Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot

I'm referring to triggers. The emotional kind. The ones that make it difficult to stay on the healthy path and to lose weight.

I had TONS of emotional and physical triggers during my first attempt at weight loss and during the first part of this last attempt.

Triggers kept me from traveling the healthy, fit path. Or, rather, I allowed them to control me.

If I ate sugar, that triggered me to eat more sugar. TONS of it. I could eat, in one day, the amount of sugar most people eat in a week. Or so I'm assuming. And the other carbs- pasta, bread, potatoes--all YUMMY and all TRIGGERS to eat moremoremore! There were the times that frustration, anger, boredom, irritation, being sleepy, etc. would trigger an eatanythingyoucangetyourhandson fest.

Seriously, you just don't get this much overweight without being ruled by triggers. 

For nearly one year now, the triggers have been virtually nonexistent. I attribute this to the change in my mindset from merely being about losing weight to taking the steps to living a healthier lifestyle, the steps towards getting fit- the exercising, the food choices, the food prep, the oil pulling, the dry skin brushing, the smoothies- everything altogether, has made all the difference. Oh, those nasty little triggers still show up and give it the old college try. But it doesn't work anymore.

I'm glad their control over me is pretty much all gone. I like being in control.

How do you shoot yourself in the foot? 

This is the twentieth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is T and my word for the day is TRIGGERS.

Oil Pulling

Yep, you read it right- Oil Pulling. But, what is it, exactly?

It's when you put a tablespoon of oil (Sesame, Sunflower or, my preference, Coconut) and swish it around in your mouth for 20 minutes without swallowing. Just swish. Then spit it out, rinse your mouth with a cup of water with a little baking soda and salt in it. And that's about it. (Although you REALLY NEED to read the information at the end of this post before you try it). 

Simple. But, why do this, exactly?

I started just to see if it really worked for detoxing. And for improving energy levels. And whitening my teeth.

It does. Surprisingly.

I thought it was a bunch of hooey at first. But then, because I was on this health and fitness path, I decided to go ahead. Why not? It might not help with anything, but it wouldn't hurt.

Here are a few things from my notes that I noticed the first couple of weeks (we started on March 1):

• Day 1: ICK. Not fond of this. Kept it in for only 5 minutes.
• Day 2: Not that much better but kept it in for 8 minutes. 
• Day 3: Getting used to it. Up to 10 minutes. 
• Day 5: I was able to swish for 15 minutes and noticed tremendous increase in energy and whiter teeth- not brilliant, but whiter. Also felt a little loopy, or goofy--probably not from the oil though.
• Day 6: I actually felt a little craving for it and experienced feelings of clean and fresh as well as energized.
• Day 7: Feel the habit kicking in; 15 minutes passes quickly now. 
• Day 11: Totally forgot to pull oil this morning. Hadn't noticed much more in the changes realm until this happened- lacked the same energy level and had a headache from allergies (my allergies, which are usually so bad they lay me out, have been barely noticeable). 
• Day 12: Switched to coconut oil and the initial benefits were noticeable all over again!

Most discussions state that Sesame or Sunflower oil is best for oil pulling. I couldn't find any cold pressed Sunflower oil so we started with cold pressed Sesame oil. I wasn't fond of it but, after a while, I was able to pull the oil for up to 15 minutes.

Hubs noticed way more differences than I when we began-even with his ability to focus (which is HUGE as he is ADHD). However, once I decided to try coconut oil, I noticed my big differences. AND I was able to pull the coconut oil for 20 minutes with no problem.

We are still pulling oil every morning.

Will it work for you? I have no idea. As with any new practice, it's important to readreadread and researchresearchresearch before beginning. Some of the information varies as to how long, where to spit it out (because of the toxins the swished oil contains), what to rinse with, etc. I just went with the one that made the most sense to me. The differences are slight anyway. I started my reading here: Divine Health (and here) with Lydia. She provides detailed explanations regarding the whowhatwhenwherewhyhow's of oil pulling and also has a few links if you want more information. You can also look up oil pulling on YouTube. There are a couple of good videos there.

This is the fifteenth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is O and my word for the day is OIL PULLING.

 
Just a reminder about my pop-up problem yesterday: Ok, discovered the pop-up problem on the blog. If your blog is getting something like this: the page at http://atat.ro/ says: Would you like some iGoogle widgets? Go here: http://www.google.com/ig/directory?type=authors&itemstype=gadgets&url=portal.romanesc%40gmail.com&start=0 and search the gadget list. If you have any of the ones listed, go to your blog and delete them. The pop-up will stop popping up! It was the daily calendar on Empty Nest.

Spring Chick Challenge Update: Week 5

Time for the weekly update for the Spring Chick Challenge hosted by Stormy at Real Chicks Getting Fit.

Here's my update:

WALKING/TRAINING: 

• Monday: 3 miles (TRAINING); 1.5 miles (WALKING)
• Tuesday: 2.31 miles (WAKLING)
• Wednesday: 2.53 miles (TRAINING); 1 mile (WALKING)
• Thursday: 2 miles (WALKING)
• Friday: 2.85 miles (TRAINING); I mile (WALKING)
• Saturday:  2.43 miles (WALKING)
• Sunday: 2.56 miles (WALKING)

My TOTAL HOURS of exercising for the week: 6.8


WATER INTAKE: 

• Monday: 96 oz
• Tuesday: 80 oz
• Wednesday: 96 oz
• Thursday: 72 oz
• Friday: 80 oz
• Saturday: 64 oz
• Sunday: 80 oz

CALORIE INTAKE:

• Monday:1346
• Tuesday: 1457
• Wednesday:1233
• Thursday: 1432
• Friday:1128
• Saturday:1226
• Sunday: 1233

WEEK TOTAL:9056


Yes, I wanted to keep my daily calories UNDER 1500. Yes, I was successful. BUT, giving myself that upper limit is making me try to hit it and I don't like that. So, I put myself back on my timer eating schedule on Friday and that is helping me keep those daily calories closer to 1200. 


TRACKING: YES- every single day.
EATING AFTER 8:00 PM: More like no eating after 9:00 pm
ORGANIZING: Working on it.
SUPPORTING OTHERS: I can always do better on this one.
DAILY WRITING: Yeppers!
WEIGHT: I am not stepping on the scales until the end of the month. The running/walking/training program I am on is for weight loss not for running a 5k. Another 50 lbs off will make training for the 5k much easier so I won't start that until later. Right now, it's all about learning to run and weight loss. If I keep stepping on the scale and don't see immediate results, it will act as sabotage which will lead to frustration and, possibly, quitting. And I refuse to let that happen.

I will post the training details before challenge is over (I hope). I am keeping a close eye on everything by keeping a journal about the training and---oil pulling.

That's right. I'm trying this oil pulling that I've heard so much about. I had head of it before but had not tried it until I read about it at Divine Health. Just click the link and go check it out if you want. She offered a challenge to pull oil for one month and I joined in. Today is DAY 6 and, YES, I already notice a difference. These details will come later with the training deets!

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT/WEEK 5 GOALS:

1. Support and encouragement off others
2. Exercise- STILL need to add some strength training in there somewhere. 
3. The mini challenge is all water all week. That's what I drink all day every day already with the exception of a glass of green tea at the end of the day as a reward for all that water! So, I'm good here.

I'm also linking this post up with Inspire Me Monday with Ramona over at Create With Joy. 

This week I am inspired by:

• Lydia at Divine Health who provides daily encouragement to stay healthy and get fit (and the oil pulling)
• Stephanie at Hookin', Knittin' & Livin' who inspires me to keep knitting even though I'll NEVER be as good as she-incredible, go check out her creations- and also inspires me to relax and enjoy life.
• Kim at My Field of Dreams, Joyce at From This Side of the Pond, and Patrice at Everyday Ruralty who all inspire me to be a better mom/wife/friend---person.

Click on the button if you've been inspired this week and link up to share your story!