Rambles and deep thoughts

Shhhhhhh don't get too excited yet, but this weeks weigh in looks pretty promising! :-) I'll know tonight at about 5 PM!

Training is going as well as it can be going when the weather outside is freakin' 20 degrees! Come on spring temperatures. I know you are out there. Get here already! Meanwhile, I truck along on the exercise bike as much as possible. I've been nailing some longer rides on the exercise bike...so I feel good about that. Riding until my legs have a little bit of that 'jelly feeling' in them is a good thing now-a-days. How sick is that, that I look forward to that feeling????

You know...I just like the Australian version of The Biggest Loser. they seem to go so much more in depth with the background of why the contestants are the way they are...and eating and all that jazz. I was watching an episode from season three (yep, while riding the exercise bike) and one of the contestants participated in a temptation to win immunity. He ate well over 1000 calories as he participated....and LOST anyway! He was just so upset and bummed out that he went to the kitchen and had lunch (right after the temptation where he ate 1000 empty calories). Ohh it wasn't just lunch. It was lots of bread, 14 cookies (at 100 calories a cookie), cheese, you name it...he had it. He ate something like 4000 calories during his binge. They showed it! Not that we needed to see him eating. But I think it's good to show that even though this guy had lost close to 50 kilos (we are talking 100 pounds here) he still so easily lost control and binged. It happens. And they took the opportunity to talk about how you deal with that. The trainer also talked about how she could tell immediately that 'something' was wrong even before he told her...simply in how his body was performing.

I'm going to revisit a rant I went on a while back about gastric bypass surgery and being bothered about it. Well, that family member has her date set....for the end of this month. WHY WHY WHY!!! Mom told me that in her words she said "I just stay away from food." Well, what is going to be different after you have the surgery? Your stomach will stretch again! Look at the guy (the father Ron) on the current season of The Biggest Loser. He had bypass and it didn't work! Ohh he lost the weight but he gained it back! Same thing with that girl on DietTribe (I think her name was Morgan). Bypass...and right back to 280 pounds! It's not the end all be all answer! I ran into a friend last week and somehow this bypass conversation came up. Turns out her brother-in-law had the lapband surgery back right around Thanksgiving (I think she said between Thanksgiving and Christmas). Two days before the surgery (and the last time he was supposed to eat before the surgery) he went out to Ryans...and totally ate himself silly. What is taht about? So anyway, he had the surgery and has been losing the weight. BUT my friend went on to say that he's figured out a trick. Apparently with the lapband, they leave a small portion of your stomach...so you eat until that is filled...and then when that is digested it passes through the small opening and then you can eat more....but you can't eat more until that is digested and passed through that opening. WELL, apparently her brother in law has figured out a way to beat the system , er lapband. He has figured out that he can eat until that 'space' is full...and then if he drinks a lot of water (quickly??) that it pushes that food past that narrow opening leaving that pouch available for more food...which of course he refills by eating...and then flushing. It took him what....3 months to figure out how to bypass the bypas (ok, a lapband, but bypassing the bypass sounded better)

I'm still really feeling led or called to do something to promote healthy living. To help people see that even though you may dig yourself into a pretty big hole with your weight, that it is NOT impossible to correct the problem naturally. I don't know how....but I'm thinking and I've started to seriously pray about it. The one thing that keeps popping up in my mind is becoming a nutritionist. I had looked at the certification programs...I'm not sure that is the route to go....so that leaves the RD (registered dietitian)...but that is more schooling.....which takes money. So we'll have to see about that. I've looked for non-profits to align myself with...but I'm not finding much. I found one coalition or some such group that looked big and well organized. But upon looking deeper noticed that they have links and support the gastric bypass stuff. And while I do think that there is a time and a place for those surgeries...I feel that it is becoming the 'quick fix' resort....and that is wrong in my book. So I don't want to align myself with a group that pushes gastric bypasses as the common solution. So I'm not sure what route to take...I just know that right now, my heart is really pulled in that direction.

My last thought of the day. (maybe) is why do we feel as if we need to eat something just because it's the consummate diet food. I was reading a post just recently where the author was talking about oatmeal. And how she never liked oatmeal...but she wants to eat it...and did we have any ideas how to make it more palatable. I threw some ideas out there (things that I do to my oatmeal) but then finished with "don't make yourself eat something just because you think it's healthy'. We need to eat what we like...otherwise we will NEVER have any success....at least with any longevity! Soooooo today, just a few minutes ago, I started eating my lunch....and what did I find in my lunchbox (yeah yeah yeah...I packed it..so I knew what was there beforehand) but yogurt. Ohhh goody! My favorite thing! NOT. I really do not like yogurt! So why do I continue to buy it? Is it because I have coupons and get it cheap? Well, even though I have coupons sometimes for the yogurt, the coupons alone do not make me buy the item. I mean, after all, I get coupons for Depends (yeah, the adult diaper) and I don't buy them! (thank goodness I don't NEED them) I dont' buy diapers and baby food..but I've had some good coupons. So no...that can't be it. Ohh wait, do I buy them and choke the yogurt down because it's healthy for me???? Ohhh yeah, that's it!! Even though my own advice was to not force yourself to eat foods that you do not like....even though it's healthy for you, there I was doing it! I thought about my advice and I just didn't have it in me to choke down that yogurt....so into the garbage it went. It's about time I started following my own advice!

Lunch is over now (yeah, I was eating while I typed that last paragraph). And like I promised, I'm done talking (typing ) for now.