Structure House - Day 4

Seems like I've been gone way longer than 4 1/2 days. The amount of information that has been added to my brain is unbelievable. I haven't had to think this hard since Biology in college!! But even then I wasn't in Biology class for 6 hours out of every day!! They have thrown a lot at us in these first 4 days, but it has been an eye opening experience, and at times, quite moving.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share. I just haven't had the time.

I've been attending classes that range in topics from Health and Nutrition, to Stress Management, to Mets & Calories, to Exercise Recommendations for Weight Loss and EVERYTHING in between. I've had a session with a therapist and today I took a Fitness Evaluation (I was quite impressed with myself here!). I've been working out every day between 60-90 minutes. Actually today I got in trouble for doing too much cardio! I had done 105 minutes during the day! I got carried away on the treadmill this morning listening to my music and walked past my 3 miles before I looked to see how far I'd gone, plus I went to a 45 minute high-intensity water aerobics class this afternoon. Last night I walked the Duke Trail in 55 minutes. It is a three mile dirt/gravel trail with VERY HILLY terrain. LOTS of ups and downs. If you're not going down, you're going up. Very vigorous. It's actually reserved for the highest fitness level of people they have here. It's not very often I am in the most fit group of people! (Deanna - watch your back, here I come!) I'm actually planning on doing it again in the morning! But, overall I'm very pleased with myself. I've only lost about 2 pounds so far, but since I really didn't start working out until Wednesday, I can't complain too much. It's not all about the pounds anyways (although they are great motivators for now!).

What is Structure House all about?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

The Structure House basically began when Dr. Musante (the founder) was frustrated when patients who had lost weight in a clinical environment regained the weight when they returned to their usual unstructured home life.
He believed that overeating is fueled by more than just a robust appetite alone, but that the individuals relationship with food must be addressed to achieve long-term results. This led him to integrate the principals of nutrition, exercise, and psychology in the treatment approach designed to transform the eating habits and lifestyles of overweight people.
Dr. M realized that structure was usually lacking in the lives of overweight people. Without structure - a plan, a design, an organized approach - we can lose control over our eating, our lives, and our health.
A majority of the people who diet fail to maintain their weight because diets alone do not address the underlying reason why we eat. Structure House approach focuses on three main components - nutrition, fitness, and behavior. Each weaving into the other throughout the exploration process.

See aren't you glad you asked. (BTW - I paraphrased that from our intro class handout)

Although the Structure House isn't for everyone, I honestly believe that everyone benefits from the lessons learned here. Today we went to a class on how to recognize our antecedents. Antecedents are the "triggers" that arise before we make decisions. In the case of most overweight people these triggers cause us to find comfort in food. But in that class today I also realized that I have other antecedents that cause me to have some other type of reaction that might not be the most positive - my reaction. Identifying your antecedents helps you to not react (usually uncontrolled) but to respond (a more controlled action). It's not easy, and it isn't going to change in 4 weeks, but at least now I'm aware of it and will hopefully learn to respond instead of react! We also went to a class yesterday on Stress Management - now who couldn't use a class on that, huh? And good nutrition is beneficial to EVERYONE!!

There is a lot of individual soul searching here (for me anyways). It's a bit scary at times because I don't always "want to go there" but it has been refreshing and eye opening for me. Actually, I'm going to need to go soon, I've got to take a shower and then I've got a pretty intense homework assignment. I have to write a "Dear Me" letter.
Quoted from my assignment page:
The purpose of the Dear Me letter is to insure that you never forget how terrible this problem of weight has been for you and how it has made your life miserable. the letter needs to be "blistering" and capture not only the thoughts of why you found it necessary to come to Structure House but also the feelings. It is human nature to forget just how bad things were at the time you decided to come to Structure House. The Dear Me letter captures the root of your motivation - your reasons for coming here and remaining structured in the future.

Doesn't that sound fun!! I'm going to spend the next hour or so being "blisteringly" honest with myself about my feelings and thoughts about how it feels to be fat. I hope your evening is much more light hearted!!

Thanks for all the prayers, well wishes, and comments. It's good to know I have a support system when I return home. Snail mail is appreciated too! It's like summer camp - everyone wants a letter from home!! Although they will confiscate Twinkies hidden in hollowed-out-books - Laurie! (address in previous post) :-)
And my SBC email account is working on the web - so you can send email to:
Shelley.Hodges[at]sbcglobal[dot]net

I'll post again when I can. I'm going to have some time to take pictures this weekend I hope, so there will be more to look at when you visit the blog than just my rambling words.