Hi everyone!
On Wednesday the 26th of July I began the next part of my weight loss journey and I have called it Shari Ware's Bikini Body Experiment. I call it an experiment, because I actually don't know if it is possible to achieve. Now first of all, let me clarify that that is not me being negative or defeatist or anything like that. I say that I don't know if it is possible, because it is something that I have never had, and when you haven't ever had or achieved something before, there is always a bit of uncertainty about whether it is actually possible, at least until you have actually achieved it. That has always been my experience anyway. I also want to clarify what I mean when I say "bikini body". I have never EVER - not even when I was a kid - had a body that looked nice in a swimsuit of any kind. I don't want a super skinny body. I just want a TONED body. I want to be able to put on a pair of shorts, or a bathing suit, even if it be a full piece bathing suit and feel comfortable to go out in public in it. That is something that I have never ever felt in my whole life and I am currently 42. Yes I have body issues, as so many of us do, and I am working on them every day, but it is a work in progress and will continue to be so for a while at least. I am definitely better than I used to be that's for sure. I totally take my hat off to all those awesome ladies out there that don't care and one of these days I hope to get to that point, but right now I'm not there. I also really really really want to know if I can achieve what I am setting out to achieve and I am going to try my darndest to do it! Theoretically, it is possible, so I am holding onto that!
To achieve my goal, it is not just about losing weight now. It is really about losing my body fat. Which is really what we all should be aiming for anyway, but that is a whole other topic that I am sure I will talk about at some point in the future. So my approach for this goal is two pronged. Firstly, my nutrition for which I have seen a Nutritionist to help me and secondly my exercise for which I have seen an Exercise Physiologist for some extra help as well. I have learnt such a lot over the last 7 years and yes, I am also a fully qualified Personal Trainer, BUT, that doesn't mean that I know everything and that it wouldn't be of benefit for me to access help from other experts, especially when I am trying to achieve something that I have never tried to do before. You don't know what you don't know and it doesn't hurt to have a chat to other people because they may just know something that you don't that can help. To be quite honest, the reason why I first thought that it might be of benefit for me to see a nutritionist actually came from a webinar that I was listening to. The lady on the webinar had had a long term weight issue. One day she made the decision to lose the weight and knew that she needed help with what to eat and so she went to a Nutritionist. The Nutritionist did some testing and found that she had intolerances to over 70 different foods, some of them everyday foods such as chicken, etc. So long story short, she cut out all of those things and as a result her body became less bloated, she lost weight and now has a bikini body. It got me thinking and I thought that maybe I might have some food intolerances that were causing bloating. The reason why this made sense to me, is because firstly, I exercise usually 6 days per week and when I say exercise, I mean high intensity exercise. It is a mix of weights and cardio, because that is best for weight loss and it also stops me from getting bored. So I have pretty good ab muscles, but nobody can see them. I do know that the reason for that mostly, is that I have too much body fat, BUT, it also made sense to me that bloating could also be an issue for the following reason. I ALWAYS look pregnant. I am not pregnant. I do however, look pregnant and so I wear shapewear to suck it in. Now, I know that a lot of people have a tummy, but I really shouldn't, because of 2 things. Firstly, the amount of exercise that I do. It won't give me a 6 pack because my body fat is too high, but I should not have the size tummy that I have. I always look at least 5 months pregnant and by the time I have eaten my last meal at night, I look at least 7 months pregnant, and I am not exaggerating I promise you. The other reason that I shouldn't really have a tummy, is that I had surgery to remove excess skin after I lost my 100kg, and that included cutting me right around the middle of my body, pulling up and pulling down and stitching it all back together again. So I thought that maybe I should get some testing done to see if I have food intolerances that are causing bloating.
After chatting to the Nutritionist and discussing where I am at and my concerns, we came up with the plan for me to continue with my Keto eating plan which is a high fat, moderate protein and very low carbohydrate eating plan, but that I needed to be a lot stricter with trying to get the carbs down to the level dictated by the Keto guidelines and to also combine it with something called a Low FODMAP eating plan. If you don't know what that it, each letter of FODMAP stands for a different food group and some of those food groups can cause issues for some people. So how the Low FODMAP plan works is basically an elimination diet. For 4 weeks you cut out anything in any of those food groups, so I have a lot of things that I can't eat right now, such as mushrooms, onion, garlic, avocado, betroot, etc. Then after 4 weeks, you start doing food challenges which is where you add one thing from one of the food groups back into your diet to see if it has an effect, if it does then you know you need to keep not having it and if it doesn't then you know that that is not an issue for you and you can keep having it. Regardless of the results, the next step is to take it out again, wait a couple of days for it to get back out of your system and then try another food from another food group and do the same process, until you have tested something from each of the food groups. Once you have done that, you know if anything affects you and can adjust your eating plan on a permanent basis from then on. It is an interesting process and I am actually enjoying doing it. I am happy that I don't have to do it forever though!
Now let's talk about the exercise. Initially I didn't think that I needed to talk to anyone about exercise, but then I reminded myself that I don't know what I don't know and that I haven't ever tried to achieve this particular goal before and that it just might be of benefit for me to talk to the Exercise Physiologist and I am so glad that I did. In our conversation she made a statement that I have known all along, but until she actually said it to me, I didn't actually "GET" it if you know what I mean. This is what she said - "I know that you really want to reduce your body fat, but what you really need to concentrate on right now, is increasing your muscle, and while you are doing that"......and this is the part that I didn't really "GET" until she said it....."you may not necessarily lose body fat". Such a simple concept, but one that is so crucial to "GET" because it can really screw with your head to not see your body fat reduce when you are doing all the "right" things. So I came out of that session with a specific progressive heavy weights program to add to my normal exercise regime. My normal exercise was perfect, I just need to add in the heavy weights program 3 days per week to majorly increase my muscle which will in the end help to majorly reduce my body fat.
So now that I have explained all of that, let me get to the actual point of my blog post today. Just before the end of the third week of my new weights program, I strained a muscle just a tiny bit. It wasn't on one of my weights days, I actually did it during a normal training session and I don't even know what it was that actually strained it and it wasn't even enough for me to have any pain. It was just tight and I knew that I needed to be careful otherwise I would make it worse, so I was very careful. What I didn't realise, is that the muscle that I had strained is aggravated by long periods of sitting and most of my days are spent sitting in front of a computer for at least 8 hours a day and quite often more. So every hour that I sat in front of my computer, that muscle got tighter and tighter and tighter and by the time I did some research and realised what was aggravating it - because I wasn't even going to training anymore - I was in so much pain and could barely walk. I couldn't drive because I have a manual car and I couldn't lift my clutch leg. I couldn't even put my own pants on for a couple of days. My daughter had to help me dress because I couldn't bend down or lift my leg or bear weight on it.
So what happened to my Bikini Body Experiment? I can't train. In fact, as I am writing this, I still haven't gone back to training so I have actually had 1.5 weeks off training so far, which I can tell you is not good for my experiment. I am losing muscle every day, which is definitely not what I need right now. However, there is nothing that I can do about that. I am planning on going back to training tomorrow (Monday), but not my weights program. I have really been "better" for almost a week now, but with this kind of injury, if I go back to training too soon, I am just going to do it again and then I will be off for longer, so sometimes it is best to err on the side of caution. I go back to the physio on Tuesday. He said that we would make a decision then about going back to training. I am going back on Monday, BUT, it is really only going to be a "tester" session. I am not going back with the intention of going at my usual high intensity. I am planning to go back and take it slow and listen to my body to see how it feels. If I have ANY feeling at all that my body isn't ready, then I will pack my things up and leave halfway through the session if I have to.
Now to the actual point of my blog - I know that it has taken me a long time to get there, but I do feel that all of the above was necessary to paint the full picture. Yes I have a goal that I am trying to achieve. Yes, this has thrown a MAJOR spanner in the works. There is absolutely no denying that. Does that mean that my "Bikini Body Experiment" is over? HELL NO!!!! It means that I have had a bump in the road. It means that I have taken a bit of a detour. It means that I have to concentrate even more on my nutrition right now even than I had to before, which is definitely not a bad thing. It means that it will take me a bit longer to get to my goal than what it would have if this hasn't happened. It DOES NOT mean that I give up on it. It DOES NOT mean that I throw my hands up in the air and say, "Oh well, I tried but it just wasn't meant to be". This is life. Life is not perfect and it's not meant to be. If it was perfect, how would we ever get strong? How would we learn how to deal with what life throws at us from time to time? So if you are trying to get to a goal, whether it be to release weight, create a healthier life, become fitter, run a marathon or get that bikini body, remember that it probably isn't going to be smooth sailing the whole way. There will most probably be bumps in the road. You will most probably have to take some detours. As long as you DON'T give up, I promise that you WILL get to your destination in the end!
Take care until next time.
Shari
xoxo
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Stress and weightloss
I'm stressed out. I have been for months now. It has caused me to break out in Shingles in late June. And I believe that it's a contributor (though, not the only one) for my current difficulty in shedding weight. I'm doing not my best to combat it. There are things that I should be doing more of to bring the stress levels down. It's going to take a major life change to solve the problem entirely.
Levels of "the stress hormone," cortisol, rise during tension-filled times. Increased levels of the hormone help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods. Caving in repeatedly helps to create a habit. For me, this helps to create more stress, thus perpetuating the cycle.
I'm just about ready to make that life change. The wheels are in motion. I'm totally vaguebooking* here. I really want to talk about my future, but I have a specific reason to keep the details quiet for a little while. I hope that it won't be very long, but the very process of changing life is stressful. So it's going to get worse before it gets better.
So, in the meantime, lets chat about some ways to handle stress. Perhaps I'll try to add some more of these into a routine.
Eat a healthy diet. Well-nourished bodies are better prepared to cope with stress, so being mindful becomes even more important.
Start the day right with breakfast then keep energy up and minds clear with balanced, nutritious meals and snacks throughout the day.
Reduce sugar. This is an obvious one and oh so difficult without eating fresh and healthy foods. Just about all of the pre-packaged foods and quick grab-n-go snacks in the pantry are loaded with sugar in one form or another. Bodies craves it like a drug and when the drug is withheld will go through symptoms of withdrawal before feeling good again. But the good is SO good, once the cravings have gone away. It's worth doing.
Get enough sleep. Consider sleep the reset button on the bodies computer. That is when muscles rebuild from working out. Aim for 8 hours. Schedules make it difficult to add time to sleep in the morning. so if going to bed earlier is what helps get the hours in, do it! There are a lot of studies on how truely important this is. Fortunately for me, this is the one area that I shine. I rarely have trouble sleeping, and though, I tend to get a little less sleep than I'd like, I am getting about 7.5 hours of shut eye each night. That doesn't include the time that I'm in bed, relaxing, but not asleep yet, nor the mornings when I'm talking myself into getting up. That is a full 7+ hours of sleep cycles.
And last but not least. exercise regularly. I feel like the word "duh" should follow this. But I know that when I get stressed out, I don't want to go to the gym. Which is silly, because I also know that I feel so much better after a good workout. There is just that little bump that I have trouble getting over to get me there when I feel crummy. It takes some major self encouragement to get there right now.
What about you, readers? What do you do to combat stress?
* Vaguebooking is a term for when people put out very vague non-specific statements on social media, usually intended to get people to ask a lot of questions or feel sorry for the writer, though in this case it's only to put a little emphasis on the story.
Levels of "the stress hormone," cortisol, rise during tension-filled times. Increased levels of the hormone help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods. Caving in repeatedly helps to create a habit. For me, this helps to create more stress, thus perpetuating the cycle.
I'm just about ready to make that life change. The wheels are in motion. I'm totally vaguebooking* here. I really want to talk about my future, but I have a specific reason to keep the details quiet for a little while. I hope that it won't be very long, but the very process of changing life is stressful. So it's going to get worse before it gets better.
So, in the meantime, lets chat about some ways to handle stress. Perhaps I'll try to add some more of these into a routine.
Eat a healthy diet. Well-nourished bodies are better prepared to cope with stress, so being mindful becomes even more important.
Start the day right with breakfast then keep energy up and minds clear with balanced, nutritious meals and snacks throughout the day.
Reduce sugar. This is an obvious one and oh so difficult without eating fresh and healthy foods. Just about all of the pre-packaged foods and quick grab-n-go snacks in the pantry are loaded with sugar in one form or another. Bodies craves it like a drug and when the drug is withheld will go through symptoms of withdrawal before feeling good again. But the good is SO good, once the cravings have gone away. It's worth doing.
Get enough sleep. Consider sleep the reset button on the bodies computer. That is when muscles rebuild from working out. Aim for 8 hours. Schedules make it difficult to add time to sleep in the morning. so if going to bed earlier is what helps get the hours in, do it! There are a lot of studies on how truely important this is. Fortunately for me, this is the one area that I shine. I rarely have trouble sleeping, and though, I tend to get a little less sleep than I'd like, I am getting about 7.5 hours of shut eye each night. That doesn't include the time that I'm in bed, relaxing, but not asleep yet, nor the mornings when I'm talking myself into getting up. That is a full 7+ hours of sleep cycles.
And last but not least. exercise regularly. I feel like the word "duh" should follow this. But I know that when I get stressed out, I don't want to go to the gym. Which is silly, because I also know that I feel so much better after a good workout. There is just that little bump that I have trouble getting over to get me there when I feel crummy. It takes some major self encouragement to get there right now.
What about you, readers? What do you do to combat stress?
* Vaguebooking is a term for when people put out very vague non-specific statements on social media, usually intended to get people to ask a lot of questions or feel sorry for the writer, though in this case it's only to put a little emphasis on the story.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Hi from Shari
Helloooooo!! For those of you who don't know me, I am Shari Ware and I am someone who has struggled with my weight for basically my whole life. I met Krista when we were in highschool and she came to Australia on exchange. My family had the absolute privilege of having her live with us for 5 months. We lost contact for a while but found each other again through that wonderful thing called Facebook and I am so happy that we are able to be a support for one another on our health journeys!
I will try to tell my story as concisely as possible, because otherwise, as Krista said, we will be here forever! I basically started to gain weight from the age of 5 and by the time I finished primary school, I was about 60kg and definitely the fat kid. By the time I finished highschool, I was 100kg. After I turned 18, I decided that I wanted a boyfriend and I wanted an attractive boyfriend. Very vain and shallow I know, but that's the truth of it. I felt that the only way that I was going to find an attractive boyfriend was to lose weight, and so I did. I lost about 30kg, getting down to around 70kg and suddenly became very attractive to the opposite sex. I definitely did not go about it the right way though. I became addicted to weight loss and figured that the less I ate and the more I exercised, the more I would lose in a shorter period of time, so I ended up eating 1 meal every second day and the rest of the time survived on water, water and more water. I also exercised excessively. I am very lucky that I didn't do major damage to my health. I knew so little back then. Thankfully, I have learned so many things over my weight loss journey that I would never ever do that again!
Anyway, back to my plan. It worked. I lost weight and acquired a boyfriend. We were young, stupid and in love and of course I ended up pregnant within a year, and of course I put all my weight back on during my pregnancy. After I had my beautiful baby, I was a busy working mum and although I tried to find time to exercise, I wasn't very successful most of the time and I ate too much of things that aren't good for my body. Year after year I put on more and more weight. My partner and I also had relationship issues which I dealt with by emotional eating a lot of the time. I also had years of yo-yoing with my weight. I would lose 10kg and then something would happen and I would go off the rails and put 15 back on. By the time we split for the final time, I was around 160kg and very very unhappy. For the next 7 years I kept yo-yoing and eventually got to my heaviest. I don't know exactly what that was, but I do know that it would have been over 180kg. I was in such a bad place. Outwardly I was happy, but inside was a whole different story. I was literally a walking heart attack. I was soooooo lucky that I got through so many years of being so massively overweight without developing any major health problems. I got to the point where I cried every morning when I put my feet on the floor for the first time and stood up on them, because it hurt so much. I had to give myself a minute for the pain to subside before I could even start walking. I had to turn sideways or duck into a doorway when walking down the hallway at work because I was so big that I took up the almost the entire width of it. Two normal sized people could pass each other without coming into contact with each other, but not when I was walking down the hallway. I was absolutely massive.
One day when my daughter was about 16, I realised that if I was lucky enough to still be here, I was going to be alone. It had been the plan for a long time that when she was finished highschool here in Australia, she was going to go and spend some time with Krista and her family in the US. Kind of like our own private exchange program. I realised that I was going to end up alone, sitting on the couch at home (when I wasn't working) with no life. I didn't want to be alone. I realised for the first time in a very long time, that I was finally open to putting myself back on the market romantically. Once again though, I felt that I needed to lose weight to do that. I have never felt comfortable being in a relationship as an overweight person. I knew that when I was a healthy weight I was attractive to the opposite sex and for so many years I didn't want to be. I had had a failed relationship and I didn't want to do that again. It took me a long time to realise that that was why I was never successful all the other times that I had tried to lose weight. Stupid I know, but true nevertheless. I have also learned over the years that I need to love myself before I can hope to love another. Something that a lot of people don't realise is that being overweight is not really about selfishness or gluttony or whatever other name you want to put on it - it is more often than not about self hate. There are lots of reasons and quite often people aren't aware that they even have them, but I guarantee they do. When I am at a healthy weight, it is because I love myself more than when I am overweight. So I set about making the changes that I needed to make to lose my weight. It was time to shed my armour and this time I was finally successful. It took me about 3 years to lose 100kg and I have pretty much maintained that for the past 4 years or so.
You may think that that is the end of the story. It's certainly not. Yes, I am now a healthy weight, but I still need to work at it every day. My life today is absolutely amazing compared to what it was 7 years ago and I am so grateful that I finally found what I call my "Why Power". I have learned so much over my journey and I continue to learn every single day. I have made it my mission in life now to try to help others to find their Why Power and to pass on what I learn to help people just like us who struggle with their weight to create healthier, happier lives just like I have done. I hope that you find my ramblings of help to your on your journey. We CAN do whatever we tell ourselves we can.......I have definitely proved that!
Until next time, take care and just remember that you CAN change your story......one meal at a time, one day at a time, one step at a time.
Shari
xoxo
I will try to tell my story as concisely as possible, because otherwise, as Krista said, we will be here forever! I basically started to gain weight from the age of 5 and by the time I finished primary school, I was about 60kg and definitely the fat kid. By the time I finished highschool, I was 100kg. After I turned 18, I decided that I wanted a boyfriend and I wanted an attractive boyfriend. Very vain and shallow I know, but that's the truth of it. I felt that the only way that I was going to find an attractive boyfriend was to lose weight, and so I did. I lost about 30kg, getting down to around 70kg and suddenly became very attractive to the opposite sex. I definitely did not go about it the right way though. I became addicted to weight loss and figured that the less I ate and the more I exercised, the more I would lose in a shorter period of time, so I ended up eating 1 meal every second day and the rest of the time survived on water, water and more water. I also exercised excessively. I am very lucky that I didn't do major damage to my health. I knew so little back then. Thankfully, I have learned so many things over my weight loss journey that I would never ever do that again!
Anyway, back to my plan. It worked. I lost weight and acquired a boyfriend. We were young, stupid and in love and of course I ended up pregnant within a year, and of course I put all my weight back on during my pregnancy. After I had my beautiful baby, I was a busy working mum and although I tried to find time to exercise, I wasn't very successful most of the time and I ate too much of things that aren't good for my body. Year after year I put on more and more weight. My partner and I also had relationship issues which I dealt with by emotional eating a lot of the time. I also had years of yo-yoing with my weight. I would lose 10kg and then something would happen and I would go off the rails and put 15 back on. By the time we split for the final time, I was around 160kg and very very unhappy. For the next 7 years I kept yo-yoing and eventually got to my heaviest. I don't know exactly what that was, but I do know that it would have been over 180kg. I was in such a bad place. Outwardly I was happy, but inside was a whole different story. I was literally a walking heart attack. I was soooooo lucky that I got through so many years of being so massively overweight without developing any major health problems. I got to the point where I cried every morning when I put my feet on the floor for the first time and stood up on them, because it hurt so much. I had to give myself a minute for the pain to subside before I could even start walking. I had to turn sideways or duck into a doorway when walking down the hallway at work because I was so big that I took up the almost the entire width of it. Two normal sized people could pass each other without coming into contact with each other, but not when I was walking down the hallway. I was absolutely massive.
One day when my daughter was about 16, I realised that if I was lucky enough to still be here, I was going to be alone. It had been the plan for a long time that when she was finished highschool here in Australia, she was going to go and spend some time with Krista and her family in the US. Kind of like our own private exchange program. I realised that I was going to end up alone, sitting on the couch at home (when I wasn't working) with no life. I didn't want to be alone. I realised for the first time in a very long time, that I was finally open to putting myself back on the market romantically. Once again though, I felt that I needed to lose weight to do that. I have never felt comfortable being in a relationship as an overweight person. I knew that when I was a healthy weight I was attractive to the opposite sex and for so many years I didn't want to be. I had had a failed relationship and I didn't want to do that again. It took me a long time to realise that that was why I was never successful all the other times that I had tried to lose weight. Stupid I know, but true nevertheless. I have also learned over the years that I need to love myself before I can hope to love another. Something that a lot of people don't realise is that being overweight is not really about selfishness or gluttony or whatever other name you want to put on it - it is more often than not about self hate. There are lots of reasons and quite often people aren't aware that they even have them, but I guarantee they do. When I am at a healthy weight, it is because I love myself more than when I am overweight. So I set about making the changes that I needed to make to lose my weight. It was time to shed my armour and this time I was finally successful. It took me about 3 years to lose 100kg and I have pretty much maintained that for the past 4 years or so.
You may think that that is the end of the story. It's certainly not. Yes, I am now a healthy weight, but I still need to work at it every day. My life today is absolutely amazing compared to what it was 7 years ago and I am so grateful that I finally found what I call my "Why Power". I have learned so much over my journey and I continue to learn every single day. I have made it my mission in life now to try to help others to find their Why Power and to pass on what I learn to help people just like us who struggle with their weight to create healthier, happier lives just like I have done. I hope that you find my ramblings of help to your on your journey. We CAN do whatever we tell ourselves we can.......I have definitely proved that!
Until next time, take care and just remember that you CAN change your story......one meal at a time, one day at a time, one step at a time.
Shari
xoxo
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