Tips, Tricks and Friday inspiration

Chanelle, Dreena, Allison, Gabriel, Maggie Rose, Paul, Bennie
(and I can't thank them enough for the balloon to cry over!)

After a brief hiatus to spend time with my parents, give thanks, and become a mom of FIVE (!),  I am back with enthusiasm. I gained 10 pounds in the 5 or 6 weeks my parents were here.  Oopsie.  So now my head is OUT of the sand and I am back on track.

On to the news!

I often wonder how I can apply more discipline not only to exercising, but to all my weight loss efforts.  Here is a an article on how athletes consistently achieve their personal best -- here is an inspiring article on just what it takes to be the best and brightest.  Maybe it will also inspire you in this inspirational season!

I was surprised to learn that only 6% of Americans reach their daily vegetable targets and we are only a little better about fruit! 

My tip of the week is for those of you who enjoy the Weight Watchers program.  I went to the intro meeting for the new Points Plus system and it looks great.  The website has a better explanation than I can provide; suffice it to say I am enthused.

That's it for this week.  Look for more frequent posts now that life has returned to normal -- whatever that is!

Tips, Tricks and Friday inspiration

Good morning! 

It's a balmy day here in Texas -- I heard my air conditioner kick on about 4:00 a.m. so thank you, 96% humidity!  But it is also perfect park weather so the little kids are getting lucky!

I read an interesting article on running shoes -- it turns out that all that extra money may not buy you a better shoe!  Check it out!   

And in case you, like me, are having trouble finding motivation these days, here is  some info on a very interesting side effect of obesity - memory issues.

My tip today is how to yum-up those low-cal good-for-you  green beans.  Warm 1/4 teaspoon butter and stir it into a tablespoon of mustard (any style).  Stir this GENTLY onto 2 cups green beans.  It's delicious, I promise, and will make you want to eat green beans more often!

My trick of the week is about feeling fuller.  It's not a magic trick, but almost! Studies show that people tend to eat the same VOLUME of food each day -- so if you add water to things and buck up the volume, you will eat less.  Drinking water has the same effect.  I am going to consume a full glass of room temperature water before every meal and snack this week and see if I can rein in those extra calories!

Tips, Tricks and Friday inspiration

Okay -- here is my Friday inspiration.  And I'm not going to tell you WHAT it is -- just how to get it .  If you are reading this you MUST follow these directions!

‎1. Go to Google.com
 2. Type "Who's the cutest?" (don't press Enter)
3. Press "I'm feeling lucky"
4. Smile.

It's true, you know!

I read so many great things this week -- it's hard to narrow them down. 

Here is a short primer on the humble wheat kernel and how to buy bread:

Finally, some health news.  This little piece caught my eye because I am  CRAZY about watermelon.  I eat it every day from May through September.  And now I am REALLY glad I do.  It turns out watermelon lowers blood pressure:

Have a fun and healthy weekend!

Tips, Tricks and Friday inspiration

Sugar is in the news this week.  It looks like our new "front of the box" food label requirements may not require sugar.

Here is a comparison of our favorite sugar to hate:   Corn syrup.  This article compares the high-fructose version with regular corn syrup.  To me the real danger in corn syrup is not the corn syrup but that as a nation, we've become acclimated to so much of our food being sweet. 

And to inspire you today -- this little gem came to me on Facebook and -- I apologize -- but that's where you will have to view it.  This little gal really knows how to start her day.  There is nothing like a good look in the mirror!

Happy Halloween weekend everyone.  May your tricks be few and your treats wisely chosen!

Tips, Tricks and Friday inspiration

Today's inspiration comes from a cool blog on celebrating the small things.

I'm constantly inspired by my dear hubby, who is maintaining his 70 pound loss since May.  Recently we talked about how much fat you really need and found this great article to advise us.

On a personal front, my parents have just arrived with their RV for a visit of several weeks.  Traditionally, I throw my health plans out the window when we have guests but I am going to do things differently this time.     I don't want to see a six-week setback so I am committed to staying the course.  Here is what I commit to:

Log all my food
Get 3000+ calories of exercise each week (log it!)
Post a weekly check-in each week after weighing in.

The day of my check-in post may change as I accommodate sight seeing -- but I will weigh in and post each week. 

That's it for today folks.  Happy weekend!

Note:  Can one of my faithful readers please let me know if these links don't work for you?  I'm not sure if SparkPeople works without logging in!

Weekly Check In

Without further ado, here is my weekly check-in which I have decided to resume:

Current Weight: 207.6
Weight Last Week: 209.3
 Weight loss since last week: 1.7 pound

These are Weight Watcher's numbers;  my scale weighs me at almost 5 POUNDS less!  This says to me that I need to get there every week at least to weigh in -- I have been letting family things get in my weigh -- er way -- lately.

On a scale of 1 to 5 with "5" being perfect, here's how I rate my week:

Eating 4
Exercise 4
Motivation 3

It "felt" like work this week.  What I notice is that when the children are out of sync, I get hungry.  Hmmm.  So I am committing to more deep breathing and less stuffing the pie-hole.  Even if what I am stuffing it with is "in the box"  -- somehow my metabolism seems to know the difference!

My creative exercise opportunity for the week was my crazy day in which I had all my friends write my routine.  It was tremendous fun and my muscles are STILL sore!

This week my goal is to get my exercise in early in the week.

Fun and Productive Workout

Yesterday I woke up unhappy because my Wii was out of commission.  I love the Wii -- it entertains "The Littles" so well while I exercise.  So I logged into my favorite weight loss site asked for help for creative ideas to burn the 800 calories I needed to make up for what I didn't finish the day before!

I got 10 or 11 responses and  I decided to use almost all the suggestions. I figured out how long I had to do each to burn about 100 calories at that particular activity.  This was by far the most fun I have EVER had working out!  I think I will re-run it tomorrow!  My Chanelle (age 12) took the pics for me.  I think she thought I'd lost my mind.   We can't show you "The Little's" faces because of foster-care privacy, but we found some creative ways to include them since they were part of the whole workout. 



My first exercise was Hula-Hooping.  I have never hooped more than 5 minutes before, so 10 was a big stretch.  The thing I love about it is that it is IMPOSSIBLE not to smile.  It's just plain fun.  

Next up, stairs - even though we only have 4 steps!  I let the two least sick kids play in the front yard while I did this (the front yard is a rare treat) and it was great.  By the end, they were running the steps too!  Well, running is a bit of an exaggeration since one of them still has to crawl up the steps and the other needs the railing!

There was a  great idea to jog through the house and lift up "The Littles."  This was hilarious fun and WAY harder than it sounds.  They totally loved it and I think I will get 100 calories knocked out this way every day.   For a while the baby chased me around -- that was pretty funny too.  He thought I was chasing him but it was definitely the other way round! 

Next up:  Jillian Michael's Deck of Cards.  I drew a lot of lunges, which are hard for me and I was definitely sweating at the end of the 13 minutes it took me for 100+ burn!  I liked the intrigue and may riff off it with my own little circuit of some sort tomorrow. 

The big girls were outside, so I went with a suggestion for dance.  I put my iPod on "shuffle" and just did whatever came up next.  It was interpretive dancing I guess.  I'm sure I looked ridiculous but I had so much fun.

Then I moved to exercise TV.  My 12 year old is into hip-hop so I entertained her by doing some hip-hop with her.  Pretty embarrassing but she looked good.  Isn't she beautiful? Except for this one, she took all the photos.  You can see I am getting tired by this point!

More Fit TV.  The Littles were up by then so I did Family Walk Strong -- it was fun and awesome.  Two of the babies came in and out of it -- I will definitely do it again!  Here I am with my 9th grader (well her legs anyway!)

Another round of  "Dance."  This time I did a crazy dance thing on Exercise on Demand.  I had to laugh at my lack of skill!  Yikes. 

This was absolutely the most fun and with the exception of Jillian's cards, they were all high burn rate too.  Next time you are looking to mix it up, take orders from your friends -- it was the most I have smiled working out in ages.

Here's my recap:
Hula-hoop, 10 minutes, 100 cals
Run stairs, 8 minutes, 101 cals,
Jog and lift, 11 minutes, 104 cals
Jillian's cards, 13 minutes, 101 cals
iPod dance, 10 minutes, 101 cals
ABCs of HipHop, 11 minutes, 101 cals
Family Walk Strong, 21 minutes,, 101 cals
Jive Dance - 11 minutes, 101 cals

Grand total 817.  Try it yourself!