NEvEle

Recently, I succeeded at something that many before me have already attempted. I lost weight! This is not an easy task for anyone, but I was determined.

First, I did my research. I needed a diet plan that wouldn't annoy me too much, and would be easy to remember. This is not an easy task. Elimination diets and calorie counting both leave a sour taste in my mouth. If my diet was going to require too much focus, then it wasn't going to work. Period.

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In the end I turned to Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan isn't a nutritionist or physical trainer, but rather a food anthropologist. He knows more about food, food history, and culinary traditions than most of us. Through his studies, he has made a set of simple recommendations that manages to anger both vegetarians and meat eaters. These recommendations are straightforward and based on his research of how people around the world eat and have eaten through the centuries. Boiled down he is promoting a diet of food that is naturally found in the environment, rather than artificial concoctions. However here is his full recommendation:

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Now that's a diet that I can remember and follow! Next in my research was the advice that surrounds hacking the process. I know that there is no easy panacea for weight loss, but I am happy to take every shortcut that I can get. The best shortcuts and aids that I could find came from this article appropriately titled "40 no-dieting tips to lose weight." Here is a list of my favorite tips from the list that I regularly use. 

1. food journaling (yes, everyday)

2. getting an online weight loss buddy (I have 33 of them at the free forum I joined!)

3. get a mantra (mine is "I am hungry for water)

4. sniff a banana when you're hungry (I sniff cinnamon sticks)

5. throw your fat clothes away for good (this occurred during my decluttering)

6. make one social outing this week an active one (Aerial yoga, hikes, paddle boarding)

7. eat 90% of your meals at home

8. If you're going to indulge choose fat releasing foods (Dark chocolate for the win!)

9. try hot sauce, or cajun seasoning

10. eat fruit instead of fruit juice

11. drop your milk type- my mom has had me hooked on skim for awhile now

12. snack on a small handful of nuts 

13. get most of your calories before noon

14. close the kitchen for 12 hours

15. put less food out and you'll take less in

Last but not least, I followed the cardinal weight loss advice: Move more and drink more water. I started drinking 8 oz of water as soon as I wake up to perk me up and start me off on the right foot. Then I counted my water intake for the rest of the day. I found that while full on water it's harder to be hungry for food. 64 oz a day is a lot! I felt full! Hence the inspiration for my mantra, "I'm hungry for water." 

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I also got my butt moving. I created a plan that would be too fun for me to fail. This meant two days of Zumba a week, playing dance games at home and running on the other days. Running is the most boring of the three, for me. However, I had a plan. I would listen to audiobooks ONLY when on the treadmill. That way I wouldn't be bored while I was doing it, and I'd be encouraged to keep going to hear the next parts of the story. 

It's quite a large plan, but I wanted to cover my bases. I wanted to succeed. You see, I didn't only attempt this goal to fit into my gorgeous structural Jessica Simpson dress. Losing weight also happens to be a strategy for managing Psuedotumor Cerebrii. Psuedotumor Cerebrii is a mostly innocuous condition that I have, that if untreated can lead to vision loss. I had no choice, I had to lose weight. So, I did. 

tHGie

It has taken me a long time to write about one thing that I tried because thinking about it stirs up a lot of strong feelings for me. I need to talk about it, however. I tried to teach. I taught in one charter school and one public school. I succeed at times, and didn't at others and briefly chronicled my findings in a different blog.

I loved many parts of teaching. I loved when students made personal connections to what they were learning. I loved that both my students and I were eager to go to after school tutoring. I loved watching students gain confidence in themselves. I loved planning  silly engaging activities. I loved determining what would be a good extension for my early finishers. (I picked coding) I loved recommending books and getting book reviews back. I loved playing around the world when we were lined up well and had a moment to spare. I really did love a lot of different things about teaching.

I'm a hard worker and I wanted to push myself every minute for those kids. I didn't have a work/life balance at all, and I went to bed exhausted every night. I came in every weekend to better the learning environment in some way. I practically stopped drinking water so that I wouldn't have to go the bathroom during the day.

Emotionally I carried my students' struggles as if they were my own. How can I better assist in their learning? How do I make sure that they are eating? If I wasn't emotionally taxed enough the administrators at my schools set up meetings with data analysis of standardized tests to function as a new stressor. Walk throughs would be conducted frequently without any useful discussion following. And me- I carried that with me too.

I gave up everything when I tried teaching, and I crashed with a the speed and force of a rocket. I wasn't the first and I won't be the last. Teachers are amazing people. The ones that persevere and continue teaching do so in spite of low wages, superhuman expectations, and communal disrespect. It wasn't for me, and in the era of ineffectual country mandated high stakes testing I think many others will turn away from it. Kudos to those who don't.

NeVeS

It is ok to try things. However, trying is not worth a mention if you do not persevere at it. Cue my new favorite gadget: The Passion Planner. It gives you wings! No, not that. It gives you passion! Things I have tried since getting a Passion Planner: Flossing, Meditating, Running a 5K, Coding, etc.

The Passion Planner is a Planner, with add ons. It has space for doodling. It has space for writing what you are grateful for each week. It has a to-do list and a separate work to-do list. However, most importantly it has a goal brainstormer with monthly check-ins. The Passion Planner is organized to help you reach the goals you actually care about. It was created and funded by a kickstarter because people want help with this. But does it work?

The Passion Planner works so incredibly well! I enjoy creating a new color scheme each week as I take the time to fill in my goals and regularly scheduled programming. One friend bought the planner concurrently and raves about it, and another one bought one based on my recommendation.

Personally, I created this blog because it was one of my goals. I had reminders written in the planner to update my posts, and now my blog has updates. I've had reminders to floss, and now my teeth endure strings of pain. I had reminders to practice running and I actually ran during my last 5K (which anyone who has run/walked/pushed a stroller during a 5K can tell you is not mandatory.) I wanted to write letters to people and receive letters. I've done so so frequently that I've even gotten some back!

You are a Flamingo in a flock of boring ass penguins. Thanks Jackie :)

I even use it for craft projects. When Erin demanded that I recycle my magazines if I want to get new ones I put a collage of my favorite images into the planner.

How do I like mine? At this risk of alliterating, I would say that the Passion Planner is my prized possession.