Dieting Lifestyle

As I sit here typing this, the next spring graduation draws nearer. For many of my friends, graduation is actually next week, and I can’t help but marvel at the fact that, while they’re studying for finals, I’m over four months post-graduation and more than three months into my first “adult” job.

To be honest, it’s terrifying. Many days, I wish I could go back in time and return to my comfort zone. To my university. To my life before this city. Which might sound strange, considering I somehow managed to pull off the post-grad plan that many idealize: I secured a job in my chosen field prior to graduation, moved to a brand new city by myself, and completely hit the reset button on my life.

Now, this isn’t exactly the first time I’ve done this. When I first transferred universities, I mostly achieved the exact same things in terms of starting completely over. But here’s the thing… doing it outside of a school setting has been so much harder than I initially anticipated. So, while I’m not going to tell you not to move to a new city and start over after college, I am going to warn you of a few things that I’ve come across:

You might be lonely as hell for a while

If you’re like me, all of your friends will either still be in college or will have moved on to their respective cities and states by the time you move all of your furniture into that brand new living space. And, being a relatively introverted person, my first month alone wasn’t really an issue; in fact, it was like a breath of fresh air I didn’t know I needed. But the longer I was away from college, the less regularly my college friends would reach out to me. And making new friends as an adult has been far more challenging than I thought, especially as my city is comprised primarily of an older demographic and I don’t quite feel like I fit in with my coworkers.

Then, as the months drew on, my alone-ness began more and more to resemble loneliness. Three months in, I found myself in danger of sliding back into the arms of my depression and I had to make the conscious decision to fight my way back out. To try harder.

Starting over somewhere new sounds liberating — and it is, don’t get me wrong — but it’s also easy to forget just how far away your support system will be once you move. My advice is to try putting yourself out there as soon as possible; I’m only just now starting to piece together a social life in my new city.

You might find it difficult to escape the discomfort

I know that discomfort is all a part of the process, and I know that we need discomfort to grow. But what I didn’t realize was that I would essentially be kept outside of my comfort zone all of the time, every day. I mean, I haven’t just experienced discomfort. I’ve been living there.

And in the near-constant state of discomfort, I found myself questioning all of the choices I had made. I found myself wondering if maybe moving to another city — one where I already knew people — would have been a better option. I wondered if I should move home and be with my dad and stepmom again. Or if maybe I should have taken the other job offer from a few months ago. I even wondered if my field was something that I really wanted longterm, or if I had unwittingly stuck myself in a place where I would be forever uncomfortable.

Discomfort prompts growth and learning, but without a comfort zone to return to, I found it difficult to analyze and evaluate different situations in my own terms. Thus, I questioned everything about every choice I made.

To find the growth, you might have to give in to the pain.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I have learned so much more about myself over the last few months. It’s just that little of that has stemmed from joy or pleasure. Truly, if loneliness and discomfort have done anything for me, they’ve provided me space to self-reflect further and continue to own up to my own bullshit. But to get there, I have admittedly had to cry on the kitchen floor when my roommates weren’t home because I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be comfortably social, cry in my car on the way to and from school board meetings because I was just so sure I wasn’t good enough for my job, cry in bed when I couldn’t sleep because I missed my home and family, cry in the parking garage at work because I missed my friends at school…you get it.

When you start over, you’re making a very intentional choice to put yourself into a position where there’s not much to hold on to mentally, emotionally, and sometimes even physically. Sometimes you don’t even fully realize the magnitude of what you’re asking of yourself.

But it does get better.

I may not know what I truly want, how long I’ll stay in this city, or what my life would have been like if I had decided to go elsewhere, but I do trust that everything happens for a reason. In truth, I don’t think I really want to be in this city anymore, but I’ll just have to make an effort to keep positive and keep growing for however long I’m here.

Samantha currently works as a full-time journalist for a local print publication on Florida’s Gulf Coast. A music major turned English major turned copywriter and editor, she’s not entirely sure where she’s going but is determined to enjoy the post-grad ride.

Image via Unsplash

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Source: https://thefinancialdiet.com/how-starting-over-in-a-new-city-was-much-harder-than-i-anticipated/

Yesterday: I maintained the integrity of my calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I met my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with exceptional support.

Yesterday worked well for me in a lot of ways. I checked things off my to-do list as I went along, even making it to the gym for a good workout on the elliptical. I enjoyed dinner out with Kristin before returning home to continue working on my stuff.

I needed this time off the last several days. As I work my way into this last day, I'm asking, did I use it wisely? I'm my biggest critic so I wouldn't give it 100%, but I'm satisfied with how I used the time.

I must start each and every day humbly admitting that I need help and then, I ask for help in maintaining the non-negotiables of this daily practice. The disease of food addiction/compulsive overeating is a powerful one. I have it. There's no denying this fact because I've lived it my entire life. Not everyone has it. I do.

In order to maintain non-negotiables, it takes a structured approach--the practice, each day. All of the elements are important. Staying connected with support, remaining accountable, creating and honoring a personal trigger list, and when it comes to emotional and stress eating triggers--creating enough space, or pause, to act instead of reacting. Acting on life instead of reacting to life is a big deal along this road. It takes intentional actions each day. These actions act like rails I can hold onto. These actions or elements become pillars supporting the plan each day.

Confidence is a great thing. Over-confidence can derail quickly because it encourages a loosened grip on even the most basic elements needed for continued success.

My relapse/regain period really taught me some valuable lessons. That's why, in relation to my continued recovery and weight loss maintenance, you'll never again hear me say "I got this" or any variation of the phrase.

I've learned the hard way, as soon as an over-confidence is embraced, it immediately starts chipping away at important foundation elements. My continued recovery is never guaranteed. I don't have it down. What I do have is a daily practice of elements, disciplines--that I make important each brand new day. If I become loose with these, it's the beginning of the end.

And they're specifically designed to suit me well. I enjoy these elements. I enjoy the structure they provide. And I enjoy the continued recovery and maintenance they encourage.

You'll find many examples of this anti-over-confidence philosophy in the world of sports. Some of the best athletes are often the ones who always show up early for practice and stay late. Why would Kobe do so much practice on his own time? Why would Pete Rose, back in his day, take extra batting practice after team practice? 

In my high school days, I remember Todd Wright, one of the best high school kickers in the state of Oklahoma, out there--after practice, every day--kicking field goals over and over and over. 40 and even 50 yard-plus attempts happened throughout his senior season and he almost always got the points. Todd went on to kick on scholarship for Arkansas.

I'm not comparing myself to these athletes, don't get me wrong--I'm just drawing a philosophical parallel. If any of the above-mentioned athletes had started embracing an "I got this" style of over-confidence, their game would have suffered. Their success was due in large part, to the daily practices they continued to embrace.

The last several days have given me the opportunity to pause and consider my daily practice schedule and routine.

Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Practice, peace, and calm,
Sean

If you're interested in connecting via social media:
I accept friend requests on MyFitnessPal. My daily food logging diary is set to public.
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Also--I'd love you to subscribe to my podcast Transformation Planet! You can find it in Apple Podcasts, in the Google Play store for Android, and listed wherever you find your favorite podcasts! If you haven't listened before, you'll find 19 episodes waiting for you!

Source: http://losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com/2019/01/january-6th-2019-use-it-wisely.html

Today, women living in the United States are more likely to be killed by a spouse/partner than anyone else. Men commit the vast majority of violent and non-violent crimes in the U.S, including nearly all mass shootings. And men are much more likely to face accusations of sexual harassment and abuse. That includes instances occurring at home, in schools and in the workplace. (1)

Why is this so? To help explain this phenomenon, many use the concept called “toxic masculinity.” There are various ways to describe toxic masculinity, depending on who you ask. According to the Teaching Tolerance website, the phrase toxic masculinity is “derived from studies that focus on violent behavior perpetrated by men, and — this is key — is designed to describe not masculinity itself, but a form of gendered behavior that results when expectations of ‘what it means to be a man’ go wrong.” (2)

Not only is toxic masculinity harmful to women, but it also hurts men themselves, both physically and mentally. The World Health Organization believes that risk-taking behaviors and lack of willingness to seek help are among the most important reasons for higher rates of negative health outcomes among men. This includes ailments like heart disease, COPD and other respiratory diseases, depression and alcoholism. Men also experience shorter life expectancies compared to women. Beyond that, suicide rates are about four times higher among men, according to The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (3) And even men who don’t suffer physical health consequences due to toxic masculinity likely deal with issues like feeling emotionally cut off and misunderstood.

What Is Toxic Masculinity? 

What is the definition of toxic masculinity? Toxic masculinity can be thought of as “hyper masculinity,” a narrow and repressive description of manhood, designating manhood as defined by violence, sex, status and aggression.

Another term tied to toxic masculinity is “hegemonic masculinity.” This is defined as a practice that legitimizes men’s dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of women, and other marginalized ways of being a man. (4)

Urban Dictionary considers toxic masculinity to be “a social science term that describes narrow repressive types of ideas about the male gender role and that defines masculinity as exaggerated masculine traits.” Toxic masculinity can also suggest that men who act too emotional or aren’t violent enough are not “real men.” (5)

Below are some examples of ideas/beliefs associated with toxic masculinity:

• Manhood is defined by violence, sex, status and aggression.
• Men should not be interested in “feminine things” because this makes them appear weak
• Men shouldn’t display “feminine” traits such as emotional vulnerability.
• Men and women can never truly understand each other or just be friends, for reasons like men are always interested in sex.
• Real men are strong and don’t show emotional signs of shame or weakness.
• Anger and violence are useful ways of solving conflicts.
• Men are not suited to be single parents/the dominant parent in a family.

The Origins of Toxic Masculinity

To understand more about toxic masculinity, it helps to understand the background of masculinity theories in general.

What is “the masculinity theory?” Masculinity is defined as “possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men.”  The theory of masculinity enormously impacts the field of gender studies. Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell is one of the first researchers to form a theory of masculinity. Her theory is still considered to be one of the most influential in the field of men/masculinities today.

According to a 2009 article published in the Journal of Gender Studies, Connell published her book Masculinities originally in 1995. There, she provided  “a critical feminist analysis of historically specific masculinities whilst at the same time acknowledging the varying degrees to which individual men play in its reproduction.” (6)

A 2015 article published in the journal Culture, Health and Sexuality states that “the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used in gender studies since the early-1980s to explain men’s power over women … Although men are structurally related to women in a superior position and inherently benefit from this (what Raewyn Connell called the patriarchal dividend), they do have a ‘choice’ about whether or not to actively occupy oppressive positions.” (7)

Connell argued that there are many ways to act masculine, and that it’s up to men to choose which types of characteristics they adhere to.

To be clear, toxic masculinity is not only a critique of men by women. In fact, males are very involved in discussions of toxic masculinity. And they have been from the start. For example, in the 1990s, researcher Dr. Ronald Levant played a significant role in the development of masculinity ideology. He explained how cultural belief systems and attitudes toward masculinity defined men’s roles.

Since the origins of masculinity theory, both men and women use hegemonic masculinity as a way to describe: a set of values, established by men in power, that functions to include and exclude, and to organize society in gender unequal ways. It combines several features: a hierarchy of masculinities, differential access among men to power (over women and other men) and the interplay between men’s identity, men’s ideals, interactions, power and patriarchy.

Currently, discussions of masculinity, femininity and gender distinctions remain complicated. They’re tied to gender roles and gender norms. And those are complex topics. On one hand, some feel that gender norms first developed thousands of years ago. Why? Because men spent more time dedicated to hunting, while women generally raised the family. Females are more involved in the process of birthing children, which some say triggered males to compete with each other for women’s attention.

However, according to other theories, early human behavior wasn’t largely differentiated by gender. Some argue that we didn’t see huge gender differences in society until recent agriculture-based developments. And for this reason, we shouldn’t assume that modern-day masculinity has biological roots, but rather that it is really influenced by our culture.

Masculinity vs. Toxic Masculinity 

Masculinity is not the same thing as toxic masculinity. It’s possible to be “masculine” without exhibiting toxic masculinity characteristics.

1. Share Facts About Gender Research

Masculinity describes a pattern of behaviors, but it doesn’t describe biological or inherited traits. While many people may assume that men and women act differently due to biological differences, research tells us otherwise. In other words, not every masculine man is engaging in toxic masculinity.

Studies show there’s very little difference between the actual brains of men and women. The rigid societal norms created around femininity and masculinity are what actually cause the two sexes to act differently. For this reason, experts tell us that it’s important to shift the discussion away from sex and biology determining our behavior, and toward gender and culture. This helps to end men being excused for aggressive behavior because “it’s their nature.” Instead, it makes each man more personally responsible for his actions. If leaders, parents and teachers stop assuming that :boys will be boys,” then males will have to take more personal responsibility for their actions.

2. Limit Use of Harmful Phrases & Comments in the Home

Experts tell us that parents play a huge role when it comes to shaping their sons’ behaviors and ideas about what it means to be a man. Parents are discouraged from expecting violent and rough behavior from their sons and acting like this normal. Young men should not be excused from any consequences for behavior that harms others (mentally or physically).

Parents can also teach their sons that there is more than one way to be a boy or “act like a man.” It’s important for parents to stop telling boys and men to “man up” and act tough, and to make it acceptable to show emotion, tenderness or pain. Parents can also create an environment where it’s possible for everyone in the family to to openly talk about their roles, relations and expectations.

3. Discuss Masculinity & Gender Roles In Classrooms

Toxic masculinity can be a difficult topic for teachers to discuss with their classes, but many experts feel that as educators, it is teachers’ responsibility to openly communicate what types of remarks, bullying and behaviors will not be tolerated. Teachers can also help shape the beliefs of students as they’re forming ideas about gender roles. In some classrooms, teachers are now turning to films and other resources, including documentaries Tough Guise 2 and The Mask You Live In. These help explain problems with gender expectations.

Among some college campuses, leaders are creating “safe spaces” where men can openly discuss gender concerns. For example, at Brown University,  current programming includes: Masculinity101, a weekly discussion group for students to unpack and unlearn toxic masculine norms. The Men’s Story Project: Looking Within and Speaking Out, is a large-scale storytelling event featuring the stories of males.

4. Community Outreach Programs (Especially For Boys/Men Who Are Most Susceptible)

Research shows that masculinity is constructed in ways that reflect poverty or power, regional cultures and neighborhood dynamics. Destructive and exaggerated ideas of masculinity often develop among socially marginalized men living in urban areas of poverty, where the desire for power and force is emphasized. These same men may be more prone to experience violence in childhood, something that can create enduring psychological impacts that may fuel toxic masculinity later in life. This includes a lack of empathy and remorse and increased acts of aggression.

While this isn’t an easy problem to fix, a key intervention seems to be promoting more models of positive masculinity.

Outside of the classroom, a number of male-oriented clubs and organizations now involve men in sexual assault prevention courses, helping to change how they think about maleness and treating women. According to an article on this topic published in The Atlantic, “club members are walking examples of respectful male students, ones who choose conversation over clenched fists.” (9) There have also been a growing number of well-known public speakers addressing the topic of toxic masculinity, and books written on the subject — including several authored by athletes, musicians, and so on.

5. Highlight Examples of “Positive Masculinity” 

The media can also help by displaying examples of men who are comfortable in their masculinity, but also respectful, polite, ambitious and kind. Community leaders can also help by showing what real-life examples of positive masculinity look like. This includes pastors, priests, teachers, business owners, politicians, and so on. Public figures can serve as powerful examples, showing that it’s okay for men to ask for help, fail and feel pain. And the less that “successful” adult men publicly degrade minority men, gay men or women, the less likely it is for younger males to learn that this is acceptable.

Women can also help fight toxic masculinity by “talking up” positive masculinity and celebrating the differences between femininity and masculinity. One way for women to do this is to form relationships with men based on mutual respect, a sense of safety and trust. As mothers, wives and friends, women can show men that it’s safe to express their feelings and that they shouldn’t fear being viewed as “soft” when they do.

Final Thoughts on Toxic Masculinity

• Toxic masculinity (also referred to as “hegemonic masculinity”) is defined as a practice that legitimizes men’s dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of women. It also includes other marginalized ways of being a man.
• Ideas/beliefs that are associated with toxic masculinity include: manhood defined by violence, sex, status and aggression; the idea that men should not be interested in “feminine things”; men should not be emotionally vulnerable; men and women can never truly understand each other or just be friends; anger and violence are useful ways of solving conflicts; and men are not suited to be single parents/the dominant parent in a family.
• Interventions to help stop toxic masculinity include: sharing facts about gender research, parents setting good examples and limiting uses of harmful phrases in their homes, teachers discussing gender issues in classrooms and public figures serving as positive role models for vulnerable young men.

Read Next: Top Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms

Reference #18.fbb1002.1546746638.9783a364

Yesterday was a 4-star day: I maintained the integrity of my calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I met my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with exceptional support.

The weekend was a good one. I'm ready to get into this week and make it a great one! Are we ready? I am.

My morning foundation routine is complete, food is packed, the schedule is reviewed, and I'm feeling well.

Goals this week include a minimum of four exercise sessions and at least three 7-star days.

Isn't this a short and sweet Monday morning edition? Let's choose change before change chooses us!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day! Got my green! Avocado omelet prepared with three whole eggs, 89g avocado seasoned simply with salt & pepper and topped with 28g Italian cheese blend and 27g yellow bell pepper. A side of 5.3oz Honeycrisp apple slices finishes off this delicious breakfast! #foodplan #dailypractice #whatilike 539 cal.

A post shared by Sean Anderson (@seanaanderson) on Mar 17, 2019 at 11:57am PDT

If you're interested in connecting via social media:
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Have you listened to the unabridged audio version of my book? Get yours today!

With a donation of $20 or more to The Daily Diary of A Winning Loser, You'll receive the entire unabridged audio version of my book, Transformation Road-My Trip To Over 500 Pounds and Back-narrated by me on mp3 disc!! This includes shipping. Increased donation increments of at least $20 will include an additional mp3 disc of the unabridged audio version, perfect to give as a gift!
Also, the two-hour recorded YouPlan Workshop is available for a minimum $25 donation.

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We created this video to give you a real sense of all the time-saving features we have packed into our planner.  And the best part?  Even MORE amazing features are on deck.  We will never stop improving this resource because we are 110% committed to making plant-strong living easy and delicious!

Engine 2 Plant-Strong Meal Planner from engine 2 diet on Vimeo.

The Engine 2 Meal Planner is feature packed! Customize your menu from our database of hundreds of possibilities. Change your serving sizes or make enough for leftovers with the click of a button.  Get live help from our team of food coaches or watch a video to improve your cooking skills from the chefs at the Rouxbe Cooking School.  Upload your own favorite recipes to add to your weekly plan.  Create printable grocery lists from your menus. Get your grocery list delivered in over 200 cities in the USA. Have allergies or dislikes? Not a problem, add them to your preferences to avoid recipes that contain them. Dive into the meal planner to see all of the useful features we have built in to save you time and money.

We are excited to announce our three contest winners for our recipe contest! You’ve won a 12 month subscription to the Engine 2 Meal Planner.

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We’ll be adding the new recipes to the database in 2019. Thanks to all who entered!

Being obese or overweight during pregnancy can result in serious health problems for the mother and child. Obstetricians are often reluctant to recommend restricted weight gain for pregnant women due to safety concerns for the baby and lack of time and tools to safely guide women in their weight control efforts.

She may not be a household name, but you’ve undoubtedly heard of her handiwork. Anti-choice activist Janet Porter has spent years pushing her “heartbeat” legislation, which would outlaw abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy—before many even know they are pregnant.

Porter’s push is again gaining momentum in the waning days of Ohio’s legislative session. Its latest iteration, HB 258, was approved by Republicans in the state house in November and passed by an 18-13 vote in the state senate last week. Though Republican Gov. John Kasich vetoed a similar measure in 2016, even if he does so again, there may be enough votes for lawmakers to override it. If not, the anti-choice restriction will see a friendlier ally next time around in incoming-Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who has promised to sign such legislation.

Porter is the president and founder of anti-choice group Faith2Action, which claims on its website to be “the nation’s largest network of pro-family groups.” Before founding the organization, she was the national director of the Center for Reclaiming America from 1997 to 2002, according to a biography of Porter provided on her organization’s website. As the Daily Beast reported in a July 2013 feature on Porter, “Among the center’s most prominent projects was ‘Truth in Love,’ a nationwide ad campaign promoting gay-conversion therapy through the testimony of ‘ex-gays’ and accusations that pro-gay forces were trying to stymie discussion.”

Faith2Action’s website is home to anti-LGBTQ sentiment. Under its section on so-called liberty is a 16-page document detailing what it deems to be the “dangers of homosexuality.” Another section outlines biblical quotes against “homosexuality.”

Porter has taken to conservative websites and her own radio program to voice her views on the matter, as has been extensively documented by People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch. According to a blog post from the organization, Porter “has also long warned that increasing acceptance of gay rights will turn Christians into criminals who will eventually be rounded up and tossed in jail, going so far as to try and prevent the Supreme Court from ruling on the issue of gay marriage. [In 2015,] she produced an anti-gay documentary called ‘Light Wins’ that featured a variety of Republican members of Congress, GOP presidential hopefuls, and anti-gay activists warning that gay activists are ‘grooming’ and endangering children, for which they should be held criminally liable.”

Other bullet points on Porter’s resume include a failed run for the state legislature and losing her radio show with Christian broadcaster VCY America after championing “dominionism,” the belief that Christians should control all institutions, including governmental bodies, and that there should be a return to biblical law. In 2017, during the Alabama special election to replace Jeff Sessions in the U.S. Senate, Porter was one of Republican candidate Roy Moore’s most vocal defenders amid accusations of sexual misconduct with young women and girls. In November of that year, Porter convened a press conference of anti-choice extremists who remained loyal to Moore despite the allegations against him. She continued defending Moore throughout the special election and acted as a spokesperson for the campaign during appearances in media outlets like CNN.

As the former legislative director of anti-choice group Ohio Right to Life (ORTL), Porter has a history within the anti-choice movement. Faith2Action’s website states she worked there from 1988 to 1997 and “successfully lobbied for passage of the nation’s first Partial-Birth Abortion Ban.” So it’s no surprise that she later set her sights ending legal abortion.

Porter’s Crusade for a ‘Heartbeat’ Ban

Though these sorts of near-total abortion bans are becoming increasingly common, they first appeared in the Ohio legislature in 2011. Porter, according to the Daily Beast, was one of the measure’s original architects. Speaking to the publication in 2013, she reminisced about how the idea for the legislation came to her during the funeral for her former boss at ORTL.

“I was overwhelmed by the revelation that we don’t have much time on planet Earth,” she said in the interview. “I thought, ‘We’ve got to end this, and we need to end it now.’” During the funeral, she reportedly began to assemble a team to draft the ban.

In 2011, Republican state Rep. Lynn Wachtmann introduced Porter’s measure. From the beginning, its supporters, including Wachtmann, were upfront that it was meant to be a challenge to overturn or dismantle Roe v. Wade. “I’m introducing this bill to get the debate going to see how far we believe we can push the U.S. Supreme Court in upholding as strong a bill as possible, that is saving as many unborn babies as possible,” Wachtmann said, according to the Times Bulletin. “It’s been bandied around by the pro-life community around the country for a number of years, and Mrs. Porter, like myself, is wanting to take a bigger bite out of the proverbial apple, to try to push the agenda more toward a lot less abortion and a lot more life by going with this Heartbeat Bill.”

But to get it to the Supreme Court, Porter first had to get the measure through the state legislature. It’s a task Porter, who had by then founded Faith2Action, took to heart. After the bill was introduced in 2011, her organization sent red heart-shaped balloons to lawmakers to urge them to vote for it. The next month, the group brought pregnant women to a committee hearing and gave them an ultrasound in front of the group.

In January 2012, Faith2Action sent children to deliver to lawmakers teddy bears that made the sound of a heartbeat when squeezed. The next month, they sent 2,000 roses to Ohio state senators on Valentine’s Day as part of what the Daily Record reported was a “weekly push” to get the lawmakers to take up the anti-choice bill after it was passed in the state house the year prior.

“Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus and other members of the chamber’s leadership received 144 flowers each,” the report noted. “Members of the committee considering the legislation received nine dozen.” According to the Columbus Dispatch, the roses came with a note: “Bring this bill to a vote before the roses and babies die.”

“This is the largest rose delivery in Statehouse history,” Porter told the Toledo Blade at the time. “Last year we had the largest balloon delivery in Statehouse history, but helium balloons aren’t allowed in the Senate as it turns out, so we had a delivery of red roses.”

Versions of Porter’s “heartbeat” bill would continue to be proposed and ultimately fail in the proceeding years. Porter continued to take extreme measures to get it passed. In November 2015, the group sent activists to picket the homes of state lawmakers in hopes of getting the legislation a vote.  In 2016, another version, HB 493, cleared the legislature. Porter attributed “divine intervention” to its passage, but the measure was vetoed by the governor.

The next year, Porter made her way to Washington, D.C., where she worked with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) to introduce the U.S. Congress’ first-ever heartbeat ban in January 2017. As Right Wing Watch reported at the time, Porter said she had first spoken with King about the bill at Phyllis Schlafly’s funeral. “I gave him a packet and he has agreed to introduce a federal Heartbeat Bill, which would protect every baby whose heartbeat can be detected,” she said. “That will actually end abortion in nearly every case. Ninety to 95 percent of the abortions will be ended with that bill.” Porter also claimed she had spoken with Vice President Pence about the measure and that “he seemed very agreeable to that.”

Though King’s measure never got a vote in the GOP-held House, it did get the support of 173 co-sponsors. And later that year, Porter joined former-U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay at the White House to lobby for the total abortion ban.

Now, another version of the ban in Ohio is again awaiting Kasich’s signature or veto. And Porter isn’t staying quiet about how she hopes it will end. “The bill itself is one that we believe the Supreme Court is ready for,” she told NBC News last week.

She noted that the current version of the bill had been “‘crafted in such a way that it actually doesn’t have to bring down’ Roe v. Wade but rather changes what marker that the Supreme Court uses for determining life in unborn babies.”

Porter did not respond to an interview request from Rewire.News.