Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The Closing Chapter

Happy June!

Don't you just love a new month? I know, me too. Clean slate, fresh start, new virtue, new energy. It's a field of all possibilities.



I mean doesn't that image just crack your heart wide open? It's like heaven. This is what I imagine nearly every single month as I flip over the page in my calendar to the next new month. Endless possibility. I love it. Last month I chose to RECEIVE as my virtue because I find it difficult to take even a simple compliment, this month I am choosing AUTHENTICITY as my virtue. 

Yep, it's pretty much Shamandment number 1, Be Shannon. So there I am, the girl who imagines her life as a valley of wildflowers in the foothills of some mythical mountain at sunrise. Or is that sunset? Either way, wildflowers under sherbet skies. How's that? That's me. The dreamer.

So as we embark upon this new month it felt fitting to bring to a close the chapter in my life I have lovingly entitled My Solution. You can read the entire story HERE.

After four weeks on the AHS, what conclusions have I come to? Adding more fat to my diet has definitely helped me out with the sugar cravings. I'm a week away from 70 days sugar free. I'm talking super sugar free, no honey, no maple syrup, no dates, no crutches. Honestly, I'd have thought that just that on it's own would have made me shed the weight in no time. He Who Shall Not Ne Named has been vegan since early February and he would have thought that the weight would have just dropped off his frame too, but no.

So what are my physical results then? In terms of weight, the jury was out on that because of the scale conundrum which you can read about in my previous post. It's not good. Not good at all. I weigh exactly six ounces less than when I started four weeks ago according to my original scale with new batteries. Boo! Seven pounds still to lose. But on the positive side, Dr. Dave did deliver on his promise to shrink my mid-section. While he hasn't exactly earned the title of Muffin Top Slayer for outstanding performance, (that championship belt still belongs to Ms. Tracy Anderson), he did deliver results. I lost 1.5 inches off my midsection. The rest of my body remained, to my chagrin exactly the same. Hips, thighs, chest, arms, et al, no change. So effectively I think the real changes occurred within. Or at least I hope they have. I am imagining my internal organs having a bit more room to breathe with some of the fat gone.

I do have a greater sense of well-being, I am no longer dominated by cravings apart from the odd one during PMS, and I think I have found a stable and sustainable way to eat... now all I have to do is figure out how to lose 7 pounds without fucking everything up. Insert a worried emoticon here why don't you.

In answer to my Big Why? The things I had to list as reasons for doing this?
A) Mental freedom from being dominated by sugar cravings. Check.
B) Converting my body into a fat burner rather than a sugar burner. No clue apart from perhaps my slightly smaller waist? So maybe a Check?
C) Want to unwind all the damage of years eating like a teenager. It's definitely a start. So Check.
D) Radiant health, loads of energy, mental clarity and freedom from pain. I'm going to go with Ish. Check-ish. I feel slightly better but feel like I still have a ways to go.
E) Vanity, I have always wanted to rock a six-pak. Don't wanna be abcentric no more. Sadly, 1.5 inches off does not a six-pak make.

Four-ish out of five ain't bad.

It was a fun experiment and I think the reading and research I've done this past month will inform many future choices and hopefully I will continue to gain clarity and energy and drop the last few pounds without driving myself mad.

And yes, I owe you a post on WHEAT dammit. I know. Just find your way into the valley of flowers for now, for that's where you'll find this dreamer as she hammers out the last third of this new movie called LIFE WON'T KEEP.

Big hugs.
Shan




7 comments:

  1. I love that picture! Such a bright spot in my day...but a post from you always is!
    Well that and catching the baby bunnies nibbling grass in my backyard! Can't help but smile at that!
    As for your results, supposedly the mid section fat is the dangerous stuff--so they say!
    Hey, any waist reduction in our 40 s is a minor miracle. Usually it goes the other way. So cheers to you and congrats on 70 days sugar free!

    Ooh a movie! I am gushing over here! Do tell! I'll pray for your creative process and few re-writes!


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    1. Hi Gia,
      Isn't that photo just heaven? I love it. I want to get lost there for hours. And baby bunnies! I love them so much. Karen - peacefulwillow on IG has baby bunnies in her backyard too. Love.
      The film that's in development is a family comedy - a coming of age that would be best described as an Indigenous Goonies meets Stand by Me. And the one I am working on now is sort of a Thelma and Louise - with Cancer. It's drama, it's female centric, but it's fun and adventurous too.
      I'm having a good time when the writing cooperates. lol.
      Hope you're well my friends.

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  2. Hi Shan,

    Sounds like the experiment was 50-50 success, but glad you lost the inches off your waist, that's a result isn't it! I think with all these things, you learn something new about yourself each time, and that's not a bad thing. And also you get the discipline instilled in you to be 'good' more often, which is good.

    Looking forward to your normal writing and working out posts resuming and of course, the wheat post ;-)

    Janice. x

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    1. Ha ha, the damned wheat post. Okay, this week I swear it! How are you? How're the book sales going? Hope mom is doing well too.
      Yes I am ready to write about some other stuff. Thanks for checking in love.

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    2. Ha ha you'll never be allowed to forget the wheat post, especially as you mentioned it at least a hundred times in the past month :-)

      Book is going very well, I've been at number 1 in the Web Design and the Small Business categories in the UK, just bagged myself a feature in a local magazine next month too! Mum is ok as can be expected thanks.

      Speak soon!
      Janice. x

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    3. Yay! I'm glad to hear it.

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  3. Hi Shan,

    Seeing Mylas brilliant dog post, just reminded me I had not responded to this recent blog.

    The thing is, we all know that short term flings on the diet front are unfulfilling (literal and metaphysically speaking), and unsustainable.
    So the stuff you have learnt on this experiment has made it totally worth doing, if we can let go of what we hope to be the outcome, and focus on the lessons learnt along the way you are quids in!!
    How many years eating in a way that 'didn't work, and now, in just 4 weeks, you know that fat keeps you full, cooking from scratch as much as possible is non negotiable, sugar is utterly ridiculous and terrifying at the same time (ok you already knew that).
    The biggest wow for me is the freedom you have created from the sugar cravings, from the snack cravings, from the emotional stress eating. Thats a real game changer in the long term.
    You deserve all of these prizes my friend as for sure, you have stuck your stake in the sand and taken responsibility. Inspiring stuff!!!!! xx

    If I am honest, one off the main reasons I come back to Clean, is of course for the healing the program allows, but moreover, it forces me to acknowledge what is hunger and what is boredem, stress etc etc.
    Its not what I eat, as I seem naturally drawn to fresh healthy food, but I eat when I'm not hungry, and the snacking between meals can get a little ridiculous.
    But when I allow myself to get hungry, and look forward to me next meal, while I'm eating it there is a calmness, as I am eating to satiate appetite, not emotion.

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