Shoes and The Old Ways: It's Fit Friday - Tips Tricks and Inspiration!

Hello Co-Warriors!

If you haven't already, please take a minute to read my PRT throw-down challenge posted yesterday. I am looking for some Warriors to join me in this fitness challenge that will finish up on July 31.

Find your "Sole-Mate"

How long has it been since you replaced your exercise shoes?  If your feet, ankles or knees are troubling you more than they used to, turn those shoes over and take a look.  Most running shoes will last about 500 miles as a benchmark. For some tips on determining if your shoes are worn out, I found this article by Mizuna helpful. If you aren't sure what to look for in a shoe, check out these tips by SparkPeople (How to Find Your Sole Mate!). I have already chosen my new shoes and will be hunting them down this weekend.

Good News for Mediterranean Diet Followers

We all know there is no magic to losing weight but some eating plans do seem to do the trick better than others. The Mediterranean diet is rich in fish, nuts, vegetable and fruits, as well as healthy oils. Web MD reported recently on yet another study that shows how helpful this traditional diet truly is. Our family is definitely moving closer to this way of eating but fish is still hard for me to incorporate. Lent is a good springboard for us as we eat fish every Friday and I think I will have a goal of moving to twice-a-week fish beginning Easter. Sometimes the old ways are the best!

Speaking of the Old Ways . . .

I found a very interesting to site for inspiration this week. It's called Old Ways.  Their mission is to "guide people to health through the old ways." This just suits me! It's a combination of "back to basics" and new spins on old favorites. My philosophy is to keep refining my eating and to allow myself to be inspired by other ways of improving health. This site had some wonderful recipes and help on two fronts: 1) Making clear the Mediterranean way of eating and, (2) African Heritage Health forums and recipes. Both of these are well suited to my family so we have several of these recipes and practices coming soon to our table. Have a look at for yourself and let me know your thoughts.

That's all for today folks! Have a fit Friday and a Work-Out (or Work-Outside!) Weekend.

Everything Salad: Dressing and Dress-Ups - Friday Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Woot, woot! It's Friday already! Time for some tips, tricks and inspiration. I have an active weekend of camping with the Littles planned so let me get this going and onto the activities! This week is all about salad.

I love salads. I love, love, LOVE them. In part, that's because over the years, I have acquired a few tips for seasonal salad dress-ups.

• This time of year, I love to put pomegranate seeds and 1 tablespoon of toasted walnuts on my salad. It adds a yummy crunch for at a reasonable calorie cost. 
• To make a restaurant or fast food salad into a meal, order a dry baked potato alongside and add it to the salad. (Be reasonable - if the potato is huge, use only half.) This is extra-good with creamier dressings.
• If you are a fan of tart, add cranberries and turkey to your salad with a sweet dressing like poppy seed or sesame.
• Cut corn tortillas into strips with scissors, bake at 350 until crispy. With corn, black beans and some salsa, you have a southwestern salad. Very nice with ranch. 
• Another winter topping is cubed, roasted root vegetables. Roasted sweet potatoes and roasted turnips are both yummy and go well with any dressing. A balsamic dressing is a treat.
• Beautiful watermelon radishes are perfect this time of year. Hard to find in a regular grocery, they are readily available this time of year in farmer's markets and organic farm-stands.
• Marinated or pickled cucumbers, radishes, broccoli, or carrots (you name it, really!) make a wonderful addition to salad.  I'm going to marinate some of those watermelon radishes for my supper salad.

Do you dislike low-fat dressings? They have never appealed to me; something just isn't right. Here are a couple of tricks so you can have your dressing but with half the fat.

• Make your own dressing whenever you can; it tastes so much better than store bought and dressings only take minutes (nay, seconds!) to make. You need less when you have more flavor. Try this simple dressing: 2 Tbsp oil, 3 Tbsp vinegar (try red wine or champagne vinegars), 1 Tbsp  water, a teaspoon of table mustard or dijon, fresh or dried herbs to your taste, a pinch of salt, a bit less of pepper, 1 clove of garlic, minced. Shake well.
• Try the above dressing with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. If you store it in the fridge, the olive oil will coagulate, but when it warms up a bit, all will be well.
• Dressings go farther if you your dress your salad and then wait at least 10 minutes before you eat it. The water starts to leach out of vegetables, dilutes the dressing and spreads the flavor around!
• Dilute a full strength dressing to stretch the calories. If you like tangy dressings, add 1 part vinegar to 2 parts dressing, shake well (new calorie count 65% of original). Mix fat free sour cream in equal amounts to any creamy dressing. Fat free greek style yogurt works too but has a different texture. (50% of original calories)  Low-fat buttermilk works well too.  Brandy or sherry works well for clear dressings - in a 1 to 1 ratio. 

Finally, think of an old salad in a new way. A pretty salad is an inspiration to eat healthfully.  Here is my favorite salad recipe, packaged for easy travel to work or school in the photo below (also pictured at top).  Even my non-tuna-eating hubby loves this one. This recipe is for one serving but I quite easily multiply it by 6 for my family: 

Salade Niçoise

Ingredients

2 cups mixed Greens
2 tsp. olive oil 
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 small potato, boiled and diced
1 egg, boiled
5 grape tomatoes
2.5 oz. canned, water-packed tuna, drained (splurge on the good stuff)

Directions

Boil the potatoes and the egg. Dice the potato and slice or quarter the egg. While the potato is warm, toss in one teaspoon of the olive oil. Set aside. Mix up the remaining olive oil, red wine vinegar, and Dijon, stir into the tuna. If serving, immediately, layer the greens on a plate or shallow bowl. Top with tuna; surround with egg, potato, and grape tomatoes. (Olives are typical in this dish but if you add them, don't forget to "count" them.) In the photographs, I've added cucumbers cubed and pickled overnight in vinegar (diluted) instead of higher calorie olives.

Serving Size: 2.5 cups

Tips

To transport for later enjoyment, put the tuna mixture in one container, the greens in another and have a third for the eggs, potatoes and tomatoes

Vegetarians, Exercisers, Potassium (Spuds) and Saturday

Happy weekend! I missed my Friday "Tips, Trips and Inspiration" because I am getting over a terrible cold and just couldn't wrap my brain around getting up even earlier. But here I am on Saturday so, hello!  And hello to my 23 new followers reading from Feedspot; I look forward to your comments.

Regular readers of this blog know: I'm not a vegetarian. Although I have a wandering palate and interest in many types of foods, I have never succeeded at vegetarianism because I find it too hard to get my protein. That said, some studies, including the big one in this Fooducate report, have indicated that vegetarians are indeed thinner than the rest of us. It's an excellent tip; move toward a consciously plant based diet if you want to be thinner. There is a lot missing from the aforementioned study, like the cause of the body differences but it isn't too big a leap to say that adopting a conscientious eating style will serve you in the long run. I notice that as I have personally cut back on my consumption of meat in the past several years, I am getting more protein from other sources, naturally.

The trick of the week is . . . (insert drum roll here) exercise. Yes, it's so simple. For those of us with stubborn metabolisms and seriously obese ancestors, it's especially important. Lean muscle speeds up your metabolism in a way nothing else does. That's why those crazy TV "scripted reality" shows have those contestants exercising 6 hours a day. Lean muscle changes the way our bodies respond to food. I am NOT saying that 30 minutes a day of leisurely walking will change your body much  -- though it does benefit your heart and your mind! -- but serious exercising where you are actually building muscle will change things over time. Calories in, calories out is now and always will be the true equation for weight loss but for those of us with metabolic issues, exercise is crucial. You cannot  My commitment (now stated out loud) is to 6 hours a week until January and then I will ramp it up again. What are you committing to?

These two things have to find balance; if we adopt a vegetarian or more vegetarian lifestyle, balancing those proteins is important. If we are increasing our exercise in a significant way, getting enough protein and enough healthy carbs is also important. I would love to see more of us adopting simply healthy lifestyles where we enjoy healthy foods 90% of the time with occasional treats, exercise regularly, sleep enough, etc. I'm at about 75% on all of that. My goal is to be at 90% by the end of the year.

I've been brushing up on my veggies lately; potatoes have gotten such a bad rap in the "bad carbs" hype --but white potatoes and sweet potatoes too are full of fiber, vitamins and other nutrients, like potassium. Should we eat potatoes smothered in butter and cheese at every meal? Of course not. If, however, you are going to eat the carbs (and we know you are ) then consider potatoes at these meals instead of pasta or rice; you will get a lot more bang for your buck.

Get inspired this week to make a beautiful, healthy meal for yourself and your loved ones. My favorite meal of the week was Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala to which I added green peas. We served it with a lovely whole grain couscous and Cucumber Raita.  I make the Tikka Masala waistline friendly by removing the chicken then cooling the sauce so as to completely de-fat it.  It was so delicious. We also use non-fat yogurt in our Raita and it is so lovely beside the spicier Tikka Masala.

Friday Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Happy Friday! Here are your tips, tricks and inspiration to start your weekend strong.

We have a crazy busy weekend planned so I am working to get in two hours of exercise today. To combat the boredom, I am mixing in some new exercises and activities. I found some great tips to fight the flab in my arms.  These exercises use a medicine ball, but you can substitute a cantaloupe   Alternately, you can make your own medicine ball by taking a kids playground ball (the durable rubber kind), cutting a slit in it, insert a ziplock bag, fill with sand or earth, then zip the bag. It's always a good idea to mix up our workouts not only for variety, but to keep our muscles challenged. Here are the instructions on Livestrong.


I decided to refresh my knowledge on Cholesterol lowering foods since one of our kids has a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol.  These foods are actually a health trick since they raise your HDL ("good" cholesterol) which affects the LDL/HDL ratio and lowers your overall cholesterol score. Some studies have found that emphasizing these foods has a much bigger impact than focusing on foods which contain cholesterol. We eat a lot of these foods regularly in our household, but I did find a few surprises.


There was an interesting and inspiring Washington Post article recently on Japanese school lunches. Having spent (too) much time in my son's lunchroom, this style of lunching appealed to me.  The kids in the feature are not used to choices -- there is one meal served and they eat it (kind of like at home!).  They involve the kids in the serving and the meals are simple, healthy and do not contain sweets. For a fascinating glimpse at what "could" be, please check out the article.

Have a wonderful, healthy weekend.

Setting a Caloric Goal

I've certainly posted on this topic before, but it's what I'm thinking about and reviewing for myself right now.  Most people approach caloric intake in one of two ways:  They pick a number for any number of reasons; this number is usually a very low number like 1000 or 1200 calories.  Others do what I call "backward math."  They calculate the number of calories needed to maintain their current weight (basically, your BMR), and then subtract from that the caloric deficit needed to affect a pound (or two) a week weight loss.

The first idea is just a bad one.  It's arbitrary, does not account for height or weight or age or activity and just plain is a set-up for yo-yo dieting.  Some people can maintain very low calorie diets but they use special supplements designed to keep them feeling full.

The second idea is better than the first, for sure, but still leaves something to acknowledge.  If you have 100 pounds to lose, you can sure lose a pound or two a week but if you have 10 pounds to lose, maybe not. In addition, it's a bit arbitrary; why would the calendar dictate a choice about the number of calories you need to sustain you?

Many years ago on Fat2Fit Radio, I heard that the best way to set your caloric goal is to set it at the weight you need to maintain your goal weight.  For example, I am 5'11" and 53 years old.  A healthy weight for me would be 155.  Using the BMR math, that puts my maintenance calories at 1660.  Therefore, if I eat only 1660 calories a day, I will lose weight and when I get to my goal weight, I will already be used to maintaining.  It makes so much sense, doesn't it?

Using "goal weight math," I have set my daily caloric range at 1500-1660 calories.  I like to have a range because it keeps me from eating one more thing to make my goal if I'm not really hungry.  It also gives me a little wiggle room for any BLTS (bites, licks or tastes) I may forget to record.

I have been eating at this range for about 3 weeks (with a couple of exceptions) and I have not really been hungry.  I'm eating very well out of my "box" and that is certainly helping me feel full. I have had more bread recently than my plan calls for but will just forgo it in the coming weeks.

There have been two side benefits to this out of the box eating:  First, I am not having those insulin spikes I get when I eat a lot of refined carbs or sugar.  No more post-dessert nap taking!  Secondly, I notice that my personal focus on fruit and vegetables has rubbed off on the older girls and they are snacking more on these items as well.  Have you built your box yet?

Try setting your calorie range from your goal weight maintenance calories and let me know how it works out for you!

Rainy Friday - Tips, Tricks and Inspiration!

Happy Friday!  I've missed a few of these installations lately because of hot dates with my hubby but on this rainy evening pre my Color Run 5k tomorrow, I am here to share some of the week's reading with you.

Here's a tip:  go for at least 5 days a week following health guidelines;  I was shocked to learn that most Americans have only 7 days a year where the meet the MyPlate guidelines.  So many of us are obese or overweight, and it is really sobering news to me.  Oh and did I mention that those who did manage to meet the guidelines usually ate more than 3 meals to get there? 

I think the big wake-up call is that MyPlate is a very simple concept and yet, people don't do it.  It is not enough to say "I'll eat moderately"; we need to put intention and action into it. 

 On a similar vein, let's not let ourselves be tricked by diet gimmicks.  Here 8 diet "rumors" are  unraveled.

Finally, for your weekend enjoyment, here is a little Bento inspiration - a cute piece from the BBC.


Now you should be all set for a fun and fit
weekend!

Getting Unstuck

Weight loss is complex.  I am famous for saying that you have to work the numbers, and that is certainly true.  If I consume more calories than I burn, I will gain weight and vice versa.  It's figuring out that "burn number" that throws the wrench in the works.

Last year my internist told me that you can't account for metabolism.  You just have to keep trying until you hit the combination that works.  After a full year of unintentional maintenance, I am here to say I haven't found it. 

18 months ago, I lost 40 pounds on medically supervised weight loss.  I stopped that program when we got the "Littles" because it just didn't work, timewise. It was daytime only and no kids allowed.  Since then I have "found" 10 of those pounds then plateued at a 30 pound loss and never moved.  It can get frustrating.

I had several weeks in a row recently of staying well within my calorie range.  One week I lost 0.4, the next I gained 0.6.  Last week, I was within my calories for the week but what I ate contained some "poor choices" like ice cream. I also forgot to take my thyroid medicine three times.  Gained 1.6.

I realize it probably sounds like I'm whining.  I'm not.  I am saying all this to remind myself (and you) that sometimes, it just isn't that straightforward.  Yet, there are still things I can (and will) do.

• I will bump my exercise up.  I have been doing just enough to help my exercise challenge team.   
• I'll take my medicine every day (duh). 
• I will make sure I get in all my water and maybe a little extra. 
• I will take stock of my spiritual affairs because no matter the numbers, I am convinced my emotions affect metabolism. 
• I'll start getting 8 hours of sleep again because I know that affects weight.

I know that if I do everything I can do, eventually, the scale will start to move down again.  The challenge is moving myself high enough on the priority list to get it all done every day.  And today is a new day -- so it will be the day that I hit all the markers.  Cheers!

Tips, Tricks and Friday inspiration - Special K again

Several weeks ago, I did a blog on the Special K diet.  Here is a well thought out blog on the same topic, including some nutrition data. 

And here is some good news about a "big food" company who is going to wage battle in the war on obesity.  Although, when I read the article, I almost cried. 

Finally -- not seeing the success you'd hoped for?   I came across this Spark People article lately that gets to the root of the problem.

I realize I have been neglecting this blog a bit!  Back at it now!!  Happy Friday!

Tips, Tricks and Friday Inspiration

Woo-hoo another weekend!  Good for the soul -- but will it be good for the body?  My "default" weekend plan is to stay the course but I recently heard an idea that is now in my "back-up plan bag." 

Consider maintaining for the weekend, particularly if you have some type of social event or on holiday weekends.  Why?  Most of us have had the experience of going into the weekend with a vague promise to "be good," making some impulsive poor choice, then throwing the food plan out the window with a vow to start anew on Monday.  The trouble is, this happens weekend after weekend.  Plus, we all know the "weekend" actually starts with Friday lunch.  This is how it looks graphically.

Progress Toward goal Monday through Thursday: 
+ + + +
Back-tracking from goal Friday through Sunday:
- - -
Assuming you do no more damage on the weekend then the progress you made on the other days, you are actually only making progress on ONE day:
+

When I look at it like this, no WONDER I fail to lose some weeks!

If we maintain our weight on the weekend, it looks like this:
++++ = = =
so 4 days net progress, 4 times the results for the week.

I am putting it on my calendar each Friday morning to look at the weekend and make a conscious decision to either lose or maintain.  How about you?

PS:  Here's a link to my favorite article this week - it's on corn syrup.

Light-bulb Moment

Lately I have been struggling with my weight loss.  Weight Watchers, says that 90% of plateaus aren't caused by metabolic problems or "water weight"  90% of plateaus are caused by lessened effort.  I am sure that is true of me -- sometimes I wait too long to eat and then just grab whatever is fastest, within reason, of course.  But I knew that I have not been lax often enough to account for this long plateau. 

I mentioned this to my support partner, along with my contention that it was my emotional state causing the plateau.  He placed a question mark over this assertion.  How would that work?, he wondered. He was very quiet and subtle about it, but I ended our call on Thursday with that question mark hanging over my head where the light-bulb  is now.

So . . . back to the drawing board I go.  I recalculated my BMI - Body Mass Index -- (yep, still overweight) and my BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate -- based on today.  Then I calculated my desired BMI and my BMR at my goal weight.  Looks like my goal weight (165) is a good one -- that will put my BMI at 23.  I will probably never be a 20 again, 145 will just seem too skinny on my 5'11" frame. 

There are lots of good calculators for these two things, but I quite enjoy doing the math myself.  I use the SparkPeople guidelines for this.  If you are curious as to what the math looks like, my calculations are below.  I just copied them off my virtual sticky note, so they are a bit cryptic.

Surprise!  It turns out that at goal, my BMR will be around 1400 calories/day.  And right now, it's around 1600.  My guidelines have been to eat 1200-1400 calories and burn 2000 with exercise. So I am eating too much and not exercising enough.  If I can bump my exercise up to 3000-4000 calories a week, I can lose 1 to 2 pounds a week.  At my current rate, I can only lose about 1/2 to 3/4 pound a week.  Of course it is really not only simple math; weight is impacted by more than calories in, calories out.  But those things (metabolism, medicines, etc.) actually have a relatively small impact, percentage wise.  I am going to bet on these numbers and start tomorrow by planning where the time for all that extra exercise is going to come from!

If you are struggling as I was, maybe it's time to get out the pencil and slide rule and go for your own light-bulb moment.  But as for me, it's time to turn off the light-bulb and go to bed!

BMI/BMR Calc  Now v. Goal, 10/2/2010
Multiply height in inches by 2.54 to convert inches to centimeters. (180.34) 1.8 meter
Divide weight in pounds by 2.2 to convert pounds into kilograms. (95)

Divide weight in kg by height in meters squared to find BMI
w/(h*h)=bmi (current 29, goal 23)
h*h*bmi=w  (goal 145-165)

Female BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg.) + (1.8 x height in cm.) – (4.7 x age in years)
=655+(9.6 x 95) + (1.8 * 180.34) - (4.7 * 51)
= 655+912+324.612 - 239.7
= 1651.912 (current) [w/ 2000 cals exercise 1938)

w/4000 cals/wk ex = 2223.34

at Goal:
=655+(9.6*75) + 324-239.7
=655+720+324-239.7
1459.3/day (bmr at goal)

assuming 2000 cal ex a week, [2000+(1459.3 * 7)]/7 = 1745/day (bmr w/ ex)

As I write, the smell of Swiss Steak slowly simmering in the crock pot is wafting through the house. I have been on a cooking jag. In the past 3 days, I have cooked $600 worth of food and put it in the freezer for my family.
Cooking is my creative outlet -- some folks paint, I cook! Of course, it's not just about me. I really want to know what my loved ones are putting in their mouths.

It's not only that I wonder what price we will eventually pay for all these chemical cocktails we consume, but also because of how that manufactured food affects our brains. We are created to respond to the most striking impetus so that we can pay attention to what truly matters and thus prioritize that the mammoth or saber-toothed tigers chasing us is more urgent than how absolutely beautiful the sunrise is. Food manufacturers trade on that impulse by using chemicals to create extra-palatable foods and before we know it, we're hooked. They cry out to us, "pay attention" and unless we are very disciplined, we do. In addition, highly processed -- aka manufactured -- foods speed through our digestive system, so our "full" sensors don't go off and we keep eating long after we've consumed enough calories. With processed foods being such a major part of most contemporary Western diets, our mind-body connection is in imminent peril.

Processed foods and fast food were not part of my childhood and as a young adult, I did not realize the dangers. I did not know that a steady diet of these foods would skew my sensory perceptions of food. I don't want my girls or my young foster kids to be hooked on these food substitutes. I reason that if I am able to keep them mostly off the road of manufactured foods, maybe it won't become a super-highway. Maybe if they aware of the dangers, as I was not, they will choose a more wholesome and health-some route.

I also want them to have the joy of eating! I want them to know the crispness of fresh vegetables and the depth of flavor in olive oil. I want them to have to chew their steak and to know the natural sweetness of milk and of bread. I want them to have the sense of "enough" that I had as a youngster. But more, I want them to know the joy of anticipation, of smelling a meal for an hour as it is prepared, and to enjoy its unfolding at the table. I want them to have "slow food;" food that is lovingly and thoughtfully created and then enjoyed with conversation and reflection.

So I cook. And with seven people currently in the house, I cook . . . and cook some more. And in the process of creation, I find that I am re-created. Cooking is a sensual experience. The fragrance of fresh herbs and sauteing vegetables is intoxicating. Chopping and mincing is meditative - it nurtures in me some ancient inner longing. Tending a pot of simmering, thickening sauce is prayer. As each dish is parceled, wrapped and frozen, it is filled not only with a short list of whole foods (every ingredient of which I can pronounce and identify), but also with hope and with love. It's me, being faithful.

The point of all this is to inspire you, dear reader, to this week be faithful. Do whatever it is that makes the most of you -- that nurtures your inner longing -- that fulfills and sews together whatever is becoming fragmented in you. It doesn't matter if a masterpiece is created or merely table scraps. What is truly created endures -- regardless of how long the artifact lasts.

PS - Just in case you want to know, here's what I created this week (all in 8 portions per package):

3 Pasta e Fagioli Soup
3 Marinated Flank Steak
3 Flank Steak Fajitas with Artichoke Chick-Pea Hummus, Sweet and Spicy Salsa, and Steak-Sauce
4 Chicken Cacciatore
4 Taco meat
4 Sausage gravy (occasional special breakfast for the kids)
Everta's Sourdough Starter for pancakes, biscuits and breads
4 Red Beans, Cajun style
3 Nancy Lee's Chicken Pie
4 Swiss Steak
3 Refried Beans
Molases Cookie dough - enough for 12 dozen

To these I just add some fresh veggies, fresh fruit and memories! Mangia, mangia!

Saving Dinner (and Myself)

At first glance, this is not going to look like a weight loss blog! And I suppose, on the face of it, it's not. It is about meeting two main objectives in my journey: 1) Giving my kids a good start in nutritional health (aka helping them avoid the addictions and dangers of highly processed foods). Instead of corn syrup, fillers and preservatives, they are getting intact foods like fruits, vegetables, brown rice, oats and whole-wheat flour.

(2)I am moving my own needs up the priority list so I'm not so distracted by feeding my large family that I just shove whatever I can find in my own pie-hole! A side benefit is that I'm not heating up my kitchen as much every day since the initial stage of cooking has been done already on all these foods!

Hence, I decided it was time to put some yummy home-made meals in the freezer. I took about a week to complete it all, but I did the bulk of the shopping and cooking in one 24 hour period with a lot of help from Chanelle (Allison was out of town at the time).

To put the sheer volume in proper perspective, Chanelle and I bought the majority of the ingredients at a warehouse club and it filled TWO carts and rang up a $550 bill! One of the carts was so heavy, it was exercise to push it! I estimate that by buying most of the ingredients in bulk, I saved 30% to 50% of the cost of producing each of these dishes individually.

Here are the results:

3 Meals of Shepherd's Pie
3 meals of Parsley Parmesan Chicken
24 cups of Spaghetti Sauce (about 6 meal's worth)






4 meals of Cheesy Taco Rice
3 batches of No-Bake Cookies
7 batches of Oatmeal Cookies
24 cups of Granola








6 meals of Mac and Cheese (bye, bye blue box)
12 cups of White Sauce (to go into the mac)
4 meals of Freezer Slaw



12 Breakfast Sandwiches (quickie breakfast for the girls for school)










4 meals of Pulled Pork
2 quarts of Barbeque Sauce
3 meals of Baked Ziti (not actually baked yet!)

Tips, Tricks and Friday inspiration

Today I need some inspiration, so I decided to assemble in one place some of my favorite tips and tricks. Maybe they will inspire you too! (The colored phrases are clickable links)

There are lots of useful reminders in Weight Watchers "25 Little Tips for Big Weight Loss"

The End of Overeating (Kessler). A fascinating story of what makes a craving tick and how "big food" is contributing by working hard to feed my cravings. I have started re-reading this book this week.

Here is a PBS Documentary, "Fat, What No One is Telling You." It's very thought provoking and full of news from research, but don't watch it if you're feeling hopeless. It's food for thought but not edited in an encouraging manner. Therefore, I'm recommending it with some reservations.

I have a favorite podcast - Fat 2 Fit Radio -- which segues perfectly with Spark. They have a good BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculator. I found instructions for calculating this in lots of places on the web, but the simplest way was to follow the instructions I found at Fat 2 Fit.

My commitment through the weekend is to review all these tools and to stop moping about. I'm healthy. I'm halfway to goal. It's within my control. Time to stop whinging and start fighting!

Top Ten Reasons to Dive in and SWIM!

I love swimming. I never thought I would. I loved it as a kid but as an adult --I felt clumsy and it seemed inconvenient. However, 18 months ago, I challenged myself to swim because I was trying to mix up my cardio. Holy cow! In a very short time, I was hooked! It's fun, it's efficient, it's cheap, it's cool.

Now I am on a mission to recruit more swimmers! Hence, my top 10 reasons to try swimming for your exercise.

NUMBER 10:
Showering is less trouble because you're already wet and have to dry off anyway

NUMBER 9:
You get to wear goggles

NUMBER 8:
With your head underwater, you can't hear the kids yelling (yours or anyone else's!)


NUMBER 7:
You have lots of meditative time to compose your next blog post

NUMBER 6:
You get over your issues about people knowing what your body looks like (face it -- they know anyway and, what's more, they DON'T CARE!)

NUMBER 5: It's cardio and strength training in one. AND it works your core.

NUMBER 4:
It's the one sport where having some body fat is an advantage (think buoyancy!)

NUMBER 3:
You don't sweat

NUMBER 2:
It lowers your core temperature and the effect lasts a couple of hours (helpful if you live in the sunbelt like I do!)

And the NUMBER 1 reason:
It burns a lot of calories/minute compared to other kinds of cardio!

Can't wait to hear how much you enjoy it!

Back in the Saddle Again

Spring has sprung. My heart is lifted. I don't know why it is but spring definitely puts a bounce in my step. So here in crazy-land, life is a little brighter. I'm back on the horse -- working my program, committed to exercise, keeping my health a high priority.

Our three little foster kids are settling in well. We are getting each other's "number" so to speak so we are all happier more of the time. I am finally getting enough sleep and everyone else is, too. I have figured out how to keep up with the housework better and even the laundry is (almost) caught up.

What this means to me now is that I can get back to regular exercise. Oh, fear not, I've been getting exercise, just not much cardio. Before the kids got here, my regular number of non-exercise steps per day was around 3500 on a "good" day. Now I am averaging 8500! They have an average weight of 25 pounds, and I carry someone around for over an hour a day. I also change 18 diapers a day, so that's 36 extra "lifts." That does not even factor in all the hauling of strollers up steps, running around the lawn, lifting people in and out of cribs and highchairs, etc. I now live in a physical world.

Partly as a result of the children being here and partly as a result of my weight loss, I feel 10 years younger. I am not only in my "goal outfit," it's big on me! My 2002 pants are very roomy. I have hung a new goal outfit in the front of my closet -- whoopee! I have not weighed on my "official" scale at the clinic since the kids got here but I will be weighing in next Wednesday. According to my home scale, I've lost 36 pounds. I think the scale is "heavy" but I'll go with that until my official weigh-in next week.

My commitment to myself for this week is to do 15 minutes of Wii Fit every day, and 15 minutes of gardening. I want to get that regular exercise back on the books and get in the habit of making that time for myself. I have been doing really well with giving myself "quiet time" every day so now I am shifting my focus to "active" time. Back in the saddle. It's a good seat.

Doors: Opening and Closing

Today's post is actually a link to my other blog, Bright Life Living! Thanks for reading!

Please Help me Make A Difference!

In 2007, my dear friend Martha Edgemon told me that her daughter-in-law, Karson Beaty, had breast cancer. Karson was 30 years old when diagnosed. I clearly remember the exact moment Martha said the word, "cancer." I remember how my heart felt heavy and I had a queasy feeling in my stomach. What can I do?," I wondered, "How can I help?"

As I followed Karson's journey over the next many months, her battle was never far from my mind. I barely passed science in school; creating my own cure is probably out of my reach. One day an online friend wrote me that she was doing a breast cancer walk. I realized that while medical science is not my forte, endurance certainly is. I started researching the walks and found one that seemed ideal for me, The Avon Walk. It covers 39 miles in two days and a Walk is held annually in Houston, only a 3-hour drive away. In Texas, that's close!

Last fall, it was finally time to begin my training and now my walk is only 77 days away. My training (at this stage) consists of a 13 mile walk Saturday followed by a 7 mile walk Sunday and a 3 and 5-mile walk through the week. 8 weeks from now I'll be logging 45 miles a week.

A lot of great things have happened to me in this training. I've lost 25 pounds. My legs are strong and my steps are sure. My family have become my support-team with Paul on foot at my side for the "long" walks and the girls on bikes. We are all doing this big thing together.

But the greatest thing is that I am making a difference. As a participant, I boldly agreed to raise $1800 in donations before the event. this money will help fund breast cancer research and screening for those who can't afford it. The research is what most thrills me, because, as my shirt says, I'm "In it to END it."

I'm dedicating my walk to Karson, who is still fighting her battle. I'm also walking for my mom's best friend, Joan, still fighting. And for Kathy A and Irene S. who won their battles, and for Mary Pearl and Paul's Grandma Florene, who not only won their battles but lived on to old age. And I'm walking especially for each person who will lose their battle to breast cancer every 14 minutes of every single day, every week of every month of every year -- until a cure is found. I'm walking so that should this disease ever touch either of my beautiful girls, their odds will be better.

Will you Help Me?

Every donation of any size will help me reach my goal, which in turn can change the future of this deadly disease.

• To use a credit card, click HERE!!
• To write a check or donate cash, please email me (dreena@gmail.com) for instructions.

Thank you so very much.

New Year, New Me!

I weighed in yesterday. Since November 13, I've lost 22 pounds and 9%. How about that? I am officially more than 25% of the way to my goal. I am going to see if I can find my old Weight Watcher cards to see how long it's been since I've been at this weight.

It was hard for me to choose the medically supervised program, even though my doctor felt it was my last sensible option. It felt like "giving up" -- and that is not something I do! And yet I saw that my doctor had reached the end of what he could do for me and he was sure that I would lose on these very low calories and he was right!

Since being in the group, I've had some realizations. As I've said before, despite being obese, my health was good. I like to say I was "perfect on the inside." However, I also know that obesity in me is a ticking time bomb -- sooner or later it would start to have serious consequences and some of them would perhaps be irreversible. In our group, nearly everyone has some serious health issues. I am grateful to have escaped them so far and grateful to have made this decision when I did. And I am even healthier now! My cholesterol is dropping and my knees hurt less. I have tons of energy. I am sleeping great.

Best of all, I'm done struggling. I am simply succeeding. And I do not regret one iota the difficulties of the last 5 years of working at weight loss. I have learned tons and I feel sure that all that information can someday help someone else. Thanks for caring about me -- the support means a lot.

Strong Start Day

Today is my "Strong Start Today." Today I begin the medically supervised weight loss program. I'm actually still quite surprised to find myself here. This is not where I thought my "looking at all the options" would land me! And I am very grateful for the way in which More to Life has trained me to be a more open-minded person. And very, VERY grateful to Margaret for going with me to the intro -- it made all the difference.

So here's the skinny (tee hee). I have committed to attend 13 weeks of classes with 2 or fewer absences. I have a minimum prescription of 5 shakes per day. In addition, I can supplement with their brand of "bars," their entrees, their hot cereal and chicken broth. I am not supposed to be hungry. Ever. If I am hungry, I am going to have another shake or an entree or something. It's called a "decision free" diet. Somehow, even though it's similar in calories to what I have been eating, it is promised to work. The benefit to following the program "to the letter" is that people who do so, lose almost twice as much weight in 19 weeks as people who "eat off program" in the early weeks. I am not concerned about my ability to eat only these things.

I'm committing to a few other things as well; to exercise at least 2000 calories per week; to log everything that goes into my mouth, and to make a mid-week phone call to my instructor. In addition, I am making a personal commitment to continue to provide appetizing and healthy food to the girls and for us to have our family evening meal.

Did I mention that Paul is on the plan with me? This was a surprising and touching development. When I went over the plan fundamentals with him, he said, "I think I will do it with you." He's such a great partner!

This is a significant financial commitment. I'm still adjusting to that. However, I have poured out a pretty big pile of cash the last three years doing it on my own. So it is what it is and maybe I will need a job! We'll see.

In other news, I enjoyed our family cruise on the beautiful Emerald Princess and managed to eat moderately. I neither gained nor lost weight so that is pretty great. Of course, we got tons of exercise, but most of the credit is due to me deciding not to have an entire week of "last suppers." I am really proud of myself for that.

Writing this, it sounds a little flat. I notice I am on my back about not being able to succeed on my own. I think the "crafty little sucker" has a hold of my brain. So just for you, dear reader, I will make one final commitment just for today. I promise to "root that sucker out," as my friend Sue says, so I can enjoy "strong start day!"

Ciao.

Visit to the Doctor

I saw my internist yesterday. There were a few surprises in the visit.

The first is that my average weight loss over the last several months is 1/2 pound a week. That's a pretty slow rate of loss. My thyroid level will be rechecked next week, but there is no reason to think it is not being well controlled by medication.

I am eating 1000-1200 calories a day; most days closer to 1,000. I'm exercising 6 hours a week. Dr. Fung thinks it would not be safe to eat less than 1000 calories a day, given my activity level. He does not think the issue is my thyroid. He thinks it is genetic history (all the women on my dad's side are very, very obese) and he said there is much that is not known about how genetics affect metabolism. It is clear that there is a link but much that is not known.

He said basically, I have two choices (in the "reasonable" arena, anyway).
1) Keep doing what I'm doing and realize it is going to take a long time. We are talking about 25 pound a year loss, IF I am really diligent about staying in this range. I wondered about increasing my exercise but as you know, that won't help a LOT because it is hard to burn calories with exercise. However, increased muscle does increase metabolism so it seems like at some point, my metabolism would heat up.

2) Go on a medically supervised diet where you are on all liquids for 6 weeks and then add in other foods they provide. It is an 800 cal/day diet but it is medically supervised so your blood is checked for ketones and things like that on a regular basis. I am going to go to the intro meeting just to make sure I have all the facts. As I understand it, you are not allowed to eat anything except the pre-pared food, so no fresh food at all. There is also a concern about how many foods they have to offer that do not contain onion or onion powder so I will research that at the meeting as well. There is a cost, obviously, which I think is about $200/ month.

Neither of these options make me do cart-wheeels. I think I need to make sure I have all the facts on the medically supervised program before deciding.

I am not still upset about this stuff. In some ways, it is confirming of my experience. It is helpful to have been tracking my calories and weighing and measuring so there is no doubt in my mind about my calorie intake. I did not expect there to be an easy answer. Right after my conversation with him I had some "not fair" thinkin which was hooked to my core belief that "Life is not fair." I know that is not true and have "unrooted" that belief and am now ready to make some decisions about how to proceed.

Since Dr. Fung is my third doctor in the last three years to work with me on my weight, I have concluded that medical science has done what it can, aside from option 2 above. I think what he said is accurate -- it "rings" of the truth. I am not willing to undergo surgery and weight loss drugs would not really help since I don't have an appetite issue ( I have not been hungry at all). I'm pretty anti-drug anyway.

That's what I know today. I hope to attend the "option 2" meeting in the next week and then think about how I want to proceed.

Data: Down another 2 pounds this week. Being sick probably had an impact so working to hold onto it and add to it this week!