Monday, May 30, 2011

Just do it

Two suggestions;

1. Put your workout shoes on before you leave work. Sounds silly I know, but try it.

2. This one is kind of mind over matter. You have to remember 3 things. First, we are creating a HABIT. You can't develop the habit without taking action. Second, remember how much better you will feel for having done something and how lousy you feel when you don't. Third, anything is better than nothing. If you are absolutely, over the top drained, get out, get some fresh air and just move.

(here's where I become hard-ass trainer)

The shorter version is that this is the cycle you've created and we are trying to break that cycle. You're making excuses and you can't do that and have it be acceptable and still expect to make changes. You have to get up and move.

Just do it.

Trust me.


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Location:Just Do It

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Really.

This week was tough.  Not because of the "plan" necessarily, but work has been very challenging of late and getting up enough energy after being bombarded with crap all day was not always easy.  I only missed two days of walkies though so that's pretty good and I've taken up yoga again which is also very good.

So here's a question:  Work is 8.5 hours of emotional warfare sometimes.  I deal with co-workers who are in all senses of the word gigantic bullies.  I am constantly waiting for an outburst.  I come home after my day and honestly have absolutely no energy whatsoever.  What gets you off your butt and out the door?  I've had days in the last couple of weeks where all I can do when I walk in the door is curl up on the couch and stare at the TV.  Thank goodness for pre-packaged salads because that's about all I have energy for.   Honestly?  I'm even more thankful that I've taken this on at this time because all this healthy living has given me WAY more energy.  I can't imagine how I'd be coping without feeling that much better in general.  Oh I remember... I'd be drinking a bottle of wine a night.  Yeah, that didn't really work that well for me either....

The upside to all this is that I've kept fairly close to the food plan during all this.  I've not overeaten in a long time, kept my portion sizes under control and made sure I get a good balance of proteins, fiber, carbs and lots and lots of fresh fruit and veg.  I've had a few indulgences (*cough* baked brie with tomato jam OM NOM NOM) but even that was a handful of multi grain crackers and the brie (omg nom nom nom).

The even bigger upside has been that the chronic heartburn that I endured every day to the point where I was taking 4 or 5 Tums a day has all but disappeared.  I get the occasional sour tum but NOTHING compared to the gut burning acid reflux that required medication that used to plague me.  Score another point on the "feeling better" side of this whole experiment!  I've even noticed that my stomach has shrunk to the point where I get fuller faster and can't do the whole "shovel food in until you are ready to burst" thing any more.  I had a beef and been burrito yesterday and I couldn't even finish it (made by me, all natural ingredients, extra lean ground beef and my own mix of spices so low in sodium TARA).  This is all making me feel way more in control of things and reinforcing the knowledge that I am the master of what goes in the machine.   I CONTROL THE MACHINE!!!!  <cue insane laughter>.

So back to my original question - what is your motivation when you are so beat down that you are physically numb?  When you just don't have it in you to pull it together and get moving?  Even with having all this extra energy, I'm still dragging by 4 PM.  Because I really need help in this area right now.  Really really really need help.  Really.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Let's just say, It's A Start

So. We did baseline fitness testing this week testing upper body strength, lower body strength, core strength and cardio.

I don't think it's necessary to post the numbers. Really they are meaningless until we do follow up anyway.

Let's just say that there is room for improvement? Nowhere to go but up? Ya gotta start somewhere? Heehee. I've known Rita from the days she could run a solid 30 minutes on a treadmill so I am confident this level if fitness will improve fairly speedily once Rita gets her groove.

No measurements this week. Definitely next.


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Location:Moody Park, NW

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Yay me!

Yeah, I know I said weight is a number and it's not that important and how I feel will be the true measure... but damn that number does feel good.  I've been following the plan pretty closely, BUT... it hasn't been "work".  It's been deceptively simple.  Cunningly easy.  I've not been necessarily "denying" myself anything significant.  I've had the occasional cookie.  A beer even.  I think the key has been the consistent feeding of the machine (rawr) every two to three hours and making sure what I DO eat is as clean and healthy as I can realistically manage.  I figure that 95% of the time I am on track and making really good choices.  That 5% is what makes this no big deal.

Case and point, last night's dinner was BBQ'd steak.  Delicious, juicy and meaty steak.  BUT, my portion wasn't huge and I had a great big salad and some steamed yams with it.  The yams were dead easy.  I saw this idea on Shannon's blog and thought I'd give it a try.  I wrapped them in paper towel and soaked it right through, popped them in the microwave for 7 minutes and then drizzled them with some rosemary-infused olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of garlic powder.  Turned out really tasty.  With something that easy to prepare, I can easily bring a raw yam to work and whip it up there.

As for the exercise, I spent over an hour in my yard last night pulling these hideous vines out of the ground.  I worked up a great sweat, huffed and puffed and got a good chunk of work accomplished.  I used all my muscles, worked in some stretching while I was doing it and it was great.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good walk as much as the next guy, but being able to do something productive instead is WAY more appealing.  I would happily spend an hour pulling weeds or mowing the lawn over walking around in circles.  And with the weather being all gorgeous-like outside, I can only see that happening more!  BRING ON THE SUN!

PS: Hey Tara, how many inches did I go down this week?

Resultz

Clearly I'm technologically challenged. Because as I tried to post this yesterday (ended up archived somewhere) and THEN I was unable to copy and paste onto a new post. So here we go again..
Take II
Yay Rita! Four (yes 4!) pounds lost this week. Its always a relief when predictions come true! Rita has worked very hard for a couple of weeks now and sometimes it seems to take the body a couple of weeks to catch up. This is obviously the case - and I think being sick may have helped a little bit :)
So what this tells us is that her eating habits/portion sizes and coming into place where they need to be to make this happen.
I know I know "but weight loss isn't my main goal - feeling better is." Blah blah blah. You should be pretty freaking happy and I know you are. LOL
Next step? Rita is going to continue to journal, continue to increase her exercise levels (longer duration) and increase her resistance exercises. Then next week when we meet we are setting up a baseline measurement of her fitness level. I haven't decided exactly WHAT yet. But I'm thinking if this weather holds up we might have to take it outside!
Congratulations Rita - its a great start!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Wow.

So I've been silly sick for the last three days.  Truth be told I shouldn't have even gone into work yesterday (it had NOTHING to do with the glorious weather outside, I promise), because the sneezy/sniffly/coughy/yucky feeling that started on Thursday just got progressively worse throughout the day on Friday and by the time I got home from work, I only had enough energy to grab a pillow and a blanket and huddle down on the couch.  I was fed leftover Minestrone soup and I slept.  And slept.  And then slept some more.

So needless to say, I, Rita Floor, admit to going two whole days without doing any exercise.  I did some sit-ups and leg lifts and butt crunches on Thursday but other than that nada.

And then I got the notion to get my garden in working order so I joined forces with Andi and we got some soil.  Boy howdy did we get some soil.  We hit the landfill and got two loads of compost which we proceeded to spread on her yard and then on mine.  It was hard labour people.  Tara, I know you wanted me at a RPE of about 7 but I'm pretty sure I hit 9 a couple times today.  It was very satisfying, very productive and CHEAP!  We got a whole trailer FULL of soil for a whopping $20!  It's beautiful, dark, and will be FANTASTIC for my new garden.  I had been quoted over $110 to get the exact same soil delivered to me but by getting it ourselves, we saved money and got a really good day of sweating in.

And the best part?  It erased any and all guilt I felt over not having exercised the previous two days.  Because I WORKED.  HARD.  I know I'm going to feel it tomorrow and that's alright by me.  I'm planning a good long walk tomorrow afternoon to work out some of the kinks.

I'll post some pictures of the garden when it's all planted up.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

One Step At A Time. Week 2

Rita - for a few reasons I'd like to wait. I would like you to start getting into the habit of more movement, and ultimately I'd like to build muscle (the greater proportion of lean body tissue we have in our bodies = the faster the metabolism) but let's really one step at a time through this. I'd like to know first where your eating is at before we start confusing things with the physical activity.
Often people try and change too many things at one time. Then if something doesn't work right, we don't know which element is being measured incorrectly.
I'll tell you what - once you've lost a reasonable amount of weight three weeks in a row - we will set up a baseline for you in terms of strength, cardio and flexibility. Ok?
How This Week Went
Well. We did another weigh/measure and despite a great start no pounds were lost, however, we DID see an impressive loss in inches. Particularly in the legs.

More importantly for Rita, she is FEELING better. And that is/was one of her secondary goals.

Her habits are definitely getting better. And her attitude is positive. So we talked about upping her daily physical activity plus one more week of "cleaner" (getting there) eating. If the numbers on the scale don't show more positive results next week then we need to look more closely at her caloric intake. Rita has admitted that its not the food itself, but the portion sizes, so we may have to go to learning to measure portions next.
Great job though Rita - I am pretty proud!
One Step at a Time

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Where it's at...

I got two turn tables and a microphone...

But what I don't got is a baseline of where I'm starting physically... So Tara my dear... what do you say about setting up a repeatable fitness test that I can use as another means to measure where I am and how I'm doing?

Monday, May 9, 2011

Poor Tara....

I'll forgive you this time given the weekend you had but next time I'm getting Steven to pony up some good dirt.

So this week was interesting. I'll let Tara fill in the details, but suffice it to say my weight didn't go down, but I lost inches all over. Hormonally induced water retention might be responsible for the lack of weight loss, but I'm going to step up the intensity just in case. I want to see lower numbers next week. The biggest challenges have been finding the energy and time to fit in exercise, but I tried little bits all during the day instead of trying to lump it into one chunk. Tara is also getting me to increase my protein intake a bit. Hopefully the two combined will give me some interesting results.

So I celebrated with Sushi from Bao Sushi. For those of you who don't know about it, go check it out.  I got enough sushi and miso soup to seriously fill three empty bellies for just over $34.  That is value you just can't beat.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Technologically challenged

I am trying yo post but unable to log in. If this works I want an update please. How are your goals for this week? Moving more?


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Hey Tara, where are you?

We've never discussed what happens if YOU don't check in every once in a while...

I wonder if your delightful husband is willing to provide some good ammo...

Thursday, May 5, 2011

I'm going to stray...

Just a bit. Because I just heard a new band last night that is going to be the soundtrack of my summer...

http://www.imaginarycities.ca/


Say You Live

Imaginary Cities | Myspace Video


They opened up for the Pixies (THE PIXIES!!!) who were responsible for me getting my exercise for the day.  I danced my butt off for well over an hour and it was amazing.  This band however was sweet, charming and I promptly bought their CD (met the singers!).  I've been listening to it since and I love.

Ok, back to healthy living, eating right and whatnot...

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Wait! DAILY???? I missed a few days....

Ok, so this weekend was tough. Party on Saturday night (some nibbling, two glasses of wine - red, for my health), baby shower on Sunday (more nibbling, no wine)... All things considered though, I'm pretty pleased with my progress. Yes I indulged, but not obscenely so and then yesterday I was right back on track. Today is much of the same. Eating every two to three hours, mostly fruits and veggies or controlled amounts of whole wheat pretzles or one of my daughter's "healthy cookies" - made out of whole wheat flour and honey instead of sugar... Pretty dang tasty actually...

I also got a walk in yesterday by trotting to my voting station and back. I'm actually thinking that this will be the biggest challenge in all this, MAKING the time to get some exercise after being so sedentary for so long. Eating comes naturally to me (shocked, aren't you) but getting off my tail and going out for a walk is not. I am going to have to employ the "hey good friends who love me and want me to succeed, what are YOU doing right now? Come walk with me..." method of dealing with this. If I know motivation is a challenge, make it someone else's job.

I should be in management.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Buahahahahahaha!!!

So we are in agreement then? You will check in daily - and if you don't follow any of the four goals, we post a picture?