Posted by Trish Milburn Jun 15 2011, 12:01 am in eating healthy, exercise, fitness, goals, guest blogger, process, weight loss
By Heather Snow
Hello! My name is Heather Snow and I am a very Un-healthy Writer. Well, that’s not true. Regardless of—luckily—blessedly, despite my habits I still enjoy overall good health. But I know that won’t last if I don’t change my ways.
So let’s start again. Hello! My name is Heather Snow, and I am a writer with some very Un-healthy habits. And I must do something about them.
Now just admitting that aloud (and in public! no less) is a big step for me. I’m the kind of person who is not a joiner. When I did Weight Watchers, I was adamantly an online only girl. I don’t like to admit personal weaknesses. I don’t like people watching me, either in curiosity or for accountability. I don’t like talking about it and I don’t like people knowing about my struggles.
So why am I here? Well, because all of that insular behavior hasn’t helped me. And while I am that super-private person I just described, I’m also an ALL or NOTHING person (which is a terrible personality trait for someone who needs to live a consistently healthy lifestyle, but that will be a future post for a future time!). And a few days ago, another writer friend, Ashley March, proposed starting a Romance Reader/Writer competition in the spirit of The Biggest Loser. It would be public. I would be accountable not only to myself but to a team. I would have to admit that I struggle. It would be all of the things that I hate.
But it just might be what I need. Remember the definition of insanity? Doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results? I’ve been heavy my entire life, and I’ve tried multiple times to get the weight off and keep it off by myself. But it hasn’t worked. I inevitably lose my focus. Maybe, just maybe putting myself on the line in a very public (not to mention in my professional) forum will help me keep it.
Once I’d decided to jump on board, the ALL part of my personality wanted in. So I e-mailed the ladies here at Healthy Writer to see if they thought chronicling my journey here would be of interest to their readers. So I’m going to do my very best to be open, honest, positive, accountable, ask for help/support when I need it. I’ll be posting once a month with where I am, what’s worked (or not worked) for me, my successes and my failures. I look forward to pouring through the archives here at Healthy Writer, seeing what has worked for and inspired all of you. I can’t wait to hear your suggestions.
At the beginning of any journey, I think it’s important to know A) where we’re going B) why we need to get there, and C) a workable plan/road map. So I’ll start this by sharing:
A) I need to overcome my ‘all or nothing’ personality (oh, she of fad diets and uber strict standards) and get to a place of balance that includes daily exercise, moderation, adequate sleep and healthy eating—all while meeting the needs of my quickly growing family and the demands of my career.
B) Because I am 37 years old, I need to lose about half my size and I have one 3-year-old son and a baby due in July. Because of my metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance, I’m already at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer…all kinds of ugly things that could take me from my children too young and that scares the living heck out of me, only apparently not enough to make me change my habits, which makes me feel constantly awful about myself—and that’s a vicious cycle.
C) I’m still working on that ‘workable’ plan…I need to find something that takes into account my personality, my lifestyle, the fact that I have many sleepless nights ahead when this baby gets here in July and very little free time, that I’m a writer whose job is sedentary, that I have tight deadlines, that my metabolism doesn’t respond as well as some others, that I have a lot of family and career juggling in the months ahead. At first blush, I’m thinking something automated for breakfast, lunches and snacks, something low sugar and low carb (to help with insulin resistance); making exercise a priority whether I get enough sleep or not; lots of water; and some time on my treadmill desk (which my darling hubby rigged up for me and which works beautifully, if I actually ever use it).
Will I make it? I don’t know…a lifetime of failed attempts would say no. But if I let myself feel defeated, if I quit trying—as I have for most of the past year—that’s when I’ll truly fail, right?
If you’re a reader or an author who’s interested in getting in on The Great Romance Reduction competition (name may change), it runs from 7/5/11 to 1/5/12. It promises to be fun, supportive, and there are lots of prizes. Check it out at http://www.ashleymarch.com/blog/?p=1549
~~~
Heather Snow is a romance author with a degree in chemistry who decided she liked creating chemistry on the page rather than in the lab. She writes Regency romance with mystery elements for NAL Signet Eclipse, and her debut book, Sweet Enemy – A Veiled Seduction Novel, will be available on February 7, 2012. You can learn more at www.HeatherSnowBooks.com
Posted by Michelle Butler Jun 5 2011, 7:35 pm in confidence, Expectations, fear, fitness, Holidays, inspiration, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, positive thinking
June 4th was my birthday. I know the stereotype of a single woman in her 30s would be to bemoan the fact that I am now one year closer to 40 with less chances of getting married or having kids, but honestly, I feel fabulous! Saturday was a wonderful day in the midst of a [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn May 24 2011, 12:01 am in fitness, goals, Trish Milburn, weight loss
One of the recent e-mails I received from The Biggest Loser Club covered how motivation to lose weight is more effective the more specific we are in our reasons why we want to lose that weight. So I got to thinking about the beginning of my weight loss journey two years ago and realized that [...]
Posted by Michelle Butler Apr 17 2011, 7:40 pm in eating healthy, exercise, fitness, health tips, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, weight loss
Last week, my sister came to Washington, DC, to visit me and to participate in lobby day for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA). Jen has volunteered for several years for the organization, and this year they named her as one of their heroes during a survivor luncheon. She had a stroke when she [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Mar 11 2011, 12:01 am in exercise, fitness, guest blogger, Writing
Today, we’re happy to have guest blogger Anju Gattani with us to talk about one aspect of her journey to being a healthy writer. When I first heard of Pilates six years ago, pronounced Pil-lah-tees, BINGO! I had the answer for my story. My young heroine had just given birth to a baby, she was [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Mar 8 2011, 12:01 am in eating healthy, exercise, fitness, food, Trish Milburn
So as I’ve been working out this month and losing a few pounds, I’ve been varying my exercise with the goals of not straining any one area too much and just losing weight overall. But I started thinking about how to target my biggest problem areas: tummy, thighs and buns. Those problem areas are common [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Feb 8 2011, 12:37 am in calories, exercise, fitness, food diary, goals, portion control, Trish Milburn, weight loss
It’s February, Punxatawny Phil didn’t see his shadow, I have a new FitBit, and I rededicated my efforts to tracking my calories and getting a certain amount of exercise each day, no excuses. I’m determined to have a fabulous February. As the final hours of January faded away, I could literally feel my mood lift. [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Jan 18 2011, 12:01 am in calories, exercise, fitness, goals, Trish Milburn, weight loss
When I first started this blog a couple of years ago, it was mainly a reporting mechanism for me to share my calorie intake and my exercise amounts and how they affected my weight. The blog has changed a good bit since then into a much more interesting and robust vehicle for conveying good health [...]
Posted by Michelle Butler Jan 3 2011, 12:25 pm in 10 Healthy Guidelines, fitness, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, progress, weight loss
Two years ago I promised myself that I would give it my all for one year to lose weight. I broke this commitment down into two smaller goals. I would attend 45-50 Weight Watchers meetings in 2009, and I would work out at least 100 times. No matter what happened, I would not quit on [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Dec 28 2010, 12:01 am in fitness, goals, reading, Trish Milburn, Writing
Yesterday, I received my copy of the January Romance Writers Report in the mail. This is the issue in which we’re running an ad for the Healthy Writer site. The headline for the ad is “It’s a brand new year. Are you ready for a brand new you?” My answer? Yes. My mind has been [...]
