Why I Don't Watch Daytime TV

I had already finished a morning appointment and walked Otis so I sat down to enjoy my 2nd cuppa of the day. Hoping to catch some Olympics/South Korean lifestyle info I tuned in to NBC's Kathie & Hoda (but it's Jenna)...I'm listening to their idle chit-chat, which is fine for my downtime, then they introduce their bi-weekly diet & exercise tips called "One Small Thing."  My ears perk up, I’m always interested in new reasonable ideas to help my health and weight loss journey. Sweet little Joy the nutritionist offers up melting chocolate chips and pouring them over rice krispies (made from brown rice) as a healthy snack. Joy honey, chocolate chips and cereal eaten dry during the day is how I got to be this size in the first place!

One Small Thing - that will NOT help you lose weight or get healthy

When Dr. Oz seemed to speak so logically on Oprah, I tuned in to one of his first shows.  He was reviewing the book “Eat This, Not That.”  An example he gave was that when you go to Burger King (….whoa! Wait a minute, Burger King for healthy food? Ok, I’ll listen, maybe they have salads) instead of getting the Whooper whatever you can substitute a veggie burger.  That was the last Dr. Oz episode I watched. Fast food is quick, cheap and unhealthy. And for some people there are times when “quick & cheap” trumps unhealthy and a fast food meal once a month may happen. But if you are trying to be healthy, here’s an idea: don’t go Burger King!

There’s also a nationwide health club that purports to be for regular people (not weightlifters). I’ve seen their commercials and they serve Pizza!  That’ll make sure you keep coming back (double meaning there, get it?).

My weight loss journey (I’m 17 months in) is incredibly slow, really, really slow,  but it is working and my doctor is happy with my progress and lifestyle changes.  I feel happier, healthier and know I am cementing knew habits.  Occasionally I do grab some of those chocolate chips out of the cabinet, Joy. Fast food is a twice a year emergency meal and I go to a gym that offers water bottles for sale (and protein shakes for those weightlifters I hang out with).

Americans are already the fattest people in the world. Even our average birth weight is higher than other Western countries. The only way I can hope to effect any change to our society is through awareness. Please be aware of what you are putting in your body. Be aware of the motivations of big food corporations, which is primarily profit, not health. If you are tiny and fit, like Joy, don't discover a food that us fatties have been bingeing on all along!  If you want to indulge on the weekend, have a chocolate croissant or something else that is in a portion size. 

What will I be Kind Cleaning in 2018?

Not mine!  Just an example

As I near the end of my first year using my Passion Planner (PP) and my thoughts are naturally turning to the promise of New Year Resolutions I’m reflecting on how to better make use of the planner as I strive to make the world a better place.  Whew!  That sounds rather lofty!  But I will explain: my PP has been a wonderful tool to organize various areas of my life from fitness goals to dentist appointments.  It allows me a creative outlet to decorate the pages and setup inspiring spreads for tracking progress toward my goals. The “Passion” facet encourages creating a roadmap to my future.  There are steps for creating your future “wishlist” and your main “gamechanger.” Areas for “Space of Infinite Possibility” allow the visual learner in me to create a cluster chart including all the different areas of my life and then detailing what changes in those areas I want to make this year.  Laying out a graphic organizer helps me decide where my priorities should lie and how to best align my time with those priorities.

Writing continues to be one of my main goals for 2018. In 2017 I transitioned from “KindCleaning” my home of toxins to “KindCleaning” my body of toxins. This year I will seek “KindCleaning” of my digital/quasi-monopoly toxins – primarily the shopping aspect. Many people I know (me included) complain of the loss of small shops and a downtown area to mingle with neighbors and friends. But then add to our Amazon carts and hitup the local big box discount retailer weekly (WalMart, Target, etc.). My “gamechanger” for 2018 will be to drastically REDUCE reliance on mega-retail and spend my money supporting local businesses without grossly overpaying for daily items. Meanwhile I will take steps to reduce the personal data I passively allow social media to record.

Upcoming posts:

• ·         How does “Shop Locally” benefit the economy and strengthen communities
• ·         Graphic tracking of expenses: how much is going to the mega-stores? Where can changes be made?
• ·         Community Supported Agriculture – the key to healthy local food
• ·         What about the products that are just overpriced by the local small grocer?  Ie.) Tide and Pet Food
• ·         Which local businesses are successful and why?  Personal services?
• ·         Disentangling from the consumer/social media “Big Brother”

November ~ My FAVORITE Month

Since I’m long overdue for an update I’ll spend 10 minutes on this breezy November morning to post my progress!

• Exercise = A+
• Diet = C+
• Motivation = A-

In September I started focusing on posting about my diet rather than exercise, thus I haven’t been recording my exercise on line. But I HAVE BEEN EXERCISING.  It’s really just a part of my lifestyle now.  I walk/run 4-5 days a week for a minimum of 2 miles and usually not more than 3.5 miles.  I practice Yoga 1-2 days a week and hit the gym about 3 days a week.  \So in total I’m getting in a minimum of 7 exercise sessions a week.The weeks I really push and exercise at the max end of my range, I have 1 day that I am almost immobilized with exhaustion (still get my 13,000 steps but really slowly)

My Diet remains my most difficult aspect.  Although I use S Health to track my calories, I still tend to track for about 2 weeks then take 4-5 days off.  I cured my old habits: binging, treating hunger as an emergency, giving up, etc. So whether tracking or not I tend to stick in the 1650 – 2300 range, possibly exceeding that 1 day out of 90.  However I need to stay closer to the 1650 number more of the time for consistent weight loss and therein lies my challenge! 

It’s hard to believe that after a solid year of my healthy lifestyle I’m still learning new things about myself.  But each revelation results in an increased awareness of how to overcome a challenge.  I realized last month that when all my kids are home (I have 2 away at college) I quickly give up the exercise and start making family favorite comfort foods.  My oldest daughter requested stuffed peppers and my oldest son requested tuna-noodle-casserole (“not the healthy one you make, Mom, the one with cream of mushroom soup!”)   On the verge of Thanksgiving I am committed to planning out my exercise and meals so this doesn’t happen. My motivation is solid – not absolutely consistent day to day (ya know those 2300 calorie days aren’t the result of super high motivation) but overall I’m focused on lowing my blood pressure and getting my heart as healthy as it can be.  The weight loss is so slow that it gets frustrating at times, but my real goal is being healthy and I know that as a healthy person the weight decreases (but just so slowly).

NSV’s (Non-Scale Victories)

• -          All my pants are getting baggy (again!). Last Spring I happily removed all of my size 20 pants from my wardrobe and now all of my size 18 pants are getting super long and roomy.  Yippee!  I actually only own 1 pair of size 16 so I’ll be doing some shopping soon. Even my stretchy exercise pants are getting loose, but they’re not falling off yet.
• -          After months of “nothing to eat” (from my kids) I acquiesced and agreed to make chocolate chip cookies this week – but I used chopped Snickers (from the Halloween collection) which prevents me from eating them! (I’m not allergic to nuts, I just don’t like nuts paired with sweets at all).

Scale Victory: a slow and steady ½ lb a week which looks more like 4 lbs. down one week then 7 weeks of a little up, a little down.

May everyone reading this enjoy the nice cold weather November brings and remember to make soup instead of your other cold weather go-to dishes.  Today I’m making a lovely Squash Soup with this beautiful Kabocha squash.

September Struggles

I'm so happy to return to a routine as my youngest finally headed back to school the day after Labor Day.

This months focus is to remember the 80/20 rule and really work on healthy meals.

Tuesday:
80% Food:  I ate the following plus too many apple cinnamon rice cakes and a dinner of 1 cup spaghetti w/homemade veggie sauce and a salad.
20% Exercise: Arms workout

Wednesday:
80% Food: started out with a mimic of the day before but stumbled a bit in the afternoon.  I need to plan some better high protein lunches!  Full Disclosure:  breakfast was eggs & toast (as on Tuesday) but about 11am I started cruising for something sweet and settled on Honey-Nut Cheerios w/ a few choc. chips sprinkled in.  Then I felt so bloated I skipped lunch unitl 2:00 when I was out and about CRAVING some warm meat.  I ate some chicken and then had my planned dinner: Hamburger, swiss chard and a few tater tots w/ketchup.
20% Exercise: HIIT Treadmill as shown

A Healthy Summer Wrap-up: Old Me vs. New Me

Summer was wonderful!  (although I enjoyed beautiful walks almost daily and composed multiple blog posts in my head, I never decided to sit at the laptop and type them up. I made some scrawls on the back of an old envelope so I may use that for inspiration in the next few weeks)

On the positive side, I finally jumped off my weight loss plateau and my new total weight loss is 33 lbs. I’ve spent the past 10 days flirting between 31# - 33# so I’m hoping I’m not on another plateau.   Also, I’ve discovered that since I’m losing weight SOOO SLOWLY my body can handle a couple days off.  Now don’t think “oh, here we go, this is the beginning of the end for Carol!” When I say “days off” I mean eating a meal at a restaurant, skipping 2 days in a row of exercise, or indulging in pizza night or 1 sensible serving of dessert.  I eat and exercise so differently than the old me did, that I’d like to take a look (reflection time!) at the differences:

Old: Follow strict diet & lose 8-10 lbs in 2-3 weeks

                 ~ New:  Exercise & eat healthfully & lose 1.5 lbs. in 2-3 weeks

Old: Take a break from diet & gain 50% of my loss back in 1 day

                ~ New: take a break and maintain my weight

Old: Binge eat out of sugar craving desperation.

                 ~ New: Sugar cravings are gone; eat some sweets in moderation but always know that after 1-2 days I will go back to very low sugar.

Old: Exercise but try not to sweat or change my clothing more than 2x/day

                 ~ New: Get totally sweaty and enjoy it!  Have as many “exercise” clothes as regular clothes and change back & forth all day.

Old: after 2 months be right back at my starting weight, spend 2 more months gaining a few extra pounds.

                ~ New:  for each 5 pounds down I gain 1 back, then just keep going and it leaves again and takes another pound with it, Yay!

Old: Reads the latest “lose 30 lbs. in 8 weeks!” and is tempted to see what it’s all about

                 ~ New:  I’ve got this, I know what I need to do and how to do it.  I also know that the person who loses 30 lbs. in 8 weeks, gains 15 back in week 9. (at least when that person is ME)

On the negative side I’ve realized that all the exercise in the world cannot make up for a poor diet. My summer is over so no more off days with ice cream.  Fair season brings its own challenges but my tastes have changed enough that I’m really not tempted by that stuff.  Well, maybe the big doughnut…errrhhhh, I can resist and take just 1 bite out of someone else’s.  So my September Goal is NUTRITION Mindfulness. 

=> Protein at every meal

  

=> Increase Veggies & Fruits

  

=> Decrease Breads & Pasta

I’m also going to post on FB my food pictures with motivation instead of my workouts.

How to Exercise & Eat Healthfully over Summer Vacation

I haven’t blogged in over a week because I’ve been cementing my healthy goals into my summer routine. Many of us moms with school-age children operate on an entirely different schedule in the summer. Those bits of time we’ve carved for ourselves when the kids are in school have vanished and now new challenges threaten to sidetrack our health program.

For me summer means moving to a shoreline cottage with habits of ice cream runs and fried clam dinners. This year I knew I had to change those habits. 

Preparation:  Mental preparation is a tool that should never be underestimated.  I began planning for my new routine by identifing my challenges:

• ·         No Gym nearby
• ·         My usual walk/run spots would be unavailable and I have yet to find comparable parks nearby (specifically ones where I can let my dog run off-leash on trails with me).
• ·         How to break the cycle of eating more because “I’m on vacation” and because “every year we eat…”

Create Solutions:

• ·         No Gym? My husband foraged through our sons’ weight sets and created 2 dumbbells for me (they are now 12# each, and I have four 5# rings I can add.  In addition I brought with me a Kettlebell that adjusts to various weights and my yoga mat.
• ·         Walk/Run?  I need to get out every day to a State Park which I have easy access to; I’ve realized it’s time to separate dog walks from my runs.
• ·         Eating more on “vacation mode?” Setup a kitchen full of healthy food and stay committed. I’ve finally (at age 51) realized that I can buy sweets that I don’t crave for my children.  I always took pleasure in sharing special treats with them that we both enjoyed. 
  

Practice:

As soon as I unpacked on my first Saturday I ran through my arms strength training routine with my weights.  I’ve done it 3 times in the past week and I’m committed to making it a habit.

My location is set on the CT shoreline with beautiful views! I need to be out running and enjoying my setting. It’s become habit to walk my dog first (warm-up), then bring him home and leave for my walk/run. Although I hope his endurance returns in the cooler weather, for now 1 mile in the morning and another in the evening are enough for him.

I’ve researched some local gyms and may be using a “trial week” at a few if I feel that will help my goals. For now I feel the weights and runs are giving me what I need in exercise.  I’ve also participated in a weekly outdoor yoga class.

Healthy nutrition is the toughest challenge for me. I’ve setup a good routine but will continue to focus on creating healthy meals. My difficulty lies in those extra events that crop up: Lobsterfest this weekend! So I just take it one day at a time and be the best I can be. Since I want my 11 year old to enjoy vacation mode, the house is loaded up with a bag of Gummy Bears and Ice Cream treats (frozen cones, popsicles) neither of which tempts me in the least.  If I’m desperate, I’ll take a spoonful of Peanut Butter over Gummy bears or a popsicle.

And did I mention?  I don’t have a SCALE here!!!  Yes, I brought down a food scale (I’m not crazy) but no scale to weigh myself. I’m not sure how that will work, but on Thursday I’ll be where there is a scale and be able to tell if I’ve finally jumped off the plateau that has been frustrating me.

What If....I'm the Last Fatty Standing

You know that feeling of seeing someone you haven’t seen in a long time and they’ve lost tons of weight but you haven’t.  You’re happy for them and want to know how they did it, but part of you feels a rock in your stomach as you realize you’re the last one in this group of friends who is shopping in the plus sized section.  Days like today I like to look for that rock and remember the feeling.  I don’t want to be the last one.  I saw a photo of someone I haven’t seen in a while and that was my thought – she’s lost all the weight, we’re no longer the chubby buddies complaining together about ill-fitting bras and worrying about having to get on a scale before getting on an airplane.  Turns out it was just a very complimentary photo, but I still look to embrace that feeling because it motivates me.

As I pounded away on the Elliptical Crosstrainer today I imagined going to a party, reunion, etc. and everyone is normal weight but me.  That’s scary stuff.  What if…school resumes and I’m the last plus-size mom at pickup in September?

(I realize this is a very shallow post – no, I don’t dwell on comparisons of myself to others!  But sometimes these thoughts enter my mind and if I can use them for motivation, what’s the harm?)

(and don’t get on me because I used the term “fatty” – everyone has their words of preference for unpleasant things; I have absolutely no problem with the word fat and I’m using it to describe MYSELF.  I would never use it to describe another person – then I go for the gentler adjectives or just describe th

e person as being “my size”).