Your life is yours alone, Rise up and live it! ~Terry Goodkind

And why is this relevant you ask? Well the basement is where I usually exercise. When I did my dvds down there, sometime after December up until spring I had to stop working out down there due to the cold. I would just restructure my workouts, do things like walking dvds in our hall way and stuff like that. Now my Total Gym is down there…the cold hasn’t been too bad though. Right now it feels like a mild winter…but it will get colder.

So I heard on the radio these little heaters were only $16 on sale!! That was way less that I expected to pay for something like that. My dad says that it won’t heat our basement and won’t be of help-but it will at least heat the area around my Total Gym for me? I just won’t be able to do much jumping like a dvd…on the Total Gym I have my little zone so I don’t think I will risk bumping into the space heater like I would if I were doing a Jillian dvd. And Total Gym is more of my strength routine and I am doing my DDR as cardio upstairs-where it is warm.

I haven’t worked out since…wednesday though. With my finger cut, I didn’t think I should do the Total Gym-all the adjusting of the levels, and using the handles ect might be too much until my finger mends. If I over use it or bump it it hurts but otherwise it is looking alot better. Tonight I feel like I’m in the mood for DDR though so I will try that. I figure doing DDR I don’t use my hands anyway and so there is no way to bump it too much as I use only my feet.

Apples might be healthy, but they are very dangerous!!

Cutting my apple this morning for breakfast, I must have been sleepy or something, cause I cut my finger, pretty deep! I woke my mom up-lol and we finally stopped the bleeding. I had her cut my apple and ate my breakfast and she bandaged my finger. She doesn’t think I need stitches and it hasn’t bled since so…

She had to braid my hair! lol

I figure that if I ate ice cream, I would not have had this problem. Not healthy, but less dangerous!

I texted my sister, she said pretty much the same thing…said if I ate cookies and candy bars for breakfast I wouldn’t be cut.

Oh well, I am just trying not to use it and keep from bumping it as much as I can.

I know I am not very social. I don’t have many friends. I had very few friends in high school as most kids picked on me. In college I went to a college that was 50 miles away and a community college. I had friends but like never went to their house…and I never really kept in touch with them.

I don’t go to clubs, bars or things like that and I don’t like to drink.

I live in a small town, I don’t know what types of organizations in the area that might even be available to my interests. I don’t go to church either since we moved and the people of our church moved too. My mom and I sometimes go to their yard sales. they are now about half an hour away from us.

So, I’m kind of in this…funk. I’m 25, not married and I have no social life. On one hand, I really don’t mind. I like my life and don’t have much time for other things. I do my 9 hours at work and go home, have dinner, sometimes I workout or if there is a favorite show on I watch that. Then I shower and bed. On the weekends I like to spend time with my mom, we usually go to lunch and we go shopping. I have a box of books that I bought wanting to read…every so often I pick one out on a Sunday and read it. Or little things like watching a dvd I have been wanting to watch, a book I wanted to read, ect. I like playing alone sometimes!

I have been a member of online dating sites for years. It sounds stupid, but how do I fit another person into my life? lol! Alot of the people who are messaging me kind of live 30+ miles from me. I was really hoping to find someone in my area. If I do date someone, it would be cool that we could meet for dinner and go walking in the evenings after work in the summer. Or on the weekends we could go roller skating or something…

But it just seems like I only think about getting home and exercising. What if I find someone who hates exercising?

I am going to be 40 before I meet someone!?! haha

It isn’t really weight loss related, but it is just something I have been thinking about…

My next tip would be exercise. Make sure you are ready for physical activity and discuss this change with your doctor. And start out easy.

I started out by going to Curves and walking dvds. I started particularly with a series of walking dvds by Leslie Sansone called “Walk Away the pounds” I was around 280 pounds…the 1 mile was less than 20 minutes and I took it at my own pace. Once I got comfortable with it and it became easier I tried her 2 miler. She has 5 miles in all so there is room for challenge. But my point is, especially if you are new to exercise, do not expect too much and don’t push yourself too much. You don’t want to risk pulling a muscle or injuring yourself.

I would recommend to make sure you are using correct form. Again injury can happen. Personal trainers can help with this. Unfortunately I can’t afford that…so I use dvds, I even youtube exercises online to watch form. And if I get to an exercise in a dvd that makes me feel uncomfortable or I don’t like…I DON’T DO IT! I walk in place and the resume the next exercise. For instance, some dvds will have you do tricep exercises like the “French Press” or “Tricep Dip” I am not sure what it is about it…but these make my elbows hurt. I don’t know why…so I just don’t do them.

If an exercise is too high impact for you, skip it also. I remember doing the Shred at some point and all the high impact stuff was alot…if I could do 15 seconds of jumping jacks when she wanted 30 seconds…I did 15 seconds and then walked in place the rest of it. I actually found that as I did it more often throughout the month…I almost made it 30 seconds a few times!

A good workout starts and ends with a warm up and cool down. A warm up gets your blood flowing. It might be some gentle walking before you go on a jog. It might be doing bicep curls with a 5 pound dumbbell before using your 10 pound dumbbell…and then cooling down allows your body to relax, your heart rate to come down slowly. Then stretching your muscles is another important idea.

Other Workout Thoughts

*Short, 10 minute workouts count. You can have 3 10 minute workouts instead of a big 30 minute workout if that fits your schedule better

*Bring music or entertainment. An ipod, or even watching tv while you walk in place helps to distract you.

*Consider purchasing second hand machines instead of paying full price for them. I got a stationary bike for only $10

*Working out can be indoors or outdoors. It can use as much or as little equipment as you want. It can be social or solitary.

*If you hate outdoors, workout indoors. If you like outdoors, do outdoor stuff. If you like outdoor sports like skiing, football ect. do these

*You can workout inside as well

*You might want your workout to be social. This could be a big class at a gym or it could be a game of tag with your friends or children. It could even be walking your best friend-your doggie!

*Whatever you do, make it something you WANT to do! If you HATE to jog, don’t jog! Ride your bike. Play soccer. Play Tennis. Dance. Stick to something that motivates you to do it.

I’m  not the type to make resolutions. But I really like to look back and see my achievements and improvements, and maybe even what I have been doing wrong. Then I plan to do better, learn more, try more in 2012. And then…yep at the end of 2012 assess everything again…

2011 Achievements & Stuff

I have done alot this year. I got a new, full-time job and had to adjust it into my lifestyle. From college, then part time working to now full-time working. Also an office job. Plus tempting office lunch foods…I went through a long time of…exhaustion. I was so tired through the summer. I talked to my doctor about it…apparently going to sleep at 9 p.m. and waking up at 6:30 a.m. wasn’t a red flag for her? o.O

*I got a Total Gym; I love it!

*I used my ipod pedometer to track some of my jogs & workouts (want to do this when I start walking in summer!)

*Started DDR, got mat and 3 games that I really like. Can do beginner and basic on some songs

*Maintained my clothing size; I lost my scale…so I don’t know my weight anymore but I am still the same size

*I pack my own lunch and keep healthy snacks at work. In the summer I did a salad each day until I started getting crappy veggies…now I heat a lean cuisine up for lunch. Fruit, crackers & tuna, or nuts serve as healthy snacks

*I occasionally will order their take out…but I try to keep it to 1 day a week.

What I feel like I need to improve

Definitely the food. I sometimes feel like I am eating too much and other days I don’t feel like I eat enough. I have stopped counting my calories, so maybe I could try that more often. I do get plenty of fruits in, both in breakfast and in snacks. I probably get enough calcium. I get some veggies at lunch and then some at dinner.

I’ve started a habit that I don’t understand…it is getting up early in the morning to eat. I’ve no clue why…but I am working on stopping that!

I’ve also relaxed with the holidays, and have been snacking on things like holiday cookies.

I like to have mini candy things for “desserts” after dinner. Like a mini candy bar or a piece of sugarless candy that is sweet but not a huge portion seems to satisfy.

Goals for 2012

I want to continue to make my workouts fun. I will continue to use my Total Gym, and play my DDR, and go for walks when the weather is good. I also want to go roller skating. I know I keep saying that but I really do. I’m just afraid of injury. What would happen if I break a leg or another bone? I think I worry alot…but it is a possibility.

I really need to focus on my diet. Eat more veggies in my meals, or as snacks.

I need to eat less crappy food. lol! I feel like I am more in control at work but when I get home there is so much food (there always has been) and it is kind of difficult to resist…

I also want to start listening to the podcasts and keep reading stuff on health again. I sometimes find it hard to do everything…I’m at work for 9 hours, I come home and workout, and get tired and go to bed early. But I need to find time again to do the things that I like…:/

My tip # 1 is drink water. All you need for this is a good water bottle!! I do recommend you choose one that is BPA free though. (Read this for more information on BPA http://www.acacamps.org/hottopics/bpa)

Reasons why drinking water helps us lose weight

1. Sometimes we mistake our thirst for hunger. We think we are hungry when we are really thirsty. Therefore drinking water may make us realize we were only thirsty

2. Water fills us up. When we drink water with our meal, we have less room left for alot of food

3. Water boosts our metabolism. Water keeps our body hydrated. When our body is dehydrated, our kidneys get lazy. When our kidneys are lazy, they hand off their work to our liver. Our liver is responsible for so many things, including things dealing with our metabolism. But, when the liver has to do the kidney’s work as well as its own, it is less effective doing its own job including running our metabolism.

4. When we replace water with our normal sodas and high calorie beverages, we save calories.

5. Beware. You CAN DRINK TOO MUCH WATER!! There have been instances where people have consumed too much water in a short span of time (the stories I read were on a dare or something) and have been hospitalized or died. So be aware that you can push too much water into your system.

6. You might need more water in the winter.

This is how I started. I did not plan on losing weight…I only planned to drink water to support a boyfriend who was told to not drink sodas so he could manage his weight. I did not want to drink a bunch of soda in front of him, so I started drinking water even at home. I don’t think he stuck to it, but I did. For a month. I never weighed myself before doing that or right after, but I really noticed my clothes were baggier! And I had to go to a larger size when buying new clothes…that is what really started my weight loss.

Tips on Drinking Water

1. Add fruit like cucumber, strawberry or a lemon

2. Crystal light-there are little packs of things like Crystal light which you can add to a bottle of water and it flavors it. I sometimes use them but beware that they have some calories. I think mine are only 10 calories per stick…which are way better than the calories in a soda.

3. Carry a water bottle with you, I keep mine on my desk. If you are visual, have something visual like pennies or buttons with you and use them to keep track of how much you have drank. If you are at home alot, keep them at home and have a dish you can fill for when you drink a cup. If you travel alot, keep your buttons/coins in one pocket and transfer them to another when you have drank that cup.

4.  Milk is good. I drink skim milk with my breakfast as it helps me get in my calcium for the day. You can even use milk in a smoothie.

5. Add ice if you prefer cold water.

6. Go without flavored water during important meals. -My mom is always into the little packs of flavored stuff and she carries them around. I am less interested in them while we eat at a restaurant, or eating. At restaurants I order water of course. And I have come accustomed to actually enjoying the flavor of the food I am eating. I don’t want to enjoy my ice cream and then get a drink and it be flavored or soda…so usually at a restaurant I just like water.

So these are some good reasons to drink your water and then some to help you stick to it!!

It is almost the new year and for many people that means New Year’s Resolutions! And that usually means weight loss is typically one of them….so expect a big surge in newbies for a few weeks!!

At least thinking back to when I was a newbie (I am not sure about your experience) I was very scared, nervous, and lost!! I remember knowing nothing! Everyone blogging seemed to know what they were doing…I was afraid to ask what to do! I believed that low carb was the only way to lose weight. I didn’t know how to exercise. I didn’t know that eating less than 1200 calories was a bad idea…and that it was a good calorie range for the people in their 120-130s but not for someone who weighed 280 pounds!!

So, I’ve made alot of mistakes when I first started to lose weight. I think that this is what makes this so hard. You either try it and do it wrong and give up because your discouraged or you don’t know where to start. So, in past years I have tried to make resources available to newbies. I had a forum in the newbie section going for starting out. I think this year I want to do some blogs on where to start.

I believe I will start with basic stuff. So if you’ve already been doing this a while, it might be way too basic for you. But maybe you want to brush up on the basics! And if your a veteran here, feel free to share your own knowledge and experiences for the newbies! We can all learn from each other and that is why I love this!!

I took a Clariton-D this morning to see if it helped. I don’t have a headache right now!! My headache usually starts around 3 and I don’t have it yet! And Clariton said it would not cause drowsyness…but I was a bit tired today. So it might just be my body using resources to fight the sinus thing. And I don’t think the Clariton made me feel groggy…but I just didn’t feel…normal. lol

I am not sure if I will workout. If I do, I just want to do my fun DDR workout of like 20 minutes of it. I think I am making progress with DDR! When I first started, I could barely get through a beginner song!! I would pick a song and they would BOO me off stage!! A few songs I could get a D (they grade you on the steps you get right) and so…I just started sticking to those few songs that I could complete! I was getting Cs and Ds in them…but oh well!!

Then I noticed something else in my game. A Workout Mode and when I first tried that it was tough because they use alot of basic songs and I have not passed beginner. Some of their workout courses are way above my abilities, but I have been doing Workout Routine 1 and have been improving. At first I just tried to hit whatever steps I could get because they don’t boo you from workout mode. So, it kind of helps me practice! Now I am doing well with those songs!! Like, I still don’t get all of the steps right, but I get alot of them right and can usually keep my meter in the green! It sometimes goes into the red…but a few times I have finished it in the green…

And the beginner songs I first started out doing and got Ds and Cs? I can get As on most of them now!! Yay!

So I don’t know how to progress into basic as I play them in beginner right now…but would like to progress to basic eventually.

Foodwise…the holidays suck!! lol

One of our coworkers made a goody bag of holiday treats for us as a Christmas gift and distributed them out today. It was like a big bag of yummy!!! I snacked on some of the little chocolate covered pretzels, but when I got home I really opened it up and sorted through it. I got 2 zip lock bags and split a bunch of it up to each of my parents! haha well, I had to take a bite of at least everything first! Then I just sorted out my favorites (a few cookies, chocolate covered crackers, 1 whoopi pie) and then divided everything else up to my parents.

I kind of feel that is a reasonable approach to it. I am enjoying it, left myself have my favorites but then shared the rest with someone else so I didn’t eat it all myself.

The past week or so (I don’t remember when it started) I’ve started having bad headaches and getting tired mid-day. I think my headache is like a sinus infection…I’m not stuffy though at all. My head just hurts, like right above my left eye area. I already take an antihistamine too…

But usually if my head hurts working out doesn’t help it. In fact it makes it worse :/

Maybe I need Dayquil?

Yesterday’s Food:

B-1/2 cup oatmeal, apple, pack of raisins

L-shrimp & broccoli, string beans & seafood salad

S-oatmeal cream little debbie…

D-ice cream cake…

S-granola bar

Exercise: Total Gym strength workout

Today’s Food

B-1/2 cup oatmeal, banana, skim milk

L-lean cuisine chicken & pasta

S-1 chocolate covered pretzel w M&Ms on it (someone sent a bunch to the office)

D-chili, 2 slices garlic bread

L-yogurt maybe? Clementines? Or something else?

Exercise: I might do some DDR tonight. Not a lot, and I will stop if I notice it makes my head worse…

I’ve been reading this Dr. Phil book…some interesting stuff I wanted to share

He has categorizes food into two categories, low response cost and high response cost

Low response cost is food that are easily eaten, very convenient and require little preparation. Kind of like crackers, chips, cookies, ice cream ect or junk food. We don’t need to cook it and we really don’t need to chew it all that much either

A high response cost food is food we might need to prepare and might require more chewing. Like an apple or broccoli that requires alot of chewing, or a piece of fish that needs cooked ect. It is real food. More colorful…like alot of processed stuff is white or brown ect wheras fruits and veggies are bright and colorful

I found this quote interesting:

“If a low response cost food is crispy with sharp edges–such as taco or tortilla chips–you can literally lacerate your throat. I’m not kidding! According to one study I read, the chief cause of throat tears in this country is eating taco chips too fast, without chewing them. It’s like swallowing a buzz saw. There’s more: The number one mouth wound seen by doctors is burn, caused by gulping down hot food too fast”

I just find that interesting…I did notice that when I eat chips I sometimes get “scratches” on the inside of my mouth. Now I rarely eat chips and so don’t really have that problem.

Another interesting idea he has is to watch portions based on your plate-he wants us to imagine our plate with a cross in it and then eat 1 square of the cross meat, 2 vegetables and 1 a healthy grain. He doesn’t stress calorie counting or serious portioning but just the imagining of a regular sized plate and that X or cross and focus on high-response cost foods

Why?

He had a client who obsessed over his food all day long and measuring and counting everything. He was fixated on food. Dr. Phil points out that “Let me ask you this: You know that for recovery, alcoholics must abstain from liquor. But what if an alcoholic, fresh out of a substance abuse program, were places in circumstances in which he was required to handle booze all day?” If you are trying to control your intake of a substance,  even food, you have to get your focus off it or you’ll only be fueling your obsession.

This kind of makes sense to me…when I lost weight I never measured my food and just estimated the calories. I think it might work for some but not all…

His thoughts on will power. He says should not focus on will power because that doesn’t help. We should focus on planning, strategy ect not will power. He wants you to plan, not react.

Another interesting thing…

He had one client who went to him believing she could never again eat certain foods. She saw herself as an alcoholic, but only with food. If she had a “forbidden” food she would binge on it…as part of her program he had her eat a piece of cake or pie once a week. Of course, this was just 1 piece and not the entire baked good! But his intention was to desensitize her in some way…from these foods. He said she began to have a better attitude towards food and seeing it not as good or bad but just foods to be eaten in different quantities (more healthier food, less unhealthier foods) and instead of having the guilt of all of that, she ate to give her body the required nutrients and without feeling deprived.

There was another good thing he said about willpower, maybe in another chapter…as I can’t find it right now. Something about we don’t have to resist tempting foods 24 hours, 7 days a week. But it only takes a few seconds to accept or reject a food in the “battle”. It makes sense to me…in your life when food is offered is really only a few seconds of the day. Or when you choose lunch, or what to eat for breakfast-only a few seconds maybe a minute of thought time before you follow through with the action and not a 24/7 battle we might think it is…

oh wait I did find it. ok he calls it “impulse moments” brief periods of time, lasting no more than two or three minutes, in which you forget your resolve, you react without thinking, and you break your momentum by caving in to the urgent to overeat or binge”

So our eating isn’t out of control all of the day, we don’t have to control it 24/7. We just have to control it in those few minutes!!

He suggests that we identify our own impulse moments in our personal lives, and come up with ways to avoid them by a change of routine, schedule or environment

Some things to think about and maybe something you can use!