Free to Fight Fat (#1)

What's a better price than, Free.99???? NOTHING!


This is the first installment of my Free to Fight the Fat resource blogs. Today's first is an absolute gem.... and before you read on.... you're welcome! ;)


1. www.livestrong.com <-- This is a fantastic site! I don't know how I can explain this anymore than equating it to this: www.livestrong.com is the hero, fat is the villain; if there were a billboard top hit, this would be the one stuck in your head all day; if you could take one website to the moon, you've found it; if this were a car, it would be a classic; if you thought a cheetah was fast, this breaks the sound barrier; GET IT?! [[USE THIS RESOURCE!]] 
On this lovely, little big, site, you can find an entire community of individuals setting goals and accomplishing them. If you want to lose weight? Gain muscle? Get healthier? You can find others just like you. [Holla at that solidarity!] 

sol·i·dar·i·ty

   [sol-i-dar-i-tee]  Show IPA

noun, plural -ties.

1.

union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities andinterests, as between members of a group or betweenclasses, peoples, etc.: to promote solidarity among unionmembers.

2.

community of feelings, purposes, etc.

3.

community of responsibilities and interests.

Solidarity is a great tool within itself, so to find it for free? great. There ARE options on the site to gain access to more of its tools at relatively low fees. I, personally, am perfectly content with the free membership. The 


ABSOLUTE BEST TRAIT OF WWW.LIVESTRONG.COM? For me, I'd say, the My Plate option.... 


On this  portion of the site (the puns continue) you can actually calculate, record, and monitor, your nutrition intake. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! It's annoying having to read through foods over and over in order to calculate what you are eating. Not everyone should be doing that anyway, it can be entirely discouraging for some, and I know that personally. However, I do love the My Plate feature of this site, because it allows me to monitor myself and what I am putting into my body. They have a DATABASE of foods so that you DO NOT HAVE TO ENTER IT MANUALLY. The point is, check out the site, and see what it has to offer for you. There are plenty of articles on health news, fitness workouts/tips, and explanations of the benefits of almost every nutrient, vitamin, mineral, etc. out there. 


Thank you www.livestrong.com. You make lifestyle changes a little more manageable and sometimes quite pleasant, through community and resources.


p.s. They even take into account your exercise levels (and define them) along with other factors such as diabetes. (^-^) 


Until next time, shut the door to negativity from you and from others. Open up as a conductor of positive energy only! Absorb the positive from the world, create it within, and send it on back out...and as always...
Be good to yourself, be good to others, and have a good day!
-Rachelle 

Being "Selfish': An Ironically Fundamental Rule

Being selfish is a good. thing.

Immediate question: 'How could you even suggest that, Rachelle?'

  
My immediate answer:  BECAUSE IT IS TRUE! 
In 2007, I started to realize the above true statement. ^ It is okay to be selfish. In fact? It's great to be selfish.
www.dictionary.com defines selfish in several ways, but one that is blatant and true is the definition stating,

self·ish

   /ˈsɛlfɪʃ/ Show Spelled[sel-fish] Show IPA

adjective

1.

devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.

Selfishness is not an attribute I would likely claim with pride, in just any circumstance. In the context of weight loss, however, it is absolutely and positively necessary. I found this to be true when I began my journey. Until 2007, I had spent my entire life worrying about other people and their issues. I didn't realize that I had built my life around the world, and had forgotten to include my own self! Within this realization, I took the time to observe those around me. In doing this, I realized that again, I had stumbled onto a trait which I share with a ton of people! I had to move once again in my life, out of the background, and into the center stage. (Patterns are lovely little things, but, they don't make for good strategy...so get up! and get out!)

A fundamental rule of thumb:

*Rule : You must be selfish to lose weight. 

- In this instance, it's important to focus primarily on one's own self. It gets easier and easier to put aside one's own dreams and desires, and pick up the battlefront for someone else. This takes the focus away from ourselves, and magnifies the importance of others, until we, as individuals, disappear among the background. 

It's an admirable duty as an act of humanity to give and advocate for others. I believe in this wholeheartedly.In  truth, though, by selfishness, I mean you have to wake up, act on the weight loss project, and care enough for your own self to put yourself FIRST! Be an advocate for yourself. Losing weight, and let's be honest, setting any goal, is just a realignment of priorities. DO NOT FEEL GUILTY for putting YOURSELF FIRST. This was, for the first time in my life, a true realignment of priorities, and I became the center of interest in my own life story. My health and happiness came first, and that has made all the difference in the world.

Don't feel guilty because you opt out of eating that cake at the office, it's not shameful to put your health first. Feeling the judgment from those around you? "Do they look at me like just another dieter, doomed to fail?" 

WHO CARES? THIS IS YOUR LIFE, SO RUN THE SHOW, ALREADY!

Feel bad because you are taking some time for yourself to get your sweat on at the gym?

GOOD! You deserve to get in touch with your thoughts and clear your head on the treadmill. You deserve to lift some weights on the floor, and unburden some of life's weights in the process. 

I particularly have noticed a larger amount of women who put themselves last, especially in a family atmosphere. Ironically, the more you put yourself (in a healthy way) first, as far as getting healthier, losing weight, and leading an active life, the more you tend to see those around you acclimate in a positive way.

I began, as a healthy exercise, to remind myself the mornings and just before bed, that I deserved to play the lead role in my life. It helped me and still helps me to remind myself every now in that. Remind your own self, too. IT IS GOOD TO BE SELFISH.

You deserve to do something good for yourself. You deserve to get healthy. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to live a higher quality of life. Know all of this, keep all of this, and use all of this.

****While writing this, the first google search I made for a healthy selfishness ended with this little blurb on WebMd. I'm glad to see that my reasoning, is something professionally backed, as well. Check out rule number 6. ;) http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/10-tips-for-losing-100-pounds?page=3 ***** 

Until next time, remember: Be good to yourself, be good to others, and have a good day! <3 

Fat: From the get...

As a child, I had a painful experience in school with bullying and a worse experience with my own self image. Teasing is a part of childhood, but sometimes, things can, admittedly, go too far. Because of my weight issues and a resulting lack of self confidence, I changed schools in false hopes for a better social situation, several times. After each failure, I would reach the conclusion that I was unfit in every way. Socializing became a painful experience. In one school, I tried remaining absolutely silent, and would only speak once spoken to. Because I weighed clear over 120lbs in fourth grade, and was drastically taller than my classmates, my silence actually worked against me. Soon rumors were floating around that I had been kicked out of my last school for fighting. Some kids thought I must be a bully. (Talk about painful irony) And of course, the real bullies, well, they knew that I was meek. This pattern continued, including changing schools, until I reached high school. This portion of my life was : THE EPIPHANY.

I had always hid myself from any form of attention. In fact, saying my name in front of the class, aloud, was enough to make me break a sweat and find a nice private time to puke out of nervousness. However, once I reached high school, the world seemed to reverse direction.

    My parents had divorced in middle school, but who's didn't? I had continued on in my life, one of three children, and had found my niche as the biggest wall flower that ever lived. This, though, was MISERABLE. I was MISERABLE. In eighth grade, I had had enough. My oldest sister had been sent to a rehabilitation center to deal with her own issues, my second to oldest sister was focusing on sports, and I ... well.. what was I doing??? 

 By this point in time, I had years of social commentary built up in my head, with absolutely zero release from it. I didn't know how to speak to people, and why would they ever want to talk to me, anyhow? They wouldn't. What could I do instead? I COULD ACCOMPLISH MY DREAM OF BEING ANYONE OTHER THAN ME!

 My freshmen year in high school, my schedule had been ruined, and I had been placed in a beginning acting class. Upon seeing this, I first, choked, hyperventilated, became angry, and then... embraced it. From the first monologue I ever performed, I was hooked. I knew that I wanted to do this, I wanted to pretend to be anyone other than me, and this would be my outlet to do so.  Throughout the following years in high school, I lived through my acting class, and, although painful and nerve shattering, I loved every moment of it. Eventually, by my junior year, I decided I needed to branch away from acting, itself. I had developed enough social skills, and loved to keep my friends laughing. (Yes, by this point, socializing was simple, and I found that I could converse with nearly everyone.) It was this point in my life when I finally realized that I had a gift and people would let me in. It was that simple, but that difficult for others. We all had walls up. Each and every one of us has a fear and yet we each have a gift, at least one! Realizing this, blew my MIND!

BAMBOOZLED:
One day at lunch, a friend of mine brought me to a room on campus. This area was a place I never ventured, previously. To my knowledge, this area of school was where the artsy kids hung out. I was a floater, and hung out, now, with any and every one but I never stayed too long. For some reason the room was dark, and suddenly she pushed me in. I was nervous and there was a blinding spotlight in the center of the room, the center where I was pushed. Behind a red light at the back I heard a voice saying, monotonously, "What's your name and the name of your piece?"

"What?"

"What's your name and the name of the piece you're doing?"

I understood. It was an audition. And in that moment, my life changed, again.

"I'm Rachelle, and I don't have a poem or a song, I'm just here to share a few thoughts, I think..." And so I began. I had never done stand up comedy before, and I had no idea how to begin. This, I thought, was a good start. Fortunately for me, what I said that day, was to be used later in a school-wide show. Over the course of three days, I performed in front of almost 2000 people. The best part? They liked it. They loved it. They laughed!

At the time, I didn't realize that I had done anything spectacular. I did, however, for once, feel alive, and noticed, in a good way. After the show ended, and during the last two months of school, it felt like every kid on campus, and teacher for that matter, knew my name. Maybe it really was that way. I would go to the store, drive down the street, or walk down the hall, and someone would be shouting my name, better yet... they would be quoting my stand up! This continued throughout my senior year, as I performed in every school show I could, and ended up hosting that very show that I had started in, as my farewell to the school. In the end, I felt confident, and creative. I had discovered my version of ART THERAPY, something that probably saved my life. During those years, I was angry and disappointed in my physical self, and tried diets and workouts and everything I could, but at least I had something to make me happy while passing the time. When I left the school, my last show was not one of stand up, but instead, a poem. Slam poetry, if you get a chance, is a great expressive tool, and a fun hobby as well. I took it up for my last performance, and in a bitter sweet farewell, gained a different version of approval, and surprisingly, some apologies for words against me that I had already long forgiven. **It didn't hurt that I still graduated class clown and got to take a quick, silly picture (^-^) <---which was nice because I never took my senior picture, I hated to be a mountain of fat and pose so long((and end with such disastrous results))


My point is this: EACH AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL HAS FEAR, FLAWS, WEAKNESS, AND WALLS. .... BUT.... IN AN EFFORT TOGETHER, AND IN A TRUE EFFORT OF OUR OWN SPIRIT.... WE CAN CONQUER ANYTHING!

So, it took me my entire life, until I graduated high school, to realize the above factoid. ^^^

What then, Rachelle?


That... will be the moment where this Hero's Journey truly begins. I've heard the call to adventure... and next installment... will be the moment I cross the threshold, because folks, once you grasp determination, glue it, hold it, fuse it, and never ever, let it go.

Until then, this is Rachelle Tell giving you the truth.
Be good to yourself, be good to others, and have a good day ;)