Don’t we all have a billion reasons why every healthy or intelligent option in front of us won’t work? I’ve got kids so it makes time and money tight. There is a piece of myself that says that if I focus attention on getting myself healthy that I am making a definitive change for the good; this is all fine and dandy until you fail (and if I hadn’t failed so many times in the past I’d not be looking for a new way to do it, right?). The cynical side says to leave it alone – losing weight means you’re going to have to buy new clothes and that takes money from the kids or plans for the family. It also means that I’m paying attention to myself and my own well-being which means I’m not focused on everyone else (this may be seen as a positive by normal people but my anxiety tells me that is self-serving and wrong). I can twist every positive to bring myself down and make me believe that I’ll never find success in my own health and wellness. Worthless excuses, I know, but I have mastered the art of self-perpetuating nonsense.
So, I’ve decided to try again (it’s the cool thing to do, this time of year so I’ll jump on the bandwagon). Bill and I have been trying to work out together since this past summer. While the kids were at camp, we ate super healthy and worked out together several times each week. I can’t speak for him, but I felt AWESOME! My focus on muscle soreness was minimized because I was part of a team and he relied on me to have our nutrition managed (just as I relied on him to assist in my learning to do each movement properly like push-ups, pulls-ups, etc.).
When the kids came home, it was the typical hectic life back. It was almost instantaneous that we stopped working out and the healthy foods we were preparing got gobbled up. Our plan then is not that different from now but we’re writing it down so we can be accountable to one another and I’d like to have the kids on board, even if we’re not looking for more people to exercise with – they’ll be more likely to understand the commitment we’re making if we let them in on it.
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| A and I going for a ride on Mac in December. |
Here it is - my new plan. I’m not going to beat myself up for missing a day or two; nor am I going to make a big deal about Bill working late when we have a date to work out. I will be upset if I fall back into my crappy habits. I want to be healthy and at one point in my life, I looked and felt good. When I lived in Texas I lost a ton of weight, mostly from moving my body, and I looked and felt awesome. After I moved around 6 (literally) times in the next two years due to work, school, etc., I had my car accident. My body has never been the same since and the rate I’m going, I’m going to deteriorate before I magically repair all that damage! I have bad knees (always have), bad back (accident), heel spurs (about 10 years now) and I am overweight. My knees and back making working out very difficult sometimes (shit, it makes picking up something from the ground difficult sometimes) but I KNOW that by strengthening the muscles around those issues and losing some weight, I will be giving myself the opportunity to get better, not worse.
· Exercise five times a week for 30 minutes
o I don’t need a gym membership; you don’t need to leave your home (unless you need to leave your home – if you know what I mean?!?).
§ I don’t enjoy working out (period) in front of people but if I can keep the kids in the other room, I may be able to do an actual workout without being interrupted with some silly question.
§ If I can commit to working out regularly, then I can rationalize a membership to a gym that offers water aerobics (one of the best workouts for people with bad knees and backs).
o Do a Pilates, Yoga or an aerobic video several times a week – you can rent exercise video’s free from many video rental places or pick up a few from the library until you find something you really like (if you like one in particular, then purchase it, otherwise, keep looking!)
§ I have several videos that I like but they can get a little repetitive after some time so I really like the option of trying new ones out or just mixing it up a little so it feels fresh (I love my local library!) Some of my favorite videos (that I own):
· Pilates – beginning (and intermediate) mat workouts with Ana Caban (Gaiam)
o I love that all you need is a mat (which I didn’t own when I first began doing the workout) – it comes in handy while you learn the correct angles to place your body.
o There is also a second person on the video that shows easier, modified, ways to do the different moves. I found most of her ways too easy for me but I have always found my core to be fairly flexible. I’m sure, if the stretching didn’t feel so good on my back that I would need more help.
· Turbo Jam
o There are six video’s in this Beachbody set. I ordered it because my sister raved about this workout. There are people in each video that show you the modified (low impact) moves.
o I am not a coordinated person so I find this workout frustrating but I know that the idea is to move your body. The longer I do the workout, the better I’ll be at staying up to pace with the group. Also, they are SUPER peppy so if you need that kind of support, this is your video!
· Core Rhythms
o This is a seven disc set from one of those TV infomercials. It’s the one where you dance around with these two rock hard International dance champions. There really isn’t an easier way to do the dances but there are several different ways to view the dance instructions so you can follow along with the breakdowns.
o This is another one where you’re moving your body and it takes less coordination than a traditional aerobic workout, plus you’re learning the styles of the Salsa, Samba and Merengue. This is nice because it is low impact.
o I don’t know why I didn’t do this one more, I think I was kind of bored but I’ll have to give it another try!
· Zumba (beginners)
o I don’t have anything, personal, to say about this video because it’s Bill’s. He says that he really likes it because it’s dance. They use the Salsa and Merengue movements and are low impact. From what we discussed about it, it sounds like it’s very similar to the Core Rhythms set.
· P90X
o It’s difficult to discuss this because I, physically, cannot do some of the videos. I LOVE two of the videos: Shoulders & Arms and Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. First of all, they were the only videos I could do (minus one, I think) completely. The others all had a mixture of things I just can’t do with bad knees or a bad back. Also, I felt awesome when I completed them. The stretching and Yoga videos were ok but I really enjoy the Pilates videos so I found myself just doing those instead.
o If you have the time to work out for over an hour each day, this set is fabulous! I really don’t enjoy working out and an hour is a really long time to hold my attention for something I don’t particularly enjoy. For me, I like to use the videos that I do like and supplement in Aerobic, Pilates and low impact videos.
o Practice doing weight training activities that don’t require large (or any) equipment like push-ups (there are several different ways to do push-ups that help work out different muscles, learned that in P90X). Invest (or rent, borrow, etc.) in a book or video that shows you the proper alignment for calisthenics and other weight and resistance training.
§ The Men’s Health Hard-Body Plan (By Larry Keller and the Editors of Men’s Health Books)
· This is Bill’s book and I like it, too! There is information about different kinds of workouts as well as stretching, resistance and calisthenics information. Diagrams and written directions are a great source of information plus specific workout plans, schedules, etc. This really is a well-rounded book and with the editors of Men’s Health designing it (not a magazine I’ve ever read but I’ve been routed to their website via Google when looking for exercise information and I was pretty impressed), I like it even more.
o Walk everywhere – wear comfortable shoes, buy a pedometer – whatever you need to do to get that extra blood pumping-lung expanding-muscle activating time in your day.
§ I don’t walk as much as I’d like. I used to walk the dog every day but it’s difficult to walk a dog and yourself for exercise and walk a 4 year old for exploration. I haven’t quite found the way to do this yet, but I’m hoping to figure it out soon!
§ I need to get good shoes for walking. I’ve got shoes I like to hike in but even those are falling apart. My feet are bad (heel spurs) and I’ve always needed well made (read: expensive) shoes due to some freak issue as a child. I’ve got to find a happy medium here. As far as a pedometer is concerned, I do have one…somewhere.
§ This doesn’t have anything to do with walking but I’m hoping to have a solution, in the spring, for cycling with A, too. I’d like to get one of those seats for the back of the bike but…well, I suppose I should see if I can find a bike first. Oyi…
· Eat five meals a day – each with protein, fiber, healthy carbs, a healthy fat and a beverage without sugar.
o The smaller meals give you more control about what you eat – especially because it allows you to eat such a broad variety of foods that you can manage your flavor whims easily.
§ I love food so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It will take some preparation to be able to have food available to eat in this way BUT with the set-up that I’ve done already for breakfasts, I suppose I can do something similar for lunches – kind of a mix and match thing…hmm…I like it!
§ Breakfast shouldn’t be difficult for me (I’m still working on finding a way to make Bill’s breakfast more on-the-go friendly so he can eat it more often) and the three meals after that – it’s the dinner meal that I have to really plan ahead for. I use a lot of seasonal produce, when I can, and that can be a bit time consuming to prepare (especially the winter produce with the winter gourds, potatoes, etc.). I’ll work on this and get back to you…
o “Your metabolism is like a windmill, and small gusts of wind keep it constantly spinning.” – Harley Pasternak, Nutritionist and Trainer
§ We’re already planning heartier snacks for everyone by having proportions of peanuts, raisins/craisins and stovetop popcorn at everyone’s disposal. This goes along with all the fruits and vegetables that you want (which has always been an offering) so I think we’re moving in the right direction!
o Don’t avoid foods that make you happy - sample them.
§ Enjoy your sweets - Rejoice in portion control and explore treats that give you both satisfaction and peace of mind.
§ Spice it up – bring the level up a bit, if you can handle it – sometimes the more bland the food is the more you, mindlessly, shove more in your mouth looking for the flavors that should be there – think about how fried foods need to be dipped and how all the flavors in a fast food burger kind of meld into one.
§ Taste your meals before you add salt to it
§ Add spices and herbs that complement one another to develop depth in your cooking.
§ No artificial sweeteners – if you’re going to treat yourself do it with the rawest option you can find. Artificial sweeteners just confuse your body into thinking that it can have more than it should. Don’t waste your calories on diet soda or artificial sweeteners.
· Be Accountable
o Write it down - do you want to admit that you ate 20 chocolate chip cookies? When you are being accountable to yourself, you’re less likely to splurge.
§ My favorite way to do this is through my smart phone or computer and a program called Lose It!
· Before you begin, you get a free membership and tell them information about yourself and what your goals are.
· You enter what you’ve eaten (which can sometimes be a pain in the butt if you eat a lot of different foods, as I do) and the portion size (there are tips and tricks to this on the internet if you search) and it counts your calories.
· It adds up what you’ve done for the day and what you have left. It also subtracts for different workouts (from cleaning and walking to weight lifting and spinning).
· Find Success
o This is not the first time that I’m expecting success from anything I’m trying but I’m not necessarily doing this to be skinny or fit in a smaller size (although I’ll not turn that down). I’m doing this because:
§ I want to be a good example for my kids.
§ I want to feel comfortable in my skin during all seasons.
§ I want to look at myself in the mirror and think that I look pretty damn good!
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| The family at Christmas time (note that I'm hiding behind G). |
§ I like to be active and I’d like to be able to go further or climb higher on a hike.
§ I want my back pain to disappear because I’m carrying less weight.
§ I want my mom to be proud of her daughter (maybe I shouldn’t say this one “out loud” but it IS a reason).
§ I want to compare before and after pictures and not recognize myself.
§ I want to be a better (read: healthier) version of my current health.
§ I want to believe in myself.
