How To Get Things Done

Shiny object syndrome.

Also known as SOS. Easily excited about a new idea. A strong pull towards the "next" thing.

Its a common trait (some would call it an issue!) among creatives and visionaries and is usually what makes people love us. And hate us.  We can often see a long ways down the road, what the future could be, but the steps in between there and where we stand, well, we aren't always too good at following through on those or even knowing what the steps are. We are simply caught up in the excitement of the new and shiny.

This syndrome, as you may have guessed, can have devastating consequences for a person like me who is desperately working at changing her body and regaining her health. Its not that I lose interest, but there are so many other things to do and places to go that I have to constantly remind myself of my priorities. Stop, Cheryl, what is your mission? What do you have to do to get there? Will this new and shiny idea get you closer or is it merely a bunny trail. (A bunny trail seems so appropriate today.)

Shiny. Objects. Distract. Me.

I write today as a "sufferer" of a very bad case of SOS. It's fairly familiar territory for me, so a couple of years ago I posted a small slip of paper in my work area with helpful reminders and practical steps to keep me on track. I share it with you today, simple, to the point:

How To Work Better

Do one thing at a time.

Know the problem.

Learn to listen.

Learn to ask questions.

Distinguish sense from nonsense.

Accept change as inevitable.

Admit mistakes.

Say it simple.

Be calm.

Smile.

How do you stay on track?

Reaching Out

Do you have LOTS going on right now?

Do you look at your to-do list and sometimes not even know where to start?

That's exactly where I'm at right now.

And, we all know what that's like. When the work that is demanded of us mounts higher and higher, we can begin to feel like we've got our very own personal giant(s) that we must somehow slay all  by ourselves.

Right now, I've got THREE giants that are storming towards me, but as I cling tight to my commitment to face each one square-on, I hardly know which way to face. Feelings of overwhelmed-ness are looming.

That is, until I received this from my hubs this morning:

With all of those giants that you are facing, none are immortal. They can each be slain by YOU. I know that. You know that too. You are a strong woman. David didn’t put all 5 stones in his sling at once. He knew that one at a time was the way to go. Each hour/day, focus on Only. One. Giant. Ignore the rest during that hour/day.

The weight animal was put under submission by you less than a decade ago. You know how to do it. You have proven yourself capable of doing it. In fact you are much more knowledgeable now, and have so many more weapons available to subdue this wild animal. By choosing your weapons wisely, the battle will be won by you.I really believe that you can do it !!

Right now, I see your only goal is 10 pounds in March. Break it down. 10 little steps. April, May, etc. do not exist right now. Only March.

Now, how can I NOT have a great day after that? Support from those who love us is MONUMENTAL in our success!

In that spirit, I want to give a big, huge shout out to Jen at Prior Fat Girl for organizing a fabulous meet-up this past Saturday morning at The Beat Coffeehouse in uptown Minneapolis!

It was a solid two hours of meeting, listening to and talking with 40 other women all fighting for the same thing....a healthy, whole body that looks good and feels good. Thanks Jen for your hard work in putting this together!  It was fun and INSPIRING!

We simply must do much more of this reaching out....and, more often! Who inspires you, and who can you inspire today?

Cheers,
Cheryl

Book Review: French Women Don't Get Fat

FRENCH WOMAN'S MANIFESTO:

French women love to sit at a cafe and do nothing but enjoy the moment.

It's official ~ I wanna be french.

Since I love reading so much, once in awhile I'm going to post a book review here. I thought I'd start with French Women Don't Get Fat by the lovely and amazing Mireille Guiliano, one of the best books I've read on the subject of weight control.  Why?  Glad you asked. ;-)

1.  Mireille (pronounced Meer-ray) is French.  And she lives in America.  New York to be exact.  So, her perspective hasn't been formed in a vacuum.  She knows the culture of both France and the USA and shows us how much fun it can be to live in both worlds.  And, who wouldn't want to adopt a view of weight control that includes bread and chocolate?

2.  The book is beautifully written.  I read a lot of books, some of which I can fly through for mere entertainment and others like this one that I just want to savor.  She inserts french colloquialisms that begin to acquaint the reader with the language, the essence, the soul of France.  At first I skipped over these because I don't know French, but sensed along the way that I was missing a great sensory experience by doing so.  Mireille writes with grace, with elegance and yet with a sensibility and frankness that is just irresistible.

3.  What Mireille proposes is sustainable . . . it requires, yes, a shift away from the American "more is better" attitude, but somehow you end up knowing in your soul that this, too, can be a gentle process.  So, if you've ridden the dieting roller coaster, you will find this book refreshing.  Refreshing like a cool glass of water on a hot day. Seriously.

4.  No empty promises are made.  Mireille straight forwardly says that "most who appear to live in healthy balance are actually working at it" as opposed to being born with it or genetically predisposed.  So, no, french women don't {and we can't continue to} eat McDonald's and deep fried foods every day and still lose weight.  But, though we must exert effort, the effort is balanced with remembering the pleasure in it all.  Eat slower, take time to really taste the food.  I can tell you THAT's the quickest way to make a person avoid the drive-thru!  Have you ever chewed your drive-thru burger 30 times? {insert expletive here}

5.  You can eat real food.  Not only real, but high quality, fresh, whole food.  No diet shakes or protein bars, just honest-to-goodness scrumptious food.  I love what Mireille says about food on television:

Food on television makes one think about eating and gets one's gastric juices flowing, triggering the release of insulin, lowering one's blood sugar, and stimulating food cravings.  It's gastronomic pornography.

And, yes, chocolate and bread are included.   Turns out that small meals of good quality food are extremely satisfying.

6.  Pleasure is a main component.  Have you ever tried to "go on a diet", embarked, and then hated every last minute of it?  I have.  Somehow we've concluded that to lose weight and be healthy means we don't get to enjoy food anymore.  Not so with Mireille's approach.  She says that "self punishment is never our path to well-being."  But, enjoying pleasures is done with moderation, and as such, the shame of indulgence is removed.

I could say a whole lot more, but honestly, I don't want to spoil it for you.  You owe it to yourself to pick up this book.  French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano.  Please leave your thoughts, feelings, anything you want to in the comments.  And, once you read the book, come back and tell me about it.

Enjoying the process,
Cheryl

Resisting Temptation

On the heels of an amazingly successful week of work, parties, and NOT succumbing to even just a taste of the birthday cakes (yes, there were two), munchies, and left over sweets from Christmas, I was kind of worn out on Saturday morning. The last party of the week broke up just before 11 Friday night and as I laid my head on the pillow next to my happy husband, I felt quite proud of myself for not giving in to all the temptations I had faced.

But, Saturday came and I relaxed . . . didn't do any planning for the day's food. Unfortunately, my trusty fall-back salad was also gone, and wouldn't you know it, I woke up hungry, really hungry.

Thus, the end of a week that was filled with victories started to come undone. Like Big Mac undone. And a mini $100,000 candy bar undone. And, chips and salsa undone.

As I sat thinking about it all, I realized that the Big Mac could have been replaced easily with a Subway sandwich for a fraction of the fat, and the chips that accompanied the healthy salsa could have been what my friend Heidi made, Kale Chips, a recipe I've been really wanting to try. And the candy bar? Just totally not even worth it.

But, I was tired. And feeling a bit of entitlement after resisting so many things all week. After I finished licking my fingers and enjoying the lingering taste of my chosen sins, I decided that while a Big Mac (metaphorically speaking of course) doesn't add much nutrition to my body, maybe the whole faux pas could teach, even inform my 2010 goals of a thing or two.

Seriously? I was skeptical too that a Big Mac would have anything valuable to say. But, here's my takeaway from my drive-thru snafu:

A PLANNED afternoon of indulgence is better than an unplanned one.

Not too deep I know, but what can we really expect from a Big Mac anyway?

What do you guys think? When we have a particularly challenging week and succeed at resisting the temptations, should we schedule a reward?

Talk to me,
Cheryl

P.S. Seriously, guys, I messed up but thankfully all the resisting that I did manage netted me a nice weight loss - down 3.6 pounds this past week! Woo hoo!

How To Stay On A Diet

So, I was thinking about this whole weighing in thing, and realized that what I'm really after when I hop on the scale is some kind of a visual that will keep me going. We know ourselves too well . . . all the times we've started a diet only to fall off the wagon a few weeks later . . . and desperately wanting this time to be THE time that it actually happens, we get the weight off and change the way we look forever.

On the other hand, I really respect what others have said about the deception of the scale. Depending on our fluid intake, when we last ate, what we last ate, how much salt we've had, and a host of other variables, the scale just doesn't tell the whole story. But, as many problems as the scale seems to have, it is still one of the most concrete ways of gauging our progress.

But, is there a better way, or maybe an additional way? In one of my past weight loss attempts, I did a couple of "visual" things that didn't involve the scale. This particular time I was desperately wanting to get into a size 16 jeans.

So, I went to the store and bought a really cute pair and hung them on a hook on the back of my bathroom door. Then, every day before stepping into the shower I would pause at the mirror and look at my body. Yeah, while naked, no clothes to cover up or camouflage anything, just bare nakedness. It was like how I told myself the truth about where my body actually was. Then, a couple of times a week after my shower I'd try those new cute jeans on.

I was successful that time in getting a bunch of weight off I think because I kept a constant visual in front of me, both in the form of actually seeing my body for what it was and seeing those jeans that I wanted to look good in. I was working out hard with both cardio and strength training, and was gaining muscle while losing fat, so the scale wasn't always showing the kind of loss I really hoped for. But, those jeans!! I'll never forget the day I tried them on, and voila, they fit like a glove.

So, what do you guys think? I personally don't think I could give up the scale completely, but maybe adding other visual reminders in will help us stay on track this year. Would love to hear if anyone else has tried this visual thing and if it worked.

Workin' it,
Cheryl