Movin' and Shakin'

It's been a super busy week, but I've really committed myself to activity. I don't know how the scale will react this week, but I do know that I'm proud of the way I've juggled my schedule.

Part of the reason that I've been able to be more active this week is that I've been flexible and creative. With class or meetings far into the evening, I knew that there was no way I would hit the gym or do a ton once I got home. I tried to get in a nice long, brisk walk on my lunch hour most days this week. I've also taken advantage of the little opportunities for activity. If something needed delivered, I did it myself instead of asking one of our assistance to do it. If I needed to talk to a coworker, I went to their office instead of calling or emailing. I parked further from the building than I normally do and I made an effort to take the stairs.

I also took advantage of fitness activities at work. Specifically, I made an appointment to try out the Wii Fit for the first time. I got a half hour to play around with it and had a really great time. I tried skiing, hula hooping and running. It was so much fun, I forgot that I was exercising! I wish I had an opportunity to do more with it, but it's definitely out of my price range right now.

I know that loosing weight will involve sustained physical exertion, not just taking the stairs or parking at the opposite end of the lot. However, in a week where time is limited, "all or nothing" thinking can be really damaging. All those little calories that I burn will add up, but if I think that if I can't spend an hour exercising, I shouldn't bother, than I'm going to have a very sedentary week. Instead, I sought out opportunities to move. I feel like I'm managing my stress level really well despite some really heavy family difficulty and extra pressures at work. I really attribute my improved coping skills to my boost in activity.

So my message today is JUST MOVE. Even if you only have ten minutes to spare today, take a quick jog or walk. Try out a new activity or do some quick sculpting exercises. Put on some upbeat music and dance or try out Wii Fit (so awesome!). Whatever you do, make it a good weekend!

Post Work Out Munchies

I first decided that I really wanted to lose weight when I was about sixteen and around 80 pounds lighter than I am today. I had known I was fat since a boy told me so on the playground many moons earlier, but I had always shrugged my shoulders assuming it was out of my hands. Being a sophomore in high school changed everything. I could see prom looming before me, and knew I needed to drop some serious lbs if I didn't want to go alone.



I didn't know the first thing about diet and nutrition and wasn't really sure how to learn. My textbooks for health class just talked about the food pyramid, but I had a feeling that eating 6-11 servings of bread a day was not going to be to my advantage. I decided to start exercising because that's what all the skinny people I knew did. I was in terrible shape, but the concept of building up my fitness level escaped me. I set my alarm for 6:00 am and took off for a run. Each time I would be out of breath and weezing by the time I made half a block; I'd be on my way home after a single loop around. Regardless of how little I did, I would come home as hungry as a grizzly and set to dismantling the fridge. Needless to say, I didn't stick with it and I actually finished the summer discouraged and much heavier.



Part of the reason I got into this mess in the first place is that I have long harbored the belief that working out gives me the right to eat pie. Lately, I've been going to the gym. It's just been too cold for my usual walk. I despise the gym with every fiber of my being. I hate the treadmill, elliptical and bike. It's incredibly boring, but I've been doing it and really pushing myself. The downside is that I come back to my office absolutely ravenous. If I don't eat my lunch before I go, I don't have the energy to push myself, but if I do eat it before I go, I'm starving for the rest of the day. How am I supposed to keep the Goulets away? Any ideas on what I should eat before or after a work out? I'm open to suggestions that won't send me rummaging through the fridge.

December Goals

The time has come to assess last months goals and establish some brand spanking new ones. I had three November goals which included 1)Lose 8 pounds 2.)Write down everything I eat every day, all 30 days! and 3)Get some physical activity 5 days/week.

The result? Well let's just say that I'm glad they're called goals and not rules. I didn't lose 8 pounds, I lost two. I wouldn't mind not reaching my goal if it wasn't for the fact that I know I didn't do my best. That said, regret is wasteful. It's far better to learn from mistakes and move on! I was much better at tracking my food, though I didn't manage to do it every single day. I did actually succeed in getting some activity 5 days a week, though. So 1/3 isn't that bad, is it?

It's a new month and my last shot at getting it right in 2008, so here are my December goals!

1.) Lose 1 pound. That's it, one pound. I actually considered aiming just to maintain this month, but I thought that would just be like giving myself permission to slack off too much. One pound is realistic, given the festive season, but still keeps my focus on losing.

2.) Record every thing I eat every day. Yep, trying this again. I think it's a valuable tool in my efforts to reign in my overeating.

3.) Get 45 minutes of exercise 5 days a week. More specific than last time, so not as easy to fudge.

What are you hoping to achieve this month? Let's make it a good one!

Good News and Bad News

I'm still pressing on with my monthly goals and I'm enjoying varying success.

I'm struggling along with the exercise piece, and doing a little better. I've felt more motivated to walk on my lunch break which is great for a variety of reasons. It helps me to unwind in the middle of my day because it gets me out of the office and allows me to release some of my pent up energy. It's also the perfect time for me to get in an hour of activity. I'm not disciplined enough to get up early and if I wait till I get home at night, I'll be too tired or too lazy.

I have been really disciplined about tracking my food on SparkPeople, which has really opened my eyes. Firstly, it has reawakened me to exactly what I'm putting in my mouth. I'm surprised by how many calories there are in some of the things I eat and by how unbalanced my diet is. For example, while I almost never get the recommended amount of protein, I frequently exceed the recommendation for carbs. Not a good practice for a pre diabetic.

So while I stayed within my calorie limit yesterday, I also ate SEVEN Pillsbury cookies. SEVEN. I know weight loss is about calories in and calories out, but I'm not just doing this to lose weight, I'm doing it to get healthy. Consuming empty calories is going to do little to help me get there. I need to make a better effort to eat foods that will nourish me, not just satisfy my cravings.

The good news: I'm tracking, exercising and limiting my calories.
The bad news: I'm eating garbage.

What can I say? I'm a work in progress and I'm making changes everyday. Hope you're having a good day!

For the Love of Exercise

Exercise and I never got along. My unpleasant experiences with physical activity began very early on in the overweight child's fear factory: gym class. As a grade schooler, I could never quite keep up so the other children hated to have me on their team and the gym teacher openly belittled me.

The situation didn't improve in high school. Go ahead, just say the words "the mile run" and I break out in a cold sweat and get a lurching sensation in my stomach. An "A" student in everything else, I ended up just passing gym every quarter.

In college I at least got to pick my poison. I chose non-activity physical education course such as CPR to fulfill my requirement. I tried to schedule my classes so I wouldn't have to walk across campus for my courses. I was afraid to even try to exercise.

Then, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. My doctor told me that unless I started exercising to increase my insulin sensitivity, I could expect to become diabetic in the next couple of years. I had to exercise not because someone was standing there screaming at me, but because it was what was good and necessary for my body.

I bought a good pedometer (I highly recommend the Omron HJ-112) and measured my base line of activity. I discovered that on most days I was taking between 2,000 and 3,000 steps. I did some research and was not surprised to discover that I was considered sedentary. I read that while individuals should try to make gradual changes, those who take around 10,000 steps a day are considered active.

So over last summer, I set my sights on 10,000 steps. Nearly every day, I made it a priority to walk twice a day for about 60 minutes at a time. I loathed it at first. It was torture. It was hot and I got sweaty and tired and sore, but I was extremely motivated by fear for my health.

But around July something wonderful happened--I began craving my walks and day dreaming about being out in the air, stretching my legs in the park. It became the most enjoyable part of my day. I had often heard tale of mythical people who enjoyed exercise, but I never imagined that they could be real or that I would ever join their ranks.

Today, I'm still fairly out of shape, but activity has become more a way of life than something I do for 60 minutes a day. I still focus on getting my extended walks in, but I find myself always taking the stairs, parking further away and moving around more.

It didn't happen all at once and I didn't notice it happening. Somehow it did. I found myself jogging across an intersection, keeping up on walks with physically fit co-workers and dancing in my living room. I have even started attending a yoga class before work--not because I was required to and not because I thought I would burn a lot of calories doing it--but because I knew it would be good for my body and I thought it would be FUN!

I did this. I made and sustained an enormous change in my life and I reap the benefits everyday and in case you're wondering, you can too. You may not enjoy it at first; you may hate it so much that it makes you cry, but trust me that the return you'll get makes the struggle worthwhile.

Motivation Matters

Understanding why one wants to change a behavior is an incredibly important ingredient for success. It's wonderful to have a goal, but personally, if I don't have a clear idea of why I want to make a change, I'm doomed. It's easy to give way to temptation when my friends are eating brownie sundaes or to forgo exercise on a frigid February day if I'm not 100% clear on my motivation.

With regards to weight loss, this is by no means my first time around the block. I've tried and "failed" dozens of times. I always thought it was a matter of me finding the right program or food or reading the right inspirational story. But the thing that was common in all of my previous attempts was a lack of the true motivation.

There are lots of reasons to try to lose weight, and many of them are very good reasons. My grandmother wants me to "get skinny" so I can meet someone. For a while, I tried to use that as my carrot on a stick, but that didn't work so well for me. The truth is, I knew I would never want to be with someone who couldn't see the beauty in me at a size 28. Maybe that's unrealistic, but it's the way I feel. Once I realized that, I adopted a "who cares!" attitude and abandoned my weight loss efforts.

A friend told me that I should lose weight to "show" all the people who made fun of me when I was at my heaviest. Success is the best revenge. That worked for a while. I imagined the stunned look on people's faces when I walked into my high school reunion a svelte size 6 or when I sashayed past that guy who rejected me three years ago. Yeah! That'll teach 'em! The problem with that is that while I'm a passionate woman, I could never drum up a rage that could rival my love for Ben and Jerry. Uh-huh. That says it all.

I tried on other motivations. Up-coming weddings, holidays, vacations and milestones. I bought beautiful outfits 2 sizes too small and promised myself fabulous rewards. Punishments for not changing had little influence on me. My knees and ankles ache when I walk, but I didn't care. Instead, I convinced myself that everyone's knees and ankles ache. The truth is that I just couldn't imagine anything that would change my mind--that is until the day I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

Both of my parents have Type II diabetes. While my father was just recently diagnosed, my mother had known she was diabetic for the past eight years. She felt helpless, and despite my family's prompting, did nothing. She refused to attend diabetic education classes and she made no lasting attempt to modify her diet. She lost weight, but because she never exercised and consumed a diet which was about 85-90% carbohydrate, she was unable to control her blood sugar. She stopped monitoring it. For the last two years, she has been experiencing some serious complications. She has mobility problems and is partially incontinent. I don't feel like it's her fault; she just couldn't find her motivation.

For years my sister and I begged and cried and rang our hands but made no changes to our own lifestyles. However, learning I was pre-diabetic was like a punch in the gut. I was terrified and acted accordingly. I cut about three quarters of the carbohydrates out of my diet, went to a dietitian and began focusing on getting my 10,000 steps a day.

My diagnosis was a blessing. It was the motivation I needed to make healthy changes. I haven't been entirely disciplined. Between March and November of 2007, I was able to lose 35 pounds. It was slow, but I was patient.

I've been losing and gaining the same five pounds since the holidays began. I haven't made any headway, but my motivation remains and for that I'm truly grateful. I have also found new motivation along the way. The recognition of others, being able to buy a smaller size and walk for an extended period are wonderful incentives.

Every individual is motivated by something different. There's no wrong if it motivates you to do something positive. So what's your motivation?