just start, you will never see the changes you are trying to implement.
Strop striving for perfection. Guess what? You can mess up and keep going. You didn’t fall off the wagon. THERE IS NO FUCKING WAGON!! You don’t have to face plant into crap food for weeks, because you messed up. Start slow and start forming habits that will stay with you the rest of your life.
Wondering where to start? My answer: you just fucking start. You do, however, have to be ready. So how do you know if you’re ready? Trust me, you know. Don’t fool yourself and make excuses. Pants too damn tight? Tired of feeling sick and tired? Feel like a fricking bloated whale? Does your skin look like shit? Is your sleep crappy? Feel like a failure? Sound familiar? See, you do know.
I say it all the time, consistency will get you where you want to be. And after all, how do you think habits form? Yep, with consistency.
My style of eating is not a quick fix. It’s not a challenge. I try to stay consistent with my eating habits and try not to overindulge. Don’t get me wrong, I do indulge, but I keep it in check. Thinking more gray and less extreme AND eating slowly has been a game changer for me.
Try it some time and let me know how it works for you.
This is the last update in my series of updates on my adventures with hormones. I am happy to say that the menopause symptoms are still staying away. It is weird that even though I had a uterine ablation, I can still feel things. What …
Sorry, I’m a few weeks late in writing this update. I am happy to report that I have no menopause symptoms! How crazy is that? Hot flashes are completely gone and so are all the other symptoms I had. It seems crazy that it can …
Are you familiar with the phrase, “The soundtrack of my life?” It is so strange, but I bet I have heard it at least ten times this week. Not even kidding. Not even one little bit. I started a blog post early this week, and have been working on it on and off all week. But, for some reason, I keep hearing the soundtrack phrase. My posts lately have been a lot of about life. Something has been telling me to keep this phrase in the back of my mind.
I have been reflecting a lot on life, as you know with my previous couple of blog posts. Might as well keep it rolling. It’s been said that your experiences in life shape you. They mold you. They help to form who you are and who you become. I was definitely under the influence of Mellencamp.
I started thinking about how my friend, Heidi, and I went to the John Mellencamp concert last year. He was the soundtrack of my youth and still with my life. He is also Heidi’s favorite singer. Just kidding. She indulged me. She tagged along with me. She knew what it meant to me. She’s a great friend.
So we traveled to Sioux Falls to the Washington Pavillion. We were in the third or fourth row, center stage. Perfect seats.
I hope you enjoy this blog post, even if it is a repeat.
Have you ever realized how much of an influence someone has had on your life? Except you didn’t realize it until way later in life. When you got to see that person after about 37 years. This person was someone you looked up to, someone whose style you copied, someone who was the epitome of cool and badass. That person for me is John Mellencamp. I have been a fan since I was a sophomore in high school. He has been influencing me most of my life.
Last night, my friend and traveling partner, Heidi, and I went to his Plain Spoken concert in Sioux Falls. I got the tickets way back in March, hoping that the South Dakota November weather would hold out and be good so we wouldn’t have to worry about snow or icy roads. It did.
My first memory of his music was the song, “Ain’t Even Done With The Night.” That song takes me right back to the causeway. The place where in high school we went to hang out or to make out or to drink. I remember standing against the car and this song came on and I instantly connected with those lyrics. “You say that’s all right, hold tight / Well I don’t even know if I’m doin’ this right / Well all right, hold tight / We can stay out all day or we can run around all night…” I was with a guy from my class. Man, I liked that boy. I saw him at our 30 year class reunion in 2012. Fond memories.
The most popular album the year I graduated (1982) was American Fool. The songs Jack and Diane, Hurts So Good; Hand to Hold On To; Weakest Moments, to name a few. I remember driving up and down Euclid (the main drag) with the windows down and the music blaring. That was a great album. Yep, album. At that time it was albums and cassette tapes.
He greatly influenced my style. Because of him I wore jean jackets. Because of him I wore penny loafers. Because of him I wore shoes that looked like pointy toe cowboy boots. Because of him I wore black t-shirts. Shit, he’s probably the reason I smoked (I have since quit smoking for many many years). I’m also blaming him for my tattoos. I was 16 when I got my first one.
I remember specifically driving with a friend of mine and the radio telling us that coming up in the next 15 minutes John Cougar Mellencamp’s Lonley Ol’ Night. We would actually drive around longer, just to hear that song.
The song Great Midwest from the album John Cougar (1979) is one of my favorite songs. The lyrics are so relevant even today. My favorite line is, “If you’re gonna stick around here you better make yourself some real good friends.” Gets me every time I hear it. Because really, if you don’t have some good friends, you have nothing
Human Wheels and What If I Came Knocking got me through a divorce and a lot of workouts. A lot of soul searching happened during that time in my life.
His music and his influence got me through a lot of shit in my life.
Let me paint the picture of the concert. It was held at the Washington Pavillion in Sioux Falls, SD. We drove the 225 miles to get there. It is a small venue and so inviting. We went in and found our seats. Are you kidding me? I didn’t realize our seats would be that good. Row C, as in row 3, as in front and center, as in I might die. Seats 13 and 14. Perfection. Right in the center of the stage.
Carlene Carter opened for him. She is the daughter of June Carter Cash and step-daughter of Johnny Cash. She was amazing. What a voice. What a story. What a lady. She was a treat.
And then, it was time. All these years of being a fan. All these years of being influenced by him. All these years of waiting to see and hear him. I wondered if it would be disappointing. Sometimes they never sound as good live. Sometimes you don’t want to wreck the persona. Sometimes you just don’t want to be disappointed.
His band came out and they were dressed in suits. Wow! Different! At least a full minute or longer later he comes strutting out. And I mean strutting. Holy! It was so exciting to see him live. He was dressed in black jeans, black suit jacket and the signature Mellencamp, white t shirt with black vest under the suit jacket. Sometimes he changes up the shirt, but the vest is usually there.
The first song was Lawless Times. His voice sounded great. The deepness, the smoker’s rasp. I couldn’t believe I was there, seeing him live. My influence. My crush. My life’s soundtrack.
So many great songs…such a great mix. Crumbling Down and the Authority Song – penny loafer influence.
Lonely Ol’ Night – jean jacket influence
Paper In Fire and Cherry Bomb – the pointy boot shoe influence
It truly was such a special night. A true bucket list event for me. The crowd was rocking, the atmosphere was amazing, and the venue was small. It was magical. It was worth it getting home at 2 a.m. Of course, we listened to his music most of the way home.
Being under the influence of John Mellencamp for a big part of my life has definitely been a positive experience. Thanks for the memories Mellencamp…
“Days turn to minutes and minutes to memories.”
I will be starting week 5 of my hormone journey. In four weeks I lost 5 pounds and have started to feel less tired, less bitchy and overall pretty great. If you remember from my last post I am eating foods that are anti-estrogenic, along …
Hormone: A chemical substance produced in the body that controls and regulates the activity of certain cells or organs. Many hormones are secreted by special glands, such as thyroid hormone produced by the thyroid gland. Hormones are essential for every activity of life, including …
I am finishing up with my Precision Nutrition Level 2 course and can’t help but reflect on a few things that I feel contribute to the health and obesity epidemic in our country. A very important, yet simple lesson asks us to focus on eating slowly and without distractions. This in and of itself is an amazing concept. I mean, who the hell does that? Does anyone do that anymore? Do you remember as a kid sitting down with the family and eating supper or lunch or even breakfast? Do you remember tasting your food? Do you remember the texture and appearance of your food? Do you remember telling your family members about your day or what you were studying in school or what problems you were having? I do. I remember supper was always at 6 p.m. No earlier, no later. We all sat down and ate our meal TOGETHER. We didn’t rush. We took our time.
Conversely, look at families today. We are all busy. Working, coaching baseball or soccer or fill in the blank, because that’s what people do. The busier the better, right? I think not.
So, let’s take a look at what a meal might look like. It’s 6:30 p.m., you just got home from work and have to rush the kids to soccer at 7. What the hell are you going to fix for supper? Supper? What the hell is supper? Hello McDonald’s or Burger King or Taco John’s. Everyone shovels in the food like they are in the Hot Dog Eating Contest and out the door you run to make it in time for soccer.
Or another scenario. Johnny is playing video games after school with his friends and doesn’t want to come and eat supper. So you take him and his friends some pizza rolls and pop and chips to eat while they are playing. You took a lot of food in there too. You go check on them half an hour later and notice that there is NO food left. How the hell did that happen? Mindless eating. That’s how that happened.
So, this is my point. The more out of tune we are with our bodies and our mindfulness and our super fast eating and just not having time, in my opinion, contributes to kids and adults being overweight and even obese. How many people watch TV while eating? How many are on their smartphones, checking FB or Insta or snapping away while eating. Can you imagine how much more food a person eats while being so distracted. I can. I’ve done it. As a society, it’s what we do. I really believe we need to change this.
When a person slows down their eating and really starts to feel the cues they are getting from their body, it is amazing how much you start to realize that you are full way before all the food you put on your plate is gone. Pretty soon, you start losing weight. You start feeling better about yourself. You start having more energy and you even sleep better. Who wouldn’t want to feel that way?
People will always say they just don’t have time to make meals. Well here is a little time saver for you. It’s called meal prep. Meal prepping on the weekends is huge. It is pretty easy to take a few hours out of your day and make meals for the coming week. The kids can even help you out here and then you teach them another life skill. Cooking. What a concept. Another plus is you get to truly bond with your kids and have a positive influence on them. What parent wouldn’t want that?
Just try.
Try slowing your roll. Try getting your family together for supper as often as you can, or make it breakfast if that works better. Look at each other. Talk to each other. Learn how to communicate. Slow down your eating and learn how to feel the cues your body is giving you. Teach your children how to communicate. Teach them how to talk to someone and look that person in the eye. Teach them respect. Let’s get over this BS of being so busy. Take the time to reconnect with your spouse. Take the time to reconnect with your children. Listen to each other, not the TV, not your phone, not video games. Turn off the distractions and turn on to each other.
Just try.
I’m not talking about thigh gaps here. What I am talking about is gaps in your life. Gaps in where you are and where you want to be. Take a minute and think about it. Think about your life at this moment. Are you where …