Keeping Active

I have finally added exercise to my routine - and it feels great!  When I re-started last week, I hadn't exercised - which is partly why I was so surprised that I had lost so much weight in one week.   This week, I've added MOVEMENT which is a vital part of my journey.  So far, I've been active three days this week:  on Wednesday, I worked for two hours on my feet stocking shelves at the Discovery Shop  (a thrift shop where I've started to volunteer - all proceeds go to the El Paso Child Crisis Center).  Yesterday, I did housecleaning  (lots of bending and stretching as I was clearing out bookshelves)  and walked 35 minutes with my husband, and today I did both grocery shopping and housecleaning.  While today's "movement" is not exercise per se,  I know how little I sat today - which for me is a really good thing!   I intend to get some kind of "movement" in every day - partly because I joined an online  21 Day Get Moving Challenge  with a fitness coach named Nicole Kellerman.  My blogging buddy Jan gave me the idea on her own blog - and we are both participating in the challenge.   For me, it's not necessarily about doing her youtube workouts - it's all about getting movement in each and every day.   However, I will be adding her workouts - and other workouts I have on DVD to my exercise routine - and next week, it's back to the pool for me for my lap swimming routine!    

Next week....we will start JUICING - something both my husband and I are excited about!   We finally got our materials/resources/juicer - so we are good to go!!!    I will be a "newbie" at this so it will be a learning adventure and I will be sharing the experience here on my blog.

It looks like each week, I am adding something "new" to my journey! I want to make this journey as exciting as I can - so that I can stay motivated throughout this year.  When the journey becomes "stagnant", that's when it's easy to start skipping a day - which then becomes a few days - and then a few weeks...I think you get the picture!    I would like to quote from a newsletter by Dotti Coon - the webmistress of Dotti's Weight Loss Zone:

Recommitting (to one's journey) is a great way to get that "newbie" feeling back. What exactly is a "newbie" feeling? Let me tell you all ~ it is a feeling of excitement, adventure and confidence in learning new things to improve ourselves, both mentally and physically. It is that feeling of constantly being energized by everything around us - yes, you see many things in a whole new light. You cannot stop talking about your new lifestyle and all you've learned. You are smiling a lot and wondering why everyone has not started this fantastic Journey of their own. You will also notice that your "newbie" feeling is contagious and before you know it some of your friends and family have jumped on the bandwagon. It is a great feeling!   

This is exactly what I want my journey to be - exciting, energizing, motivating!!!

Small Victories - Twice Over!!

Today was my first weigh-in day since I re-started my journey a week ago.   The result is I lost my first five pounds for this year!   That is an amazing "victory" for me as I've never lost that much in one week before!   Since I set my goals in small increments (as per WW - they give a gold star for each 5 pounds lost!), this then is my first "small victory" for the year!  I entitled this "Small Victories - Twice Over!" as my husband has finally joined me on my journey - and not only has he lost weight, but his blood sugar, which had been rising at an alarming rate - dropped by 21 points this past week!   He's not down to where he wants to be yet as he's at 113 - but he's getting there!   We are both celebrating our "small victories" and look forward to celebrating many more!  

I'm sure that some of the weight I lost was "water weight" as I was on vacation - and had put on nearly 4 pounds over the holiday.   My usual weekly weight loss is 1-1.5 pounds per week with bouts of "maintaining" in between.    With that in mind,  I am now setting my next mini-goal of 5 pounds and would like to reach that goal by the time we leave for our marriage retreat on "Valentine Weekend".  We'll be heading to Albuquerque, NM for a "weekend to remember" retreat which we both look very much forward to!  

The main differences I've made from last year is cutting out cheese and most breads and processed foods.  I've also worked hard at staying hydrated.  I've also made sure I had several "filling" food items/foods from the Power Food list on WW (spinach, mushrooms, clementines, berries, broccoli, cucumber, chicken, yogurt, eggs, etc).  

 Here is today's menu:

Breakfast:  an omelet (2 eggs and 2 egg whites) with spinach and mushrooms cooked in a tsp of olive oil  

Lunch:  Activia yogurt w/berries and banana

              pb (1 tsp)  w/slice of low-cal bread

Snack:  Clementines

Dinner:   a huge salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, olives, bacon bits, and a hefty tablespoon of chicken salad  (chicken w/lite mayo w/olive oil) - w/ balsamic dressing (0 calories)

                broccoli w/a bit of butter (w/canola oil)

Snack:   Frozen greek yogurt w/berries

NOTE:

Our start date for juicing will be next Monday - when we've received the resources we've ordered.  It will be interesting to see how juicing will factor in with our "clean eating" menu and what results will ensue.

Our New Adventure in Healthy Eating!

While it's only been four days since I re-started my blog, I can say I've been on track since Monday.   I'm taking positive steps to focus on my health and feeling great!  The only thing I've not done is re-start my exercise routine  - partly because we've days of snow and very frigid temperatures.  The weather should improve considerably tomorrow. Although my weigh-in day is not until Monday, it appears that I've lost 3-4 pounds!    Of course, that gives me plenty of motivation to keep on keeping on my journey!

In my last entry I said I would not be starting anything new this year.  Now I have to say that I've had second thoughts - and I am going to do something I've never done before!  It is not part of WW but I feel it will be a great way to jump-start my program this year.  I'm going to start juicing!  The good thing is I'll be doing it together with my husband - and it will be an experiment for both of us. Here is a series of articles about juicing on livestrong.com : Juice to Lose Weight.  Since we will need to experiment with this new approach (for us),  we'll start slow, and try juicing for five days a week, and just one meal per day - probably mid-day. We will still eat a normal breakfast and light dinner.  Once we get used to juicing, and experiment with different recipes, we will then try juicing two meals a day. We are preparing for this venture by buying a high-powered juicer:  Omega 806 Nutrition Center Juicer.  I chose this juicer after doing a lot of research and feel confident that it will serve our needs well.  I've also ordered three resources: two are books The Big Book of Juices (author: Natalie Savona),  The Seven Pillars of Health (author:  Donald Colbert)  and  the third is  a  film on DVD entitled Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  I know the latter has a morbid-sounding title, but it is actually a story with a positive ending:   it is about a life-changing transformation of an obese Australian man whose name is Joe Cross who became fit and healthy by juicing.

Here is a synopsis of the film:

Overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe was at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. With doctors and conventional medicine unable to help, Joe traded in junk food and hit the road with a juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe had one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle.


I am excited about trying this, especially since I've also seen what a difference it's made in my daughter and son-in-law's overall health.   They're both looking so much fitter and healthier!   Stay tuned as I will be posting the results!   Maybe I should call the next several weeks "Our Adventures in Juicing"!   :)   We will be starting this new chapter once we've received the resources we've ordered - and watched the above film, which includes demonstrations of juicing.

New Year - A Fresh Start

Since I started over a month ago with a "new beginning"  to my journey, I would rather name this day - January 1, 2013 - as a "fresh new start".   I stopped blogging before leaving for our trip to San Antonio - exactly two weeks ago today.   Now, I am picking up from where I stopped - but not starting anything new.  I returned to tracking my daily meals yesterday, and I am returning to blogging today.   Tomorrow, I plan to return to exercising.  I won't say I totally stopped my journey - there were many more days of "mindful eating" than of over-indulging.   I have to blame most of my "over-indulging" on those darn oreo chocolate truffles that were "to die for" and the fact that my daughter and I ended up making way too many of them!   I can usually exercise self-control - even with ice-cream or frozen yogurt (my nemesis!) - but those chocolate truffles were oh, so yummy! Clearly, I do need a FRESH START!

I'm home now and thankfully there are no truffles here calling my  name.   We do have a few sweets around the house as I had planned a holiday Open House - which I recently cancelled for a number of reasons and I plan to get rid of them before the week is over.   Truthfully, though, the only craving I have now is for healthy foods.  I think my body has decided "enough is enough" - so I am detoxing by eating fruits, vegetables - not only has my focus been on mindful eating but also "clean eating". I have even had vegetarian days or days with very little meat.   Slowly, my body is feeling healthier - the stomach bulge is disappearing - and my over all well-being is returning!

I actually spent New Year's Eve reading blogs by my blogging buddies - Elaine, Miriam, Flo and Jan, and a few more as well as daily posts on the forums on Dottie's Weight Loss Zone.   Many of the recent entries both on the blogs and forums focused on reviving or continuing fitness and health journeys - and setting up a plan for the new year to help them stay on track - but what inspired me the most was the renewed spirit, determination and motivation which so many of them have!   Since I do not attend Weight Watcher meetings, and am only using the WW e-tools,  I plan to continue reading health blogs, articles and forums as often as I can as a source of motivation and inspiration!



   

What Inspires Me

 I am taking a detour from my personal journey to list some of the things that inspire me. What prompted me to take this detour was The Story of Jenni.  It is an amazing story of a woman who shares her testimony of being morbidly obese and how she made the decision to overcome her obesity - and lost 300 pounds in two years and four months!  Whenever I need to be re-inspired, I will listen again to Jenni's story as it is one of the most inspirational I've ever heard!   Thank you, again, Miriam, for sharing this on our forum on Dotti's Weight Loss Zone - which incidentally is chock-full of inspiring stories, helpful information, and most of all, supportive people, many of whom are a journey similar to mine. 

In a couple of days, I will be traveling to San Antonio to celebrate the holidays with my daughter's family - including these two very precious angels - my granddaughters, Gigi and Hanna.  They also inspire me to stay healthy as I want to be there for them for a very long time!

Other sources of inspiration are fellow bloggers, especially Flo and Miriam.  I so appreciate all that they share on their journeys which in turn helps me tremendously on my own journey. I also appreciate the many others who have cheered me on such as those who have joined my blog - most especially Jan!

I also draw inspiration from members of my family - my husband and my children, especially, as well as from many of my friends, both online and offline.

A few other websites which have inspired me are:

Danica's Daily

Heleen's Blog  (combating eating disorders with biblical meditations)

Fit To The Finish Blog

More about Mindful Eating

I have been blogging about Mindful Eating for a while as it is a topic which I think has a great deal of importance in any successful weight loss program.   I've mentioned mindful eating in earlier posts this year as it is mentioned in the 100 Days Challenge by Linda Spangle.  I've also discussed this with Miriam on her  blog as we both have come to the realization that the elements of Intuitive Eating, which she has researched, in many ways mirror the elements of Mindful Eating.   Miriam and I have often shared our thoughts as we're both on a similar journey - to improve our overall health - and our approaches are much the same in that we believe a program needs to be tailored to our own needs rather than merely follow a program verbatim.

I intend to do multiple readings on the topic of mindful eating and share those readings on my blog as the more I write on a topic, the more I gain an understanding of it.  The image above comes from Susan Alber's article:  The Surprising Benefits of Mindful Eating.  I strongly urge anyone reading this blog to read her article - it is quite comprehensive in its description of mindful eating.  I will be discussing various aspects of the article in my next entry.  

Since I have undertaken some of the elements of mindful eating, I find that I am becoming less and less concerned about the points assigned to each food as per Weight Watchers - even though I am tracking my food with their e-tools.  By becoming more mindful  - or more AWARE of what I eat, how much I eat, how each food tastes - and then knowing when I've reached a level of satisfaction without over-eating - I find that I am subsequently eating healthier and in less quantities.

More discussion on this topic will be forthcoming...

Working Through the Barriers

The second line of the Pledge I took on last week is:  "I will work through the barriers."  I have been fighting one of my primary barriers or obstacles all week - finding excuses not to exercise.  I started on a high note at the beginning of the week, and then lost my "get up and go" by Tuesday!  My husband reminded me why I needed to go to the pool - and reluctantly, I went, but not before I got angry at him - which I know was misplaced anger as I should have gotten angry at myself instead!  Yes, I did apologize to him when I got back - but only after I mulled it over as I swam lap after lap.   I ended up swimming laps for 50 minutes straight - and as always, it felt great afterwards!  I have to ask myself why I often fight myself when it comes to exercise - especially swimming as it's an activity I truly enjoy - though there is the distinct inconvenience of having to drive more than 30 minutes to the pool  while the pool that is closest to me is being renovated. However, today I am slated to do a walk - and all day I've procrastinated and found reasons not to go to the park - just not wanting to move from my "comfort zone" which is all too often right in front of this computer.  So here it is folks:  my primary "barrier" or "obstacle" is  laziness/procratination!  

After admitting my downfall to myself,  I  decided to look up "ways to overcome laziness".  In my research, I found this article on a website called Success Consciousness:   12 Tips to Overcome Laziness - a great article for anyone who also has problems with procrastination - which, as the author states, is a form of laziness.  I found that each and every tip applied to me in some way.  However, two of the tips that I needed to read and re-read in regard are number 5 - Think About Benefits; and number 6 - Thing About Consequences.    While both topics are self-explanatory, I will quote from one of them:

Think About Benefits
"Think about the benefits you will gain if you overcome your laziness and take action, instead of thinking about the difficulties or obstacles. Focusing on the difficulties of the task or action lead to discouragement, avoidance of taking action and to laziness. It is important that you focus your mind and attention on the benefits, not on the difficulties."     Author:   Remez Sasson

This one should be my driving force as exercise for me is all about good health and getting stronger.   I know the benefits - stronger legs, less pain, and perhaps not having to go under the knife - surgical knife, that is.    I also know the consequences (number 5) - weakness and difficulty to walk, painfulness,  and, yes, needing TKR in both knees!  I have been swimming since the summer of 2011 - and I know that each time I've stopped, the pain returns.  I also know that when I start up again, the pain goes away.  I also know that alternating walking with swimming offers even more benefits - by exercising other muscles,  giving me the benefits of fresh air,  etc.

Now, before it gets too late, I need to end this blog - and take a long walk in the park!  I have no more excuses, and there are so many benefits to reap from just a 30 minute walk!  Besides, my dear husband has agreed to walk with me!  :)

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Addendum:   We just came back from a 35 minute walk!  I started out with some pain in one knee - which all but disappeared within the first 10-15 minutes of walking.   My legs felt better and better as the walk progressed - in fact,  both of us agreed that walking regularly has really helped our overall health - an incentive for us to make this a permanent part of our weekly agenda!