My favorite healthy meal

Here is the recipe for the best soup ever! It's extremely healthy and it lasts for DAYS. It also feels like comfort food. I haven't counted the calories, but it's all vegetables, so I'm sure it's relatively low.

So I get out my big pot from Ikea that I love so much. And I just start dumping the following things in:

3 cans chili-ready diced tomatoes--I use cheap Great Value brand from Wal-Mart
4 cans of water (using one of the tomato cans)
2 packages of taco seasoning
1 can mild Rotel (use spicier if you like spicy)
3 cans black beans
1 bag frozen corn
1 bag frozen green beans
1 bag frozen carrots
1 bag seasoning blend of chopped onions and green peppers

Once everything is in the pot, put the stove on medium to high and stir every 10 minutes or so. It takes about 45 minutes for it to be ready. However, it's even better if you put it in the refrigerator overnight after it's been cooked, then take it out the next day and have it for lunch. All the flavors have come together by then and it's excellent! So I usually have my first bowl the following day.

To make it even more hearty, you can add a little bit of low-fat grated cheddar cheese and have it with a few crackers. I've never counted the number of servings, but it's at least 8 or so.

If I have this soup in my refrigerator, it is soooo easy to bypass fast food because nothing sounds as good as this soup! I made it last night and had it for breakfast and lunch today! Yummy!

New attitude

I am changing my attitude.

For the past couple of years, I've had the attitude that in order to lose weight, I must NEVER put into place habits that I'm not willing to keep forever.

This philosophy came about for very good reason. Many years ago, I lost over 100 pounds by killing myself working out everyday and being extremely active and eating VERY healthy 90 percent of the time.

Once I reached my goal weight, I began to slack off on the working out and I gradually started eating more and more crap again. I never completely went back to the terrible diet I had before I lost all the weight, but just slacking off and not being as strict caused me to pack the pounds back on QUICKLY---plus about 50 EXTRA pounds.

Therefore, I created the new philosophy that to lose weight again, I would never do anything that I wasn't willing to do for the rest of my life because I never wanted to gain the weight back again (plus more), once it was lost.

That has really hurt me.

For example, when I think, "Man, I should really try to work out a couple of times a day to get this weight off." I immediately think, "Wait a minute. I don't want to work out twice a day for the rest of my life, so I shouldn't get my body used to that now. I'll just gain it all back."

Another example: I think, "I should really stop eating fast food while I'm trying to lose weight." I immediately think, "Wait a minute. I don't want to not ever eat fast food for the rest of my life. So I shouldn't start that now. I'll just gain it all back."

Therefore, it's always "okay" in my mind to eat fast food or eat junk food because I never want to completely give that up. It's never a "bad thing" in my mind, when in reality, it is a bad thing because it's too much a part of my regular eating habits right now.

I feel like I'm rambling and not making sense.

Point is--I'm changing my attitude. Watching the Biggest Loser and hearing Biggest Loser winner Danny Cahill talk---he talks about two different modes. There is "losing weight mode" and there is "maintaining mode".

It wasn't the "losing weight" mode that failed me before. I had GREAT success there!! It was the "MAINTAINING MODE" that failed me. That's what I didn't do right. I slacked off too much, too soon.

And why am I so worried about the "maintaining mode" when I am still 150 pounds overweight!!?? I need to be focused on the "losing weight mode"!

So my new attitude---do what it takes to get this freakin' weight OFF now. I'm not talking about taking pills or doing anything extreme. I'm talking about healthy eating and exercise. I'm giving myself permission to totally cut out fast food for now. I'm giving myself permission to work out several times a day for now. Do what it takes to get the weight off now.

Worry about maintaining when the time comes. Focus on losing weight.

New blog title!

I love my new blog title! It was "Fat to Fit in 2009", however, that was not practical. It's going to take lots of small steps for me to become fit. I've made great progress in 2009. But, if I do it the way I really want to do it, it's going to take a much longer time for me to get to the "fit" category.

Therefore, I changed the title of my blog.

"FIT BEFORE 40!"

I love it! I turned 37 years old last month. That gives me almost 3 years. Does it mean I'm going to slack off for 2 years, then try to cram it all in? No. That gives me time to continue to make the small changes I've been making on my road to health.

I am determined to get fit without the assistance of surgery. I have several friends who have had the lapband or gastric bypass done in the last couple of years and they have had HUGE success. Good for them! I have been rooting them on the whole time and have been super excited for them. But I really feel like this is something I need to do without surgery, although I haven't ruled out surgery as an option later on down the road if I'm not making real progress on my own.

One way or another, I WILL be fit before 40.

Accountability

Well, I wanted accountability. Now I've got accountability.

In the last couple of years, when I've tried to lose weight, I mostly did it silently. I didn't talk about my weight much. I didn't want others to know what I was doing, because what if I failed? I didn't want to be embarrassed. I didn't want everyone to know what a failure I was.

So this time around, I thought I needed more accountability. I needed more support for my weight loss battle. So I've been telling everyone!! I'm sure people are sick of me talking about it!

Here is some of the accountability I have right now:

1. I have my own accountability group of 7 awesome women!! We are all working on our own goals, but my biggest one is "extreme self care" and becoming healthy. We meet once a month and talk about the progress we've made on our goals.

2. I joined a "First Place" weight loss group. We meet every Thursday and weigh in and share our struggles and victories with each other. It is also very new.

3. I joined a much smaller gym in town and got to know the owner/personal trainer there. That keeps me more accountable because the gym is small enough that she easily knows who is there and who is not! Again---a new thing for me.

4. I signed up for a "Biggest Loser" fundraiser for my favorite non-profit--- http://www.discovery-training.com/ . I ask people to "sponsor" me and for each pound I lose by Jan. 16th, they donate a certain amount to the non-profit. For example, ifi someone sponsors me for $2 a pound and I lose 20 pounds during that time, the person donates $40. I have about 15 people signed up to sponsor me so far and I don't want to have to tell them, "Uhmmm...I owe you money. I gained 5 pounds." People are asking me all the time how I'm doing! (It just started Oct. 10th.)

5. Not to mention, this blog. This blog itself is giving me accountability because I'm putting all this out into the world and being incredibly honest. I'm still struggling to make lasting progress, but I haven't given up and I won't until I'm healthy. I will get there.

The accountability is really kicking in. That's a very good thing.

I miss diet coke!!

I'm definitely cutting down on aspartame. I'm down to about two diet cokes a week. That is a big improvement! By the end of the month, I hope to have Diet Coke out of my diet for good.

But I've cut out everything else with aspartame---it's amazing how many products have it! The rest were relatively easy to cut out. The Diet Coke is the toughest one.

I think about having one every single day!

Another positive---when I used to order diet coke, I now order water. So I'm not only getting less aspartame, but I'm getting more water!

Aspartame

The road to health and fitness isn't just about losing weight and counting calories. I want to be HEALTHY. I want to take care of my body and fuel it with good things---not a bunch of crap and chemicals, like I've been doing the last few years.

So in addition to working out and eating better overall, I'm choosing one bad thing at a time to stop digesting. The first one I'm working on is ASPARTAME and all other chemically-produced sugar substitutes.

When I first started using sugar substitutes many years ago, like most people, I thought I was doing a good thing. I was cutting calories, right? That's good for me, right? Wrong.

According to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aspartame (in products like Equal and most "sugar-free" or "light" food items) has 92 listed side effects including memory loss, nerve cell damage, migraines, reproductive disorders, mental confusion, brain lesions, joint pain, Alzheimer's, bloating, nervous system disorders, hair loss, food cravings and weight gain.

I have been FILLING myself with Aspartame the last few years. Again, I thought I was doing something good. I switched from:

• Pepsi/Coke to Diet Pepsi/Coke
• Yogurt to "Light" Yogurt
• Jello Pudding to "Sugar-Free" Jello Pudding
• Putting sugar in my iced tea to putting "Equal" (aspartame) in my iced tea
• Putting sugar in my coffee to putting "Equal" (aspartame) in my coffee
• Putting sugar in my oatmeal to putting "Equal" (aspartame) in my oatmeal

And the list goes on. I used to buy a 200-pack box of Equal every 3-4 weeks. Used every bit of it each time and would panic when I ran out. I made this total switch about 7 years ago.

Have I lost weight during that time? No. I've gained weight. A lot of it.

Another thing that's happened to me during that time span is that I've been losing my hair. It started in a big way about 2002. I used to have the thickest, most beautiful hair. Suddenly, it was just everywhere. Every time I brushed my hair, it was just all over the place.

I asked my hair stylist about it in 2002, and she said women go thru periods of "shedding" their hair and it would probably stop soon. Well, it didn't. For 7 years, I've been losing hair and couldn't figure out why.

Now, I don't know for sure if the large amounts of aspartame have caused this, but it seems like there could be a correlation there. I'm anxious to see if my hair continues to fall out after a few months of my aspartame-ban.

So yesterday, for the first time, I bought regular yogurt, instead of light yogurt. The regular yogurt is 170 calories, while the light yogurt is around 100 calories.

It seems counter-intuitive to go UP in calories to be more healthy, but it's not just about weight loss. It's about my overall health and TAKING CARE of my body.

The diet pepsi/coke is going to be the hardest one to get rid of. It may take me a few weeks. But I can do it.

So my October challenge---GET RID OF ASPARTAME!!

Good month

Well, I went through the whole month of September without a post here! However, that doesn't mean I haven't been making progress in my health and fitness journey. I made sooooo much progress in September!!

I started doing 6:30 a.m. workouts at a local gym---that has been going GREAT. As much as I would like to workout at ANY OTHER TIME besides 6:30 a.m., it's just not practical. Getting up earlier to work out is just the ONLY time I know nothing else will get in the way. So it's the only time of the day I've been able to be consistent.

I just have to accept that I will be starting every weekday (unless I'm sick or on vacation) with a workout for the rest of my life. It needs to be a lifelong habit, if I'm going to be healthy and fit. Once I accept this fact and stop moaning and groaning about it, the better off I will be.

Also in the month of September: I joined a new weight loss group that I'm very excited about, I am working with a personal trainer who is really helping to keep me accountable (and makes sure I show up for those 6:30 a.m. workouts!), I started walking my dog to get some extra exercise in and I am filling my mind with healthy thoughts by reading books on health and fitness.

The one I've read the most is "Skinny B*tch". Yes, the name of the book has an obscenity in it, which I don't like because it makes it more difficult to talk about or recommend to anyone! And the book itself is filled with profanity, which makes it even harder!

But it is one of the best health books I've ever read. It is real and very straight-forward and also quite entertaining to read (if you can get past the profanity), while still being incredibly informative.

I'll talk more about this book in future posts, but it is really having a positive effect on me.

September has been a GREAT month for me. I'm really on the right track---food and exercise both---and it will just get better in October!