Life Altering News When We’re Losing & Maintaining After 50

Me cuddling my River. Have you seen the meme, “What do you mean ‘I’m not a people?’ You tell everyone I’m your baby.“

Hi All!

Many have asked about my furry-boy’s health. River had his ultrasound yesterday and the vet said he’ll call today. Thank you for caring. We have wonderful dog people on here! 🙂

Onto the pearls.

Pearl One

First a caveat, I’m so thankful for the self-help world; I’ve benefited greatly. So please don’t think I’m dissing self-help. Not at all.

Given that, I’ve spent the last five decades reading self-help books, listening to cassettes (lol) and to podcasts these days. And I love a good TED Talk.

But somehow I took in a super subtle message – just lightly layered into the self-help vehicles – that high self-esteem is essential before we can create something of value (in our case, taking back our health; losing and maintaining after 50).

And yet I’m proof that the theory is completely wrong! I lost 55 lbs. and have kept them off for 16 years now, and I’m a total goofball.

Turns out, we don’t have to be heads and shoulders above the average. We can feel so-so inside and still produce incredible results.

Here’s what happened for me.

Back when I initially got serious about renovating my eating habits (mid-30s), my self-talk was lousy; my confidence maybe a C+ depending on the moment; and, my courage? Well, I can see where you might say that I was being semi-courageous in a situation or two, but on the whole, I utterly freak out when I’m supposedly “being courageous.” So, not sure that counts. (Still haven’t mastered that “staying serene in a crisis” thing.)

And yet – even with iffy self-esteem, I lost the 55 lbs. and have maintained the loss.

Our Takeaway

I love that we don’t need the confidence of Oprah, the emotional strength and courage of Brene Brown, or the brains and stamina of Sara Blakely (Spanx).

We can be an emotional mess and still lose and maintain after 50!!

Isn’t that the best?! Doesn’t that just open up the whole world to us? We don’t have to “have our act together” to get out there and make it happen.

My new mantra, please join me: we can be mushy on the inside and still create amazing lives for ourselves.

Because always remember: I’m not special. I’m just like you.

Let’s take the iffy path together.

Pearl Two

“I’m trying to lose weight.” That word choice “lose weight” is said like it’s a one-off thing we need to accomplish.

It’s akin to saying I’m going to college.

You know and I know how much is involved in heading to – and being in — college (e.g. massive red-tape, years of trying to stay awake in class, semester after semester of cram-studying, freaking out when you get an F on algebra and so much more.

Yet we still hold to the notion that losing weight is merely about sticking with an eating plan. Bada-boom, right? In my experience, wrong.

Of course finding the right meal plan for ourselves is vital, but it’s not much different than taking our SAT. We need a good SAT score to get into college, but we all get that — while it’s necessary — it’s merely the very beginning of college life.

There’s a Grand Canyon size difference between seeing losing weight as a simple process – eat on my plan – versus having a deep understanding of all that’s involved in losing after 50.

We’re like the student who enters college as a caterpillar and four years later emerges a beautiful butterfly. I know I’m throwing a lot of metaphors in this post, but we’re going through a butterfly-transformation ourselves when we’re losing and maintaining after 50. ♥

Pearl Three

Each month I’m using this spot as the place to dive a little deeper. Our March topic is: Using time as a supportive tool. Here’s today’s topic: when I have a craving or a food-idea that’s not exactly on my smart eating path, I’ll ask myself, can I wait ten minutes?

It took time to practice my ten minute strategy, but I’ve learned that cravings and “bad ideas” actually dissolve fairly quickly.

Cravings are like clouds. They meander in and then they drift out.

Ask yourself, can I wait ten minutes? Then set a timer and do something absorbing. When the timer rings and your craving is gone, immediately have a healthy mini-meal.

Because largely a craving is merely a sign that we’re hungry.

Here’s the ten minute breakdown:

Step one: Have craving.

Step two: Can I wait ten minutes? Set timer.

Step three: When timer rings, craving is gone.

Step four: Immediately eat a healthy mini-meal. ♥

Pearl Four

Do you remember restaurants in the 70s that had a “diet plate” option usually at the bottom of a menu? It was like half of a canned peach, wilted lettuce, a hamburger without a bun, weird looking slices of tomato, and a blob of cottage cheese.

Blecky.

And yet today, I love (low fat) cottage cheese.

One half cup: 90 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, and a whopping 13 grams of protein.

I don’t know what kind of magic potion they dumped on cottage cheese, but whatever it was it worked! ♥

Pearl Five

“The most important day is the day you decide you’re good enough for you. It’s the day you set yourself free.” ― Brittany Josephina ♥

Beautiful quote. Speaks straight to my heart.

This Tuesday I’ll detail how I prep for a trip with the plan to enjoy myself without coming home with extra pounds.

Create a lovely weekend for yourself.

♥, Wendy

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