Send home that butterfly

Okay so I want my readers to take a good look at the little ticker here....

See it? Good...

My whole goal, my mission in life at this time is to send that little butterfly home. The picture you see is significant. Its not just some random picture. I drew it several years ago just messing around on my tablet. But I have held onto it because, while I admit it isn't the best picture ever, something about it resonated with me. Then I decided to use it as my ticker picture and then the meaning became clear.

The tree: The tree for me represent the struggle.The gnarled dead branches are the battles I will face. I mean let's face it, losing weight, especially this much isn't easy. It requires hard work and dedication. It also means you have to fight some battles with yourself, with others, and particularly with food.

The woman: She is me when I reach my goal. Her back is to us and we can't see her face, just like I can't picture what I will be like at 145 lbs. Nonetheless, we can see her arms stretched out to great the world before her. She is joyful in her stance. Everything about her speaks of victory.

When I see this ticker, it reminds me that I will get there, that it is a struggle, but there is joy and victory at the end. My goal is to send that little butterfly home. Just have to keep at it and not give up.

So on the exercise front: I spent Saturday cooking and serving and Sunday cleaning up. I burned about 1300 calories between the two days. Today I am not sure what I will do for exercise. Probably just take a walk. Tomorrow I am getting in the pool for as long as I feel like it but at least an hour. I am really going to push myself hard and enjoy it. No leisurely swimming for me.

Ride that Ostrich!!

So on the website I use to track my food and exercise, there is also a forum/message board. I stumbled across one that asked "What are your weird goals?" Meaning that most of our goals deal with weight loss or fitting into new clothes, ect. All very serious. Surely though, those who have needed to lose weight know that there are things that fit, healthy people would find weird, that would give us a sense of accomplishment and acknowledgment that what we did was worth it.  There were several that I found interesting that were posted by various MFP users that shall remain nameless. This is so you get a better idea of what I mean:

1) I want to lose another 15 lbs and tone up a bit so that I can look good in my Pittsburgh Penguins bikini by June 22nd. Why then you ask? Because that's the date of the NHL Awards at the Palms casino in Vegas and on the off chance that I'm there I want to to look hot in that suit by the poolside so that Marc-Andre Fleury checks me out.

2) I want to lose the weight so that the day my divorce is final my husband looks at me and thinks maybe he acted too hastily in ending our marriage. Lame, huh?

3) Okay, this is gonna sound stupid, but, I'm supposed to wear glasses but quit wearing them when I got fat because, well, i didn't want anymore attn drawn to my face then necessary. But I did love my glasses, so I'm looking forward to loosing this weight, getting new glasses and rocking the sexy librarian thing lol

4) I want to be able to wrap a normal bath towell around myself...and not feel like my face is huge in a short haircut :)

 So anyways, you get the idea. These are goals fit, thin people really may never consider. But it gives me the idea that weight loss doesn't always have to be serious. There is some fun involved. Especially when we start to think about our weird goals. The strange things that motivate us or make us tick. It's these silly, weird or even vengeful goals that are so connected to who we are that can really drive us to make a change in our lives for the good.

Okay so of course I posted on the forum with my own weird goal:

I would like to be able to ride an ostrich. The weight limit is 160lbs.  I've got a way to go but I will do it. In the meantime I would like to be able to ride a horse again. The weight limit for that is 250 lbs.

Let me explain about the ostrich. I was watching this show called Globe Trekkers and it was about visiting some country in Africa. I can't recall which one. The girl host decided to ride an ostrich. She said very concisely, "The weight limit to ride an ostrich is 160 pounds. Thankfully, I am  below that." Then she proceeded to ride for about ten seconds and wanted off right away because she was scared. What a wuss. Just goes to show that skinny doesn't mean brave. I thought to myself that if I could ride that Ostrich I would really give it a go. I'd hang on as long as possible. I would do such a great job that everyone would be yelling "GO SARAH! GO! RIDE THAT OSTRICH!"  I would show that snooty girl whats what. LOL Weird, I know, and yet strangely motivating.

What are your weird goals? I think we all have them whether we have ten pounds to lose or 170lbs. Please share.

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And don't forget to check out my food and exercise diary at:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/sarahbear1981