Determined To Succeed

Ah. I am back and have survived another excursion to the Big Apple. I swear to God that city was, is and always will be the biggest, busiest and bad-ass-iest city EVER! And I don’t mean in just the sheer magnitude of its energy or the “enthusiasm” of its inhabitants (more on them later). No, I mean in the way it tempts with food, constantly and unapologetically.

I know I might be a bonehead for doing this but I like driving there from South Jersey. Sure it might be easier to take the train but I like being in my own little bubble both before I have to brave the big city and after, to help me wind down from it. It’s my “safe zone,” if you will, and on my way in I kept repeating to myself “I will not eat badly. I will not eat at the Halal cart. I will not eat a tremendous amount.” “Safe zone” bubbles are good for that kind of meditation, especially when you can meditate by yourself and not with hundreds of your best friends packed against you on a train that may or may not have the best odors.

I had five destinations to hit this time around and I knew I would be doing a fair amount of walking (something I was totally looking forward to doing as my exercise for the day), so I parked one block away from Destination One and, thus, began my day.

I swear, walking in New York City is an Olympic sport. Two reasons: one, most blocks in the city represent just a fraction of the addresses that other city streets do (i.e. a block in Chicago typically will jump from 100 to 200. In New York City, you can have one monster block have numbers 100 to 140, another block have 140 to 180 and a third that goes 180 – 200). Two, it’s a “kill or be killed” bloodsport walking there. You can get easily runover or rundown if you don’t match the “exuberant” pace of others, even if you go with the flow of foot traffic. That’s what makes walking in New York such great exercise – it’s lead, follow or get the hell out of the way. And if you don’t like it you can suck it.

This is exactly the reason I decided against a suit this time around and donned jeans, t-shirt, blazer (although that got ditched because it was so freaking hot) and my trusty Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars. A trendy look, to be sure, but a practical one for hitting the streets hard.

After Destination One I knew I was in for it, as going from Destinations Two, Three and Four had me, literally, walking about five or so miles. From 57th and 5th to roughly 36th and 6th or 7th and back again. I don’t remember how many blocks it was (remember, blocks don’t have the same meaning they do in other towns) but it was a lot. And damn, it was hot. I knew I had to walk with purpose, too, and that made it even hotter. It was almost as if stopping for a red light was me taking a nap, then instantly waking up to run again. So when I tell you I downed a bottle of water in just a few gulps I am not exagerating. I did. I did, I tell you.

But then the inevitable happened. I was hungry. I knew I would have to stop somewhere to eat. But where? Remember when I said New York City was unapologetic in its food offerings? Well, it’s the only city I know of that has food carts on practically every corner, and those are positioned in front of other restaurants, some of whom sell the same types of Mediteranian food. Amazing and overwhelming at the same time. There are American restaurants, the best Jewish delis, fusions restaurants and Halal carts everywhere. You can get dizzy (or have a panic attack) just trying to figure out where to eat. But I knew I wanted to eat cheap AND satisfy my craving for the taste of the Halal. So I compromised and had a grilled chicken shish-kabob from one of the Halal carts.

Because I went to the Big Apple midday I hit everything right in terms of timing. Most of the food vendors were winding down from their “rush hours,” so I was able to walk up and order. I got no special sauce on it. I got no side of rice with it. Just the kabob, and another bigger bottle of water. As the chicken was cooking on the grill you could smell the flavoring in the steam. It was enough to whet anyone’s appetite and you bet your butt it sure did mine. I ate it on a hot dog bun. An interesting choice but a handy one since I didn’t want to impale my mouth on a pointy stick while walking like Bruce Jenner or Carl Lewis.

When I finished that and rested for a few minutes that’s when my energy began to dwindle. I knew I would be toast soon. I also knew Destination Five was too far to walk and I wanted to try (TRY!) to beat rush hour out of the City. So I got in my bubble, took care of bid-ness and set out home. Alas, I was later than I thought and I hit rush hour traffic at its worst – Broadway (a major thru-street) closed off with everyone being redirected and crammed into designated lanes to get to the tunnel.

I hate to sound cliche as I conclude but no trip to New York would be complete without either hearing or being involved in a verbal altercation of somekind. And yes, both happened to yours truly. For those who don’t know, if you “block the box” (have your car in any part of the intersection against your light making you block traffic) you are subject to fines and points on your license. Having seen, first hand, how NYC cops lie in wait to spring those traps there was no way in hell I was gonna “block the box.” But that pissed off some effing guy who offered me the most colorfully-metaphored (and enthusiastic) diatribe out his van window about how I should go back to so-and-so and quit driving so slowly, blah, blah. But that same ass-munch didn’t have to pay three (THREE!) parking tickets the last time he visited town so screw him and his freaking delivery truck. Then I heard two women, one pedestrian and one driver, go at it for the driver almost hitting the pedestrian even though the driver was in the intesection – blah, blah. It is cliche, I know, but it ads even more flavor to a city that is as wonderful as its food.

So yes, once back in my bubble (and safely back in New Jersey on the Turnpike) I breathed a sigh of relief. I survived the trip, culinarily speaking. My grilled chicken and water, and my speed-walking exercise helped me keep focused so I didn’t get tempted by the tasty rice, grilled pita bread, gyro meat, dirty water dogs (which I do like), pizzas, pastrami sandwiches and more in the City.

It is totally possible to focus and not be so consumed with food no matter how hard it is. It is hard for me, trust me. I love eating. And while it was tempting to eat, especially when one’s blood pressure is eleated (again thanks to the afore-mentioned ass-munch), it was me taking a bite out of the Big Apple and not the other way around.

It’s almost the end of May, 2010 (do you say twenty-ten, two-thousand and ten, oh hell, I don’t know) and it was this time last year that my mom, JoAnn, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on May 24, 2009, was lying in a hospital bed dying from that dreaded bitch disease. We were seeing doctors who were trying to make her comfortable and having the difficult conversations about pain management, transferring to hospice and how much time she might have left. If you ever want to know what a really hard conversation is look your wonderful, beautiful mom in the eye and answer her “we’re in a bad way, aren’t we” question with the honest, brutal and damning truth…”yes.”

During the eighteen or so days it took from her diagnosis to death, and in the days after, before I returned to South Jersey, I gained 20 pounds back of the 175 I lost. It was not only easy it was tremendously easy. When you sit in a hospital room all day you might entertain ideas of eating better, healthier and less but that quickly turns into nervously eating shit. There are moments of boredom, fear, dread, sadness, humor, anxiousness, relief…every emotion under the sun. What does it mean? It means your adrenaline has kicked in as the one helping to provide comfort and care and you eat, at least I did to help calm the storm.

When we transferred Mama to hospice I knew it was the end, and so did she, but at least the room she was in wasn’t some cold, antiseptic and functional place. It was warmer, more inviting and soothing and a much more  fitting place for my sweet Mama’s spirit to spend its final days inhabiting her body on Earth.

In hospice, I kept eating. This time I had the comfort of having pizza from Al’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria which was mercifully close to the hospice place. Ironically, what made this pizza awesome was the fact it tasted just like the pizza my mom and I had when I was a boy. I had this pizza twice in the six days we were in hospice. I needed it. I welcomed it, like an old friend come by for a visit after twenty years…and we had some catching up to do. I needed a taste of my childhood during those moments of fear, dread and sadness.

I just wish that taste could have come calorie- and fat-free.

Why am I telling you guys all this on a beautiful Sunday morning? Because the countdown has already begun to the last “first” I have to face since my mom’s passing, the actual one-year anniversary of that day, and slowly but surely I have been stress eating again. I can tell you it has been mostly subconscious, eating a few extra things here and there. But that is no excuse. I still get my sweet cravings at night and I feed them sometimes with good things, sometimes with bad, and my weight is slowly creeping back up because of it. Not to mention the silly, stupid dreams I have because I eat late at night (but that’s a whole separate blog post – and one for which you’d need a strong drink or cup of coffee because my dreams can be really strange sometimes).

In trying to be Zen about losing this remaining last ten pounds, which is now eleven-and-a-half, I have said many things which I need to start saying to myself. I do forgive myself this weight. I will re-lose this weight. And I know WHY I am re-gaining this weight. Those things help me, they do. I just need to listen to them and fight my way through this.

Every day I start the day the exact same way, with the blank page. Every writer starts with one, every person starts with one. Each day is what we make of it. Some continue the events of the day before, some bring about new circumstances. But all of them have a component of choice to them and it’s that choice I need to remember as June 9 gets closer and closer.

I swear to you all I will re-lose this weight. I swear it to myself, too. And that, my friends, is the first line on my blank page for today followed very, very closely by my second line…

…Mama, I love you and miss you and your voice very, very much.

You guys know me and my fave beverage of choice – an ice-cold Coca-Cola. However I am not sure if I’ve ever told you guys about my extreme dislike for Diet Coke. Yes, as much as I love “regular” I can’t stand the taste of “unleaded.” I am also one of those people who will only drink certain diet sodas because of the crappy after taste. On my list of decent diet drinks: Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet Canada Dry Ginger Ale, TAB and Diet A&W Root Beer. Other than those few I’d rather drink motor oil (well, OK, I wouldn’t but you get the picture).

As we start having warmer days and want to get our bodies in shape for summer (mine included), my thoughts turn to diet soft drinks. So many people I know love – LOVE – diet drinks, especially Diet Coke. But as today’s temperatures climb to almost 90-degrees here in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area I am wondering exactly how (and if) diet drinks will actually help someone lose weight? Well, more and more studies show they aren’t helping. They also show they even hurt.

Some food (or drink) for thought today before you “hit the road:”

Diet soda isn’t the silver bullet to weight loss it’s often made out to be. Nor does it prevent weight gain. In fact, drinking diet soda is strongly correlated with obesity. When people drink sweet diet sodas our bodies get the message that sweet, high-calorie foods are coming to nourish it. However, when no sweets and/or calories follow the body gets confused: where are the promised calories we need? This may then stimulate your hunger for other high-calorie, sweet foods and drinks (sweeter cereals, snacks, breads and desserts) which may, in turn, lead to weight gain. Also, by getting ourselves used to so much artificial, higher-concentrated sweet, normal sweet flavors such as fruit become bland and so do other healthful foods such as grains and vegetables, thus reducing our willingness to consume them and ultimately the quality of our diet is affected

Further, some health experts speculate that, while diet soda doesn’t cause obesity, people who are starting to put on weight think choosing diet soda alone will stop the process. Meaning, you can’t go into a fast-food restaurant, eat a high-calorie, fatty meal and say, ‘Oh, it’s OK, because I had diet soda.’ If you don’t do anything else but switch to a diet soft drink, you are not going to lose weight. Also, drinking multiple cans of diet soda every day squeezes out from our diets the healthful beverages – juices, water and teas – that can best benefit and truly hydrate our bodies.

Finally, there is still some suspicion – not confirmed – that aspartame, the low-calorie chemical used to sweeten diet sodas, may have some bad health effects. Some animal studies have linked consumption of high quantities of the chemical to brain tumors and lymphoma in rodents. The Food and Drug Administration has certified the sweetener’s safety, but reported side effects include dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, memory loss and mood changes.

Eeeeeewwwwww! He said diarrhea….

A diet soda study, conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center, studied data on 1,550 Americans ages 25 to 64. The participants were studied for 7 to 8 years. Results showed that total soft drink consumption was tied to increased rates of obesity, but – perhaps surprisingly – participants drinking only diet soda faced the highest obesity rate of all, even greater than that of participants drinking both regular and diet drinks. What exactly is the obesity risk for diet pop (as we say in Chicago and the Midwest) drinkers? The study found an obesity risk of 37.5% for those drinking 1/2 to 1 can of diet soda daily, 54.5% risk of obesity for those drinking 1 to 2 cans daily, and a whopping 57.1% risk for those drinking more than 2 diet pops per day.

Wow!

With so much to do today remember healthier choices abound. Start your day with a small glass of 100 percent fruit juice. Drink skim milk with meals. Sip water throughout the day. For variety, try sparkling water or add a squirt of lemon or cranberry juice to your water. Save diet soda for an occasional treat if you want to have it because, like anything and everything else, taken in moderation it’s OK.

Just not as OK as you might think (or drink).

Have you guys ever been to Las Vegas? If you have you know that the opportunity to gamble hits you as soon as you get off the plane. Near every gate slot machines welcome you much like the wonderful hula dancers do in Hawai’i. Except instead of Leis and the sounds of island music you are welcomed with the pings, dings and electronic sounds that beckon you to come a “throw a few in” before hitting “the Strip.”

For me going home to Chicago is the same kind of experience, except instead of really cool flowered necklaces or blinky “one-armed bandits” I am welcomed by the temptations of Chicago food, starting with the Chicago-style hot dog. I don’t remember if I’ve ever described to you how absolutely yummy a Chicago-style hot dog is so I’ll start with it’s ingredients:

One sesame seed hot dog bun steamed to perfect softness, one Vienna Beef frank, mustard (and absolutely never, under penalty of being shown to the next departing flight, do you EVER add ketchup), onions, nuclear green relish (Chicagoans know what I mean when I say nuclear green), hot peppers, cucumbers, tomato slices and a pickle wedge topped off with a sprinkle of celery salt. Now that’s good eatin’, and the beginning of my visit home.

Some of you might be saying “that’s too much crap to put on a hot dog.” Well, no it’s not. That’s why hot dogs are famous in Chicago.  They are absolutely delicious, and like the Sears Tower or Wrigley Field (my Field of Dreams), a part of the city itself. But the beauty of this is equal to the problem with it – it begins in the airport and it ends in the airport.

Whenever I go home my friends here in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area ask me “so Bill. Are you going to have any Chicago pizza when you get home? Or that Italian Beef sandwich you keep talking about?” And the answer is never easy. I say “Nah. This trip I’m going to have my favorite Chinese food (at least an egg roll or two). Maybe a hot dog.” You see I have to be sooooo careful whenever I go home because a trip home usually means being tempted by the same foods that helped me grow to be over 400 pounds.

Today, I was lucky enough to have one of my hometown papers, the Chicago Sun-Times, do a story on me and weight loss and that’s what got me thinking about going home and eating. It’s so automatic. It’s so instant. It’s so tempting. Most of all, it’s so dangerous. All the foods I love in my favorite place in the entire world – home. It’s comforting and dangerous and so very tempting to have my home food experience begin as soon as I get off that plane.

But do I enjoy myself? You bet your a – er, I mean, bottom dollar – I do. But now I have to be almost hyper aware of my surroundings, situations and emotions whenever I’m near my favorite places – like 65 Seafood Restaurant, my favorite Chinese Food and egg roll in the city, near the corner of Michigan Avenue & Wacker (Wacker. Wacker. It is funny sounding, I know, but a street name, nonetheless).The legendary Superdawg on the corner of Milwaukee and Devon (pronounced de-VAHN by us natives), or Portillos in the heart of downtown on the corner of Ontario and Clark. Even Gene & Jude Red Hot Stand on River Road who hand-cut their delicious french fries right in front of ya’. That’s tasty eatin’, indeed. Not to mention my South Side/Hyde Park favorites – Harold’s Chicken (best damn fried chicken in the city), Ribs ‘N Bibs and Valois, a restaurant known as much for its wonderful all-walks-of-life clientele as it is for its “see your food” cafeteria-style method of serving.

You can see how a Chicago boy like me could grow up to grow out so much. This is what I have to be hyper aware of when I go home – the cravings for all these foods bombarding me like the beautiful neon and lighted signs and pings, dings and blinks of the slot machines that are abound in Las Vegas.

Nowadays, I am better. Not perfect, but better, about eating if/when I go home. I certainly give myself a big pep talk before stepping foot on my homeward bound plane saying “OK, Larson. You know you need to make smart choices. If you’re gonna have this you can’t have that. Got it?” And if I am lucky I do avoid giving in to the culinary temptations that surround me almost at every corner.

However I do admit having slot machines in the airport is a smart deal. They may not get you coming in, but, ideally, you’ve had so much fun you want just one last taste of it before heading back to reality, especially when waiting for your flight. This is the exact thing I feel in C Terminal at O’Hare International Airport. Whenever I’m home I have a blast just walking the streets that I want one more Taste of Chicago before heading back to Philly…

…one more hot dog for the road.

And for those history buffs out there…

The “Chicago Style” hot dog got its start from street cart hot dog vendors during the hard times of the Great Depression. Money was scarce, but business was booming for these entrepreneurs who offered a delicious hot meal on a bun for only a nickel. The famous Chicago Style Hot Dog was born! They’d start with a Vienna Beef hot dog, nestle it in a steamed poppyseed bun and cover it with a wonderful combination of toppings: yellow mustard, bright green relish, fresh chopped onions, juicy red tomato wedges, a kosher-style pickle spear, a couple of spicy sport peppers, cucumber and finally, a dash of celery salt. This unique hot dog creation with a “salad on top” and its memorable interplay of hot and cold, crisp and soft, sharp and smooth, became America’s original fast food and a true Chicago institution.

Happy Friday, my friends. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and there’s a warm breeze in the air (at least here in South Jersey). Today is the day I see the personal trainer, Jorge, for the second time. I’m looking forward to it but I’m still partially in pain from the last time (my abs still feel it) plus from my workout yesterday (it is sooooo going to be an Advil kind of day). I also have to say I was good (for the most part) following Jorge’s meal plan yesterday.

Here’s yesterday’s meal plan and actually what I ate:

Meal 1 – Kashi Cereal or Special K (this was no problem. I bought the “Warm Cinnamon” Kashi cereal and had that for breakfast)

Meal 2 – Fruit (again, no problem. I enjoy strawberries and bananas so that is what I had right before I went to the gym)

Meal 3 – Chicken 6 oz., 1 cup rice, 3 cups broccoli (Here’s where I played a bit. I had one of my left-over lemon chicken breasts. However, instead of the rice and broccoli I had the onion/green pepper broth soup created when I made the chicken. I also had a yogurt and cheese stick for dessert).

Meal 4 – Metrix – Protein Shake (I switched this out and had a seedless naval orange and yogurt instead.)

Meal 5 – Chicken Cesar Salad, Sugar Free Jello with Cool Whip (I was good, again, for the most part. I had chicken breast on a bed of mixed greens with sugar-free Asian dressing. I had a zero-calorie Coke Cherry Zero to drink and two Jello cups for dessert with two cheese sticks for snacks afterward).

I think my greatest challenge is in fighting off the urge to snack. Thank God I have those cheese sticks and sugar-free/low-calorie Jello and Jello Pudding cups instead of chips, candy bars, etc. I find I so want to snack and munch between 10:00 p.m. and midnight so I have to break myself of that really bad habit. I mean it’s not like I am starving myself or not getting enough calories, I certainly am. I just like to snack on something sweet. But I will stay focused. Focused. FOCUSED.

As for today, since I have been instructed to change up my meals as well as my exercise, here’s what I am expected to have today:

Meal 1 – ½ Grapefruit and 3 Egg Whites (I plan on replacing the grapefruit with a seedless orange and having that with the egg substitutes I bought)

Meal 2 – 1 ½ Whole Wheat Pasta, Can Tuna, Balsamic Dressing

Meal 3 – 6 oz. Yam, 4 oz. Turkey, 3 cups of cauliflower

Meal 4 – 2 Yogurts

Meal 5 – 8 oz. Pork Chops, 3 Cups Mushrooms, Salad

As I go into the weekend I am feeling better about this new exercise and meal plan. It is helping me with not only NOT think about going off the rails to have beef fried rice but also changing up my exercises so that I am (theoretically) burning more fat and making better use of my gym time. I may be in pain but that proves it’s working. Not to mention that it’s going to be so beautiful outside I think it might be time to compliment a gym workout with a walk outdoors. Spring is finally springing and I can’t wait.

Tomorrow, I will definitely let you know what happens with my second training session. Jorge is supposed to give me a more specific meal plan to follow and tips on how to do the exercises we did last time using free weights instead of massive gym equipment. No matter what I am reminded I am continuing on a journey. And as with any weight loss journey I have so many new things to learn. These last twelve pounds may be most-stubborn but I will do my best, using these new meals, methods, exercises, to try new things to get rid of them…

…even if it does kill me in the gym.

As part of my on-going writing gig I did an interview with Katie, a woman here in South Jersey who lost 130-pounds, which is awesome.  As part of that interview, I talked to Jorge, her personal trainer. He is the one who helped Katie lose weight and I thought it would be a neat idea to see it from her side – what it was like to have a trainer. So I talked to Jorge who invited me to come to his gym yesterday to my first-ever personal training session.

Hell, I am always looking for ways to burn fat and this was certainly going to be an education at the least. But when all was said and done, I  have to say it was really, really cool. I was also excited because of a symbolic reason: today was day-one of one of my new pair of New Balance gym shoes (what we in Chicago call sneakers). I thought it very fitting (all puns intended) to begin a new path on my weight loss journey in brand new (and very comfy) shoes .

By a quarter-to-twelve I arrived at Jorge’s gym. I didn’t know quite what to expect (except to sweat a lot) so I got there just to look the place over. I admittedly was a bit nervous. Coming from such a heavy 400-lb. background the old programming has the ability to take over and make me feel pretty intimidated by the machines and the people in a more professional gym. But I took a deep breath and began.

He had me start by doing cardio (about five minutes on the treadmill) just to loosen me up and get my heart rate going. Then, we jumped right into some good ab training. It was the first time I used a medicine ball like so:  I laid flat on my back and extended my arms over my head holding the medicine ball. Then, using my abs, I lifted my torso and threw him the 10-pound medicine ball. Damn, did I feel that immediately in my stomach.

After that we did reps of push-ups (always a weakness), crunches, exercise ball and then back to the medicine ball. After that series of exercises we went right into weight training. I did “shrugs” and I used barbells for the first time, too. I did hamstring stretches, different kinds of dumbbell lifts, more ab crunches, a Stairmaster and…and I sweated more in ten minutes than I usually do in my gym on the elliptical in half-an-hour.

I found out that fast-changing of machine exercises keeps the body guessing which helps it burn fat more and burn fat faster more so than cardio exercises do. Moreover, when you do exercises for extended periods of time your body gets used to them, therefore you burn less and less fat over time. By changing up exercises, especially those using weights and weight resistance, your body burns more fat.

After a fairly quick forty-five minutes I felt muscles in my upper arms, shoulders and abs I haven’t used in a long time – and it felt great. I was so excited to be learning new and different exercises to hopefully get the rest of these stubborn pounds off me and to tone-up a bit. I may not ever have the best, non-flabby body in the world but I sure as hell can try.

When it was over I was juiced. Those endorphins were released and I couldn’t wait to work out today. The second of two complimentary appointments happens on Friday and you bet your cross-trainers I will tell you about that session, too. But one of the things I made clear to Jorge was that I wanted to relay to you guys how to do the same types of exercises WITHOUT bigger pieces of gym equipment, using what you might have at home or in a gym not as well stocked with machines, medicine balls and barbells. The most important thing is just to be active, no matter what kinds of exercises you do. I am also going to share with you the food plan he shared with me once I find out more about how that is supposed to work and for how long and when.

Today was really good. Working out felt really good. Most of all, working on me felt really good. As I head into my gym tomorrow I will use that same basic rapid-fire machine-to-machine technique to help me burn fat and hopefully keep burning it. I still have visions of having a great body someday and having some of these tricks of the trade will help me get there – especially with summer just around the corner.

I swear, sometiimes you can equate gaining weight to snow.

Throughout the week weathercasters in the Philadelphia area (who are quite regularly wrong) predicted that the snow/precipitation cycle heading our way would basically miss South Jersey. So as I watched a few flakes fall I figured “eh, this is nothing. It will be a few flakes and nothing more.”

By the end of the night South Jersey received about two or so inches of snow. Not a lot by any stretch (especially for someone from Chicago) but enough to make you say “Jeez. Where did this come from?”

Weight can be the same way, and through a few days of accumulated “bad” eating here and there (you know, having beef fried rice here or Milky Way there) weight can increase just like that snow did. All it takes is us saying “eh, this is nothing. It will be a few calories and nothing more.”

But this time the inches we gain won’t melt away as easily because they’re on your waist instead of on the ground.

As we are about to enter a brand new week full of possibility, work, stress, emotions, etc., take time to note HOW you are eating and WHEN. I know I have mentioned this a lot lately. That’s because I’ve done some serious soul-searching as to the WHYs I eat (or overeat). I pay attention more to WHEN and HOW MUCH because when I have lots on my mind on which to chew I tend to want something to eat – so that I’m physically chewing on something at the same time.

Knowing this pattern helps me more than you’ll ever know.

So pay attention to the small “flakes” in your life. Be them candy, popcorn, egg rolls, chips, doughnuts, fries, Milky Ways, etc. Each thing by itself won’t be enough to derail you. But added up, these can pose a serious threat to your weight loss journey. But more to the point, this is the time when you need to start examining what’s going on inside your head and heart to figure out the source of your stress, anxiety, sadness, nervousness, etc. – emotions that could lead to excessive and unnecessary extra eating. In any weight loss journey saying “I love myself enough to begin” is essential and saying “I will take care of me, my weight and my health” is key.

This way when it snows you’ve already laid down a layer of salt so your streets are clear and no “snow” accumulates. And the road you travel is a much easier-traveled road for it.