As you could tell from my previous posts, the first week of the new year didn't start out as well as I had hoped. I'm good at planning and knowing what should be done....I stink at actually doing it.
I needed a wake-up call so I decided to add a function to the Fit book log. In addition to recording my meals and snacks, I'm recording the amount of calories consumed for each meal/snack. The goal is to keep my total daily intake at or below 2,000 calories...which is significantly less than what I had been consuming on a regular basis.
Monday was great! I actually planned out my meals, wrote them in the log and then proceeded to follow that plan. The only derailment came that night when I snacked on peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. Since those are gone now, there's no risk of repeating that mistake. However, it proves how easy it is for me to jump off the wagon. Since my meals were well balanced yesterday, I still came in around my intake goal....the huge salad for dinner helped, not many calories there!
Today started out a little crazy. I was late getting up so I didn't pack a lunch. Breakfast was fine, I keep oatmeal and those cereal bars in my office for such occasions. Lunch, however.....
Did you know that a Quarter pound cheeseburger, medium fries and medium Coke from MacDonald's totals a whopping 1,040 calories?? That's over 1/2 my intake for the day. Pair that with the 160 calories from breakfast and my dinner options are pretty limited.
It doesn't matter how much water I drink or whether I manage to get the right number of servings of veggies and protein. I can qualify that lunch as one serving of whole grain, a serving of protein and a serving of dairy. What matters is the realization that I blew a lot of wasted calories on a lousy...and expensive...meal. After its all over I have to ask myself....was it worth it?
If you, like me, are struggling to ignore the Siren's call of fats, sugars and easy meals.....start counting calories for everything that goes in your mouth.
Good Morning!!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Resolved
Finally I end the week on a good note!!
Hubby and I got up at 7am this morning and went straight to the gym. I proceeded to run/walk 1.5 miles on the treadmill (over a period of 32 minutes). The running portion consisted of three 1/8 mile stretches.
After the treadmill, I hit the mat and systematically did stretches from the arms down to the legs. John then helped me do some straight leg stretches to get the legs really worked out.
I'm hoping tomorrow will be as mild so we can go to the track and do the same workout. I'd love to see if I can run as far on the ground as I did today on the treadmill. That would truly be a great cap to an otherwise troubled week.
Hubby and I got up at 7am this morning and went straight to the gym. I proceeded to run/walk 1.5 miles on the treadmill (over a period of 32 minutes). The running portion consisted of three 1/8 mile stretches.
After the treadmill, I hit the mat and systematically did stretches from the arms down to the legs. John then helped me do some straight leg stretches to get the legs really worked out.
I'm hoping tomorrow will be as mild so we can go to the track and do the same workout. I'd love to see if I can run as far on the ground as I did today on the treadmill. That would truly be a great cap to an otherwise troubled week.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Healing
Christmas day marked 6 months since we lost Mom. As hard as it was, it was also somewhat refreshing. Dad was with us and we made sure to keep the laughter flowing.
In June I never would have imagined that the healing would ever begin. I thought that the hole in my gut would never start to soften around the edges. Will it ever fullly heal...no. Nor do I really want it to. I don't ever want to wake up and realize that I don't remember her, or don't miss her.
That said, I know that I must start healing my heart. God has already shown me that its time; the rest of my true friends are starting to check in - pulling me out of mourning and back to life.
So - today I will remove the business cards I've been holding in my wallet since June. The card from the chaplin at the hospital and the card from the restaurant owner who took such good care of all of us, and who offered strangers prayer and comfort when they needed it most.
Let the healing begin..............
In June I never would have imagined that the healing would ever begin. I thought that the hole in my gut would never start to soften around the edges. Will it ever fullly heal...no. Nor do I really want it to. I don't ever want to wake up and realize that I don't remember her, or don't miss her.
That said, I know that I must start healing my heart. God has already shown me that its time; the rest of my true friends are starting to check in - pulling me out of mourning and back to life.
So - today I will remove the business cards I've been holding in my wallet since June. The card from the chaplin at the hospital and the card from the restaurant owner who took such good care of all of us, and who offered strangers prayer and comfort when they needed it most.
Let the healing begin..............
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Stalled
So - despite best intentions, I didn't do very well with the new resolutions yesterday, and today doesn't look like it will be much better.
However, I did finish Matt Long's book, The Long Run.
What an amazing read...truly, I read it in the span of 36 hours. Yet I want to pick up the book and read it again, and again, and again. One of the things I liked about the book was that it was written in such an easy way. The reader is spoken to in a very relaxed tone, complete with a twinge of Brooklyn accent. For a long time I felt as though I could actually hear Mr. Long verbally telling me his story.
Seriously, if he can come back from all he went through...then I can get my butt moving and accomplish my goals too. If you are looking for inspiration....
However, I did finish Matt Long's book, The Long Run.
What an amazing read...truly, I read it in the span of 36 hours. Yet I want to pick up the book and read it again, and again, and again. One of the things I liked about the book was that it was written in such an easy way. The reader is spoken to in a very relaxed tone, complete with a twinge of Brooklyn accent. For a long time I felt as though I could actually hear Mr. Long verbally telling me his story.
Seriously, if he can come back from all he went through...then I can get my butt moving and accomplish my goals too. If you are looking for inspiration....
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Best start EVER
A lot has happened in just 24 hours!
My 40th birthday was earlier in the week, and one of my dear friends conspired with my hubby to throw me a surprise party on Saturday morning. The biggest surprise of all was the appearance of my Bestie!! She lives out of state and we don't get to celebrate birthdays together much.
The day continued in wonderful fashion...full of fun, laughter and time with friends. BTW - all the gals brought some very sweet gifts....all coffee themed of course!
Today, after a delightfully relaxing morning, my Bestie presented me with yet another present. See, I've mentioned before that in addition to being, well, besties, we've also been pushing each other to workout and lose weight. Typical of busy adults, we start and stop. We also regroup and try again...and again...and again. The best part is that we both support each other, understand our limitations and challenges, and help each other work around them. We also know when to back off and let the other person deal with their own challenges, and when to pull each other up and give a little push.
In keeping with this, my Bestie presented me with matching fitbooks for my birthday. Together, we lingered over coffee and created a new plan, organizing our first week of workouts and setting our 12 week goals together. While the book itself was a terrific gift, I truly cherish just having that time together.
The book itself is really nice...it combines a workout log with a goal plan and a nutrition checklist for each day and week of the 12 week cycle. The thing I like most is its apparent ease of use, requiring only enough writing to make sure you can accurately track your progress while being small enough to fit into your purse or gym bag.
Since this is the time of year when most are reviewing and setting fitness/weight loss goals, I recommend checking it out.
It will be fun to continue this journey with a new tool...even more fun to see progress!
My 40th birthday was earlier in the week, and one of my dear friends conspired with my hubby to throw me a surprise party on Saturday morning. The biggest surprise of all was the appearance of my Bestie!! She lives out of state and we don't get to celebrate birthdays together much.
The day continued in wonderful fashion...full of fun, laughter and time with friends. BTW - all the gals brought some very sweet gifts....all coffee themed of course!
Today, after a delightfully relaxing morning, my Bestie presented me with yet another present. See, I've mentioned before that in addition to being, well, besties, we've also been pushing each other to workout and lose weight. Typical of busy adults, we start and stop. We also regroup and try again...and again...and again. The best part is that we both support each other, understand our limitations and challenges, and help each other work around them. We also know when to back off and let the other person deal with their own challenges, and when to pull each other up and give a little push.
In keeping with this, my Bestie presented me with matching fitbooks for my birthday. Together, we lingered over coffee and created a new plan, organizing our first week of workouts and setting our 12 week goals together. While the book itself was a terrific gift, I truly cherish just having that time together.
The book itself is really nice...it combines a workout log with a goal plan and a nutrition checklist for each day and week of the 12 week cycle. The thing I like most is its apparent ease of use, requiring only enough writing to make sure you can accurately track your progress while being small enough to fit into your purse or gym bag.
Since this is the time of year when most are reviewing and setting fitness/weight loss goals, I recommend checking it out.
It will be fun to continue this journey with a new tool...even more fun to see progress!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
2012 - A New Year, A Fresh Start
I love the New Year. Its a time to start over...to try things differently, or not. Like a freshly clean chalkboard in school, the slate is clear and ready to be filled again.
This year I'm exceptionally ready for a fresh start. 2011 really took it out of me, emotionally and physically. Its never easy to lose a parent, especially so suddenly. But along with it came a ton of other emotions that popped to the surface like corks. Things that I thought I'd packed away for good. Everything has its consequence and for me its been weight gain, lack of interest in my usual activities and I've pulled away from many of my friends and my church.
While I know that time will allow me to work through everything, it always helps to have reminders. The few friends I've stayed in touch with have been wonderfully supportive. But I've also discovered a new blog, Marc and Angel Hack Life: Practical Tips for Productive Living, which has provided me with greatly needed food for thought. The advertisements are a bit distracting, but it seems that this blog is not supported by either Blogger or Wordpress, so I imagine the writers have to pay for their server space somehow. Regardless, once you get past all that, you will find words of classic wisdom - things that we all should remember but don't.
Take, for example, a post from earlier this December...30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself. Coincidentally, this post was followed by the more positive themed "30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself", complete with a lead photo of a woman running. [If that's not a nudge toward "getting back to my life" I don't know what is.]
While the blog is full of tidbits of wisdom, this post really struck me, especially given the time of year. This is the time, as I mentioned, of new beginnings. We always seem to sabotage our personal goals...every time. With what? With outside distractions and with things that we do to ourselves to set ourselves up for failure. Guaranteed that most of the time we don't see these traps but they are there! This list (both of them, really) is deceptively full of common sense. Everything on it not only makes sense, but examples can easily (and surprisingly quickly) can be found in my life.
So - as we start on the new path that is 2012 - I intend to pay attention to these things. Correcting those will undoubtedly aid me in achieving my other goals for the year!
This year I'm exceptionally ready for a fresh start. 2011 really took it out of me, emotionally and physically. Its never easy to lose a parent, especially so suddenly. But along with it came a ton of other emotions that popped to the surface like corks. Things that I thought I'd packed away for good. Everything has its consequence and for me its been weight gain, lack of interest in my usual activities and I've pulled away from many of my friends and my church.
While I know that time will allow me to work through everything, it always helps to have reminders. The few friends I've stayed in touch with have been wonderfully supportive. But I've also discovered a new blog, Marc and Angel Hack Life: Practical Tips for Productive Living, which has provided me with greatly needed food for thought. The advertisements are a bit distracting, but it seems that this blog is not supported by either Blogger or Wordpress, so I imagine the writers have to pay for their server space somehow. Regardless, once you get past all that, you will find words of classic wisdom - things that we all should remember but don't.
Take, for example, a post from earlier this December...30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself. Coincidentally, this post was followed by the more positive themed "30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself", complete with a lead photo of a woman running. [If that's not a nudge toward "getting back to my life" I don't know what is.]
While the blog is full of tidbits of wisdom, this post really struck me, especially given the time of year. This is the time, as I mentioned, of new beginnings. We always seem to sabotage our personal goals...every time. With what? With outside distractions and with things that we do to ourselves to set ourselves up for failure. Guaranteed that most of the time we don't see these traps but they are there! This list (both of them, really) is deceptively full of common sense. Everything on it not only makes sense, but examples can easily (and surprisingly quickly) can be found in my life.
So - as we start on the new path that is 2012 - I intend to pay attention to these things. Correcting those will undoubtedly aid me in achieving my other goals for the year!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Fresh Start (again)
I am definitely in need of a fresh start, as you can probably tell by my extreme lack of posts lately.
The past couple of months have had me thinking about and reflecting on pretty much every aspect of my life. I've come to the sound conclusion that, at least in the diet and exercise portion of said life, I've been very lacking.
While my initial intention when I started this journey a couple of years ago was good, I discovered that I missed the mark entirely. Yes - I agree that any effort is a step in the right direction when it comes to our health, but I've also come to realize that it has to be a complete package to instill lifelong, lasting changes.
So - in typical "me" fashion, I hit the books. In this study, I'm using two books - the first is "The Runner's Diet" which covers the biological part of this venture. The second is "Made to Crave" which cover the spiritual part. Both parts make up the whole, so it makes sense to work on them both at the same time. Not only that - but I really do feel like I am developing an eating disorder and that just has to stop.
I decided to start with "The Runner's Diet". I'm dividing this study into two steps based on the visualization of a very simple store/business. [Hey...gotta use that MBA for something!]
The first I call "Taking Inventory".
The author is wonderful about taking the reader through various steps to determine where change is needed.
Step 1: Take stock of your diet. (Score = 14)
After taking a short quiz it was determined that my eating is out of control. Translation = I do a lot of mindless eating. TRUE
Step 2: Take stock of your exercise habits. (Score = 21)
Again, after a short quiz, it was determined that I lack consistency and will need to work on getting regular, modest activity as well as packing more into a limited time. The side note here is that I will also have to focus on my eating so that I can achieve a balance between the two.
Translation = Make more of my workouts so I don't feel overwhelmed.
Step 3: Overall score is a 35. A consistent plan will cause scores to be upwards of 45 and in the 50's most of the time. The goal is to have the score increase by 5 every two weeks until it stays at or above 45 each time.
Motivator #1: BMI = 38.65
Class II Moderate Obesity. ONE level away from morbidly obese. UNACCEPTABLE.
Ideal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9 to be within a healthy weight range for my height and frame.
In conjunction with this book, I've also read the first couple of chapters of the book Made to Crave. While I haven't gone back to answer the Personal Reflections on the first chapters yet, I have tried to apply the first nugget of advise.
Basically - when I am craving something I need to check on whether I really need it. If the answer is no, then I find something to occupy my toddler mind until the craving goes away. Since I haven't been able to put the suggested prayer into practice, I have tried to focus on something else for a while e.g. drink a glass of water/tea/coffee and work/read/etc. If the craving does not go away, I have to work on finding a suitable, healthy replacement. Case in point - chocolate. I could have attacked a 6' walking chocolate bunny in broad daylight and not felt the slightest twinge of guilt today. However, I had a big glass of 2% (homemade) chocolate milk after dinner instead of reaching for M&Ms etc. It worked.
Like I said - I need a fresh start and I want to make this one work! I'm so tired of starting....and stopping....and starting....and stopping....ad nauseam.
The past couple of months have had me thinking about and reflecting on pretty much every aspect of my life. I've come to the sound conclusion that, at least in the diet and exercise portion of said life, I've been very lacking.
While my initial intention when I started this journey a couple of years ago was good, I discovered that I missed the mark entirely. Yes - I agree that any effort is a step in the right direction when it comes to our health, but I've also come to realize that it has to be a complete package to instill lifelong, lasting changes.
So - in typical "me" fashion, I hit the books. In this study, I'm using two books - the first is "The Runner's Diet" which covers the biological part of this venture. The second is "Made to Crave" which cover the spiritual part. Both parts make up the whole, so it makes sense to work on them both at the same time. Not only that - but I really do feel like I am developing an eating disorder and that just has to stop.
I decided to start with "The Runner's Diet". I'm dividing this study into two steps based on the visualization of a very simple store/business. [Hey...gotta use that MBA for something!]
The first I call "Taking Inventory".
The author is wonderful about taking the reader through various steps to determine where change is needed.
Step 1: Take stock of your diet. (Score = 14)
After taking a short quiz it was determined that my eating is out of control. Translation = I do a lot of mindless eating. TRUE
Step 2: Take stock of your exercise habits. (Score = 21)
Again, after a short quiz, it was determined that I lack consistency and will need to work on getting regular, modest activity as well as packing more into a limited time. The side note here is that I will also have to focus on my eating so that I can achieve a balance between the two.
Translation = Make more of my workouts so I don't feel overwhelmed.
Step 3: Overall score is a 35. A consistent plan will cause scores to be upwards of 45 and in the 50's most of the time. The goal is to have the score increase by 5 every two weeks until it stays at or above 45 each time.
Motivator #1: BMI = 38.65
Class II Moderate Obesity. ONE level away from morbidly obese. UNACCEPTABLE.
Ideal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9 to be within a healthy weight range for my height and frame.
In conjunction with this book, I've also read the first couple of chapters of the book Made to Crave. While I haven't gone back to answer the Personal Reflections on the first chapters yet, I have tried to apply the first nugget of advise.
Basically - when I am craving something I need to check on whether I really need it. If the answer is no, then I find something to occupy my toddler mind until the craving goes away. Since I haven't been able to put the suggested prayer into practice, I have tried to focus on something else for a while e.g. drink a glass of water/tea/coffee and work/read/etc. If the craving does not go away, I have to work on finding a suitable, healthy replacement. Case in point - chocolate. I could have attacked a 6' walking chocolate bunny in broad daylight and not felt the slightest twinge of guilt today. However, I had a big glass of 2% (homemade) chocolate milk after dinner instead of reaching for M&Ms etc. It worked.
Like I said - I need a fresh start and I want to make this one work! I'm so tired of starting....and stopping....and starting....and stopping....ad nauseam.
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