Listening to Myself

Why is it that we as humans are really good at giving advice to others, but can't seem to notice the log in our own eye and take our own advice? I have learned many healthy bits over the years and the changes I have applied this week are facts that I already knew and have actually recently shared to others who were seeking advice or encouragement, yet it took some serious frustration to see that I am not applying it to myself.
Last week after I posted my blog, Biggest Loser was on that evening. For the first time since watching BL I was ticked off instead of motivated. It was their first weigh in of the season and they have been on the ranch for a full week which always makes for huge weight loss, because they have had such a drastic change in their diet and exercise. As I watched them weigh in, the least weight loss was 12 lbs and the largest was 41 lbs...in a freakin' week! Here I am struggling to lose 2 lbs a week and in the overall time I have been trying to concentrate on this not even a total of 41 lbs which this guy lost in a week! Damn! I was so ticked off! I sat and glared at the TV, my arms crossed in front of me, wiping away tears of pure madness, mad as hell that I was struggling and not seeing very good results on my journey. Mad I was not chosen to be on the show (which I have never felt until that moment) I stayed mad through the night and felt depressed the next day, so I started reading some of my health magazines and books glancing for any clues as to what I need to change for success.
One that popped out was actually one I have told contestants on BL (talking to the TV) ...LOL my oh my..there it is right in front of me and in so many exercise articles... "change up what you are doing"! The reason I have talked to the TV on biggest loser is when they weigh in and have either gained a pound or barley lost 1lb and they have worked their butts off all week,  I know enough about this to say" girl you are doing the same exercise routine day in and day out change it up, your body is now used to this regimen". I think I did not realize this in myself,  because I have had some great improvements that I did not think of it in terms of it being the same thing over and over again. I have been doing balance things for a warm up for 20-30 minutes before I venture into cardio and the training plus segments on my Wii. Then I alternate cardio in between other exercises. Same routine for the last month. Take my own advice and change it up!
Another thing I learned with which I already knew; to lose a pound, you must burn 3,500 calories. I also know about starvation dieting trying to take in less calories and I have been doing that out of desperation lately. You see if you eat less than 1,200 calories a day you sabotage the results. I was not eating enough through the day and end out with the munchies at 9:30 -10pm and make a bunch of popcorn  to munch out on, double sabotage. Cardio is weight loss extra credit! It allows you to burn extra calories without actually over training which can happen with resistance training.  As Jullian Michaels says: Do the math! If you are eating 1,500 calories a day and assume your BMR is about 1,600 and you do 2 cardio workouts a day ( morning & night) the two sessions burning 500 calories each along with your daily activities will speed up your metabolism to at least 2,000. As a result, you will have burned about 1,500 calories that day and that is almost half a pound. At that rate you will be losing up to 3.5 pounds a week. Thank you Jillian for the  reminder on the math and not starving oneself to skimp on the calorie intake! I knew this at one point and have shared recently to someone else not to starve themselves cause it messes up your metabolism..Take my own advice and eat! don't starve yourself!
 Another healthy piece of advice which I have heard over and over from my trainers to magazine articles, from my own flippin mouth, " Don't weigh yourself, but once a week!" I have gotten so obsessive about weighing myself and would tell myself to stop it, but not listen to myself or all the advice being poured out to me. I think that weighing myself everyday created stressful frustrating confusion in my head and body. To many head games happening that it was sabotaging my efforts. Take the advice and weigh myself once a week!
I have recently also signed up for an online 8 week email thing called Experience Life Action Challenge where they send you an email on Mondays with simple steps to make healthy changes throughout the week. So I will have some more tips on hand when I need to make other changes in the future and yes, I will be applying them now too.
This week I made some changes listening to what I already knew and needed to apply. I even ran the lap around the Island on Wii  which is the longest run I have done so far. It was a challenge for sure. I had to encourage myself thru the whole run to not give up, letting myself know I was half way done, that I could do it. Telling myself how good it will feel to accomplish another step and completing something that has been hard to do. When I got done...I was beaming, smiling and it felt wonderful. It was a 12 minute run, double what I have done so far. I am now wondering how long it would take me to run a mile, because I feel like I might be there or close. I need to hit up a track and measure it. Booya to me!
So now the question is; did the changes help? Did I have a successful week? Did I lose weight?
It is funny how much seeing a number on the scale can bring tears or confidence, this week it is confidence! I was in total shock stepping on that Wii seeing the BMI # lower than I have ever seen it! My mouth dropped open when I saw my weight, I sat down and shed a happy tear, I lost 4.4 lbs.
 I am cheering and joyous, because the one thing I can measure changed for the good, I listened to myself and applied what I have learned. I am moving forward, running a new lap and feeling great about my accomplishments.