Speak My Truth: Why I Am Here

Start This Out

I read many blogs, and I love them. I find myself especially inspired and helped by health and weight blogs. Now, I need to start writing my own blog and not just reading others. I want to track my exercise, health and weight. The thing is that for me: health nearly always comes back to my weight. I have spent a great deal of time in the clinical categories of overweight or obese, and, yes, I want to put those weight categories behind me. My weight has daily affected who I am and how others perceive me, but it has not solely defined who I am and my integrity--both of which go far beyond numbers on a scale. While I am frustrated with myself in relation to weight issues, I am not unhappy with myself or my life.

My commitment to myself is this: I will enjoy my life as I undertake this health blogging journey. I will celebrate my accomplishments as they happen, acknowledge my shortcomings, and learn and grow from all my experiences. I will improve myself as I work to improve my weight, my health, and my spirit in myriad ways. I will embrace learning and seek self-empowerment through this journey.

I have always struggled with my weight, and I think to keep it real, I must admit that this is a central concern for me when it comes to health. Since I am 42 years old, I think it is safe to say that I will always be struggling in some way with weight, which is why I included the word in the title of the blog. The good news is that I have maintained a 50-60 pound weigh loss over the past few years from my highest weight. The bad news is that I keep traversing the same 15 pound range over and over again--I'm generally not going above it, but I am not going below it. I know how to lose weight, and for me, sometimes too much weighing makes me impatient. I know I am in the top end of my 15 pound range and it's time to find a new range. So, I will be working toward that although I am as of yet unsure of the role that statistics will play in my blog or record keeping.

Since health is about action in so many ways, I am going to connect my ideas with using action verbs in my post titles and headings. Hopefully, keeping action central in my thoughts will help me focus on what I have done, what I am doing, and what I will do in to achieve better health.

Move the Body

Exercise: 4 stars: Not the longest or most effective workout, but it was one I needed because of the time I have spent away from exercise. Getting back in the groove is always difficult.
   • Lifted weights
   • 30 minutes on the elliptical (yay, back to morning exercise after illness and schedule kept me away--I forgot how much better I feel with this.)

Nourish the Body

Food Quantity: 4 stars
    • Big bowl of chili brought this down
Food Nutritional Value: 3 stars
    • Ate meat in chili (prefer to skip meat)
    • Added some sour cream and crackers to chili (kept me from eating other things for dinner--both amounts controlled and reasonable)
    • Fruits and Veggies: awesome!!!!!!

Think about Tomorrow

Food Planning for tomorrow: 3 stars
    • Breakfast smoothie made
    • Salad for lunch (needs to be made)
    • Dinner is difficult on Wednesday nights because of family commitments: smaller bowl of chili planned, baked potato and cooked green veggie