Monday, February 18, 2013

MY TRUSTY PEDOMETER, HYPNOSIS, AND THE WALKING SITE!


Hello!

As I sit here and type, I am conscious of my pedometer kind of poking into my gut as it is attached to the waist of my pants.

Hey, that's a good thing!  For the minor irritation of it, and the new "tick" I have of constantly checking to see whether it is still attached and counting, wearing my pedometer, from morning until night, has become a very tolerable and enjoyable new habit, despite the minor irritation it provides.

It's been well over a week since I've worn it daily, and it is so entirely motiving.  One step, two steps, three steps....six thousand steps...and counting!  Wearing a step counter proves that the tiniest amount of effort, just one little step, can add up into something potentially big!
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I love how wearing my pedometer makes me FEEL - motivated to move because I see IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION!  I've become motivated to challenge myself, too!  Can i walk just a little further?

Paul McKenna, the Hypnosis guy, says, "Anything you count, you improve."

It's so true!  In counting daily, my numbers have been steadily growing.

My energy has been steadily growing too!

One step at a time, we can create BIG CHANGES!

My winter coat feels looser!  
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Little inconveniences....like getting up to get something (when Cliff could get it for me, instead), or taking a further parking spot....suddenly become attractive and desirable because I know they'll add to a higher step count!

Counting steps is a brilliant idea....fun and motivating!  I WANT to walk more as a result!


The pedometer came with my "I Can Make You Thin" program that I bought from www.PaulMcKenna.com.  I risked what seemed like it might be a gimmick purchase, a self hypnosis program for weight loss that I saw on TV.  I'd seen McKenna, a hypnotherapist, on Dr. Oz and was honestly very impressed.  I figured I'd might as well try.  (I could always return it.)



McKenna is brilliant and the REAL DEAL.  I have never felt such gratitude for a program.

You know what?  The program works!

Time will truly tell, but so far, my eating habits have changed radically in a little over a week.

7-Day Solution Deluxe Program

I listen to the CDs and watch the DVDs, and then I actually do what he says.  I suppose I'm responding to his powerful suggestions.  I log my success in the Rapid Results Success Tracker.  I wear the pedometer daily.  I eat when I'm hungry, what I want, I savor my food, and turn from it when I'm satisfied.

I am radically calmer around food.

I have not had a binge in over a week.

I eat slower.  I eat less.  I count my bites.  I make good choices.  I walk more.  I'm back to my long hilly "Manayunk" walks!  When I look in the mirror, I send myself lots and lots of love and acceptance no matter what I see looking back at me.

McKenna says, "You have to accept yourself as you are."  Only in doing this, constantly, can we ever hope to move forward.      

And, to boot, I've experienced upset feelings this week, but did not turn to food.
eating
I have also found togetherness helps, tremendously.  Cliff has been so supportive.  We eat almost all of our meals together now.  He reminds me to slow down.  We chat.  I put my fork down between bites.  I try more to mimic his timing.  Suddenly, my eating has become...  Dare I say it?  NORMAL.

My eating has gone from DISORDERED to NORMAL in just a few DAYS!!!  

Portia de Rossi, author of "Unbearable Lightness," cured her eating disorder by not eating alone anymore, but by eating with her lovers, exclusively.

Before working on the McKenna plan, I'd fallen BADLY, again, into continual binge and sneak-eating, alone, purely to feed emotional hunger.  The more I did it, the lonelier, and more depressed and hopeless I became.

Emotional eating serves many needs, but leaves one with TREMENDOUS negative consequences, and no way out.

I really didn't see a way out.  I am incrediulous that this "so-called gimmick" program is having such a HUGE impact.    I'm really changing, effortlessly.

It is effortless effort.  I do it....because I want to.

I'm eating amounts of a normal person, 2-3 meals a day with a snack or two sometimes.  I've moved from what I learned at the Better Living Lifestyle Center (2 meals a day because the founder of the Seventh Day Adventists, Ellen White, said so) to something more intuitively driven.  It feels RIGHT for today.

My mood is highly improved and I'm hopeful.  Learning to eat from HUNGER is what is going to ULTIMATELY cure me for life.  I am learning SELF CONTROL and it's not even hard, or impossible, as I had thought.

_ _ _

We eat Vegan, mostly.  Lots of salads, nuts, seeds, vegetables, beans, whole grains, fruit.  Green smoothies almost every day.  We save the egg/dairy for treats.  I try to keep everything as unprocessed as possible.  If I want other stuff, maybe i'll eat it.  We'll see.
Produce falling into wood bowl
I'm not giving myself any guilts over raw.  I trust that the more and more attuned I become to my body, the more and more raw I will desire.  This is a PROCESS.  First things first.

My good friend, Sheryl, says, "Anyone can follow a diet for a short time, but what can you stay with for a lifetime?"

Bingers always binge out of plans, so I purposely don't have a plan.  My choices come from my desires.  I'm glad my desires are as healthy as they are right now.

I feel a wonderful sense of freedom and flexibility and peace around food today.  I'm learning to trust my desires.  I'm learning I can take care of myself.

My goal today is not 100% raw, but to be 100% cured of chronic binge eating, overeating, and of morbid obesity.  I believe, finally, that I've found a program that is teaching me how to get there by empowering me to do it myself!   

I'm taking things at a pace comfortable to me.  McKenna gives permission to do that.

I'm enjoying where I am at right now.  I'm not terribly concerned about weight loss.  It's happening very slowly.

I don't weigh myself anymore.

This time is all about severing that bond to emotional eating...for good.

No more putting the CART before the HORSE.

I finally have come to terms with the fact that, I, as a binge eater, must re-learn how to eat normally and develop the confidence that I have control with food, before I can refine my choices, and actually have them stick, long term.  

_ _ _

Curiously, the rest of life takes care of itself when answering HUNGER is paid attention to!  Babies learn this...why did I never?

McKenna says, "There are two reasons to eat.  Because you are hungry, or because you want to change the way you feel."

I grow more confident, more resourceful daily when I use OTHER methods to change the way I feel, instead of turning to food, like talking out an issue with someone, or making a phone call to vent, or distracting myself by going for a walk or watching TV, or doing a craft if I feel unstimulated, or beautifying myself if I feel blah, or hugging a teddy bear or pet if I need comfort, or visiting neighbors or family or going out with friends if i feel lonely, or seeing a movie or show if I need entertainment, or learning how to say NO if I feel infringed upon in any way....etc...    

Yes, there are OTHER things BESIDES FOOD that can serve to:
  • protect 
  • comfort
  • soothe
  • entertain
  • distract
  • celebrate
  • commisserate
  • stimulate, etc...

McKenna says we are trying to HELP ourselves by using food, it's just our faulty "programming" that is at fault.  

For instance, my soul feels fed because I just got back from a lusicous "Manayunk walk" with Cliff.  We saw some dogs at the park!  I could have easily easily eaten everything in fridge to fill my empty hole in the soul.  Instead of abusing food, this activity provided a real answer for real needs for:
  • togetherness
  • sensory stimulation
  • movement
  • self pride
  • excitement
  • confidence
  • community
Life answers our needs in such BETTER ways.

And food never tasted as good as it does when I am truly hungry for it.
_ _ _



WWW.THEWALKINGSITE.COM is a good website.  According to the website, 10,000 steps a day, or 5 miles a day, TOTAL, is ideal for long term weight control and health.

On a good day, where I take a good walk and am active all day (or on a busy day where I work as a raw chef), I have been getting over 6,000 steps/day.  On a less active day, I've tracked 3,000 - 4,500.

The website claims that sedentary people get between 1,000-3,000 steps a day, although I am sure that on some of my worst sedentary days, I did not even get over 500 steps in the entire day.

Upping our average weekly steps by 500 per week is suggested until we reach 10,000/day.

McKenna states that 2,000 steps is about a 15 minute walk.

I can DO that!  (So can you!)

In fact, I can get 250 steps just by walking down my street, half way!

It's amazing how steps add up.  I'm SO excited to keep going with this!  Won't you join me?
A couple talking while they are out on a walk
Walking Benefits:



  • Burns calories
  • Strengthens back muscles
  • Slims your waist
  • Easy on your joints
  • Strengthens your bones
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Allows time with family and friends
  • Shapes and tones your legs and butt
  • Cuts cholesterol
  • Reduces risk of heart disease, diabetes, & more
  • Reduces stress
  • Sleep better
  • Improves mood and outlook on life
  • Can be done almost anywhere
  • Requires no equipment
  • AND it's Free
  •  
    xoxo michelle joy

    3 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    I've followed your blog for quite some time. You seem to be getting nowhere. You bounce from diet to diet to diet. 80-10-10 was your answer. I eat 3000+ calories a day in raw fruits and veg and am losing weight. Limiting calories is not a wise idea. We are meant to eat. EAT. Eat those cals, limit the fat and walk. The weight will fall off of you. It is me. I hope you can find your way. Good luck.

    MICHELLE at FREEDOM FROM BINGING said...

    Hi Anonymous, Thanks for following my blog, and for sharing your truth with me and for critiqueing my journey. It helps to hear all perspectives. I'm so glad that 80-10-10 works for you and that you are losing weight! That's GREAT! When I was on it, i lost 40 lbs in a month, and then gained back the 40 in a WEEK. It was pretty much the worst rebound I've experienced thus far and I haven't been very interested in repeeating it. We are on such different journeys, I'm curious, why do you follow my blog? Do you have a binge eating disorder also? Or a long history of dieting? xoxo michelle joy

    Anonymous said...

    Hi! I just want to clarify that you said to Anonymous "I'm so glad that 80-10-10 works for you..." but Anonymous didn't say that. Anonymous said, "80-10-10 was your answer," and the two sentences before that were "You seem to be getting nowhere. You bounce from diet to diet to diet." So the context of 80-10-10 was that it was yet another diet you tried that failed. Because "diets don't work". Just wanted to clarify that. And I don't know why that particular Anonymous follows your blog, but this one follows it to see what another lifelong eating disordered raw vegan is going through and how someone else like me is making or will make permanent progress. Thanks for sharing your journey!