You Are Worth It - Links for Inspiration

(Part 1 is here)

If you read my post from a few days back and are interested in trying some new things for yourself, thought I'd share some of what I'm looking at. Before I do, however, I want to tell you that my 2 secret weapons are unfortunately, not really available to share; they are my teen daughters, Pepper and Sunshine.

Pepper has been quite regularly sharing in my body weight strength training, including being the person to hold my feet for my curl-ups and being the person who convinced me that I can plank!  She has also cooked a ton of delicious and nourishing food this summer! Sunshine has been very encouraging of my running, in particular, and saved me this very night. She came in when I was in the toughest part of my run and so "Way to go, Mom. You have this." How I needed that!

I can't give them to you but please do find a couple secret weapons of your own! Meanwhile, here are some links to what I've been loving lately:

Food and Recipes:

Totes "Tortilla" Soup
Triple Almond Scones - oh. my. goodness. Just do it.
Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimchurri
Paleo On the Go Restaurant Tips - so helpful on the road
The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook ($3 on Kindle; not much of a gamble)
Eating Well Quick Mediterranean Recipes

Fitness:

Workouts

Nerd Fitness Beginner Body Weight Workout
Kenda's Trail Runner's Strength Training Workout (also mostly bodyweight)
Navy PRT training information
Hotel Work Out - this has helped so much this summer. I do mine on the front lawn of the hotel. I'm that awesome.
The Strong Knees Workout

Help for Working out!

Fitbit (how I love thee). We've been in a relationship 6 years. Any fitness tracker, really.
Tempo Magic - makes it easy to build a playlist for your workout.
Simply Yoga
Fight Song by Rachel Platten - makes me WANT to run!
Shake it Off by Taylor Swift
All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor

General Helpful Information:

Beginner's Guide to Paleo 
Weight Watchers International
Fooducate's Scanner App - get your nutrition info into a tracker instantly
Calm is an app that helps you do just that

If you try any of these things out, let me know how they worked for you. Now put down that phone and put on your trainers!

PRT Progress Report

So all my months of lackluster training compounded by illness certainly set me back in regards to my PRT training. (I wrote about my Physical Readiness Training Challenge (PRT) here).   I am not giving up by any means but I am going to have to work very hard to hit my goals.  They are ambitious goals for someone who needs to drop about 60 pounds, but I do believe they are reachable.  I will push hard until my July 31 deadline and then I will know if I need to push the deadline out few months.  It's the way of the warrior, right? Seven times down,  8 times up.

Today, I ran a half mile in 8.25.  It gets worse as I go farther.  I need to go 38% faster. That is a lot faster. Today I ate breakfast too close to my workout. I'm sure that did not help! I'm not sure if I can run that much faster but I am working toward that perfection in the half mile. Hence forth, I will finish running my goal distance later in my workout at an easier speed for me. Once I get my half-mile time under control, I'll step up to 3/4 mile.

I am up to 3 sets of 10 high incline wall push-ups. Tomorrow I graduate to the arm of the sofa. It's an intimidating prospect because last time I tried it I could not -- do -- it--at -- all.

My goal for my curl-ups was 17 by now, but I can do 12. I am happy to celebrate that progress because imagine my shock (and disgust) when I started all this and realized I could not do any of them in the way the Navy prescribes.

Finally, the swimming. I can fairly easily swim half the distance required but I have not had anyone officially time me. That's "on the list" for next week.  The younger children have been really good about entertaining themselves in the shallow end while I swim my laps which has made this less painful then I thought it would be. Next week I'll be ready for a time check.

So how about you? Are you PRT ready?  

Liquids, Protein and a New Way Forward

Good Monday, friends!

I apologize for the "radio silence." On March 26th in the midst of a very busy day, I became very ill and was in terrible pain. I soon learned it was an attack of diverticulitis, not entirely unprecedented since I knew I was susceptible to it, but unexpected nonetheless. Long story shortened, I spent the next week on a clear liquid diet and am just finishing the course of two antibiotics and a "bland" diet. I feel great now, but it certainly did throw a wrench in the works.

One thing became abundantly clear to me: I do have will power. I have often accused myself of not having it because I struggle so to stay "in the box" with my eating plan. I can't have that excuse any more; it simply isn't true. In fact, I did learn a few things during the week of clear liquids:

1. Drinking a lot of fluids really does help that "full factor."  During the entire week, I was only "stomach hungry" once.
2. I am capable of following my plan 100% when I know there is a good reason for it.
3. There is a good reason for my plan! Despite my "fit but fat" status, research shows that otherwise healthy people who are obese still have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and early death.
4. I need to just put my big girl pants on and do whatever it takes to get this excess weight off once and for all.

Today I am cleared for both exercise and "normal" diet. What this means is that today I go back to my "physical readiness training" program of exercise. The long break made my feet feel better and since my cardiologist took me off warfarin after a nasty drug interaction with my antibiotics, I get my ibuprofen back too! It's been a long year of exercise without ibuprofen. It's a brand new day!

Food plan wise, I am going to try a protein week quick start, followed by a few weeks of getting most of my calories from protein and vegetables and strictly avoiding refined carbs (noodles, sugar) while still enjoying fruit in a limited way.  I realize this is a departure from my normal "whole foods, restricted calories" plan, but I got some advice from my doctor who thought this might be a good way to shake up my metabolism. It is pretty clear now that a regular "whole eating" plan is simply not going to work. This is not a "Paleo" plan nor a "Low-Carb" plan in the traditional sense. It's closest to a modified Dukan diet. I hope it works.

There are risks, of course. One risk is a lack of potassium; I am mitigating that by including enough higher potassium foods every day to make sure I get by full dose of this heart-guarding nutrient. I have a list of best foods (including sweet potatoes and beet greens). Another risk is ketosis; that's why I am only staying on the strictest form of low-carb for one week and then will be adding in more and more foods with carbs over the next many weeks, so that I will only be completely avoiding foods with refined flour and sugar. Naturally occurring sugars will be part of my plan. I will be writing more about this in weeks to come; sorry if it's a bit murky here.

That's the weight loss forecast from here. What's new in your world of "fight the fat?"

PRT Warrior Throw-Down: Half Dead in Texas

 I had my second PRT Warrior training today. Have you started training yet?

I managed to run the whole mile and a half. You are waiting for the "but" right? Yes I ran the whole mile and a half but it took 27 minutes. Oh goodness that is way too much. By way of explanation, I am having some weird heart issues: I am throwing pvcs almost constantly and alternating between (harmless BTW) bradycardia and tachycardia. It plays havoc with my heart monitor so I am not really able to monitor my heart rate much at all. Apparently I really got my heart rate up though because my family kept commenting on my very red face. On several occasions I wondered if I am fighting the fat or the fat is fighting me . . . and winning!

All of that is to say I "got 'er done" people. I did. I did my 2 minutes of sofa back push-ups. I'm going to work up to 20 reps then graduate to sofa arm push-ups. The curl-ups almost did me in, my abs are so sore from Thursday. I got them done but there was a lot of moaning and complaining involved. Thank goodness for my sweet Sunshine who held my feet!

I'm capping off the evening's work with the movie, Rocky. Nothing like a few raw eggs and flights of stairs to brace you for the fight.  Hibernate the computer and get to work now, people. Fight the good fight. You got this!

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.

PRT - Am I Ready? Are YOU?

I'm from a military ancestry. I grew up patriotic, disciplined and yes, obedient. That's not a bad thing, people!

I harbor a natural fascination for all things military. Some time back, I coached a young woman in the Navy Reserves who was worried about passing her annual PRT - Physical Readiness Test. We set up a plan for her to incrementally work toward her goals and face her test with confidence.

I have been thinking about the test ever since. It is "stuck in my craw" as my Grandma would say. It's not because I think the Physical Readiness Test is wrong, not at all. If someone is defending my country, it's nice to know they're physically ready to do so!  No, what bothers me about the test is that I know I couldn't pass it and not just because of my girth. I am not fit, no matter how much the label "fat but fit" is pasted on me.

I am not joining the Armed Forces, fear not. Even they are not ready for the likes of me! But it occurs to me that I have 3 very active [read "normal"] young children at a stage in my life where my friends have grown grandchildren. I want to be "physically ready" to defend them, or at least knock them out of harm's way. So . . . I have decided to prepare for the test.

Yes, this is a little nutty, but it is also a quite revealing.  Today I discovered that while I certainly can run 1.5 miles, I need to run them almost twice as fast as I did today. Twice as fast. That has quite a ring, doesn't it? The Navy expects a woman my age to run 1.5 miles in 16 minutes or faster. Today I ran a mile in 16. Oops.

There are push-ups and curl-ups too. Oh, yes. Guess what? I actually can't do either of these. Yikes. I can do a curl up, but I have to use my arms to get the momentum to leave the floor and I was able to do 26 of these modified curl-ups in 2 minutes, but the Navy says 26-81 regular ones would qualify me. Push-ups? 2 to 30.  I can't do even one, but I did manage a 30 second plank 3 times, so that's where I'm starting. I think if I can build enough strength to plank for 2 minutes, then I will be able to do at least one push up.

There is also a swimming component but I am a fair-weather-friend to swimming, so I am putting that off until June. In case you care, though, I'll need to be able to swim 500 yds in 15:50 or less.  I built up some good swimming skills a couple of years ago so I think this will be my easiest component, followed by running, then sit-ups, and finally push-ups.

I know this sounds a little kooky but it seems like a practical, coach-myself, fitness goal to work toward, don't you think? What do you think, actually? I have quite a few readers on Feedspot and a handful on Facebook and elsewhere but it's so quiet here.

Therefore, I'm issuing a challenge. Below are the links to the tables for the main US Armed Forces Branches. Pick one and join me. Let's set a date, say July 31. Who will be ready to join me in  a PRT on 7/31?  I can't HEAR YOU!  Step up, recruit, and be counted! (In the comments, if you please!)

United States Army Physical Fitness Test

United States Navy Physical Readiness Test for females and for males

United States Air Force Physical Fitness Test