Window on the World

I have been on a weight loss journey for the past 2 1/2 years. From January 2010 to March 2012 I lost 25 pounds and since then I have pretty well been stuck - only losing about a pound and half in 4 months. I looked forward to reading Fit Moms for Life to give me some rejuvenated motivation.

One of the components of a healthy life that Dustin stresses is goal setting. This is a tool that was very valuable to me when I started losing weight, but as my weight loss has slowed down and I find myself unable to meet my goals, or my asthma strikes and I have to start over from square one in the fitness department (okay, maybe square two) goals sometimes just seem like an insurmountable hurdle to me. Liz, one of Dustin's success story moms, has this quote in the book:

"So many people are going on a diet, as opposed tor really changing the way they eat. For me, it had to be a journey, and if it weren't for the journey I don't think I would be where I am now."

You know what, she's right. If I look back on the past 2 1/2 years, I can see how much my life has changed and how much more confident I am and happy in my own skin. So maybe I just need to set some smaller goals and celebrate the journey that has allowed me to become the woman I am today.

Nutrition is another important component of a healthy lifestyle. Dustin recommends a "low-crap" diet. He gives tips for night-time snacking (one of my downfalls) and also some delicious recipes I am looking forward to trying out. He also recommends keeping a "feelings journal" along with your food journal as a way to look for emotional patterns that might go hand in hand with our binges and/or bad food choices.

Strength training and burst training are two more parts of Fit Moms for Life. Dustin does not recommend traditional cardio, but rather lifting weights (as heavy as you can handle in good form for 10-12 reps) and burst training. As Dustin says in the book:

"With burst training, you exercise at a very high intensity for a short duration - anywhere from 10 seconds up to maybe a minute - and then you rest or go to a lower intensity to bring your heart rate back down."

You can continue this process for up to 20 minutes and it is supposed to be very effective in helping to burn fat. I can attest that while I was run/walking this last winter I lost weight faster than usual and I think it was partly due to the "burst" effect.

The last component Dustin espouses is environment. This is two part. The first part is that if we have a community to travel on this journey with it makes it easier when times get tough - we have someone we can vent to or who will kick our butts into gear if need be. The second part of environment is that we can become a healthy example to others.

Here's an example of this from my house. Art went in for his annual physical a couple of weeks ago and found out he had lost 14 pounds!! He walks with me, but has never really committed to any program, but he did mostly cut out desserts and limit his alcohol consumption over the past year. I like to think that this is at least partially due to the example I have been trying to set.

Overall, I think Fit Moms for Life is an excellent resource for a healthy lifestyle - especially if you are just starting out. The book reminded me of some weight loss components I had allowed to slide and remotivated me to establish new goals and continue the rest of the way in my weight loss journey.