Weight Loss Mantra Fallacy

I've been doing weight watchers for 13 weeks now. I've lost 22.2 pounds, and feel like I am doing pretty good and can keep doing it. But, I need to find a leader that doesn't say, "Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels." Because that just infuriates me every time I hear it. If it works for you fine, but realize that it doesn't and won't work for most people who genuinely need to loose weight.

1. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIN FEELS LIKE. I have never felt thin. Maybe I was thin once, but if I was I didn't feel it. I was a tall child, so even if I was thin I always felt bigger than everyone around me. Also, thin is not my goal, partly because I don't think I'll ever consider myself, or be considered "thin." Thin is society's way of making people feel bad about themselves. You are either not thin, and scoffed at, or thin, and scoffed at. My goal is to be healthy. That is why I am doing this, I wasn't feeling healthy. I know what healthy feels like, and probably a higher percentage of people know what healthy feels like. So maybe if we changed it to "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels" I wouldn't want to strangle the person saying it, but would still want to slap them.

 2. YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD. I'm sure we can all think of something that tastes better, if nothing tasted good then so many of us would not be in the position where we would need to loose weight. Even this WW leader who ends every meeting with this make-me-mad-mantra spends most of the time discussing how much she loves the cheddar bay biscuits at Red Lobster, how she can't resist them. The only way this is working for me is I can still have a little bit of those things that taste better than by goal.

3. DON'T FORCE ME TO THINK ABOUT FOOD. When I hear "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" I start to think of dunford doughnuts, and peacan pie, and cheese cake, and brownies, and chocolate chip cookies, and lasagna, and toasted sough dough bread with butter and honey, etc. etc. etc. Especially because I went to the meeting hungry so I could weigh in, and then eat. I always leave the meetings wanting to go through the drive trough at the greek restaurant on the way home and get a gyro, fries, and baklava. I have not yet once felt motivated to make better choices based on what was said during a meeting, only based on what happened at the scale.

So, don't ever tell me "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels" and expect me to smile and nod. I'll just think you have no idea what I am actually going through.

Primary Music: Minute to Win It

Works best for Senior Primary, and when the kids already know the song, but need to practice singing it.

Rules: The only person who doesn't have to sing is the person(s) doing the challenge, everyone else needs to sing, and if they don't we stop playing the challenges. If you want to cheer for the person(s) doing the challenges you do so by singing louder. The person doing the challenge needs to complete the challenge by the end of the verse.

The Challenges: I looked through the minute to win it website and found the games that were going to require concentration (meaning they would be quiet). I gathered enough materials so that two children could do the challenges and the rest could sing. I tried to fit some more turns in on the last round, so had two kids playing one game and two kids playing another, but it got too chaotic. I put the games on strips of paper so we could draw at random what they would be playing.


Block Head
 Materials: Plastic plate 5 wooden blocks. (I used smaller than average blocks, you might have to use less blocks so the kids can reach the top block).

 Object: Balance 5 blocks on head. Place plate on head. Once you let go you can't touch the plate again. Stack 5 blocks, one on top of each other, on top of plate. Keep them balanced for the rest of the verse.

Blind Builders
Materials: 10 blocks. Blind fold.

Object: Stack 10 blocks while blind folded and have them stay staked for the rest of the verse.

You Are Nuts
 Materials: 5 nuts and a rod that the nuts can slide off of.

Object: Without touching the nuts Stack and balance each of the nuts one on top of the other. Stay balanced for the rest of the verse. 

Hang On
Materials: 5 hangers

Object: Hold first hanger in one hand, and hang the subsequent hangers one on the other, without letting the hooks go to the corner of the hangers. You can't touch an already hanging hanger, only pull it with the hanger you are adding.

Noodeling Around
Materials: Dry spaghetti, and Dry Penne posta

Object. Holding the spaghetti in your mouth, and not touch any pasta with your hands, pick up 6 penne pastas from the table by lacing them onto the dry spaghetti.

Why it Worked
It kept EVERYONE singing and engaged, especially because I payed more attention to the people singing than the challenges and picked the best participators for the next turn. And, we could sing the verses over and over without anyone really noticing or caring that it was so repetitive because the challenge kept changing. And the games required enough concentration that it the it was only distracting with the blocks fell. And, the set up was real easy so there wasn't any down time. 
          

Love is Spoken Here

IMG 0147 from Cook Shack on Vimeo.

Simeon made my day

The conversation went like this:

R: What if we only had one dinobite and one drop of milk?

Me: Then we would be really hungry.

R: and poor.

Me: And your mother would have to go back to work and you would have to go to day care.

S: NOooOooooO!!!!!!!!!!

(Dinobites are the off brand bag cereal imitation fruity pebbles)

I will admit, that lately, being a stay at home mom has not been as lovely as I thought it was when I first got to be a stay at home mom. I'm not feeling very successful at it. I am mostly lonely. We are in a tight budget...still. I don't have much to say about my day at the end of it, but i'm still exhausted like I saved the universe that day. So, on and so forth.

So, to hear from my three year old that day care would be a fate worse than watching PBS kids, made me feel pretty good for a while. And I will admit that, on that day, he watched a little less PBS kids.

Quote board

Simeon: "this coat can break wind because it is a light coat and wind breaker."

Quoteboard

Simeon: "Reuben there's a creature on your head."

Reuben: "there is? ... Is it my hair?"

Simeon: "No! It's a teeny tiny creature. And it's a woman!"

Looking like a rube, but not one.

Remember when Reuben was first growing teeth, well somehow those things that caused so much pain and snot are falling out. I told him to stop growing up. He told me he had no control over it.

In other news, we had his teacher conference. Basically, he is a genius compared to what is expected of first graders. He is an advanced reader, if he doesn't automatically understand a math concept he understands it and retains it once it is taught to him, and he has only missed one spelling word all year--and that was because he misheard the word. We will work on making inferences while reading, and adding detail to his writing.



A poem by Reuben

Tooth Fairy

On Sunday I lost a tooth
Dad was reading to me
It is the truth.
It filled me with glee.

I expected the tooth fairy.
My mouth is not the same.
In the morning I was merry
The tooth fairy came.

Fear not aspiration

LDS leaders donate their time to be so. The church operates with a lay clergy. Last week our Bishop was called to be the Stake President. That means our congregation will be getting a new bishopric soon.

We believe that our callings (assignments) come through revelation from God. We don't run or get elected, there shouldn't be posturing and there is no real concept of promotion. You serve where you are asked.

Back to our wards situation, there is some possibility that Justin could be asked upon to serve in one if those time and emotionally consuming positions just because he is a worthy member of the congregation. All week I have been coming up with reason for why he wouldn't be asked too donate that much of his time, my time with him, to serve in one of those daunting positions.

I do this not because I think it would actually happen, or because I think my husband is an obvious choice. I do it because it is honestly my greatest fear. The problem is, all of the reasons I come up with are reasons I'm pretty sure God is not considering, so if the system is working right none of my get out of jail free cards are going to work.

The truth of the matter is I will be relieved, in a few weeks, when the looming threat goes away. While I hope that it is not our family called upon, and not in a fishing for compliments type way, I realize I can't council god. I know God anoints whom He will anoint, and he qualifies who he calls. I will just more happily sustain somebody other than my husband.