SisterhoodTag Archives

Run the 'Hood Virtual 5k/10k

In case you haven’t already heard, the Sisterhood is going to be hosting our 3rd annual Run the ‘Hood Virtual 5k/10k on October 22. Yes, you read that correctly, we’ve added a 10k distance this year! You know what else we’ve added? Some totally kick ass t-shirts & finisher’s medals, too! How sweet is that?!

You can check out the event details and/or the FAQs over at the Sisterhood or go directly to our EventBrite registration page to sign up. If you’re on Facebook, we even have an event page there as well!

I’ve already registered for the event and hope you’ll join me! Until next time …

17 August 2011

Uncategorized

0 comments

10k, 5k, Races, races, Run the 'Hood, Sisterhood, Training

Thankful Thursday

Wow, I can’t believe how quickly this week is flying by! Of course, part of that could be due to the fact that I’ve slept through a good portion of it trying to get over the crud. That having been said, I’m feeling much better today and thankful that tomorrow is Friday. Bring on the weekend!

Today was the deadline for the Perdue Short Cuts giveaway. I’ll have random.org select a winner tonight and will post the results tomorrow. Good luck to everyone who entered!

For today’s Project Grateful to Be Me entry, I’m going with my sense of humor. Despite the many challenges I’ve faced in life, and there have been a lot, I’m still basically a happy person who loves to laugh. One of my favorite things in life is hanging out with any of my really good friends (yeah, some blog more than others ). I love just getting goofy and laughing our heads off. It just doesn’t get much better than that! I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends that are definitely more of a family to me than is my biological family. I love you all so much and I’m so thankful to have you as part of my life.

I’m also very thankful to have met so many amazing women through the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, especially my fellow team members of Team Shrinking Jeans. You have all enriched my life in more ways than you will ever know!

Until next time …

4 November 2010

Thoughts

0 comments

Giveaway, Project Grateful, Sisterhood, Team Shrinking Jeans

Living in the Past

Since it’s Wednesday, I’ll start off quickly by giving my recap for the Shrinkvivor challenge for the Sisterhood. After that, I’ll get on to the primary purpose of this post.

Shrinkvivor Weigh-In #3

Loss This Week: 1.8
Total Challenge Loss: 6.6
Total Minutes of Exercise: 335 (5 hours 35 minutes)
No drive-thru stops this week

All in all, a very successful Shrinkvivor week.

Last night I was watching this week’s episode of The Biggest Loser (love that show!) and Bob Harper (one of the trainers) made a comment to a contestant that resonated through me right down to my very core. It made me stop and think so much that I actually turned off my DVR and haven’t even finished watching the show yet. Here’s what he said:

“You can’t live in the past anymore because it’s beating.you.up. It’s time to move forward. It’s time to forgive yourself and move forward. Who knows what the future holds for you, but right now, you have today.”

This is an issue I’ve struggled with during my adult life. Hell, for pretty much my entire life, if truth be told. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been dealing with some PTSD issues the past several days. The PTSD is the result of childhood trauma that lasted for nearly 10 years. I’ve also had on-going issues with several members of my family for the past decade as a result of that trauma. It’s gotten to the point over the past couple of years that we no longer speak other than for family emergencies such as illness, death, etc.

I often catch myself blaming the fact that I no longer have a relationship with them on myself. I think things like, “If I never would have told them about what happened to me, everything would still be OK.” Well, you know what, it wouldn’t be OK even if I’d never said a word. My strained relationship with my family goes back much farther, and much deeper, than just when I finally got the nerve up and told them about what happened to me. The very fact that they have chosen to ignore what happened to me speaks volumes about where we stand as far as a relationship goes.

I also often blame myself for the lack of a significant partner relationship in my life. I’m twice divorced and in both cases, the divorce was the result of my then-husbands cheating on me. I’ve only had one semi-relationship since my last divorce and that ended because the other person didn’t want to make a commitment to me. I often find myself wondering about what’s wrong with me that I never seem to be “enough” for the person in my life. What did I do (or not do) that resulted in both of my husbands going outside of our marriage? What was wrong with me that the last person in my life didn’t want to commit to a relationship with me? I’m plagued with self-doubt and questioning. Is it because I’m fat? Am I a bad lover? Do I snore?

Seriously though, most of the time this whole line of thinking will ultimately lead me down a road of also wondering why I’m not good enough for my parents to just love me as I am even though they might not approve of all of my choices and decisions in life. Simply put, why isn’t the fact that I’m their daughter enough reason for them to love me unconditionally? Why do I only feel their love if I’m living my life the way THEY think I should be living it?

I’ve had these thoughts for many years. I’ve spoken with a couple of my close friends about it a few times, but I’ve never blogged about it or really ever written it down even. Just writing it all out here makes me realize how much I’ve been looking for personel validation from other people rather than from within. It’s as if I don’t feel “worthy” unless someone external deems me to be so. Being happy within myself has just never been part of the whole worthiness conversation within me.

So, as Bob said, it’s time for me to stop living in the past. I can’t change anything about it, so it’s time to move forward. I definitely need to stop blaming myself for things over which I had no control, including the infidelity of my ex-husbands. It’s time, for the first time in my life, to realize that being alone doesn’t have to mean being lonely. I need to stop relying on having another person in my life in order to be happy. I need to figure out how to feel worthy and love myself from within and stop looking for that validation from external sources. Who knows what the rest of my life has in store for me. All I know is that I have today, and for today, I choose to love ME!

Until next time …

29 September 2010

0 comments

Biggest Loser, Bob Harper, Self-Worth, Shrinkvivor, Sisterhood, Weigh In

True Confessions Tuesday – Comfort Eating

This is the first time I’ve participated in the weekly True Confessions Tuesday with the Sisterhood. This week’s confessional couldn’t have come at a better time though, so I’m going with it.

I’m struggling … hard! So much so that a pint of ice cream last night and a donut this morning ~~may have been~~ were involved. There, I said it.

I’ve been doing really well the past few weeks. I’ve been making good progress with my weight loss goals. Unfortunately, I face planted in spectacular fashion directly on to the proverbial wall yesterday. It was the result of a culmination of several factors:

Yesterday was an extremely emotional day for me because it would have been my grandmother’s 100th birthday. She basically raised me and I’ve missed her horribly the past seven years since she passed away. Her birthday is always so difficult for me.
I’m feeling a lot of stress with school right now because I feel like I’m really behind schedule. It started when I moved earlier this month and I just haven’t caught up since.
Work is also extremely stressful right now because it’s our fiscal year-end. I also had an employee turn in his notice last week, so I’m having to go through the whole procurement process to back-fill the position, set up interviews, and then will have to train whomever gets hired.
On top of all that, my PTSD reared its ugly head a few days ago and has been causing me to have horrible nightmares. Hopefully it will pass soon because I could really use a good night’s sleep again!

The worst part about the whole ice cream incident was that I knowingly went into it. It wasn’t like I had some ice cream in the freezer and just ate some it. I went to Target after work to pick up a few things and bought the ice cream while I was there knowing full well that I planned to go home and eat the whole thing last night which is precisely what I did.

So, that’s probably why the video quote I posted earlier this morning hit me so hard last night when I saw it. I was just one breath away from making that right choice when I was at Target, but didn’t make it.

This whole situation also reminds me of a comment I read from Drew Carey over the weekend in Parade Magazine. They did an interview with him discussing his recent successful weight loss journey.

“Eating crappy food is not a reward—it’s a punishment.”

I really need to remember this when I start turning to food as a reward or comfort. Food doesn’t solve any problems. In fact, when I’m not following a healthy plan of eating, I’m ultimately only creating more problems for myself due to all the health implications of obesity.

Of course, it’s much easier to know all of this logically than it is to put it into practice. When my PTSD kicks in and the nightmares start, I’m immediately transported back years ago to the time of the trauma and all I want is to be comforted. Since I live alone, that generally means I turn to food. I need to figure out another way to soothe my inner child so I can stop sabotaging my efforts.

Until next time …

28 September 2010

Thoughts

0 comments

Comfort Eating, Confessions, PTSD, Sisterhood, Stress, Stress Eating

Shrinkvivor Weigh In #2

Today marks our second weigh in for the new Shrinkvivor Challenge over at the Sisterhood. Since last week’s weigh in was just for establishing our starting weights, this week is our first really weight loss weigh in week.

I headed over to my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday and was thrilled to see a loss this week of 4.8 pounds! This is definitely a good start for Shrinkvivor, so hopefully my fellow Lilac Lovelies tribe mates won’t vote me off. (Even though my WW meeting in on Saturday, I’m just carrying that weigh in info over to the following Wednesday for my Shrinkvivor weigh in.)

We also had a couple of challenges this week as part of Shrinkvivor. The first was a physical challenge for a chance to win immunity for our tribe. The goal was to put in as many MILES via walking, running, elliptical, stairclimber, etc. The caveat was that it had to be 1) intentional exercise which meant miles counted from wearing a pedometer all day at work and such didn’t count, and 2) it had to be “on foot” miles so things like swimming and biking didn’t count either. We had five (5) days to accrue as many miles as we could. I have to admit that I actually shocked even myself with how I did on this challenge. I managed to get in 15 miles in those five days between walking and the elliptical machine. Hopefully it will pay off on the scale this Saturday when I go back to WW again.

The next challenge was a non-physical challenge. The goal was to drink half of one’s body weigh in ounces of water on a daily basis. For me, this would have meant a LOT of water (more than a gallon). I admit that I didn’t hit this target a single day. That having been said, I DID drink a gallon every day which I still think is pretty damn amazing. I’m very proud of myself for managing that!

We also learned today what our challenge will be for this coming week. This time we will have six (6) days. The new goal will be MINUTES. It again has to be from intentional exercise, but this time it’s open for any form of exercise since we’re tracking minutes. So, it looks like I’ll be keeping up my exercise again for another week.

The non-physical challenge for this week is to not only continue with our water drinking, but the new one is NO DRIVE-THRU/FAST FOOD. I don’t generally hit fast food that often, so I don’t think this one will be a struggle for me.

I also just wanted to give everyone a heads-up about a couple of things coming down the pike in the next several days. I’ll be having a food review coming up as well as (cue drama sting) another giveaway.

Until next time ….

22 September 2010

Challenges, Weigh In

0 comments

Giveaway, Shrinkvivor, Sisterhood, Weigh In

Thursday Three: Pot Luck

Before I get to the Thursday Three, I want to post a reminder that tonight at 11:59pm PT is the deadline for entering the Now Eat This cookbook giveaway. So, if you want a chance to win, this is the last call for entries.

Christy put out a call on Twitter last night asking for suggestions for this week’s Thursday Three over at the Sisterhood. She got some great suggestions from lots of folks and settled in on using ideas this week from Heather, Nancy, Brooke, and Kristen.

From Heather (@Mama_Sass):

What are your three top A-ha moments?

The first major a-ha moment I had to begin this whole weight loss journey was when my mother had a heart attack at 58 years old. While she was carrying a bit of extra weight at the time, it was nowhere close to my weight. Given the history of cardiac issues on that side of the family (her father & brother also both had heart attacks in their 50′s), I realized it was time for me to do something.
The next major a-ha moment for me came during a business trip recently to Washington, D.C. I realized that if I didn’t do something again about getting the weight off that I would likely have to start requesting a seat belt extension when flying. I absolutely.do.not want to go there.
Like many people, I had a photo a-ha moment. Seeing photos of myself from the San Diego Rock ‘n Roll half marathon as a part of Team Shrinking Jeans definitely got me back on track and restart this journey in earnest.

From Nancy (@bacrdimama):

What are your three top motivations quotes? (Ok, so I put four, sue me. )

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.
~Walter Elliott
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
~Lao Tzu
Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
~Roberta Brenick
Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.
~William Durant

From Brooke (@smartstrongsexy) and Kristen (@girlstrong):

What are three of your favorite easy/healthy recipes?

Ok, so what about you? Chime in on your blog or hit me up with comments here. I would love to hear your responses as well!

Until next time …