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Posts Tagged ‘job loss’

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 14, 2011 | 3 Comments »

Or so they say.

 

But really? I would rather have to put that theory to the test. But, alas, I would also not rather be homeless and I would rather be able to put good, healthy food on our table. So, over the course of the next few months, The Chick Magnet and I and the Chicklets will have the opportunity to see if it’s really true.

 

We have done this before though. When we were dating and throughout our year and a half engagement, my then fiance, now fabulous hubby, and I lived several states apart. He was going to Purdue here in IN and I was in PA, 500 miles away.

 

However, in the nearly 11 years we have been married, we have never faced a situation quite like this one. And can I be really honest? It sucks. It just really, really sucks.

 

Now I am not here to throw a pity party. I am SO thankful for the opportunity we have been given. But it sure doesn’t make being separated much easier. I know it could be so much worse. My local accountability partner is a military wife who is separated for months on end from her sweet husband. I just don’t think I have her strength.

 

And then there’s the for real single mamas who have my utmost admiration and respect. I have no idea how they do it, day in and day out, with no break, no support, no back-up.

 

I have a feeling though, our family will prove this theory to be true and come out stronger in the end. In the meantime, you all lovely readers get the fortunate opportunity to listen to me whine and moan about how much I hate it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. ;)

 

I am also giving you the opportunity to put this theory to the test yourselves. I am taking a short leave of absence from the blog, and Facebook and Twitter. The Chick Magnet has the next few days off and is at home with us and I am taking advantage of every second. I hope my absence only makes your heart grow fonder!

 

 

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Running with Perseverance

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 20, 2011 | 38 Comments »

 

And another one bites the dust. Another week that is.

 

I have to admit, I really dread writing this post this week. And I totally feel guilty about calling it “Running With Perseverance”. Maybe I should have called it, “Slacking Off With Perseverance” or something more accurate. This was definitely not a good week for me.

 

Admittedly, I have been in a bit of a slump lately. I could give you all sorts of excuses as to why that is the case. You could feel sorry for me because our family is still adjusting to having hardly any income since my husband’s job-loss and that is taking its toll emotionally. I could explain that we are still trying to figure out a “new normal” now that our schedules have been turned upside down. I could tell you all about the time spent away from home traveling the past couple of weeks. And all of that would be true.

 

Those are all also excuses. Pretty darn good excuses, but excuses nonetheless. If there is anything I have become good at over the years as I have packed on the pounds it has been making excuses.

 

“I don’t have the time.”

 

“I’m too busy.”

 

“I’m too tired.”

 

“I’m going to start next week.”

 

“It’s the holidays, I’ll make changes after the first of the year.”

 

“I have a nursing baby.”

 

“I have four kids who need all of my attention.” (Nothing like blaming my kids for my issues. I know, right? Mother of the Year, I’m telling you.)

 

“Homeschooling takes up too much of my time.”

 

“I’m too out of shape.”

 

“I can’t afford a gym membership/to eat healthy/workout videos/exercise equipment.” (Ummm, hello??? Free treadmill, anyone? You were aware the library lets you borrow videos FOR FREE right?)

 

“My husband works too many hours and we would never have enough time together.”

 

You name it, I’ve used it. Every. Excuse. In. The. Book.

 

You know what?

 

I’m done.

 

I’m done with the excuses. I’m done with deceiving myself. I’m done with hiding. If I wanted to continue hiding behind my excuses (which are really all just masks for my fears), I would have never started this blog.

 

But almost two months ago now, I made a promise. I promised God. I promised myself. I promised you. I promised that I was done.

 

So what was wrong with my week?

 

Me. I was wrong. I am my own worst enemy and my biggest problem to overcome. It was MY choice alone to eat what I did (you don’t want to know), to neglect my workouts when I did (I did do a few pansy workouts in the pool), and to allow my emotions to get the better of me during some difficult situations this week and use that as an excuse to NOT persevere. I am the only one who can do this. And this week? I just didn’t do it.

 

I am not even going to list my successes and struggles this week or my focus for next week. My successes were few and far between and my struggles were too numerous to count. And my focus is simply this: to stay focused.

 

One thing I have always promised on this blog is that I will always be honest with you. Even if I end up looking (and feeling) like crap because of it. I will never sugar-coat what happens on my journey to paint myself in a positive light. I don’t think that is helpful to either one of us. First, I would be deceiving us both and second, I would be setting myself up as an impossible example. Instead, I want you to know what is really real. I have been at this long enough to know you have probably been there too.

 

So there you have it. My very honest, very real, very terrible weight-loss week. I am only hoping the scale tomorrow doesn’t show it to be a weight-gain week. So far, I have not had a single week since I started that I have not lost. No matter how miniscule that loss may have been, it was still a loss. If I actually gain one week, I am warning you now, you are going to have to help me pick up the pieces and keep pressing on.

 

In the past, a week like the one I have had would have led to me completely giving up. It also would have led to a lot of self-hatred and self-condemning thoughts. It would have more than likely expressed itself with extreme bingeing. It definitely would have led to more excuses.

 

Thankfully, I’m done with all that.

 

I’m done.

 

So how do you handle weeks like the one I had? Do you get discouraged and give up? Does it make you angry and give you motivation to push harder?

 

Please, make me feel better and tell me I am not alone.

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Running with Perseverance

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 13, 2011 | 9 Comments »

 

Yep, it’s that time again! I can’t believe it’s almost weigh-in day already. The weeks are just flying by. Hard to believe I have been at this for nearly 8 weeks now. Doesn’t seem possible. I am pretty sure I have never stuck it out this long.

 

There is not much exciting to report this week. I had another rough week with a crazy-busy schedule and then with The Chick Magnet being gone, I was “single-mommin’” it for a few days. Yes, I did just make that word up.

 

On a side note, I just have to say, I have the utmost awe and respect for you single mamas (and dads too) out there. I seriously don’t know how you do it. Please tell me your secrets because I am nervous about the potential separation between the hubby and me if he has to move for a job and we can’t go right away. It is SO hard to be the one who is always “on”, ya know?

 

So, my workouts took another hit this week. Excuses, excuses but it was a really busy week and it was hard to fit them in without the hubby here to distract the kiddos. This week WILL be better.

 

As far as my eating, I did eat well but I didn’t track well. Because my hubby was gone most of the week (as were 2 of the kids), it was only me, Chicklet # 2 and baby Chickie, so I didn’t really feel much like cooking big dinners, so we mostly grazed and snacked on veggies from the garden, fruits, wraps etc… and that type of stuff can be hard to track sometimes.

 

At any rate, I honestly can’t predict what will happen on the scale tomorrow. I thought the week before last was great and last week was a bummer-but the scale flip-flopped and gave me great results last week. Can I hope for the same for this week? We shall see in the morning!

 

Here’s the rundown:

 

Successes:

  • Ate LOTS of fresh fruits and veggies-nothing like a fresh-from-the-garden tomato. I eat them like apples!
  • Made the yummiest green smoothie for lunch this week (recipe soon to come)
  • Did you know I lost 3.1 pounds this week? That means instead of saying, “I have about 200 pounds to lose,” I have started saying, “I have 180 pounds to lose.” Granted, it’s still a crazy number, but it’s moving in the right direction!

 

Struggles:

  • Workout failure
  • Missing half my family threw me off my game
  • Just really lacking motivation lately, a topic I hope to explore more in depth this week on the blog
  • Didn’t blog consistently like I usually do, due to time focused on the kiddos (which is not necessarily a bad thing-it was SO nice to give the two at home lots of 1:1 time)

 

Focus for Next Week:

  • Amp up the workouts. Yes, this is the same goal as last week that I didn’t meet this week. What better reason to list it again?
  • I may be possibly headed to FL this week with my other 2 chicklets, so I am hoping I can stay focused on my goals-especially when it comes to my diet. Traveling is notoriously hard on the diet.
  • Stay at or under my calorie goal every day this week
  • Publish at least 5 blog posts. Yes, this is the same goal I have every week. It’s THAT important to me!

 

What about you? How did your week go? Any adjustments  you need to make for next week?

Any tips for staying focused while traveling/vacationing?

Do you eat tomatoes like apples, or is it just me?

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The Paralyzing Price of Perfection, Part 3

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 12, 2011 | 3 Comments »

If you are here for the first-time, be sure to check-out my first two posts in this series, here and here.

 

Last time, I left you all with a question:

 

“So what makes this time different? How do I know I’m not going to fall into those same old self-defeating patterns again?”

 

We have talked about my extreme tendency towards perfection. I am a control-freak by nature and everything has to be just so. But when things inevitably aren’t just so, what happens? I become paralyzed. It has happened more times than I care to admit.

 

So how DO I know that THIS time things will be different? How do I know that I will really be successful at losing the weight?

 

The answer: I don’t know.

 

I know, not what you were expecting to hear. Did you want to hear me say that I have overcome all of those tendencies? That I figured out some sort of special secret to staying motivated 100% of the time.

 

So sorry to disappoint you. I know, I’m disappointed too. I have only been at this weight-loss thing seriously for about 7 weeks now and already I’ve failed too many times to count. I’ve probably failed more than I have succeeded. And what’s worse, I am doing it publicly. Do you know how freakin’ scary that is? Thankfully, y’all are awesome and very gracious with me when I do mess up. But it’s still scary. Every week wehn i step on the scale I don’t want to look at the numbers. I hate pulling out that measuring tape and being reminded of how far I have to go.

 

I guess the difference this time around is that I am talking about it. I am setting myself up for success, rather than failure, by being public, open and transparent about my failures. I have all of you to get in my face if I take this perfection thing a little too far and let it discourage me to the point that I give up.

 

Sure, there’s still a hint of fear that I won’t be accepted when you realize what a dope I am. There are even times I regret starting the blog because I know it would be easier to wallow in self-pity and not do something about my weight.

 

Who am I kidding? I kind of liked the wallowing. It was comfortable for me. To stop wallowing means I have to let go of that illusion of perfection and control that I thought I had over my life.

 

The problem is, when things don’t go exactly as you have planned, that house of cards otherwise known as “perfection” comes crashing down rather quickly. And then there is nothing left but emptiness, brokennes…failure.

 

Most of you are probably aware that our very well-structured, yet completely lacking in foundation, house of cards came crumbling down 3 weeks ago. Three weeks ago, my husband came home from work early to inform me that he had been let go from his very comfortable government job. Talk about out-of-control.

 

Next week, in the final part of this series, I will get a little more personal and practical about how we navigate our non-perfect, out-of-control lives and keep from becoming paralyzed.

 

Are you a perfectionist? Does it ever paralyze you? What do you do about it?

 

I’m linking this post up At the Fitness Friday Blog Hop over at Life…As I See It. Come on over and check out some other awesome blogs!

 

Life As I See It [Fitness, Health and Happiness]

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Running with Perseverance

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2011 | 9 Comments »

 

I’m not really sure where to start with this week’s highlights. There just isn’t much to tell at this point. This was a tough week for me and I just don’t feel like I gave it my all. My workouts were lacking due to a busy schedule (hosted a baby shower and small group at our house this week) and what I did do was definitely not up to my potential. I did do better with eating as it seems my anxiety has leveled off a little. I am hoping the extra intake of calories this week helps to get my metabolism back on track and I will see some difference on the scale tomorrow. Still searching for that elusive 20 pound milestone!

 

Here’s the rundown:

 

Successes:

  • Thanks to some awesome friends giving us a gift card to Red Lobster and babysitting our kids for free, The Chick Magnet and I were able to go out on a date, that was much needed. The bonus came when I was able to comfortably fit in the booth at Red Lobster. Not sure if all Red Lobsters are the same, but ours has THE. SMALLEST. BOOTHS. Definitely not made for people like me. I was so stoked that I had no trouble fitting into the booth this time.
  • Ate really, really well this week
  • Was shocked when I wrote my monthly update post and for the first time saw our before and after pictures side-by-side. It was unbelievable the amount of obvious change you could see after just a few short weeks. Very motivating.
  • Took a blogging class and set-up some goals to give me a bit more direction and help me to better manage my time for the blog

 

Struggles:

  • Extreme lack of motivation to work out-I mean, it was bad
  • Poor time management (probably one of the factors in my workout failure)

 

Focus for Next Week:

  • Amp up the workouts. I have another EXTREMELY busy week ahead. My hubby is headed out of town with two of the kiddos to an interview (the kids are going to my parents-he’s not taking them to the interview ;) ), so we have to deal with early-morning flight craziness, I’ll be by myself for a few days, and I have an Open House for local homeschoolers that I organize every year-it’s a HUGE undertaking and requires lots of hours of planning and prep-time. So, needless to say, for me to accomplish this goal I am going to have to be extremely vigilant about the use of my time.
  • So I guess good time management should be my next focus
  • Which includes going to bed and getting up earlier
  • Stay at or under my calorie goal every day this week
  • Publish at least 5 blog posts (I have some fun ones in the works)

 

What about you? How did your week go? Any adjustments  you need to make for next week? What are your best time management tips?

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GratiTuesday

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 2, 2011 | 12 Comments »

While the main niche of this blog is weight-loss, health and fitness, one of my goals from the get-go has been to be honest and transparent with my readers. I share my struggles, heartaches, blessings, and triumphs with an open heart. My vision is to show people that there is a real person behind the computer screen and to encourage and help motivate others through my own experiences.

 

To that end, I am deviating a bit today from my normal post focusing on my weight-loss and fitness efforts. I hope you don’t mind and will indulge me for a bit.

 

 

 

 

One of my most favorite bloggers, Laura over at Heavenly Homemakers frequently posts on healthy living and eating on her blog. I love her philosophy, her recipes and I have learned SO much about eating real food through her insightful and knowledgable posts. I hope you will take a moment to check out her blog. Check out her e-books too with TONS of healthy eating/living information and recipes. Seriously, she’s phenomenal!

 

Today, as she does every Tuesday, she is holding a link-up. GratiTuesday is a special time set aside to be intentional about counting your blessings and encouraging others by talking about what God is doing in your life.

 

Now, some may be confused as to why I am participating. After all, we are in the midst of one of the most trying times in the life of our little family and still reeling after my husband lost his job just over week ago. While, I admit there are dark days and moments where I feel frantic, panicky, anxious, scared, sad and depressed, the moments where I see God clearly and am overwhelmed by his grace, faithfulness and blessings too numerous to account far outweigh the dark moments. God is on the move and here are some of things for which I am grateful this GratiTuesday.

 

  1. A kind gift from a church member, given anonymously,a $100 gift card to help with our groceries. Because I have lots of experience stretching our dollars and work very hard to be really frugal, that gift card has provided us with over 3 weeks of groceries-healthy groceries!
  2. A free treadmill, given by another church member
  3. A free elliptical, you guessed it, by another church member
  4. Free sweet corn that we were able to freeze-8 full, gallon-sized bags worth (yep, church friend)
  5. A generous gifting of fresh, organic free-range eggs, freshly processed, organic, free-range chickens, fresh from the garden organic produce including several pounds of tomatoes, summer squash, more sweet corn, and green peppers (former church member)
  6. An unexpected bonus from The Chick Magnet’s former employer
  7. Gift of a day at the lake with my precious family from another good friend from church
  8. One of my sisters offering us her entire savings
  9. My other sister offering to help with my daughter’s birthday later this month
  10. A check from a friend to help with expenses for a baby shower I am hosting-that was well above and beyond the amount I would need
  11. My aunt purchasing all of our school supplies for the year
  12. Winning a $25 gift card to a local education supply store
  13. Our insurance being extended an extra month unexpectedly
  14. Coupons for a free meal out-a welcome break from cooking 3 meals a day
  15. Found $40 worth of Groupons to Old Navy I had forgotten I had purchased, allowing me to buy some much-needed new clothes for my daughter (Don’t know about Groupons? GREAT deals on services in your area and online. Sign-up for free by clicking on the link).
  16. Another church friend’s gift of 3 free gallons of raw milk-which in our house also means free buttermilk and fresh, raw butter
  17. Our local farm giving us some fresh, grass-fed meat from their processing facility
  18. Grandparents offering to pay for car repairs
  19. Two checks we forgot to deposit
  20. The freedom of being debt-free aside from our home
  21. Our local homeschooling community rallying in our support
  22. Friends networking for possible jobs
  23. The hope of once-in-a-lifetime, unbelievable possibilities on the job front-a grace we never would have seen or experienced had we not also experienced the confusion and heart-break of a job loss
  24. Sleeping in with my husband
  25. Resourceful and thoughtful children serving us breakfast in bed-coffee and scrambled eggs-and it was super yummy too!
  26. Uninterrupted bubble baths while my husband watched the children
  27. Lots of time with Daddy
  28. Lots of time on our knees together as a family-we haven’t been stronger
  29. Felt tears and prayers on our behalf
  30. My children seeing the faithfulness of God displayed in tangible, extravagant ways, moving them and us to tears of thankfulness, on a daily basis

 

Seriously, I could go on, but do I really need to?

 

I know that not all of my readers are believers and I respect that. But at the same time, I don’t understand how people can see a list like I have given and not see that He is VERY real and VERY present.

 

I am not intending to offend, but as I said earlier, I will always be real and transparent on this blog. I won’t be preachy, but what you see is what you get here on Fat Chick Fed Up, and sometimes I will feel compelled to share how God is moving and working in my life. My whole world revolves around living to please Him and it is the foundation for my weight-loss as well. It’s just who I am and at the risk of losing readers who may not agree, I just feel the need to shout it from the rooftops: OUR GOD IS GOOD, FAITHFUL, GRACIOUS, LOVING, PATIENT AND MERCIFUL AT ALL TIMES.

 

What are you grateful for this Tuesday? I would love to hear from some of my readers who AREN’T Christians-what is your take on the blessings we’ve received? This blog will continue to be a place on non-judgmental acceptance. I am truly interested in what you think.

 

In the interest of full-disclosure: this post contains affiliate and referral links.

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Running with Perseverance

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on July 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »

 

Time for another scintillating weekly check-in. Unfortunately, there is not much new to report. This week went fairly well. I did well with my calories on all but one day, and that was accidental. Who knew biscuits and gravy had so many calories?

 

I didn’t get in as many workouts as I would have liked either. I met my goal of 3 per week but I was hoping to get at least 5 or 6 workouts in this week. With my husband losing his job, right now we are still working to figure out what our “new normal” is as our schedule has changed once again. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, he lost his job and things changed. We have more free time, but we also have enjoyed sleeping in together this week, which makes it hard to get those work-outs in.

 

I do still think I will see a loss on the scale at tomorrow’s weigh-in. I am hoping to get to 20 pounds lost! Wish me luck!

 

Here’s the rundown:

 

Successes:

  • Met my work-out goal
  • Made some really healthy meals
  • Didn’t give in to temptation during a really tough time for us

 

Struggles:

  • Biscuits and gravy-what was I thinking? Even made with fresh-ground flour and coconut oil, it’s still a lot of calories.
  • Still just reeling from the shock of my husband losing his job-it’s taking its toll emotionally
  • Trying to figure out a new routine with my husband home-one that allows for plenty of family time, but needs to accommodate lots of time spent job-searching, getting our home ready for a possible move, and of course, my work-out goals

 

Focus for Next Week:

  • Keep on keeping on-we are existing in survival mode and I would be lying to say that it isn’t tough. Just trying to keep my head above water and keep pushing at this weight-loss thing
  • Stay at or under my calorie goal every day this week
  • Publish at least 5 blog posts

 

What about you? How did your week go? Any adjustments  you need to make for next week? Any tips for keeping up the motivation during a rough time?

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