Help is a dirty word

Help is a dirty word.

It rarely crosses my lips as an invitation.

I will extend it with no problems, but to accept it is basically unacceptable.

Let me give a bit of background with where I am going with this:

I pretty much try live by the following mantra:

Do not tell anyone your problems. 20% of people don't care and 80% are glad you have them.

I, also, do everything myself so I don't have to worry about it not getting done.

But, unfortunately, I finally hit rock bottom with my stress levels and the lovely recipient of my meltdown was my dear ol' trainer that barely knows me. How nice of me. :)

I joined the TEAM program at my gym at the beginning of January. We are in week 10 of training. 10! That's right - week ten. In my OCD mind, I should already weight 30lbs less. Not really, but at least 10. I feel that is reasonable. I work out 3-4 times a week and I eat pretty well, most of the time. Well, I have lost nothing. Pretty frustrating. When you are choosing to do one thing, it means something else would be suffereing. So, my time at the gym is time away from my kids, my husband, my house that is a mess, and my daughter's school work.

So fast farward to a lovely Tuesday night at the gym with my unsuspecting trainer. (Poor girl - didn't know what she agreed to when I said can we talk instead of working out)

I had motor mouth, talking as fast as my brain could react. I told her all kinds of stuff about me that she probably really didn't want to know. I will, also, point out that I do not tell people anything about me that may paint me in a poor light. (Please revisit above mantra) I told her everything. I figure if I truly want to change my life, my body, my mind set:

I NEED HELP!

Also, if I talked real fast, I wouldn't have time to realize what was happening, get up and bolt out of the building, to never return. (But then I would realize my kids were happily playing in the daycare - Damn! No quick exit!) J

So I stayed. I figure whatever I am doing is obviously not working. I need some outside person to tell me what to do. I need them to be honest with me. Tell me I am delusional. I don't work out as much as I think I do or I eat like poo.

Tell me I am a stressball and need to chill out and quit being a control freak.

So, in the end, I spent an hour venting about a variety of things, hoping to understand what elements my life consisted of that were holding me back. I, also, spent the next couple of days thinking about it. I didn't go back the gym for the rest of the week. I pouted and sulked in the privacy of my own home. 

What I figured out is this:

- Everything in your life cannot be done alone.

- You cannot hold everyone's else's hand and manage all their projects without your projects suffering

- It is OK for my kids to be independent and fail if they are not going to step up to the plate of their own life

- Stress management is a must

- I cannot worry about the past 3 months. They are not coming back, I can only move forward

- Failing to plan is planning to fail

-  My husband will not die if he has to feed himself

- I am worth the time it takes to change and I don't care what everyone else is doing. I am doing this for me.

(and I ♥ my trainer for having the patience to listen to me for 60 minutes babble.)

How many calories should I be eating?

How many calories should I be eating?

That is always the golden question.

To figure this out, you, first need to figure out your Basal Metabolic Rate. You use energy no matter what you're doing, even when sleeping. Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day. Your Basal Metabolic Rate decreases as you age. Likewise, depriving yourself of food in hopes of losing weight also decreases your BMR. A regular routine of cardiovascular exercise can increase your BMR, improving your health and fitness when your body's ability to burn energy gradually slows down.

An easy formula is the following:

BMR = (LBM*10) + 370

Example: let's say you weigh 150lbs and you have 30% body fat. Your calculation would be the following:

150lbs, 30% body fat = (150*.70*10) + 370 = 1420 cals

After you retrieve your BMR number, you need to calculate the following:

10% add for digesting your food - 1420*1.10 = 1562

Life Style - 400-600 calories - what kind of job do you have? Do you move a lot or sit a lot? 1562+400 = 1962

Exercise: How many additional calories are you burning when exercising? ex. if you worked out 3x a week and burned 400 calories each time. Then divide that by 7 days to spread it across the week (400*3)/7 = 171

1962+171 = 2133

So, a 150lb person with a 30% body fat, exercising three times a week needs approximately 2100 calories to MAINTAIN their weight.

For every 500 calories you cut out per day, you should lose approximately 1lb a week. One pound a week is a recommended, safe amount to lose. It is not to drastic and it makes it easier to maintain. The above example should be eating approximately 1600 calories a day.

Now, what are you eating during the day? Figure out your calories - are you eating enough? Not eating will delay your weight loss, not help it!

Credits: Shelly - Trainer at Lifetime, Health Discovery Website

What's in your bread?

Do you know what is in your bread?

One of the challenges for this week was to detox from a variety of additives, ranging from aspartame and saccharin to potassium bromate and sodium nitrate.

We were, also, supposed to cut out White flour - bleached flour. Which brings us to the topic of what's in your bread?

One of the specific things requested by our trainers was to look at our bread. It should not have white flour, bleached flour or ingredients you could not picture as a food.

So, off I went to my kitchen to read the bread label. I like to think I have made a fair attempt at buying "better" bread. But, alas, I realize I am a marketing manager's dream consumer. I really like pretty labels. :)

Our bread was crap. There are appoximately 50 ingredients - half of which I cannot pronounce. The first ingredient being BLEACHED FLOUR. Grrr.....

See how they sucked me in with the no high fructose corn syrup and whole grain? Well, they forgot to mention the bleach, the cellulose (which is wood),and guar gum (The drought-resistant guar bean can be eaten as a green bean, fed to cattle, or used in green manure.) Sounds tasty.

So I went the grocery store and found a bread with only a handful of ingredients, made locally, and I can happily tell my trainers about:

Pretty simple. Pretty easy. Not having chemicals pumped in my body. It does not have nutrition values, but I can make a fair estimate. Also, these pieces of bread which are different sizes and smaller (not perfect uniformity like factory bread) is actually MORE FILLING!

So thank you, Superior Bread Co., my trainers will be proud and I like your bread. :)

Here is an article for you to read about bleaching flour.

Bleached Flour in Food


Good luck with better bread choices!!

Resolutions

Here we are - January 2012 - a new year. Everyone starts their resolutions in January. I am thinking, by now, January 20th - a lot of resolutioners already fell off the wagon. :)



Well, I made a new plan this year. I began planning for January at the end of October - 2011. That was when I wrote my last blog.

What has happened in that time, you ask?

1. I joined Lifetime Fitness  - I love this gym. It is great. It has so many things to offer and it just looks like pure wonderfulness. I have to give myself this pep talk everytime I pay my bill. :)

2. I joined TEAM weightloss at Lifetime. This is a group class with a trainer 3x a week. It is for one hour M,W, FR and we, also, do nutrition on Mondays. I am almost done with my second week and it has been fantastic.

3. I bought a Fitbook - This is a perfect tool for tracking all your food and workouts. It is set up for a 12 week program which is perfect because the TEAM weightloss is a 12 week program as well.

4. I joined the 90 Day Challenge at the gym. It is a competition for biggest percentage of weight loss through all the gyms. The good thing about it is that is starts four weeks AFTER TEAM weightloss, so I will have four more weeks with groups to keep pushing me.

5. I signed up for all of the Try It Tuesdays for the 90 day.

So, this is where I am at. I have been journalling all food, so matter what. Even if it is garbage. I am trying to stay accountable. I have been to all my classes and I have been trying to follow what the trainers say.

This is my time, finally.

I will let you know the things I am learning and discovering. Hopefully, it can help you too!

Where are you with your resolution and how are you sticking to it?

Trying to do it all just means you do nothing...

How many times do you find yourself constantly at the starting line?

I am always:

- "Starting over"

- "Trying to get back on the band wagon"

- "Let's get motivated"

It is getting old. Having the same conversations with the same people about the same issue.

~ Getting Fit ~ Eating Right ~ Being Healthy ~

Why is it so difficult to just do the right thing? Well, I can tell you why it is difficult for me:

~ I TRY TO DO TOO MUCH TOO FAST! ~

"I am going to work out every second of the day" - Let's get real people! You are not. You have other commitments. You are already setting yourself up for failure.

"I am going to eat the best food in the world at all times" - Umm, really? I don't know about you, but I get so lost in all the information out there that it too overwhelming!

You have to start at one point and continuously go forward.

No matter what,

DO NOT GO BACKWARDS!

No matter what!

Even if you remain in the same spot for quite a long time, it is better then reversing any good you have done.

My new plan (wink wink) and hopefully last plan is the following:

I will commit working out 3x a week. That should be fairly reasonable to fit in my hectic life with my two children and husband.

I will commit to to following the three rules from  Eating Rules .

When you eat grains, eat only 100% whole grains.

Don’t eat high fructose corn syrup.

Don’t eat hydrogenated oils, trans fats, or anything that’s been deep-fried.

Just three simple rules, rather eight zillion things!

I will follow the Dirty Dozen/Clean15 rules for produce.

This will tell you what to buy organic and what does not need to be organic. You can download the PDF and print it and you can, also, download it on your smartphone - Android or Iphone for free

If we just worry about a couple of things, then we can progress forward. Slowly, things can be added to the list. Then all of the sudden, things are being accomplished that we never thought would be possible!

This commerical is what my kids like to say is me:

On the Bandwagon

Progress is Progress

How many times do you hear people be overly critical on their weight loss or workout regiment? It isn't good enough, it isn't fast enough, it is less then what blah blah blah did.

A loss is a loss people!

A workout is a work out. It is better then doing nothing and it is better then sitting on the couch.

Progress is Progress!

Slow progress is better then no progress. Slow progress adds up to some great big things!

When you look back over the time that seemed very long, you realize it wasn't that long at all and you have accomplished GREAT things! 

Interfacing with Life

Life happens.

 Regardless what you are doing, it happens. It will not stop. The time will pass no matter what.

So, when you are trying to be healthy, lose weight, get fit, or whatever your goal is, life will continue to happen and the time will pass regardless of what you are trying to accomplish. When you sit on your butt and do nothing, in one month, one year, or five years, you will be talking about the same thing - having accomplished nothing.

I joined WW a little over two months ago. That would be about 10 weeks ago. In that time, I have had the following activities:

Two holiday weekends

One vacation out of state (one week)

four days at brownie camp

Three parties

One high school reunion

and

One wedding

Basically, this an activity every weekend that involves celebrating and food.

In this time, I have lost about seven pounds. It started off strong, and then not so much - picture a crashing plan. During this past two months, I justify to myself the slow progress because basically, it is easier to give in at all these events. Really, I am a slack-ass. And I like eating good food with good people. :)

As my husband pointed out, so kindly, for me over the weekend, I am a lot of talk and not a lot of action. While it sounds harsh, it is very true. I, always, have plans of grandeur. But really, I don't like to do the work. I just like the idea of big, spectacular things happening.

So, as I said, life exists regardless if you are trying to accomplish something. Life doesn't care. It will continue. For me, I would like to accomplish something. I want to improve my well being and be proud of myself. Life is just going to have adjust and accept the change.

I want to have my kids know they can do anything they want, if they put in the work. I want to inspire people to accomplish great things - because if I can do it - anyone can do it. :)

So, this blog is to keep me inspired and hopefully motivate others to do something they just keep talking about. For me, it is getting in shape - so if you need help in that area or want some tips on eating right - come back and visit. I will, always, be looking to post things I find that help me and maybe they can help you too.

If you just need good ol' motivation, I will have that too!