Doom

I think that I have made some definitive strides in my health goals since April, if nothing else but having a more healthy focus and definitily being better about at least THINKING about exercising and even most of the time, wanting to exercise. I also seem to like my body as it is more and more often, which is good. I don't know if it has changed or I have changed. My mom keeps reminding me to stop lamenting that I look like a woman and not a 16 year-old girl anymore. Yes, I have hips now and body fat. It has taken me years to figure that out.

However, I am nervous. Internship is coming very quickly upon me. I am worried about maintaining these goals I am so imperfect on during a year of extreme physical and mental duress! Things like:

80 hour work weeks-- meaning lack of sleep, physical exhuastion, lack of time, stress--all that may negatively impact my eating and exercise habits
Early mornings-- rounds by 6:30 am, sometimes earlier.
Late nights--being on call about every 3rd night.
Stress--cheeseburgers and fries? vegging out?
Cafeteria food-- (see above)

I can see 2 events occuring.

1) gain a million pounds because I am too tired/busy/stressed to exercise, eat right, etc
2) lose too much weight because I am too tired/busy/stressed to eat...

We'll see how I fair! I think I need to develop some very specific goals to combat these changes. Not sure what but something like eating only salad or veggies for lunch or walking the track for an hour each day during lunch or after clinic?

Any suggestions?

Sparkpeople.com

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile since this blog has seen any action, and I definitely haven't done my part as a contributor, but I wanted to let you know about a website that I just started using ("just" meaning today--but so far it seems great).

sparkpeople.com

You put in your goal (lose weight, maintain, etc.) and it comes up with a customized plan for you. It gives you menus for exactly what you should eat for each meal and snack, as well as the breakdown of calories, carbs, fats, and protein in each item. If you don't follow the recommended meals, though (which I didn't), you just enter in the food that you did eat. You can search for just about anything, even restaurant food (I had Subway for lunch and it was in there). You can see the range of calories, carbs, fat, and protein you should be eating each day to reach your goal, and the site keeps track for you.

It does pretty much the same thing with exercise; gives you a recommended work out for the day (complete with demos), or you can enter in whatever you decide to do on your own and it will calculate the calories you burn. The site also has groups you can join of people in your area, age group, etc. if the group dynamic helps you.

I've seen sites like this before that seemed confusing or time consuming, but this one seems to be really intuitive and fun. Like I said, it's only been a day, but I like it so far...

I promise I don't work for sparkpeople.com either--I was not paid to write this:) Oh, and speaking of money, the site is free (or you can bet I wouldn't be bothering with it).

I've also heard of one called fitday, but haven't tried it.

Let me know if you give it a try!

Running questions?

I went jogging again yesterday. Abe and I have slowly been incorporating this into our workout schedule. Okay, we don't really have a schedule, but it seems we end up going once or twice a week amid other things we are doing to stay in shape.

We have developed a little run that takes exactly 30 minutes. This is a good sized run for two non-runners. However, the past few times it has been very difficult. About minute 20 I feel wheezy and exhausted. I haven't been able to finish the entire run without taking some walking breaks in between. It is so frustrating because I used to be able to run an hour or more without trouble.

It seems it is very trendy to do marathons or half marathons and if you are super cool, triathlons. It seems everyone is doing it.

So my question is, HOW do you do it? I feel like I am dying after probably 2 miles (I hope it is at least 2 miles!).

What tips do you have for a poor runner who never seems to make improvements?

Sweatin

We took our bikes in to the shop to get serviced. After 550 miles, it was probably time. I have only logged 8 miles this year. Rain, cold, darkness have kept me away. Now that it is finally getting warmer I look forward to some more biking and another good form of exercise.

I also bought some well needed running shoes for $30! Yay. They were so comfortable and I really think they seem to propel me forward. I still can't believe how tired I get while running. I used to be good at going for at least an hour. Now, 15 minutes is almost a killer. I hope to change this with consistency! It is so hard to see results, though. I hope I do!

Consequences??

In real estate, we have a quarterly newsletter where all the bad things other Realtors did get posted to the whole Utah REALTOR Organization. It is very motivating to stay out of "the funny pages".

I was thinking that since we never figured out a common incentive for this forum, we could just publish on Facebook if someone doesn't post at least once every 2 weeks. At least if you are keeping us posted on your progress, good or bad, you are still trying.

It would be like a public disgrace to see your name posted on Facebook that you are ???

Starting to Feel Good

I've forced myself to the gym pretty regularly...family scuba vacation pretty motivating. I have been hitting the weights hard on my legs...100 reps. Yesterday, I think I actually noticed a difference in the shape of my thighs. I think I am starting to feel good about the work too instead of dreadful to continue. That is a good motivator.

Victory!

I want to share a small personal success. I revamped one of my goals last weekend and I want to say that this was week 1 of VICTORY. My goal was to not eat candy/treats/desserts this week except for on Saturday/Sunday and I DID IT. And, I plan to do it again this week! Yay for achieving goals even if they are simple and small.

FYI: My one treat this week was frozen yogurt with cookie dough pieces. yum!

A big thanks!

Thank you whoever borrowed my credit card information and so kindly purchased the "wu-yi weight loss tea" system for me. The mere $4.95 start-up fee seems like a bargain for the convenience of not having to sign up or do the research myself. Having it arrive on my doorstep unannounced today was a particularly clever and surprising way to say either, "I am supporting you in your goals" or "yeah, porky, you've really bulked up" in a supportive and non-threatening way. And for only $59.99 I can receive the benefits of the whole program out of "California" (but shipped from Des Moines) each month.

So thank you nameless, faceless friend. However, since I don't drink tea, I may have to find another less miraculous and convenient way to meet my goals! I don't mind trying to ship it back and pay the delivery confirmation with the numerous return/order confirmation orders so I wont continue to get charged each month. Now, I can focus on something else besides the stressed of school.

Ups and Downs

I am glad to see people are willing to post some of their failures or discouragements. I like seeing I'm not the only one have trouble keeping up the "new me." We still have quite a ways to go and I like hearing about everyone's progress. Please feel free to post as often as you like, preferably once a week so we know how you are doing.

Also, I think we will not do an incentive. We didn't have enough people vote to make me comfortable asking people for money. And, I'm not even sure all who are participating since not everyone is contributing. It is hard to know who is winning if you aren't keeping me posted. I hope that is okay.

So, I guess the motivation is an investment in yourself! That is better than $10 from each person, anyway? (Trying to be motivational here)

If it is broken, fix it!

I started off really ambitious, in fact so ambitious it was quite unrealistic for me.
Why? Because I l-o-v-e desserts and my goal was to eliminate all treats. Bad idea. Take about downward spiral. Some people can go cold turkey with their addictions, I can't.

So out with the old, in with the new.

New and improved goal:
1. Can have one serving of dessert on Saturday (or Sunday) IF, I have not had dessert that week. I will be keeping this goal! I will post about my success at the end of the week. yay!

A New Committment

I decided today that I needed to do better. I feel more committeed to lose some weight. I don't want to be old, but I can't help that. I don't want to be a fat, old lady and that is something I can do something about.

I went to the gym and sat in the car for about 10 mins trying to work up the strength to go inside. I finally did and I worked the weights so hard my arm is still shaky. I did 100 reps on my arms and legs and back and did 30min of eliptical. I ate 1/2 a banana for breakfast and the other half for lunch. I had a roast beef wrap and soup for dinner with 5 pringles.

Hope the scales reflect the effort tomorrow.

Week Two Report

Week two was harder. I found that although I have been focusing more on eating fruits and veggies, I didn't stuff my face with them at night when I realized I didn't quite make it. Maybe in the long run this is a better strategy, but I am trying to make sure I eat the recommended amount.

Exercise was harder to initiate as well. The most important thing is that I feel more motivated. Even if I run out of time, I feel bad about it. I find that I want to work out every day and am making it much more of a priority. I am feeling stronger and firmer. I don't think I would say I look any different yet, though.

So, I think I am on the right track. I just need to stick to it.

Sun Dried Tomato-Basil Pizza

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00447

I made this yummy pizza last week. I was worried that without the sauce or the "real" cheese it would be rather bland. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of flavor and it felt very healthy with only 2g of fat for pizza! Abe and I both ate it right up and it was super easy and fast to make. I used 2 boxes of Jiffy pizza dough (talk about EASY and CHEAP!) which seemed perfect and I added some fresh spinach and substituted low-fat cottage cheese instead of ricotta. In the future a homemade wheat crust would be a nice touch. Give it a try, I think you'll like it!

Going backwards?

I was very discouraged to find that I've gained 2 1/2 lbs. I haven't gained weight in 10 years since I started taking Synthroid. I am hoping it is the muscle I've developed from my strenuous strength training. If not, ...?

Water Weight

Why I need to get better at drinking more water.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/expert.q.a/04/10/water.losing.weight.jampolis/index.html

Weekly Update--Amber

Original weight: 133
This week's weight: 131.6
Goal status: Hurray!
Points: 114

I didn't get a lot of points this week. I never actually worked out. But I am very pleased with my efforts in eating better. We have been very conscious about the fruits and veggies we eat and purposefully plan our meals around them. I have enjoyed having produce around--it makes me feel like I have more cooking options. We have also improved our whole grain intake and I have rather enjoyed it. Water consumption is easy some days and much harder others. I have to get my full 8 glasses before I leave work because my water at home is nasty. Sometimes I get too busy to bother at work, however.

I do need to workout, however. My biggest challenge is going to be on time so I can get myself out of bed at 5:30am to workout. Nights are pretty busy or just plain hard to get away to the gym.

I did push myself and went to Zumba at the gym yesterday. It is a kind of a combination of latin dance and kick boxing. I was terrible, but it was fun. I may have to find something that does not require so much fluid coordination. I wish they had lacrosse at the gym!

Matt's Profile

Name: Matt

Age: 26

Occupation: Community Organizer ;)

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 176 (a note on this, I weighed myself with a shirt, belt and pants on, but no shoes and was surprised to find that it added 3 lbs. to the weigh listed)

Goal Weight: 178

BMI: 22.6

Disclaimer: I've been on the injured reserve for the last 10 days and haven't been able to do anything of a physical nature. I tried to return to working out yesterday and re-aggravated my ailing back. I have constantly adjusted my goals for this and have had a hard time settling on goals, so these goals I am posting now will have to be subject to change. Currently I am not able to lift weights, run or play any sports. These goals are designed to help me in rehabilitation and still squeeze in cardio (stationary bike).

What I would like to gain: Healthy back. Maintain aerobic fitness. Steadily gain ground on Abby's push-up challenge*. An aversion from sweets (EVER) during the day and once a week for dessert. Ensure at least 3000 calories a day are consumed. (Again, this will likely be updated with some running/lifting goals once I am able to gauge the progress my back makes).

Strategy for success: I've seen a physical therapist 3 times now and have been prescribed exercises that I am to carry out every day. I believe that completing this regimen daily will allow me to be lifting light weights and running in 14 days. For the time being I will ride the stationary bike at high intensity for 30 minutes/5 days a week. I will also increase my daily push-ups by at least 1/day*

Challenges: Obviously, the back is a challenge. However it also presents an opportunity to concentrate on my core for the full two months of recovery that I expect it will take to be at, or close to 100%. I really wanted to attack this entire competition aggressively and fear that the position I am in, which will not allow for tremendous results will lead to a lack of motivation. My greatest challenge, however, may come in making progress on Abby's push-up challenge*, which I will explain below. I can do push-ups now, but am not able to supplement them with much else.

*Abby challenged me to do 100 technical push-ups on her birthday (18 June). While I don't think she'll care how I perform the push-ups, I wish to do them at a pace that is maintained throughout all 100.

Progress

I started out strong...the first day. ha ha
I haven't done as well as I wanted but having it nag at me helps me not to give up all together.
I have worked out pretty vigorously, not everyday but last night, I got into bed and suddenly noticed my sore arms were feeling pretty firm. It was very satisfying.
I appreciate the reason for the goals.

Week 1 Update

Successes: I actually started training. I ran for 30 minutes yesterday. It was pretty hard considering I haven't worked before this week in the past 2 months. I was able to push through though. My old roommate the post about my goal on my normal blog and asked to be my workout partner. Having a set commitment with someone definitely helps get you out the door and moving the whole time. I've also been eating more fruits and vegetables, a big feat for me. I found a couple of promising looking training schedules online.

Challenges: I am incredibly out of shape. So much so, it is basically ridiculous. I looked for a marathon today and found what will probably be "the one." It is in August, but there is no official information up yet. There is a sooner one in Mid-June, but A) i think we will be on vacation when it happens, and B) the shortest training program I could find is 3 months, and that is if you are already basically in shape. As far as food, we had quite the party weekend with my husband's birthday and othe parties. We still have homemade 4 chocolate torte and pecan pie on my counter.

Week One Report

Total points: 145

Successes: a very strong start in all categories (except water). Slowed up towards the end.

Challenges: finding variety in exercise when it is cold/dark outside, weekend schedules, eating my 5th fruit/veggie (should we change it to 4? is anyone else having trouble? Technically the recommended range is 4-5). Fondue (never had fondue before but had it two days in a row this week. Strange).

Overall thoughts: I am very bad at drinking enough water. I pretty much gave up on that one (but feel more thirsty after trying for awhile). I have been eating really well, avoiding treats relatively smoothly. Feel a little fat and bloated today though.

And, I ran out of groceries and my stockpile of plant matter.