Robyn Transforms Herself

Blog Your Passion With Passion

“You have to be passionate about your blog.” I’ve seen statements like that over and over.

Now that I’ve really gotten into this “blogging thing,” I want to learn as much as I can about it. I’ve read a lot of tips and advice lately about “how to blog” and “what to blog about.” Many, many people have written about how feeling passion for your topics is crucial to your blog’s success. Some writers also add persistence, expertise, and a few other things to the list, but passion always seems to be at the top.

Here’s some of what I have gleaned from all this reading about passion and blogging:

• Passion gives you incentive to learn as much as you can.
• Passion encourages you to share what you know with others.
• Passion allows you to generate content consistently and continuously.
• Passion makes the work of blogging a labor of love instead of just labor.
• Passion gives you a better connection to your readers. They can tell when you care about them and what you write about. They can also tell when you don’t.

A Passion Progression

As I thought about all of this, I realized there’s a progression related to passion in blogging. It goes like this:

1. Blog a passion
2. Blog your passion
3. Blog your passion with passion

In my second post, Flabbergasted, I wrote about meeting Lorelle VanFossen, the amazing blogger at Lorelle on WordPress (and several other blogs). She autographed her book, Blogging Tips, for me and signed it “Blog your passion.” I mistakenly wrote in my post that she said, “Blog with a passion.”

She gently chastised me for it, and I changed it immediately. It’s a small difference, but an important one. Thank you, Lorelle, for pointing that out to me. (And thank you, WordPress, for the “update post” button.)

Let’s talk about each stage in the progression.

Blog a passion. Many people start writing a blog because they want to make money. They try to find a subject they think will be popular. These bloggers hope there will be enough people passionate about the subject to send them oodles of money. However, if it’s not a subject they’re passionate about themselves, they usually fail. It’s not enough to blog about just any passion. It has to be your own.

Blog your passion. Blogging about a subject you do feel passionate about is much more enjoyable and more likely to be successful. If you’re passionate about your subject, you’ll know more about it and are more likely to keep at it. When you’re writing about something you have a passion for, you’re much more likely to reach your goals for your blog, no matter what they might be.

Blog your passion with passion. While writing about your own passion is important, I believe we must consider another important aspect to this passion progression. To be truly effective, you must blog your passion with passion. It’s not enough to just feel the passion inside you about your subject; you also need to express it with passion. Let your feelings shine through in your writing. Let us feel your excitement about it. Don’t hold back. That’s when people will really start to care.

My Passions for This Blog

My overall theme for this blog is the art (and science) of personal transformation. I’m thinking about the various transformations so far in my life. I’m exploring ideas for other transformations I am making now and would like to make in the future. I hope that by sharing some of these thoughts and opinions with you, we can teach and learn from each other.

Obviously, the concept of personal transformation is extremely broad. Therefore, I plan to focus on the following four categories:

• Health – concentrating on diet and fitness
• Mindset – various areas I’ve been studying lately
• Writing – primarily business-related as opposed to fiction
• Friends – stories of friends’ transformations

These are the areas I’m currently the most passionate about. They still cover a lot of territory, and I’m sure we can go on for a long time about personal transformations involving them.

As I wrote in Losing 100 Pounds – The 5 Phases, I’ve been working on health and fitness a lot over the past few years. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about losing weight and getting fit, and I want to share my perspectives on that.

I haven’t written anything about mindset yet (I think that’s the term I want to use), but I know there’s a lot I want to say about it. Motivation, fear, and inspiration are just a few of many things we can talk about here.

Writing may seem a little out-of-place with the other two, but it’s a really important topic for me. It’s definitely related because it’s a big part of some of the transformations I’m making now and in the future.

If they’ll let me, I’d like to share some of my friends’ experiences with their own transformations, so you can see how others have done it. That way it’s not just my own story. There are other perspectives and ways to accomplish personal transformation. I’d like to explore those, too.

Do you have other thoughts about passion? Do you see it any differently? Please let us know in a comment below.

Robyn

photo by It’s Holly

Losing 100 Pounds – Gain It First

In my last post, Losing 100 Pounds – The 5 Phases, I described the phases I went through to lose a lot of weight. This post is about the first phase, gaining a lot of weight.

As a quick recap, here are the phases again:

1. Gain the weight.
2. Understand the impacts.
3. Get on the path to weight loss.
4. Learn what works in losing weight.
5. Find a new way of living.

I certainly succeeded with the first phase, gaining the weight. As I said in my last post, to lose 100 pounds, you have to gain it first. That’s the bad news. It’s a lot harder to get it off than it is to put it on.

I was thin when I was a child. But when I went to college, I gained the dreaded “freshman 15“. I continued to gain weight year by year after that. The weight gain never seemed truly alarming, but it was steady.

On occasion, I halfheartedly attempted a diet. Once or twice, I even tried to start an exercise routine. I never got very far with either approach. At each point, I thought it’s not really all that critical yet. After all, it was only a few pounds, wasn’t it?

I was in complete denial. Clueless.

A Boyfriend in Great Shape

When I was in my late 20′s, I had a boyfriend who was in great shape. (I’ll call him Charles.) He was fit and ran several miles every morning. Charles described me as zaftig, which Dictionary.com defines as slang for full-bodied; well-proportioned; having a pleasantly plump figure. I thought that actually sounded pretty good. And it was.

But then I kept putting on weight, and it wasn’t so good any more. At one point, Charles told me that he couldn’t imagine staying with someone who got too fat and out of shape. I wasn’t at that point, but I could see the “writing on the wall.” So what did I do?

I left him before he could leave me. I didn’t have enough confidence in myself to say I couldn’t get that heavy.

A Boyfriend Not in Great Shape

I found another boyfriend who was seriously overweight himself. (I’ll call him Len.) I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about getting too fat for him. So I was free to continue getting heavier. (That would show Charles! Was I stupid or what?)

I did get one good thing out of my relationship with Len; he reintroduced me to snow skiing. I even became a Certified Amateur Ski Instructor and taught classes for the local ski club. Skiing helped improve my fitness. It also kept some of the pounds off, but not enough.

After Len and I broke up, I started taking ballroom dancing lessons. Soon, I was dancing 5 or 6 nights a week. I even won a few trophies in local competitions. Although I was still overweight and could never have made it onto Dancing With the Stars, I got into pretty good shape as a result. For once, my weight gain seemed reasonably under control as well.

Then I Got Married

A couple of years later, I met and married Doug. My roommate and I had started doing sports car rallies. Those are contests in which you drive on back roads, following instructions exactly, and get timed at checkpoints along the way to measure your accuracy. We thought it might be a good way to meet some nice guys. It worked. I met Doug, who was president of the local rally club at the time.

Doug never liked the idea of skiing, so we didn’t do that. I was still dancing, and he agreed to take lessons for our first dance at our wedding. I thought he would continue after we got married; however, like a lot of guys, he decided he really wasn’t interested in that either.

Now that I was a wife, I didn’t want to do things like go away on a ski vacation or dance with other men. Instead, we did things that Doug liked, which were sports car rallies and going to baseball games. Unfortunately, both of those involve not much more than sitting on your butt. Neither one burns many calories, but I kept eating the same way.

The pounds really started to pile on. Eventually, I reached a size 20 dress size and XL shirt size. I bought a fancy, new, digital bathroom scale. I thought it might somehow magically help the weight go away. Amazingly, it did help a little, just because it made me a bit more conscious of it, but it couldn’t work miracles by itself.

Hitting the Peak

The highest number I ever saw on my scale was 244, but that was the day after Thanksgiving, so I figure I don’t have count it. Instead, I generally use about 240 pounds as my “highest” weight. (It’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Hah.) In addition to weight, my new scale measured body fat percentage. Bathroom scales are notoriously inaccurate with that, but mine showed that over 50% of my body weight was fat. More than half! No matter how inaccurate the scale might be, I couldn’t ignore that number. What a disgusting thought!

I managed to lose a couple of pounds over the next few months. At least I wasn’t gaining, but I was struggling. I kept hoping to get a cold or the flu, because I could usually lose about 5 pounds when I got sick. However, that wasn’t a very effective weight loss method. I usually regained it.

It wasn’t until I saw my doctor and got the bad news about my health that I really managed to turn things around. But I’ll talk about that in my next post in this series.

Were you as clueless as I was about your weight? What made you realize it was really a problem?

Robyn

photo credit: db*photography

Articles in the Series:
Losing 100 Pounds – The 5 Phases
Losing 100 Pounds – Gain It First
Losing 100 Pounds – Waking Up to Weight Gain
Losing 100 Pounds – On the Path to Weight Loss
Losing 100 Pounds – Learning What Works
Losing 100 Pounds – Finding a New Way of Living

Losing 100 Pounds – The 5 Phases

How do you lose over 100 pounds? I’m going to tell you how I did it. However, it’s going to take a lot of posts to tell it in detail, because there’s actually a lot to the story. However, I’ll give you the highlights here.

In early 2004, I carried over 240 pounds on my 5-foot 7-inch frame. I freely admit now that I was a couch potato. I was in lousy shape and poor health, and I was getting more unhappy and unhealthy as time went by. However, I really had no idea what to do about it.

Sixteen months later, I had become a 140-pound, healthy, fit woman, and I have stayed that way.

Losing that 100 pounds transformed me in many ways I never expected. I have become much healthier, happier, and more confident. I’ve even become an athlete, something I never imagined could happen. I’ve run a dozen triathlons, three half-marathons, and many shorter running and swimming races.

I feel quite proud of this. It took a lot of determination and perseverance. People often congratulate me. At the same time, I can’t help feeling ashamed and angry at myself. Why did I ever let myself get that way to begin with? If I hadn’t gained all that weight, I wouldn’t have needed to lose it.

Here are the 5 major phases that I went through in this whole process:

1. I had to gain all that weight. This was the easy part, just as it is for most people.
2. I had to recognize and fully understand the impact all that excess weight was having on me.
3. I had to get on the path to regaining my health. I had to figure out which path to take.
4. I had to learn what worked for me as I went along.
5. I had to learn a new way of living. Once I had gone through all that effort to lose those pounds, I wanted to make sure I can keep them off.

How Did I Do It? The Short Answer

I know you want an easy answer. Unfortunately, there isn’t one, despite what all the weight loss commercials say. As I said in my first post, there isn’t a magic pill or formula to make it easy.

I lost all of that weight, all 100 pounds and more, using the tried-and-true method of diet and exercise. Although I was probably heavy enough for gastric bypass surgery, I really didn’t want to go through that.

I did it all through a series of small steps, learning more and more as I went along. One of the big keys to it is a good motivation. For me, it was my health. For others, it might be wanting to be there in the future for their children.

What’s the reason for you? If you’re overweight, can you identify a good reason that will move you to lose some pounds? If you’re not overweight now, can you think of a reason to stay that way? If you’re underweight (I don’t want to ignore the very real problems of anorexia and bulimia), can you think of a reason to heal your body image? In all cases, what is a good reason for you to get more fit and strong? Please share your thoughts.

Robyn

Articles in the Series:
Losing 100 Pounds – The 5 Phases
Losing 100 Pounds – Gain It First
Losing 100 Pounds – Waking Up to Weight Gain
Losing 100 Pounds – On the Path to Weight Loss
Losing 100 Pounds – Learning What Works
Losing 100 Pounds – Finding a New Way of Living

5 Simple Tips for Surviving Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here. Have you been trying to lose weight, or at least not gain weight? Do you think the two are mutually exclusive?

According to reports I’ve seen, the average American consumes as many as 3500 calories at one meal on Thanksgiving. If you add the other food you’re going to consume that day, especially if you’re snacking while watching TV, you can easily consume 3 or 4 days’ worth of food in that one day.

Have you figured out how to handle this feast without paying for it in pounds? I’m not going to kid you. It’s tough, but it can be done.

How I’ve Done It

I used to weigh 240 pounds, until one day I finally realized it was going to kill me and how much it hurt. I’ll tell you more about that in future posts. For now, let’s just try to get through Thanksgiving. These techniques and others helped me lose 100 pounds in 16 months, and they continue to help get me through the holiday season each year. When I was working on losing the weight, I managed to stay exactly the same weight the day after Thanksgiving and continued to lose.

We’ve probably all seen lots of tips on how to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving. I’m not going to repeat them all here. Besides, trying to remember a whole lot of rules, much less actually follow them, can be a recipe for disaster (pardon the pun).

So here are my top 5 tips, along with some warnings:

1. Plan ahead and eat a variety of foods. Don’t deny yourself all your favorites, but make sure you eat appropriate amounts. Eat more of foods that will fill you up with fewer calories.

Warning: Salads and soups can be good for you, but not all of them are. High-fat salad dressings and creamy soups can go right to your waistline.

2. Eat only the foods you really love when eating high-calorie items. I use this same rule when I go on cruises. Make sure you do eat the more healthful foods, such as white-meat turkey and steamed vegetables. Eat a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie for dessert, if you need one. Savor the taste of every bite.

Warning: Don’t use this as an excuse to fill up only on the high-calorie items like chips and pecan pie.

3. Follow the “one-plate rule.” This one has been the most important tip for me. It’s also the easiest tip to follow, because it’s really simple. I take a medium-sized dinner plate (not a small one, like some people say) and fill it with food following the guidelines above. Then I don’t go back again. That’s it.

I find that I get in the most trouble when I say I’ll just get one more bite of this or that. The next thing I know, I’ve filled my plate up again, usually with things I don’t really want all that much.

Warning: Fill your plate, but don’t put a huge pile on it. That’s defeating the whole purpose.

4. Drink as much water as you can. Turkey and other Thanksgiving foods tend to be high in sodium. Water helps flush that out, so you can cut down on that bloated, puffy feeling you can get. It also has the added benefits of keeping your hands and mouth occupied. Some say it helps fill you up, too. To be honest, I’m not so sure of that, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Warning: I can’t really think of any warnings needed for this. Drinking water is always a good thing.

5. Get some exercise. Go for a walk or run. Enjoy the outdoors. If you’re up for a bit more of a challenge, try a “turkey trot” in the morning. These are low-key, friendly races. Although you can find some longer ones, most of them are 5 kilometers long (3.1 miles), and you can walk or run. Many of them also have 1-mile “fun walks” with no competition pressure at all. Many of my friends have had a great time doing these with their kids.

After eating, consider playing football instead of watching it. Record the game and watch it later if you must. Besides the health benefits, you can skip all the annoying commercials.

Warning: Don’t assume that you can eat as much as you want, just because you got a little exercise. Check out the calorie calculator I mentioned above to see how much exercise you might really need.

Helpful Calculators

This fun and simple Thanksgiving calorie calculator will estimate total calories for you and tell you how far you would have to walk to burn the same number of calories. It can be very eye-opening.

The calculators for food calories and calories burned at CaloriesPerHour.com are my favorites for helping me plan and track what I’m eating and doing.

Closing Thoughts

In summary, embrace Thanksgiving and don’t be afraid of it. Just remember these simple rules, enjoy your family and friends, and keep everything in moderation. You’ll feel better both physically and emotionally.

You can also follow these tips in other situations, such as parties and vacations. I’ve even gotten through those notorious food-laden cruises without too much damage to my waistline, by following these simple rules.

Let me know how you do. Do you have any other tips that have worked particularly well for you?

Robyn

photo by LarimdaME on flickr

Geeky for Grammar

I admit it. I’m a grammar geek.

Give me a red pencil, and you can consider me armed and dangerous. Grammar and spelling mistakes leap off the page at me. When I see something that’s grossly wrong, I often feel an overwhelming urge to fix it.

Do you follow the rules?

I know that grammar is often considered boring and stifling to your creativity. However, I disagree. I believe readers can become so distracted by poor grammar and spelling that they completely miss your point. Worse yet, they may totally misunderstand you and get it completely wrong.

I love the rules and the rhythm of grammar. Much like the wooden beams that support a house, grammar and spelling support the messages you are sending. They provide a foundation for your writing, which you can then decorate and embellish as you see fit. Here are quotes from two famous authors about grammar and punctuation.

“What I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object being photographed.”
- Joan Didion

“My attitude toward punctuation is that it ought to be as conventional as possible. The game of golf would lose a good deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green. You ought to be able to show that you can do it a good deal better than anyone else with the regular tools before you have a license to bring in your own improvements.”
- Ernest Hemingway

Here’s an actual question I saw written on an English language discussion forum:

Why it is important to learn English through the grammar. Is it not enough when the communication understanable beetwen two people or more?

How many mistakes do you see in that?

I can get the gist of this, but it could be interpreted several different ways. Is this communication truly and easily understandable (or understanable, in this case)? For example, is the first sentence asking a question, or is it making some kind of statement?

When is a rule not a rule?

With all of that said, do you always have to follow all of the grammar rules you were taught in school? No, you don’t. Sometimes the rules, even the ones your teachers may have beaten into you, aren’t really rules at all. They’re really style choices. In some cases, they’re not even valid rules.

“Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.”
- Jack Lynch

Last week, I attended a book signing by Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl. She has a hugely popular and entertaining podcast called Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. I highly recommend it. She wrote a book of the same name that was a New York Times bestseller. She has just published her second book, The Grammar Devotional, which gives 365 daily tips for successful writing.

Grammar Girl’s website says this, “Mignon believes that learning is fun, and the vast rules of grammar are wonderful fodder for lifelong study. She strives to be a friendly guide in the writing world. Her arch enemy is the evil Grammar Maven who inspires terror in the untrained and is neither friendly nor helpful.”

Two of my favorite Grammar Girl tips shoot down some tried-and-true rules. Are these true or false?

Never split an infinitive. FALSE. You can feel free to happily ignore this “rule.” However, you may still want to follow it on a resume, just in case your interviewer doesn’t know this. On page 134 of The Grammar Devotional, Mignon says, “Blame Latin for the logic behind the nineteenth-century rule about not splitting infinitives. In Latin there are no two-word infinitives, so it’s impossible to split ones, and English teachers decided that if it couldn’t be done in Latin, it shouldn’t be done in English.” She goes on to say that notions change over time, and today almost everyone agrees that it’s OK to split an infinitive, especially if it makes the meaning clearer.

Never end a sentence with a preposition. FALSE. On page 180, Mignon says, “One of the biggest myths of all time is that it’s blasphemy to end a sentence with a preposition. It’s certainly wrong to end a sentence with a preposition when you could leave the darn thing off and doing so wouldn’t change the meaning. So, of course, it’s wrong to ask, ‘Where is she at?’ It means the sane thing as ‘Where is she?’ Leave off the at. But nobody expects you to ask, ‘From where are you?’ or ‘On what did you step?’ No need for stuffy-sounding contortions.”

Once you know the rules of grammar, you can determine when and how to break them. It’s a bit like playing a game. There are great writers who break them all the time in order to get a specific effect. The difference is, they do it with intention and style.

I love grammar, and I love to play with it. I may be a grammar geek, but I’m not a grammar slave.

Spelling, on the other hand… Don’t mess with me on that.

What do you think? Are you a grammar geek or a complete grammar rebel?

Robyn

photo by notorious d.a.v. on flickr