Patterns

Do you ever start to notice patterns in your eating.  "Oh no I need to lose weight!  Better clean the kitchen out of high calorie foods! Oh no hate to waste food so I might as well eat it because I am starting in the morning and I am going to stick with it."  In the morning the scale is up because you cleaned your kitchen.  Now you are depressed so you might as well go out for lunch.  How do we talk ourselves into these strange eating patterns. 
How about the one of I have been good all week so I will eat a double size on Sat. night.

Don't be critical of these patterns but if you could change just 1 what would it be.  Are you seeing how we are our own worst enemy?  We need to talk more about this. 

I like the one - It doesn't matter what is in the food I eat because I'm not logging it.  Why are some foods hard to log?  1. because there are so many items in it or because we really don't want to know how many calories are in it? 

Super Saturday

So how is super Saturday going? I'm thinking it's going pretty good. I have been making it to the gym, Zumba class and doing well with my Facebook group biggest loser drop it like it's hot. I am down a couple pounds and him enjoying that part of my plan. With my Facebook group we get two days off of working out so I am feeling less pressure than trying to work out seven days a week. Five days a week for 30 or 45 minutes is perfect.

I've been doing Zumba and loving it. I have found different instructors make all the difference. Don't be afraid to try different classes or different instructors. I have just less than a month to keep training before the race.

Because I am limited to one day a week to eat sugar items I really look at that day as a treat. At first you might think zero sugar days is better than one sugar day this is not true. This one sugar day gives you a way of making a plan. When we do a lifestyle change we need to be able to live with that and not torture ourselves.

I am remembering to not only do walking, jogging and working out on the treadmill but also planks and lifting some weight. Cardio may then us out but we want the muscle to be able to be strong.

If you see me on September 12 at the race please say hi. I will meet you at the finish line and remember no matter what your time is at the end of the race you finished it. It is better to be in the race then cheer from the sideline.

Choices in life

We all have choices in life so let's talk about them concerning health and weight loss. How do you start your day? Do you look at it as a new exciting day or do you hate the thought of getting out of bed? How can you change the way you look at your day? This is something I would like to talk about.

First I would like to stay you can't change the past. As the serenity prayer says we need to change the things we can and learn to live with the things we can't. With this being said let's look at some of the things we can change. Let's make a list.
1. Our attitude
2. How we look at food
3. How food controls our life
4. How we deal with guilt
5. How we prolong making change
6. How we justify our unwillingness to change

Let's really look at what we want out of life. Do you want to live your life to the fullest or do you just want to accept what life hands us. Let's try what I will call an experiment for the next week. Every morning when you wake up look at what you are thankful for. This can include anything from I'm happy to be alive, I am thankful for my kids, I am thankful I have a job I love, I am thankful I can go for walk and complain about it or I am thankful that I can afford food. This list will be different for everyone. I remember seeing the video of the person that was walking with two arm crutches and how he turned his life around because he found the drive to make a change. I also remember and think of it often the video of how you choose to live your life walking and being active or in a nursing home. I know both of these are extreme cases but what I took away from them both is that health does not change overnight.

Let's really look at food for what it is. Food has nutrition for your body so that you can do the things you enjoy during your life. Please note I did not say during your day because life is not about just one day it is about many. When we think about food do you think about all the yummy things you can eat? How do we describe yummy? I had a great spinach and goat cheese salad while in New York that I would call very yummy. As I describe the word yummy it does not always include sugar. Sugar and fat is just one aspect of yummy. We need to think of nutrition as more of a beneficial yummy.

How does food really control your life? Do you eat by the clock? How many items do you eat that bring no nutrition to the body? I am doing a biggest loser drop it like it's hot weight loss challenge where we get one day a week to have a sugar item, it really makes you think about what you want to eat for that item or for that day.

When we have food choices do we feel guilty about the choices we make? For our experiment we want to use foods that would cause us to feel guilty as planned foods. These are not rewards but actually planned. If you start with a non sugar day and can have a sugar item in 24 hours it is easier or to have a clear mind rather than saying, I will not have a sugar day tomorrow. We want to eat foods based on what we ate rather than what were going to eat. We want to test this out as every other day then every third day and expanded out to once or twice a week.

With this plan we should not have a guilt feeling and it will be more of a planned and controlled eating pattern that becomes a habit. Do you ever keep telling yourself a big handful of negative excuses that you start to believe? It's time to stop. It's time to say, I want to be in charge and I'm done with having food rule my life.

If you are the kind of person that gets mad because your friends lose weight, gets in better health or change their life and you feel left behind, it's time to look at who we are really mad at. Change is hard and it is much easier to down, to degraded, or belittle another person who you are really jealous or proud of.

When we talk about jealousy we sometimes make up a lot of excuses to justify our unwillingness to change. The list starts with she doesn't have a day job, she doesn't have kids, she has a personal chef, she has time to work out, she doesn't have an illness, she doesn't have and the the list goes on.





If we use today as the first day to our get it done project we don't wait till Monday, we don't wait till the first of the month, and we don't wait till the first of the year. We want to use today as the start of I will be in control. When you go to bed after day one, think about all the positive things you did for that day. If you insist on focusing on the negative write on a piece of paper your negative habit you keep repeating. On the other side of the piece of paper write how you want to change this. Now put this someplace you will have it with you at all times. When you find yourself in that negative situation read the negative side and then turn it over and read the positive. I am hoping this will trigger something that you will say I am in charge, I take control, I choose.

As I close this post my goal is to get you to think there is a way to change your life. As you make these changes you will find that you don't notice big differences but after a week, or month, or year what has changed?

27 concepts

Have you ever put something some place and then can't find it?  Why can't I find the 27 concepts that I base my book on??
So here they are:

The concepts;

1.      Keep up what works and get rid of what doesn’t.

2.      Everything in moderation is out the window

3.      Reading labels.  Read all labels

4.      Additives and preservatives are my # 1 red flag

5.      This doesn’t work for me

6.      Emotional side of dieting.

7.      Remember the concept that you miss the foods that nurture the body

8.      Cheating

9.      Once you stop walking, you will miss it. (My dear husband misses our bonding time.)

10.  Non diet food

11.  You can’t make people understand your point if they have a mind set against it.  Concept: This is working for me and it may not be for you.

12.  Learning from the past

13.  Don’t spoil your dinner

14.  Really tasting food

15.  You will eat again

16.   If you keep doing the same thing you will get the same outcome.

17.  We all react to food differently.

18.  Having to explain yourself

19.  Water and hydration

20.  Walking or working out

21.  Beware of Sabotages. 

22.  What is a portion and how do you know when to stop eating?

23.  Don’t up size         

24.  Pick your battles, your weapons, and your armor.

25.  Listen to what an advertiser is really saying

26.  Use your resources

27.  Keep learning.

I found a really cool potato self study

The shore of the personal study by Chris Voig was to eat potatoes every day to prove they don't make you fat.  I checked out his cook book that he has in this PDF.  As you look through what he made think about the concepts and how they apply. 
http://www.potatoes.com/files/9313/4885/1811/That_Guy_Who_Ate_All_THe_Potatoes_Cookbook.pdf

Now I want you to remember the woman that ate the cheesy potatoes every meal for like 15 years.  First what color was everything compared to the pictures in the blog.  I did not see a bunch of things covered in mayo and other brown type foods.  If the cheesy potato person would of taken 1 C of her potatoes and put them on a bed of spinach she would of been better off.  Another thing she could of done was to pare it with some high nutrition items.  I am going to be making some of the items Chris has in his PDF

1-10-15

So it been a couple of weeks and I hope all is going well and we are all sticking to our 2015 goals.  What is your health goals??  Putting health first? What is your plan?  The trend for this year to keep you motivated is to really spell out your plan.  lose weight just doesn't do it and this is the year to go beyond the cover of the book.
Let's set up an outline
Cover of book; Lose 20 pounds
Overview; eat healthier, work out, track eating, get to the gym,

So far this is same old same old.  These chapters you already have written.  It is time to move on and start writing the chapters.

Chapter 1 Get healthy
A. goal is to lose 5 pounds each month till I reach goal then maintain through end of year.
    1. know that every 3 days the body will give you a test.  We will call them cravings.  Body ask do you really want to do this??  Lets go back to the sugar thing because sugar makes me feel warm ans fussy.
     2. Stop feeding the bad bacteria in your digestive track.  Is it really a cold or a backup of waste products in the body.  Bacteria loves sugar.  It is a really fast convert to energy.  Start looking at what you eat for the 3 days before you get sick.
     3.  Think and eat high nutrition.  If it is a big detox you want to do there is no better way than by using nutrition to make the body strong and the lack of sugar will weekend the bacteria.

Chapter 2 Eating healthy.
A.   I blog about the 27 concepts to eat by.  My # 1 concept is by asking "what good does this do for the body and #2 is how I can make this higher nutrition.  The # 3 has to be instead of not in additional to.
      1.  Find a way of logging what you eat.  More important than total calorie count is so you can look back at patterns.
              Different patterns could be;
                   a. Eat really healthy till 8:00, the weekend, mid afternoon, till you get within 10 pounds of your goal.
                   b. I only eat healthy at home and when I go out to eat it is a free for all.
                   c.  I stress eat
The point of this is that if it is written down then you can look at the facts and only the facts.  We sometimes distort or forget the truth when it isn't written down.  O simple way of doing this is to have a form of a box or jar, every time you eat something write it down with the date and time if you like and toss it into the box.  At the end of the week take out all those little pcs. of paper and put them in order.  First is it the same as you remember
    2.  Lets say that again and take a closer look;   At the end of the week take out all those little pcs. of paper and put them in order.  First is it the same as you remember.
          A.  Ask those 3 concepts again.  What good did I do for the body this week. 2 was I eating nutrition or just calories 3 Did I add nutrition calories with out balancing by taking away non nutrition items
    3. Are you to tough on yourself?  By following the 80/20 rule you don't have to be perfect all the time.  80% of the days be 80%  of the day.
          A. One of the ideas I have to  do this is but putting something like sugar on a 24 hour watch.  Start out by saying now to sugar for 24 hours.  So if you didn't have sugar yesterday you are allowed to have a 1 serving of sugar today.  You then wait 24 hours till you have it again.  If for you a sugar day is Friday this week and you want to have cake at a party on Sat you would prolong you sugar day till Sat.  That would look like, sugar on Wed. no Thurs. prolong Friday yes to Sat and no Sunday yes Monday.  You should not put 2 sugar days together.
           B.  Really look at your plan.  Is it really a plan to success or another version of what you are doing right now.  If it is not working for you right now the same plan will not work if it has a new name.  This is like putting a new cover on the same book.
           C. Cooking healthy takes to long.  There are so many short cuts you can use. Use those baby carrots and roast them off for an easy side.  I buy things when they are on sale and freeze them.  If you are saying so do I, here might be the difference; ground beef is on sale so I get it, cook it off in my wok and freeze it cooked and drained.  Make sure you label and date things and use them.  I was able to make chili really fast last night because my ground beef was already cooked and not a frozen chunk.

 This is what I did with my garlic.  I put it into my food processor and then made some small drops on plastic lid.  I put lid into baggie to freeze it.  Last step is to take it off lid while still frozen and put back into baggie.  I could of left it on the lid but I need thee space in my freezer.




Chapter 2 working out
    1. Don't fall for the all or nothing give her hell.  Think about how you want to ease into this.  1/2 hour walk is what I consider the #1.  Try to walk outside and take in life.  Only walk as far as you can walk back.  The rule I learned it to increase this is to add resistance, distance or speed.  I refer to this as faster, stronger or longer.
    2. Strength training or weight training.  My #1 is planks and/or push-ups.  You don't have to jump to the floor if you can't do a proper form pushup.  Start by doing a pushup to the wall, then maybe the counter, couch, that aerobic  step with  2 risers. Take a riser away till you are to the floor.  I feel it is better to  work your way to the floor rather than doing them from your knees.  By having good form and working your way to the floor you see progress.  If you don't know what good form is put that on the top of your list of things to learn.
    3. The key to working out is to do something you enjoy and is challenging.  You may enjoy sitting on the couch and thinking about working out but it's not challenging.

Are you seeing where I am going with this?  Make a real plan, one you can stick to and live with that will give you the results you desire.

1-8-15 Co workers

I was putting this back to someone on my facebook and thought I would share my thoughts with you.

I have a post on my fact book back about 2 months ago about the hype of statin drugs and how over hyped they are. They want to lower the top normal so then have a bigger group of people to sell them to. I'm not saying something sounds strange but just giving you a heads up. Most of the time Doctors want to try to control these things with meds because the odds of you sticking to your clean eating are 3% sorry to say. I have a co-worker that is in that 3% along with myself. In fact I have a couple of co-workers. Where I work we do a 80% reimbursement on our health plan so the healthier I can help keep our employees the better we are. We get Nicolet Natural Artesian water for the reason I like it better and it is what I drink at home. The guys like it and drink a lot of water. For the most part I would say I work at one of the healthier places. It is a tool and die job shop type shop. Who would of thought. It is like your co-worker would say if you are sick- get out of here and take care of your health so you don't spread it to us. We do have our sweets but they are a treat not an everyday. My best to you Lynn

1-8-15

I have to report I am doing well at cutting the junk out of me diet.  I am doing a couple of challenges with my fitbit over 50 friends.  It should be 29 on Sunday.  YEAAA.  I have had a couple of set backs this week.  I think I have a frozen gas line so DH has to run me to work.  Because I don't have a car to stop at the store we are eating what we have in the freezer.  It is really cold here.
I have been getting all the logging of what I eat.  With the scale that auto updates to my fitbit account it is kind of cool but then I also look at what the difference between being accountable and self degrading is.  I really look at how much stuff of your personal life heeds to be put on the web.  I don't wear my fitbit at night because there are just some things that are TMI.  I did a couple of night and it really was interesting how many times you might wake up in the middle of the night.

 I made these beans with some onion, garlic and smoked bacon grape seed oil.  There are some mushrooms under there.  I did put some meat sauce on top.  Really good.

This is a normal salad I would eat.  Salad greens and a small broccoli cauliflower salad from the Piggly Wiggly.  This would be something I really enjoy.  I did ask them what the calorie count was on it and I didn't get a really good answer.  I have to figure out how to make it myself.

I have looked into doing a BLC with sparkpeople but I started looking into how much time some of these challenges take up and I think I really have to re-look at them before I can commit.  When we are already under stress I don't want to add to much more stress.  I am liking the once a week challenge and if I want to chat there is a fitbit facebook group.

I would put this all into a group of things you must look into when setting goals and making your plan.
My best and see you next week

1-4-14 fitbit year

So I am doing a 20K challenge today. 

I'm not thinking I am going anywhere today.  I started the day out hooping but the steps go really slow. 20K is a lot of steps. 
I did get 10K in today, a call to 2nd wind about my treadmill, well room insulated and I just hurt from hooping.  Those weighted hula hoops do hurt.  I will see how I feel in the morning.  I also got a short walk in and 2 loads of wash.  At this rate I could have something to show for the year by next December.

Oh and I asked 2nd wind about the runner machine.  It is pretty new.  They want 3 grand for it.  I think that is more than I want to pay.  I think I can hit the pavement or the gym at a better value.  I am thinking I need to look into what how much I will really use this running thing.  I think I can wait another year.  I need to look at things closer.

2015 This is my year for follow through Day 1

Hove you ever started out with good intent and had your journey short live?  Do you run out of steam?  Lets ask why.  Is it because you get all excited when you saw a challenge and then you say another one you could do and then a 3rd.  Ok you might be able to do all of them but then they all have a facebook page and you track everything you eat but the 3 sites don't link and you are spending more time on the computer than you really wanted to and you just look ate it all and say "I would rather be fat than be stuck to my computer this much.

Pick your challenges and really look at everything that goes with it.  Fitbit does link with sparkpeople which are 2 of the websites I chat on but if you don't know how to link them you would be tracking everything on both.

What is your goal for 2015??  I do want to learn how to do more research on genealogy in Italy so I am going to do a family research class.
Next I also want to learn how to link spark people to fitbit.  I am doing a couple of fitbit challenges and really work on getting rid these pounds I have put on.

When you think of the goal losing 20 pounds I really have to think about why I put these pounds on.
First was I to light at 118 pounds.  I don't think so but that is a good question.  Is the weight you are picking a realistic maintainable goal?

Next what caused the change.  Have I lost the drive for healthier habits?  I would say yes to that.  I have added a lot of sugar back into my diet.  It gives me headaches so please tell me why I continue to eat it.

Maybe what I was eating was to strict.

My last thought is that I have been doing to much computering.  We are back to the all talk no action thought.  How many of us have skinny fingers?  My answer to this is to do it first and track it after.  Don't over plan.  Use simple tools and get moving.

Here's to a year of getting it done.
The picture is of day 1.  I tell you this is the best time of the year to make changes.  You have to be determined to walk outside on days like this but it was warm.