Being Intentional

So I am GREAT about posting when I am doing WELL, eating right, exercising regularly, etc. But I am TERRIBLE about posting when I have fallen off the wagon (I'm bad about that with WW too--I just like going when I know for CERTAIN that I have lost weight-it's the type A/control freak part of me...So I am posting, just to break myself of that bad habit!)

I decided that WW was too much for me to deal with right now, and I am just doing "phase 1" of the Best Life Diet (the extent of which is:

(1) no alcohol (not too hard, I don't drink more than 1 glass a month!);
(2) lots of water (again, easy!);
(3) increase exercise (I decided to increase it to 3x per week, which is not too hard, but I have been a bigtime exercise slacker of late, so I set myself a pretty low goal! Just getting back on it!);
(3) 3 meals a day plus at least one snack (not that hard, but I am trying to make everything intentional, not just grabbing something when the kids are eating, or giving in to the urge for junk food during the kids' naps); and
(4) stop eating 2 hours before bedtime (turns out that this is the lynchpin of my dieting woes!)

So I've been doing really well so far. Having some guidelines is forcing me to be very intentional about what I eat/how I prioritize exercise. But since the guidelines aren't an "all or nothing"/hardcore diet-y kind of thing, I've been feeling a lot more mellow, which makes me think that this can be a longterm thing.

A last point--you are all very inspirational. Thank you for letting me be part of this blog!

Niamh

Some thoughts from Billy Blanks

Doing my Taebo today, I was struck by some of Billy's comments. They reached my heart...

"Have you got the gusto? Use your mind and your will ."

" Where I am today, is where my mind put me. Where I'll be tomorrow, is where my mind'll put me."

"Be Strong.
Get Fit.
Have Fun.
Then don't worry about the last one, it will happen - Lose Weight."

"Walk by Faith, not by Sight."

How was Thanksgiving?

Here was the menu: Turkey, ham, brisket, cornbread stuffing, white bread stuffing, rice, corn pudding, rolls, macaroni and cheese, green beans with ham, collard greens with ham, sweet potatoes (no marshmellows), cranberry sauce, gravy, juice, coke, sweet tea.

I had 2 slices of turkey with cranberry sauce, cornbread stuffing, both green veg x2, sweet potatoes, and water. It was a triumph of self control!

Bill's uncle is a minister so there were desserts from his congregation on every free surface and under the tables. I had one piece of pineapple coconut cake. It was yummy, and I felt great at the end. Whew! When we got back home, I did some yoga and went for a swim, and I haven't gained any weight. :) Now to survive Christmas....

Thanksgiving plan of attack

My trip to the midwife yesterday went well, except when she asked, "Do you always gain a lot of weight when you're pregnant?" Uuhhhhhh...yeah. So, she just gave a gentle caution about eating during the holidays. I have to start keeping a food journal to check for hypoglycemia so I thought I would prep for Thanksgiving with the age old Weight Watchers trick of preplanning your plate. I'm not cooking so I need to think out what might be there, check the calories and fat of different dishes, and figure out reasonable portions of the foods I want to eat. I remember the first Thanksgiving I did this and how great I felt afterward. It was the first year I didn't feel sick!

And Leonie, I had a friend from England who once told me that they celebrate Thanksgiving on July 4. ;) If it's not an international secret, maybe you could share the menu, LOL.

Guess What's Coming for Dinner?

Wow the squash came out BIG!! lol

We are joining my family at my parents' for Thanksgiving. My mom orders this fantastic smoked turkey. She is making mashed potatos, gravy and rolls. Sil is brining the famous brocolli cheese/cream of mushroom soup cassarole the boys never get at home.

I am to bring the cranberry sauce, pies and a vegatable dish... and I am making something healthy! I have been on a big butternut squash kick lately (you won't believe the vitamin A!) and found this recipe. I will let you know how it comes out...



VAL'S BAKED BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH
APPLES

1 1/2 lbs. butternut squash
1/4 c. melted butter
1 tbsp. flour
4 apples
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. mace

Cut squash in 1/2 inch slices and peel. Peel and core apples and slice as for pie. Arrange squash in ungreased baking dish. Top with apples. Then add the brown sugar, flour, and mace which you have mixed together and the melted butter on top. Cover bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. This recipes fills a 2 quart casserole dish. Serves 8.

Woo hoo!

Wore a black skirt to work yesterday - nothing new.

But this skirt used to be a nice , straight, black, pencil line, close fitting skirt.

It still is close fitting ~ but less so - its kinda loose around the waist.

Woo hoo!

Nice tip!

I am enjoying exploring www.fitnessmagazine.com

Here is a tip I liked!

"You don't have to be a fitness saint to get results. Follow the 80/20 plan: Eighty percent of the year, you'll exercise regularly and eat well. Know that you'll slip 20 percent of the time due to holidays and work deadlines. When you accept that fitness isn't an all-or-nothing proposition, you're more likely to stick with it for life."
--Maureen Wilson, owner/personal trainer/instructor, Sweat Co. Studios, Vancouver, B.C.

I'm in Love! And I'm a believer!

Yes, those are the words of a Monkees song.

But today they describe my love affair.

Yep, I'm having a love fest.

With my workouts ~ Taebo and Turbo Jam.

I managed to buy a few older Taebo Advanced Live workouts, secondhand. They are OOP now.
I did Taebo AL 10 yesterday - love, love, love! The 60 minutes are a hard workout, tough kickboxing and cardio, some butt work ( ouch!!), abs ( standing and floorwork) , pushups and upper body work.

The music is phenomenal - try doing killer butt work while singing along to Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistable". I'm gonna look irresistable after these workouts ~ not! But I can dream along and sing along while having fun and working out hard. :-)

I am reminded of the words of the Divinyl's song ~ "There's a fine line between pleasure and pain." No, the Divinyls are not singing about workouts! But the song describes how I feel about killer workouts - they hurt, it hurts to walk upstairs and sit today but, boy, the workouts are fun to do, I get a great sense of achievement and I love that soreness. I love finishing a workout, dripping with sweat. Pleasure and pain...

And I love cool music in workouts. Very motivating - just when you think you can't continue, a fun song is played - and who can stop during that song ?

Which is why I am in love with the Taebo Live workouts.

And with today's workout - Turbo Jam Cardio Party 3. A party for sure, and cardio and standing ab and back work. 50 minutes of dance and kickbox, with a fast paced anaerobic drill ( the Turbo) in the middle. I like to skip back and do double Turbos. I sing along to this and "throw my hands up in the air" - "party, party people - whose house? My house?" So go the lyrics. lol!

Sorry to bore you all ~ but, if you can't share your love affairs with friends, who can you share with? At least this love affair is both moral and legal......

A very inspiring thread...

..at the Firm YaYas site ( a fitness site that I visit).

Read these stories of women in their 50s, 60s, and 70s who workout.

I wanna be like that, when I get to those ages. :-)

Quick check in :)

I love Leonie's quote, and Cindy the story about your playlist was priceless! LOL I had a couple of crazy busy weeks...last week was a "planned unschooling" week so the weekend before my workout time was eaten up by planning. This past weekend I was wiped (but the week was GREAT) so again no workout (but I did get my eyebrows waxed--LOL--and they look awful!).

Funny thing, though, is that Bill hasn't exercised in 2 weeks either which has never happened since I've known him. I think he even went on the treadmill when he was still half blind after his LASIK surgery! Somehow his not working out made me feel like a real slug. So yesterday we agreed to get moving again. Today I got in 1/2 hour of prenatal yoga (fabulous!) and am planning one more week day workout before my Sat swim. :)

The value of exercise

I found this quote to be very encouraging - I love my workouts and believe that fitness is more important than a number on a scale ( most of the time!). How I feel is so much better after regular workouts...

I hope this encourages you also, to continue or to re-start your workout routines. :-)

"..exercise is so vitally important because of its mental, not physical, benefit. There are obviously tons of physical benefits, but the most important mental benefit is that exercise keeps your mind toned. When you work out, you are reminding yourself that health and fitness are strong values that you are choosing to live by. Because exercise is immediately rewarding, owing to the feel-good hormones that are stimulated, you receive a reward for doing something good for yourelf. According to bariatric expert D. J. Shah, during or after exercise or bodies secrete good hormones as well as glucagons. These all have beneficial effects on the body's metabolism. Additionally, the hormone level of cortisol goes down, which benefits the body for weight loss. Thus, exercise keeps you in the mindset of health." from "Joining the Thin Club" by Judith Lederman