Friday, March 30, 2012

Weight Loss and Being a Foodie


I'm a foodie. I can't help it. I love to cook and bake -- and eat. I frequently find myself on the internet, looking up recipes and just reading the ingredients and imagining them together. So... how does one take weight off - and keep it off - while being a foodie?

With baby steps.

For someone like me (who seems to have double the taste buds of everybody else), it's important NOT to try and make some huge, drastic shift from cooking with full fats to cooking with no fats. Anybody who tells you that you can eat a fat free ANYTHING and it will taste the same (or just as good) as a full fat anything simply cannot be trusted. :)

But realistically, a foodie such as myself can take one day at a time, make one change at a time, and learn to appreciate some different flavors and textures.

I also began introducing myself and my family to some new vegetables. This was actually an incredibly fun experience. Of course, there are some things that we have tried that immediately made their way to the trash. I still cannot get my head around the idea of eating okra for pleasure. And there is a huge difference between collard greens and turnip greens. But it's been fun to turn a vegetable hunt into a family adventure into the unknown.

I am still not a complete health nut. I currently have jelly beans in the house and have frequently been falling off the wagon and directly into that jar. But even with that, if I compare the way I eat today to the way I ate two years ago, the differences are astounding. But it all happened with baby steps. Just beginning to walk in a new direction, one step at a time.

As with anything else, diving in full-force is not something I would have found to be sustainable. But one step at a time, I have become a more healthy and more fit person. Do I have a long way to go? Sure! But tomorrow's another day. We'll deal with that when it comes up.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Physical Fitness

Have you ever heard of someone setting a goal for themselves (especially around January 1 of any given year) to "become physically fit?" I think having that as a goal is much like having a goal of "seeing the world." Sounds lofty, but it's rather vague. After all, if your goal is to see the world, how will you know when you've accomplished it? Once you've visited every country one time? Sorry... still haven't seen everything.

Likewise, having a goal of becoming physically fit is far too vague. What does it mean? A person who runs two miles a day is certainly more physically fit than a person who sits on the couch 24/7. But a person who runs marathons is probably more physically fit than a person who runs two miles a day. And that marathon runner... boy, that's physically fit, right? But -- perhaps not in comparison to the person who completes an ironman competition... who might not quite measure up to the Olympian... who... See what I'm saying?

My goals for myself are to maintain a lifestyle that ensures I am always becoming more physically fit and healthy. This simply means generally eating foods that are natural, many of them being leafy and green. This also means a consistent workout routine that I often find challenging, yet rewarding. If I can do one more push-up today than I was able to do last week, I am on the right path. If I am daily adding more junk to my diet instead of more healthy food, I am heading in the wrong direction.

I've decided there is no such thing as "physically fit" that can be attained as an end-all goal. But there is always another adventure around the bend in an endeavor to remain as fit and healthy as possible.

Maybe I'm just weird - and that's okay. But I find it much more rewarding to have a life-long goal that is incremental to the point where I can be a winner every day... every week... into the next year. There is very little discouragement to be found in living this way.

So -- if today you're a couch potato, sipping a Coca Cola and munching bag after bag of Cheetos, first of all you should make sure you wash your hands well. That Cheeto cheese is dangerous! :) And second, you should make your first step in the right direction. What's the easiest step for you to take today? Keeping the Cheetos but going for a walk? Staying on the couch but trading the Cheetos for carrots? Either way, you're making a step in the direction of good health. Once you've done that, you can take a different step a different day.

But don't bog yourself down and get totally overwhelmed because you have a lofty goal without definition. Just take a step. Eventually, you'll look back and be amazed at how far you've come.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Water -- My Best Friend


So yes, today I'm all about water. Actually, I've been all about water for a few weeks now. I know... for you fitness freaks out there, you're thinking -- only a few weeks?? But see, I'm a serious fan of caffeine. (head hangs in shame) I start my day out with two cups of coffee. You'd think that would be enough, right? But my habit had always been to switch from coffee to some form of diet soda. I've had several different favorites over time, but my ultimate appears to be Diet Mountain Dew. Of course once you've had coffee and Dew... then water doesn't taste like much. So perhaps a switch to some Crystal Light was in order. (I know, I know... sounding kinda bad, right?)

But I've been on this muscle building kick. And I discovered something wonderful. WATER. Our bodies are made up so much of water and I had been living my whole life mildly dehydrated. Wow. Who knew that drinking lots of water would actually help to boost my energy levels? (Yes, I know... the fitness freaks did... but who else?) The water doesn't flow out of my tap into a special container with a label to sell me on it, so how was I to know?

Okay, no I'm kidding. I really can take more personal responsibility than that. I knew darned well that our bodies are made up of around 60% water (on a good day). Some poor teacher with the very difficult job of teaching the likes of me probably imparted that info to me in middle school. And credit where credit is due, my mother has told me my whole life to drink water instead of soda. It was always a simple matter of me not wishing to give up a habit that was detrimental to my well-being and health.

Don't get your undies in a bunch, though. I'm not giving up soda entirely. I still have the occasional can of Dew. And as much as I'd like to imagine otherwise, I'm quite aware that paleo-man probably didn't have a cooler of Mountain Dew while he was hunting the wild beast of the North. So while I'm all about trying to eat in a more paleolithic fashion, I'm still quite interested in being reasonable here. :)

But back to water. Did you know that we can actually train our body to crave something? Seriously. It's true. I've done it, both with broccoli AND water now. (I'm working on fruit -- I don't know why that's so difficult for me.) I seriously crave water. I walk around now all day with a water bottle that I just keep refilling, and I am drinking on it all day. I'm up to about 96 ounces.

Water. For building muscle, for staying alert, for more running power... it does a body good.

Becoming a Runner

So today I'm going to talk about running. I love running, but alas... it has not always been so. My husband used to joke that the only way to get me to run was to strap some ice cream to the car and stay just ahead of me. In order for jokes to be funny, they have to have some truth to them, and this joke was funny. It wasn't entirely true, though. I probably wouldn't have run after that, either. I would have gotten into my car, driven to the store, and bought my own darned ice cream.

When I first started exercising, I was not able to run. I have a bum knee (which was a handy excuse for many years, if I do say so), I was carrying thirty extra pounds of weight, and it was all I could do to walk to the end of the street. I distinctly remember trying to do a fast walk up to the gate (about a half mile walk, largely uphill), and having my daughter laugh and tell me I sounded like I was dying. So my exercise did not start with running. It started with walking and wheezing.

But after I had lost a few pounds and the walking became easier, I decided one time to incorporate a small jog into the mix. I made it about half a block before I had to stop because I was gasping for breath so bad. But every day I walked, I made sure I jogged just a bit. You know, until I thought I was going to die -- then I stopped the jog and walked again. I felt so triumphant the first day I made it from the end of the street back to my house at a slow jog without stopping. Granted, it was all downhill... and I didn't have an easy time making it. But it was a milestone for me. (I have a highly competitive nature -- and I fixed it so that I was winning against myself.)

From there, I went to jogging as far as I could up the hill to the gate. Thankfully I live on a street that is largely deserted and I didn't have to worry about coming into contact with neighbors who would see me in my scary state.

I finally did make it to the top last summer. I, for the first time in my life, experienced the cardio high that I had heard so much about and thought was something people made up to get me to try exercising. It really does exist!

Long story shorter, I continue to try and beat myself. Um... wait. That doesn't sound right. I continue to compete against myself and WIN. That sounds much better. I've managed to become a runner and a winner... and yes, it helps that I'm running by myself. I'm pretty much guaranteed a win as long as I push myself a little harder or a little farther.

For the first time ever, I made it a full five miles, running at about six miles per hour. For dedicated runners all over the world, this sounds like a mere pittance. But to me... I'm a serious winner. And really, when it's about my health, my exercise, my body - what I think is what really matters.

Running. It rocks.

Monday, March 26, 2012

In a Nutshell

I cannot remember any time in my history when I have had a healthy relationship with food or exercise. Exercise was just something that "had" to be done (thus, it was no fun at all), and food was something that I either had control over or it had control over me.

I know there are people out there who can relate... Ever gone on a diet and taken off some pounds, only to put them right back on again (plus maybe a few extra)? Do that a few times, then decide - "I WILL conquer this... I will NOT put weight back on again!" Of course, for someone like me - mildly anal, slightly obsessive, and just a tad nutty - this meant going to what might be thought of as an extreme. Don't eat breakfast... that only means I've used up a good portion of the day's calories already... then what to do about the rest of the day?? Log every tiny piece of food that goes into my mouth. Count those calories and make sure I don't go over a particular amount (and, believe me, I can be very good at sticking to that).

This led to a bit of starvation on my part. For quite some time, the calories I was allotting to myself were considerably less than they should have been. And even at that, I wanted to eat some things that I considered enjoyable. So I would not "waste" my precious calories on silly things like fruit -- not when there was the promise of cheesecake if I abstained.

During the summer of 2011, a major change happened to me. I actually began to enjoy my exercise. And I mean, I really enjoyed it. I looked forward to it. And if I missed, I felt let down instead of guilty. Exercise actually became my friend. It was a long, hard road to get there, I'll be honest. But a shift really did occur, and I have enjoyed exercise ever since then.

This actually led to another problem, although I didn't see it as one at the time. All that exercise definitely changed my metabolism. I was running every day, and I could tell that my legs were less wobbly and beginning to look a little more like they could hold me up. Running rocks. I love it. But I realized I could eat considerably more and maintain my weight -- so around the holidays I really enjoyed quite a bit of... indulgence. I didn't gain weight, I still had people telling me I was "too skinny," which I loved, and I was eating my same old way -- watching the calories, making sure I worked everything off, and making sure I didn't "waste" my calories on things I didn't think I enjoyed.

So... you know what this led to? Yep... my legs continued to gain in muscle (truly we are an amazing creation... that my body managed to scrape what it needed to put muscle on my legs from the few nutrients I was feeding it), but my upper body became scrawny. I'll confess that initially I kind of liked it. I enjoyed so much feeling like I was getting thinner. Thinner was better. THEN -- I came across the story of a girl who had a story much like mine. But she had taken a new leap in a totally different direction. And she looked... AMAZING. She started weight lifting.

I've always been opposed to lifting weights. I mean, really... who wants to look like those freak chicks on the muscle mags? NOT ME. If I look like I can take down my husband, I don't view that as a good thing. I realize there are some women out there who do, and I respect their right to their own viewpoint. Me, though... not so much. But I figured out that lifting weights doesn't really change my body to that degree. I'll admit -- I'm not into the olympic power lifting. I've seen what those women can do, and I don't know very many men who would want to make them mad. But that's not what I'm after. (Pause for a moment to reflect... would I want men to be afraid to make me mad.... Hmmmm... okay, no. Not really.)

What I did decide, though, is that I don't want to be my thinnest, weakest self. I want to be my strongest, healthiest self. That looked so much different from what I was doing!

I'm not the buffest babe. And I'm not "totally fit," (and what in heaven's name IS that, anyway?). But I am now constantly in process to become the strongest, healthiest me that I can be.

My relationship with food (yes, seriously -- it's that bad -- we're "in a relationship") is much more healthy now. I guess you could say that I'm no longer in an abusive relationship, where either I'm abusing it or it's abusing me. I've been turned on to a more "paleolithic" way of eating, which is NOT a diet. And I still count my calories, but more to make sure that I get enough of them than anything else. I do, after all, want to make some muscle here.

So here I am, a woman in my 40s... having had a total epiphany about food, diet, exercise, weights, cardio, and LIFE. I want to live life -- to the full. I want it in spades. How in the world am I going to do that if I'm at my thinnest, my weakest self? Don't get me wrong... I am NOT about raising my body fat percentage. I'm currently running at about 20% and I think that's pretty fine. I AM about gaining muscle. Being strong. Being capable. Being the best me that I can be.