Current mood:	jubilant
Entry tags:	woot

I Love Spiritual Weight Loss. :)

As most of you know, I am a Witch and I use the CUSP Spiritual Path as a pattern for my spiritual life, which really permeates all of my life.  Although I did a lot through the winter months to prepare for what I was going to undertake at the Spring Equinox, Spring was the real kick off to my dedication to losing this weight.  I put my goal out there at the Winter Solstice as an idea, just as the spark of light returns to the sky, we fan the spark of inspiration in our minds and in our spirits.  By Spring Equinox, we have been shown by The Universe whether or not our goal is one we need to pursue or abandon in favor of another one or revise in some way.  I got the "full steam ahead" signal.  Not only was I told that I should "plant" (to "harvest" in the Fall) healthy weight loss and a lean, strong, healthy body, but I was also told that it was ALL I was supposed to plant this year.  Usually, we plant 3-4 different things that reflect how we want our life to be by October 31, the end of harvest time.  Nope.  This year, it is all or nothing.  (Psst.  It's going to be "all")  

I did my own visualization of planting on March 19th.  That's the day that our little group would have met if we had not been under several feet of snow.  I started to put it off because it is a real challenge to get into a "planting" frame of mind with 4-5 feet of snow piled up outside.  During the final hours of that day, I realized that one of the reasons why my previous weight loss efforts have failed is because I ALWAYS have an excuse for why I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do.  I really did not want to start out this year's effort on that same premise, so I did a meditation where I visualized the empty, fallow fields, fertile and ready to house the seeds.  In my mind, I planted and covered the seeds, planted and covered the seeds, planted and covered the seeds.  Each seed was a right choice, a bit of motivation, strength, opportunities, education, dedication... all the things I would need to accomplish this amazing task. In my mind, I could smell the rich, soft earth.  I could feel it moving between my fingers and under my feet.  After I planted, in my mind's eye, I felt the warm, Spring rains fall on my planted fields, giving it nourishment and hydration.  The rain I saw as the blessings of God and Goddess on my efforts.  It felt really good.

Last Saturday, we were finally able to do our official planting.  It was still so cold.  It was before the most recent foot of snow that fell this week, so the ground was not completely frozen and the snow had cleared away from the front yard, although the back was still impassable.  Eric dug a big hole with his pick under the circle of trees to the side of the house.  We wrote our goal (each of us is only planting one thing, as it turned out) on raw eggs (as symbols of Ostara, the Goddess of Spring and Fertility and in respect to the fact that all higher life begins with an egg) on the egg with a sharpie, put our intention and desire for the goal into the egg, then planted it.  That felt really good too.

Almost immediately, I could see differences after the official planting. 

(Watching TV as I write this and I think Gary Busey is officially crazy)

First, after a couple of months of working out by trying out several different avenues.  I have a recumbent bike, a gazelle, yoga DVDs, exercise tubes and body flex information and their workout bar.  I floated back and forth between all of those, plus walking the dogs and such stuff.  The day after the planting, I picked up a book I had only scanned previously, the Curves book by Carol Colman.  I copied the information on the at home workout and I have been doing that every other day.  On the off days, I normally do some cardio or additional strength building exercises.  I want to do some kind of exercise every day to keep up the pace.  I have found that if I miss the day, I start to get all kinds of entitlement thoughts that undermine my progress.  I've done the Curves work out three times now and I feel really good about it. It takes me about 40-45 minutes, partly because I tend to do the cardio for about 60 seconds instead of 40 before changing back to the strength building exercises.  I was sore for 2 days after the first work out, but I haven't been sore again since. 

I am supplementing with flax seed oil (for my heart since my family has a history both of obesity and heart disease), vitamin B-12 (for stress relief) and One a Day Weight Smart vitamins. 

Night before last, I was very excited to find myself led to yet another book I bought a while back and only gave a cursory glance.  I spent the night reviewing Dr Phil's Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge, as well as his Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide, which actually has a lot more information included than food counts, particular his "rapid start plan."  After studying it well, yesterday I stocked up my house with good foods and stripped it out of the bad ones that tempt me.  The ones that don't, I left for the family.  Today is my first day on his rapid start plan program and it feels really, really good.  I am totally off of white bread products, pasta and potatoes of any kind.  I am totally off of refined sugar products.  Drinking the water.  I only drink diet, caffeine-free soda and no more than 2 a day.  No fruit juices for 2 weeks. 

So far, I'm only running on breakfast, which was humongous: a  cup of shredded wheat with a half cup of 2% milk, a cup of strawberries, an egg fried in Pam butter flavored cooking spray and a glass of water.  I think that is more food I've eaten for breakfast (not even BRUNCH) since I was on vacation last July.  Lunch will be a sandwich of lean deli meat on Sarah Lee Deelightful Whole Wheat Bread, a piece of fruit and a cup of 2% milk.  Dinner is roasted turkey, steamed veggies, a garden salad and a diet soda.  I can have all of the good-for-you raw veggies I want for snacks through the day.  Of course, lots of water will be in there too.  I am full and satisfied and I feel very, very eager to give this the two week window it suggests before going to the actual weight loss plan he created, which is pretty much the same thing with a couple of starchy veggies added in.  I can definitely go the distance on this with a splurge every week or so. 

This tastes a lot better than the minute or 10 of joy and satisfaction I used to get from different kinds of foods.  In retrospect, I think my favorite feel good foods were macaroni and chicken breast cooked together, Tuna Helper Creamy Pasta (I doubled the tuna and left out the margarine), homemade chicken pot pie, steak, mashed potatoes, biscuits, homemade white bread, soft french bread, pizza, Mexican food and Olive Garden's chicken alfredo. Yum.  I won't be able to eat those as much as I want, but I will have them from time to time as a treat.  I have never been one to lean toward sweets or chips and such for my food fix.  My weight came from good ol' nurture foods.  :)

I feel grateful to have been led to the eating plan that is going to work for me and the exercise plan that is going to work for me.  After this, it's just a matter of days joining hands to take me to Oct 31st, when I should be in a much tighter package than I am now. 

I measure and weigh again the day after my period completely ends for the month, which will likely be April 24-25.  I am actually pretty eager to see the progress I've made, but I'm going to wait it out so I can see big losses instead of incremental ones. 

Eric fully supports the family diet change, even though it means no more ice cream (his personal favorite), no more cookies and brownies, no more bread and potatoes (a very integral part of our family diet until this time). I have never had a passion for white sandwich bread, so I still use that for the kids.  The Sarah Lee bread I use is what I prefer anyway based on taste. 

I feel as though I have all the tools I need to do this and do it in style.  If I don't and there are more that I need and don't know about, I have total faith that they will come to me. 

The spiritual progression side of it from here on is that at Summer Solstice, the "crops" will be tall in the field, but not yet ready to harvest (I'll be seeing excellent progress by this time).  By Autumn Equinox in September, I will have the beginning of the harvest, so I will definitely be able to see a significant difference by then.  October 31st ends the harvest year and by then, I expect to be pretty darn close to my goal if not dead on.  That's approximately 30 weeks from Spring Equinox. 

I can do it, I am doing it, it is done!

:)