Sunday, July 29, 2012

{ Today I Choose }

The day got away from me so I don't have time to write a blog tonight.  I definitely have a blog post in mind for tomorrow.  Until then, I am not sure where I found this affirmation, but I just love it and find that it fits for me right now:


"Today I choose to be at peace with myself and my history.  Today I choose to go forward, taking the best and leaving the rest."


Until next time, friends,  

Lolly

Saturday, July 28, 2012

{ Acceptance - Is It Really That Easy }

I keep thinking that acceptance of myself will come "when I lose the weight." But don't I have to love myself now, accept myself now, just as I am in order to be successful?  I need to really SEE myself as I am right now and figure out a way to love my body as it is in all it's imperfect glory. Is that even possible?
The words that instinctively come to my mind are not so accepting however...."I'm not pretty enough, I'm not skinny enough, I'm not fit enough, I'm not lovable enough"...you get the drift.  I treat other people with the utmost respect and love.  Shouldn't I treat myself with the same kindness?


So, my work for this minute, this day, this week is to not just think about accepting myself as I am right now, but to JUST DO IT.  Will it be easy?  Probably not.  Am I worth it?  Absolutely.
Until next time, friends,  

Lolly

Friday, July 27, 2012

{ Clean Out the Fridge Crockpot Soup }

I am linking up with the new blog hop, Healthy Vegan Fridays put on by Carrie on Vegan, Everyday Vegan Girl and Veggie Nook. The intent with this blog party that will take place each Friday is to showcase wholesome, health conscious plant-based foods that are all vegan! Yay!  
It's 100 degrees outside these last few days (weeks really) so I definitely have not felt like standing over the stove, cooking myself, but I am trying to use the food I have in my pantry/fridge, so what better to do than to pull out the crock pot and make a soup.  Seriously, is there anything better than a one-pot meal?  The house smells wonderful and at the end of day I have dinner for tonight and lunches for this week. :) Let's just call this *Clean out the Fridge Crockpot Soup*.
It includes onion, cabbage, tomatoes, peas, corn, chick peas, carrots, vegetable stock, and whatever spices you have on hand. This time I used oregano.  It is a yummy soup that made lots of individual portions - I like to package the individual portions right away since it's just me in the house.

Until next time, friends,  
Lolly

Thursday, July 26, 2012

{ A Good Start }

As part of my weight loss regimen, I am a member of my local TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) chapter, a support group of other men and women on my same path.  Weigh-ins are on Thursday nights and tonight, after my first full week back on program eating plant based I am down 9.2 pounds!  Woohoo!! 


I know that every week won't be that big of a number, but I am happy for this jump start because it makes me feel GOOD.


The folks at TOPS asked me what my secret was this week.  My answer:  I just got back to basics...to what I know works.  I have come to the conclusion that losing weight is easy for me, but it's my mind that makes it hard.  


I heard somewhere that weight loss isn't about perfection - but about the process of embracing my own imperfections.  I need to learn to be patient with myself and my body.  I know that it will take time for it to respond to the healthy changes I am making.


But this week was a good start.

Until next time, friends,  

Lolly

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

{ I Need To Be A Bumble Bee }

This will be a short post today.  I found this quote by Mary Kay Ash (founder of a cosmetic company) a few years ago and put in my book of favorite quotes.  I discovered it again this week and thought I would share it with you:
"Aerodynamically the bumble bee should not be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway."
I need to be like that bumble bee - even though I haven't been successful (for the long term) in the past with my weight loss doesn't mean it will be that way this time.  I believe I can fly.

Until next time, friends,  

Lolly

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

{ What's My Inspiration? }

Lose weight, get off all medications, feel heatlhy, be a strong advocate for my vegan lifestyle, live a long healthy life.  These are all good reasons that I have rededicated myself to a plant-based vegan lifestyle.  I am at one of the highest weights I have ever been and I just don't feel good (high blood pressure, osteoarthritis in both knees and my foot,etc).  When I became vegetarian - and then years later - vegan, I made a choice to live a cruelty-free life of compassion and intention.  That is still a major inspiration, but now I want to reap the extreme health benefits of this plant-based diet and get this body to a place where I feel good - body, mind and spirit.


Right now I am unemployed, so what better time to heal my body, heal my mind and get my act together?  Getting healthy, eating right, making good choices will be my full-time job right now.
I can also take this time to get back in the kitchen, making healthy vegan dishes and sharing them here on the blog.  I am excited for this time I have been given.  I am excited about the future.  I am excited about getting better and I am excited about finding the real me, the healthy me locked inside this big (for now) body.


And if I needed even more inspiration, I need to be here, be healthy and be present for my fur-kids (and I have a lot of them) and here are just a few.
Baby Spike
Henry & Teddie

Suzanne assisting me with paperwork

Anderson

Zeke (who thinks he is a tiny cat!)
Marty
Until next time, friends,  

Lolly


Monday, July 23, 2012

{ Sticks & Stones May Break My Bones, But Words Will Never Hurt Me? }

So we said this all the time as kids when someone called us names...."Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  But as a grown up, I know that words are very powerful - and that they can be very painful. And perhaps the words that hurt the most are the words I use against myself.  "I'm such a pig, I'm disgusting, I'm so fat" etc.


These words to myself - these ugly, painful words - do nothing but erode my self-worth.  And instead of encouraging me to do good, I overeat - I binge.


I would never speak this way to another human being, yet I allow the words to be directed internally at myself?  Why?

In order to heal from the harsh, mean self-talk I have directed at myself over the years, I need to change my mind-set. In years past, when I would have a slip-up or have a no-loss week, I'd just throw up my hands and quit and berate myself for my supposed shortcomings.  But one thing I now know is that I don't have to be perfect, but I have to keep going.  So if I eat a whole bag of chips (that has happened more times than I care to admit and I will do everything in my power to make sure it never happens again) - but if it does happen, I just get right back on track the next day.  Or maybe the next minute or the next hour.

I got a bracelet last year or maybe it was the year before - one of those rubber band type things - that says "one bite at a time, one decision at a time." 


My mind - my words and my thoughts - can be a powerful weapon in my weight loss. One kind word at a time.


Until next time, friends, 


Lolly



Sunday, July 22, 2012

{ Welcome to my World }

Welcome to my world.  My name is Lolly and this is my journey.  The journey of a crazy, overeating vegan cat lady who is trying to get healthy, get skinny (or at least comfortable) and get my groove back.  Will you come along for the ride?


8-month old sweet Suzanne on a lazy Sunday
8-month old darling Anderson who is so camera shy
I have been a vegetarian for more than 17 years and transitioned to veganism about 3-4 years ago.  People will often say (sometimes quite rudely) "how can you be so heavy and be a vegan?"  Well, folks, potato chips are vegan as are a lot of other unhealthy things. I have obsessive compulsive behaviors and and an addiction to food and binge eating.  I have lost weight and gained it back more times than I care to count, but this time I want to really live what I believe.  I first became veg for ethical reasons but I now also know the health benefits and really would love to be a spokesperson for this lifestyle that I love so much.  Losing weight and getting healthy - and keeping it off - is the first step.


The last few months have been hard for me - I lost my job in March and am unemployed for the first time in 25 years; dishwasher, washer and dryer all broke in the last few months and no funds to repair; and the house a/c is dead (which is not cool for this hot-blooded gal) - luckily I could afford a portable room unit in the meantime since we have had 100+ degree days here in Virginia.  You get the drift.


I have some days taken a headlong dive into the depths of despair and depression - and even the most loving efforts to lift my spirits by friends and family hasn't had much success.  I worry constantly about not having a job, about not being able to feed my furry-children, about paying the mortgage....   HOWEVER, after a thought provoking conversation with my mom (who also just happens to be my BFF), I realize that I cannot get into this fatalism and so have made up my mind that things WILL get better. That doesn't mean that I won't ever worry or be sad, but....

I am ready to FIGHT!
...fight to love myself
...fight to be healthy
...fight to make good food choices
...fight to stay in control
...fight to believe in myself
...fight the fear of...?

I have also begun to realize that losing weight is not a comfortable experience for me - it involves stretching myself far beyond where I believed I could go.  I AM going to change because I want and need to, but it's hard.  Weight has been my safety blanket for so long yet it has also been my noose.  But being obese is not comfortable and actually quite painful so going through the loss far outweighs any of the uncomfortable experiences I may have in the process.

So this blog will document my weight loss journey, my vegan, plant-based diet, yummy recipe creations, and if I am honest a few cute pics here and there of my furry dog and cat children. 


I need to do this for me, for my life, for the lives of my dog and cat children who need me to be around.  I am always so inspired by other peoples successes and also learn much from the struggles of others.  So let's do this together.  Will you join me on my journey?




Until next time, friends!


Lolly