Encouragement

Any change, great or small, requires encouragement. Having people tell you that you can do something when you don´t believe enough in yourself is important. Have you ever been put to the test, take a running marathon for example...and just when you think you have nothing more to give someone runs up next to you and says...."Keep going, you can do it!" Surprisingly you find yourself mustering up that last little bit of energy you didn´t realize you had and finishing what you started and you did it because someone encouraged you.

I find in this challenge I´ve undertaken now that encouragement is so important. People leaving comments here or on my facebook group, cheering me along...it´s what I need. I´m the kind of person who does best in a situation like this when everyone knows what I´m doing. I like the pressure of not wanting to fail when so many are following me. I think it´s one of the things that helped me through the Scandinavian Biggest Loser show. I KNEW there would be hundreds of thousands of people watching the final show and like hell was I going to stand up there and be the one who DIDN`T go down in weight!!! That pressure pushed me. That fact whispered in my ear each time I didn´t feel like exercising or doing what I knew I was suppose to do. I had someone contact me every week, following what I ate, asking me how much exercise I did...and I thrived with that attention. When all these people were believing in me, how could I not believe in myself? 

Not to make excuses because they are just that, excuses, BUT when the show was over and the cameras turned off and the attention died out I floundered. I felt like I was at sea with no one to watch over me and make sure I didn´t drown, while the months before I had many who were watching over me and encouraging me. I´m not going to blame the people around me for my weight gain again, but I know me, I know what works for me and encouragement from those around me works for me. When I´m discussing in my head, with myself, how I can get out doing whatever I´m suppose to be doing and someone comes along and says, "Way to go Amy!" I´m like....shit.....ok, I´ll keep going....and I do...and I surprise myself over what I´m able to do. 

Tomorrow is my first official weigh in and on Thursday I will have officially been on the meal replacement for a week. Five weeks left with JUST the meal replacement. I´m excited to see the official results, I´m following along here at home and it´s going well. I feel better for every day but have moments of feeling a little dizzy. Today while I was in strength class (We worked with free weights and a aerobic step) I felt seriously dizzy and thought, "Ok...in about a minute here I´m gonna hit the floor..." so I ended up sitting down and that helped. I felt incredibly good when I was done with the class so that was great. I´ve told the kids I want them to make their own meals another week and then I´m going to start making healthy meals for them which they can test and tell me what they think and then when I can eat real food again I´ll try the most popular recipes. Some people can´t understand how I could cook food and not eat it but this is part of what we´re trying to learn in our new lifestyle- being able to say no to temptation. I have to know what I want and be dedicated enough to get it or I´m just fooling myself and I don´t believe I´m doing that.

So I thought I´d share with you the recipes I´ll be trying out with the kids, one for each blog post along with a link in case you´d like to try them out yourself. I´ve been seeing a lot of healthy recipes which include quinoa. What is quinoa you ask? I asked the same thing. Quinoa is considered a whole grain but is actually a seed and can be used like rice or barley. Quinoa cooks quicker then other whole grains, needing only about 10-15 minutes and tastes better by itself then other whole grains and it´s complete with 9 essential amino acids making it a complete protein source which is great for vegetarians. I´ve never tried it but my curiosity is peeked and it seems to be widely used in healthy recipes I´m finding online. So here is the first recipe I´m thinking of trying: Quinoa, veggies and scallops...YUM...you can find the link HERE. If you try this let me know what you think and I´ll let you know what the kid´s verdict is when we make it. 

Until next time my friends....keep encouraging, you never know whose life you´ll be helping to change with a few simple friendly and encouraging words!