Showing posts with label tips and strategies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips and strategies. Show all posts
Read blog entry here.
Please update your links/follows to new blog: Two Years To Happy Weight After
Thanks. Have a healthy Monday!
Please update your links/follows to new blog: Two Years To Happy Weight After
Thanks. Have a healthy Monday!
Coach Nicole over at SparkPeople interviewed fitness expert Denise Austin. Here's one of the Q&A's:
CN: Share your top 5 tips for staying fit and healthy in your 50s.
1. Body toning. Nothing will droop or sag if muscles are firm and taut. 2. Do cardio to burn fat from the entire body. 3. Stretching to stay flexible and lean. 4. Eat healthy and organic meals (lean protein, fruits and vegetables) and drink 8 glasses of water every day. 5. Be optimistic. Always think and stay positive. Don't beat yourself up. Think and act young with a positive attitude and always keep laughter and humor in your life. It's the best medicine.
Oh, yeah, baby. It's not a fluke. Today's weigh-in:
268.6
One less than yesterday.
The lowest weight I've been since I began this blog in May of 2007. That's right--my lowest weight in 2 1/2 years of blogging. And, better yet, my lowest weight since 2003, when I was 266. So, lowest number in 6 years.
Woohoo!
I'm officially more than 30 lbs below my highest weigh-in at home (299) in May of 2004. (I probably went over 300, just didn't get on the scale to find out back in 2004, the year my mom was in excruciating pain dying and I was eating, eating, eating to stifle the vicious emotional pain. I gained 33 pounds in 8 months.)
Now, to the weird stuff: I had to force myself to eat yesterday.
Let me clarify: this is supremely abnormal. I was hungry and eating even when I had raging, agonizing appendicitis. I was hungry and overate even in the midst of the flu.
Normally, I have to force myself NOT to eat.
But yesterday, around 10:30 pm, I was looking at my SparkPeople Nutrition Tracker (online food journal) and realized I was UNDER the recommended caloric intake. I was at about 1300 when I should be at a minimumish of 1500+. I was low on Calcium, Magnesium, Folate, and some other nutrients and not at the best place protein-wise (despite making a lower fat version of Shepherd's Pie for supper, with extra lean ground beef).
I don't like to eat too little.
Stop guffawing. Really. It's true.
I know, I know. Dieters will think 1300 is fine. But I like the metabolic roll I'm on (I was at 276.8 just 3 weeks ago, and I'm down 8.2 lbs). I don't believe eating too little (and robbing myself of nutrients) is a good idea.
So, I made a protein shake with half a cup of skim milk, a packet of Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood (great stuff), two teaspoons of raw cocoa powder (organic, healthful), and a scoop of BSN Syntha-6 chocolate protein powder (I use the BSN protein powders in assorted flavors to fuel myself pre-workouts normally). Shake, shake, shake. Drink. Add a Vitamin D and Magnesium supplement. Done for the day. Stayed in my goal calorie range (two days in a row, dang, another miracle). Got in my crucial nutrients.
My energy has been really, really good for a few days now, which I appreciate. The weather is turning magnificent in Miami--winter is paradise down here, so I want to be able to do lots of stuff, go to museums and festivals outdoor with hubby. I want to have the oomph to take advantage of it this year, for a change.
Oh, and yet again, with food journaling, I confirmed my personal theory of what works for me weight loss wise (as it has in the past): When I balance meals and hit 11 fruits and veggies a day, I get movement on the scale. That's a big number, but all my food journals bear it out over the last decade. 11 is my magic produce number. Get below that and I seem to compensate with non-produce eating that is, inevitably, higher in calories.
It's not easy shopping and planning to have enough f/v's on hand to satisfy that target of 11. It's not easy for me to cook (I hate cooking). But when I eat at home and shop religiously, I have a better chance of losing.
For me, it's when I slack off the shopping/cooking/11 f/v's that I regain and regain.
Wish it were easier, but for me, it's not. Dang.
Okay, I've gotta happy dance on a Saturday for a good week of eating and moving. Yay!!
:::shimmy, shake:::::
Happy Saturday!
PS: If you haven't yet taken my wee survey, please help out by letting me know which fat fighting tool works best for you: See this post. Or just...click here to take survey
I very much like Lyn's post today. She clearly shows by her own life's examples how she made changes that added up to weight loss. It's a post I needed to read because I have been so down on myself for losing focus and will.
I stopped to consider that I HAVE made changes and I DO feel better and I am wearing a smaller size and my sugar is in control and I'm exercising regularly and vigorously 3x a week for months and months (after years of total inactivity).
I have made some changes and those have kept me from regaining all the poundage I lost. I need to make more changes to lose MORE, yes. But if I made some changes, I can make others. I can gain groud.
Anyway, I recommend Lyn's practical and inspiring post, which includes this short list of tips:
~
I stopped to consider that I HAVE made changes and I DO feel better and I am wearing a smaller size and my sugar is in control and I'm exercising regularly and vigorously 3x a week for months and months (after years of total inactivity).
I have made some changes and those have kept me from regaining all the poundage I lost. I need to make more changes to lose MORE, yes. But if I made some changes, I can make others. I can gain groud.
Anyway, I recommend Lyn's practical and inspiring post, which includes this short list of tips:
Instead of seconds at dinner, you just take seconds of vegetables.
Instead of wasting ten minutes circling the parking lot for the closest space, you park far from the store and just WALK there.
Instead of asking your kids/husband/friend to bring the laundry upstairs for you, YOU do it.
Instead of putting whole milk on your cereal, you use skim.
Instead of watching TV all evening, you do some exercise and go to bed early.
~
I'm a take-out/delivery fiend. It's one of my bad habits. If I prepare food myself, I do so much better than take-out or delivery. Menus have such tempting stuff.
But Chantel Hobbs has this tip for those with a stack of restaurant menus at home:
I am going to have to take a more radical approach. I'm planning on taking that stack of our fave take-out places and just cutting out or sharpie-ing out all the stuff I MUST NOT HAVE. Leaving only the more healthful options.
If I think that's gonna use up too much of my Sharpie ink-- heh--I may type up a restaurant document in WORD and print it out. It will list the restaurant, address, phone number, and the stuff we SHOULD order (plus my hubby's faves, he of the limited food repertoire, so it's easy). That helps two of my excess problems--eating and clutter.
If you have take-out temptation issues, maybe one of these three options--highlighting the good, blacking out the bad, retyping the take-out info in a document that only gives you sound options--will help.
Happy Tuesday! (She says, still emotional from the inauguration ceremony...)
But Chantel Hobbs has this tip for those with a stack of restaurant menus at home:
When ordering take-out, have your favorite menus handy and highlighted with the only selections that fit your nutrition program. When the food arrives, open the containers and take a separate plate and portion out your small meal, put the rest away for later.
I am going to have to take a more radical approach. I'm planning on taking that stack of our fave take-out places and just cutting out or sharpie-ing out all the stuff I MUST NOT HAVE. Leaving only the more healthful options.
If I think that's gonna use up too much of my Sharpie ink-- heh--I may type up a restaurant document in WORD and print it out. It will list the restaurant, address, phone number, and the stuff we SHOULD order (plus my hubby's faves, he of the limited food repertoire, so it's easy). That helps two of my excess problems--eating and clutter.
If you have take-out temptation issues, maybe one of these three options--highlighting the good, blacking out the bad, retyping the take-out info in a document that only gives you sound options--will help.
Happy Tuesday! (She says, still emotional from the inauguration ceremony...)
Some quotes and notes I scribbled down (probably imperfectly) while watching Oprah's show yesterday about her regain and her plan to get fit again:
Oprah's exercise plan:
cardio for 30 mins a day
resistance training 5 days a week
Oprah's tools:
Best Life Diet Book
Posted meal plan in her kitchen
~~sample meals
~~~~Bkfst: egg whites, steel-cut oatmeal, green tea
~~~~Dinner: salmon, sweet potato, green vegetable(s)
She also has set aside time for her health and personal needs in her daily schedule.
Segment with Carnie Wilson: she now weighs 168, down 50 pounds in the last 6 months, and is expecting her second baby. And I must say, she looks absolutely, glowingly beautiful. Carnie said she had to get at the bottom of her own soul, asking "What do I really want?"
Bob also emphasized taking time and effort to get to the true answer to some some questions.
Fundamental Questions asked by Bob Greene in his Best Life Diet:
* Why are you overweight?
* Why do you want to lose weight?
* Why have you been unable to lose weight in the past?
~~
UPDATE: I love these questions--as a response to Bob's questions-- asked by Janice of Our Lady of Weight Loss!
"This is a problem in your life that will remain a problem in your life for the duration of your life."
-- Bob Greene
"Bottom line: you have to plan your meals."
--Oprah
"There's absolutely no way that I'm ever,ever going to maintain my weight without some regular cardio exercise...at least 30 minutes a day"
--Oprah
Oprah's exercise plan:
cardio for 30 mins a day
resistance training 5 days a week
Oprah's tools:
Best Life Diet Book
Posted meal plan in her kitchen
~~sample meals
~~~~Bkfst: egg whites, steel-cut oatmeal, green tea
~~~~Dinner: salmon, sweet potato, green vegetable(s)
She also has set aside time for her health and personal needs in her daily schedule.
Segment with Carnie Wilson: she now weighs 168, down 50 pounds in the last 6 months, and is expecting her second baby. And I must say, she looks absolutely, glowingly beautiful. Carnie said she had to get at the bottom of her own soul, asking "What do I really want?"
Bob also emphasized taking time and effort to get to the true answer to some some questions.
Fundamental Questions asked by Bob Greene in his Best Life Diet:
* Why are you overweight?
* Why do you want to lose weight?
* Why have you been unable to lose weight in the past?
~~
UPDATE: I love these questions--as a response to Bob's questions-- asked by Janice of Our Lady of Weight Loss!
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