Well, I didn’t have to go into work this morning and I am on call now due to low census….bye,bye holiday pay.  I did get up and run 3.5 miles this morning at 0400, showered and got ready for work and then went back to bed.  I have to be able to be at the hospital in 30min when I am on call, and since the hospital is 28 mi from my house, I have to be ready to walk out the door.

Last night before going to bed I was doing some reading online about calorie restriction, eating mostly veggies, fruits and whole grains and how they think people can increase life expectancy by eating healthy and what not.  Well, I guess in some ways that seems obvious and so simple, just like all of this weight loss thing.  Why can’t I just stick with it?

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the things I was reading…..the first is from a man that has lost over 3,000lbs in his life…he has literally been up to 1,000 lbs in weight and lost it on a few ocassions.  Now he is in his 50’s and still battling it of course, but this is what he has to say….

These days, Michael says he looks at nutrition as a lifestyle change. His current weight is in the mid-350s, and he says the pounds are coming off at a slow, healthy pace. “It’s not about the numbers anymore,” he says. “Today I have the same battle as a person who has to lose 5 pounds. We all have to do the same thing. … We have to eat healthy, we have to do whatever exercise we can do for our body and we have to make it through the day and do it in a positive way and take care of ourselves.”

Though Michael says he considered gastric bypass surgery, it ultimately wasn’t for him. When he first started focusing on weight loss, he says he was too heavy to be a candidate for the surgery. While he applauds anyone who has succeeded with gastric bypass, Michael says it wouldn’t solve his illness. “Unless they’re ready to do a bypass in my brain, it’s not going to work,” he says. “I’m never hungry in my stomach; I’m never full in my stomach. I need the bypass [in my head], where I have the disease. That’s where I fight the battle every day.”

This time around, Michael says he’s learned not to have a specific weight loss goal. “My goal is to live,” he says. “My goal is to do better every day, to be able to move a little bit more.”

Here is another quote from another person that has lost 100’s of pounds……”But I know a secret. There will always be a sunrise and a second chance if you believe. I believe. I believe in me.”

Oprah:

And here is some stuff from Oprah and her trainer Bob Greene.  I used to be an Oprah watching junkie, but not so much anymore, basically cause I don’t have time.  I have identified so much with her on her personal struggle with weight over the years, she seems so similar to the problems I have.   Here are some of the things she has said that hit close to home for me.

When Oprah gains weight, she says it means her life is out of balance. “It’s not about the food. It’s about using food—abusing food,” she says. “Too much work. Not enough play. Not enough time to come down. Not enough time to really relax.”

Over time, she discovered what she was really hungry for. “I am hungry for balance,” she says. “I’m hungry to do something other than work.”

and

Bob says that when someone overeats, they are hungry—but what they really crave isn’t necessarily food.

“We all seek pleasure,” he says. “How do you get that pleasure or happiness or joy? And when it’s not readily available in the real areas that you want—relationships, family, fulfilling career—food is a hundred times more attractive and it’s readily available. It’s there, and it is the drug of choice for most people.”

and

Have you fallen off the wagon? Are you ready to turn your life around? Putting yourself back on your to-do list, changing your diet and starting to exercise are crucial. But to really make a change you must take a long look in at yourself. “The journey to take better care of yourself, to honor yourself, to have reverence for yourself, to have harmony with your life, appreciation for your life, to love yourself is a never-ending journey,” Oprah says.

Start by answering these five questions. Log on to our Best Life workbook to complete this exercise and get back on track!

• What are you hungry for?
  “The weight is always representative of something other than what it looks like,” Oprah says. “You don’t have a weight problem; you have a self-care, self-love problem.”
• Why are you overweight?
  “It’s not because you like a certain food,” Bob says. “Get deep into it.”
• Why have you been unable to maintain weight loss in the past?
  “This one is really more about ‘Why have you failed?’” Bob says.
• What in your life is not working?
  “You’re going to find the answers in those areas that you say are really important to you,” Bob says. “But they’re not doing well.”
• Why do you want to lose weight?
  “If any part of your answer hints that you’ll be happy at a certain size or weight, you’re setting yourself for failure because [there are] two outcomes,” Bob says. “You never reach that size or weight and you’re never happy. And even worse, you reach that size and weight and realize it has nothing to do with your happiness.”

OK, enough of my ramble for the day.  I know none of this is breaking news to any of us, but I guess I keep needing to hear it over and over again, and reminding myself of it. As I have said many times in these posts…I need more balance in my life.   I was doing good with that last year, and was successful with the weight loss, but this year has gone haywire again.  I am working on that, but there are certain things that just don’t go away overnight, but I am hoping by the end of the summer and early fall, I will be at  a good place again.

My dream….to live a simple life, take good care of myself and family, be a good steward of the resources that are in my life, and be a benefit to my community and world.  Perhaps, to sum it up in one word…..love…………love for myself, love for my family and to show love everyone around me, the best that I can.