But, is there time?

I was just reading Willa's post with her goals and saw the part about the exercise cutting into her Geo Challenge and/or curriculum time...

Great point. So, how do you all fit in the exercise? The sneaky and the planned? Would love to hear.

This reminded me of a conversation I had with Stephen (18) and Bryan (15) today. It was annoucned that Stephen was going to try and survive on a hour less of sleep. He is a night owl but we determined he really only sleeps about 9 hours a night, even though sometimes he sleeps REAALLL late.

We were talking about how to find more time in the day. I told him I gave up blogs for a while... Had to when things got hectic. He could not think of anything he does that 'wastes' time.

Well, I happen to see how he eats. Slow. The boys both usually read or listen to CDs or audio books while eating. It can take Stephen 45 minutes to eat a sandwich.

So, I suggested, in a nice motherly tone, that maybe he spend less time eating.

He replied, "But that is my READING time!"

Touche'

So, this related to Willa becuase I took a long-overdue peek at more of her blog. (I miss reading it Willa). And I remembered, what a terrific writer she is. And thought, no, I don't want exercise to take away from her writing time. I can just see her in the mountains of the Sierras writing and thinking and sipping coffee (or water... lol)

Willa.. ok.. how about when you hike, can you take your lap top? Or dictate to a machine? Maybe this is about multi tasking!

Sorry, I am a bit nuts-- long dog sitting day. And the day started with this KILLER workout at the Y with two gym buddies, who, by the way, I hope will join our blog. I told them (Lisa and Lynette) about the January Challenge and they were psyched!

So... repeat question:
How to you fit in your exercise in your already busy and important life??

January Challenge- Cindy's plan

Ok.. here is my revised plan:

• Drink water. See how much I drink with my workout and make sure I get enough the rest of the day to make 64 oz.
• Sneaky exercise: Be more active. Walk the dogs, park far from the store, on days I feel fat and lazy (or on my cycle) move MORE, not less.
• Use my 1400 cal/day diet as a backdrop or default. Vary it, have a treat now and then, but have that as healthy options so I don't eat junk. Keep healthy food in the house and in sight. (and hide the chips!)
• Don't eat junk. When I am tired or stressed, have presense of mind.
• When I get down, use my affirmations and turn to prayer and thanksgiving- laugh daily.
• Push my workouts. Try new things. Cardio, weights and pilates. See how strong I can get!

January Challenge--Rachel May's PLAN

Thanks, Cindy for the kick that I needed to get going again!

This is my goal for January. PLAN to exercise and then execute the plan.

So, on Saturday when Bill and I plan our menu for the week, I will also plan 3 30-min exercise sessions, on the stationary bike, at the pool or outside for a ....ahem....jog.

I was going to use the Runner's World Race Finder to plan to run a 5K, but I think I'll save that for February's challenge.

I will also PLAN to get all my water in each day. My plan is to drink at least 24oz by lunchtime, and 2 more 24 oz cups by bedtime. When I do that, my little nursling is a very happy camper.

It doesn't sound like an ambitious plan, but it feels like one at the moment.

January Challenge!

Ok, ya'll.. let's go for January!

So far I hear the following girls are in:

Leonie
Willa
Niamh
Rachel May (when her stomach calms down!) :0 -- HOPE you feel better soon!!
Julie (when she gets back Jan 10)

Did I miss anyone? Anyone else want to join in?

Ok, let's start fresh for the new year!

Here are the rules:
Create a new post with your goals. They can be whatever you want them to be.... small, huge, in between. They always say to make specific goals, but if something like 'being mindful' works for you, the do it. Honestly I think this is all about habits. So if you just want to pick one habit and work on it, that is great, too.

I would love to have everyone make a seperate post with their own goals so it is easy to go back and find. That way we can READ it and HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE... lol, of course in a nice way. But what is better than your girlfriends cheering you on and helping you when you fall?

Should we make this for the month of January, then hope it sticks? So think of goals that you think you can do for a month.

My 42 day challenge is going great IF I add belgium chocolate and sugar cookies to my 'diet'. I am going to try and stick with that healthy eating but give myself allowances.. need to think of how much I want to hold myself to for the month.

Ok... hope you all will post! It can be about exercise, eating, affirmations, positive thinking, taking vitamins, drinking water, just being more active....
anything you want to work on and would like us to help you with. Even if helping just means knowing that we will look in and cheer you on!

Leonie posted here (feel free to edit, Leonie if you want) and I will post mine again I am scraping my 42 day challenge (I'm FREE!) and will start up with you all on Jan 1.

Looking forward to it..starting off the new year on a healthy note. :)

Joining that challenge...

Hey, Cindy, can I join your challenge?

But mine will be a January challenge.

The challenge?

1. To continue with my daily workouts. But with a mostly one hour mostly Taebo focus. I just want to feel and look fitter and Taebo always does that for me.

2. Work on what I am eating. Need to eat healthy. Stop this junk! Diets just plain don't work for me. But working on eating well, on good habits, on the whys of eating, on eating mindfully, well, this helps. Reading Skinny Bitch and Half-Assed for encouragement.

3. Use my slogans. My mottoes. My affirmations. Where I am today is where my mind put me. Where I'll be tomorrow is where my mind will put me. Get Fit Have Fun Be Strong. Every day above ground is a blessed day. Use your mind and spirit. Be what you wanna be.

Affirmations help me, remind me of who I am and who I want to be.

So, that is my three step January challenge. Cindy, how are you going with yours? Maybe we can post regular updates?

Anyone going to join me??

Do I have any takers on the 42 day challenge? It is down to 35 days now.. lol

How about after Christmas.. or start on Jan 1 and have it be a 25 day challenge! :)

I feel so lonely...... lol

Anyone going to join me??

Awesome workout!

Ok.. I had the most incredible workout yesterday! And it also opened me to new horizons. I think that may be the most important thing.

I work out at theY as you all know. I do classes and the women's weight center. Also do the cardio room which is a big room full of all ages and lots of cadio machines.

Well, they also have a big weight room which I avoid. I alaways thought of it as the big hulky guys.. and felt intimiated to go in there.

Well, Lisa, who is an awesome aerobics instractor, sweet as can be and a friend now, was hanging in there working out and clowing around with friends. I snuck in to do some abs, and tried to make myself invisable. Well, she was hving such fun, I went over to try some machines near her. Soon she introduced me to psople and asked if I watned to join them for a circuit train on Friday. She said it will be HARD, but that is good!

(She cracks me up, because when we are in class doing something REALLY hard, she will look up, grin, and say "Life is good!" She is right!

I agreed to come.

So, yesterday morning at 6:30 am we all met.
She had devised a circuit train. 3 stations per block. We all rotate each station for a full minute at max effort. Them move to the next station. After we all finish the block, we rest a bit then do another block.

It was HARD stuff! We worked out for 1 hour and 20 minutes! There were four of us, one guy this rock hard body cop- nicest guy in the world and the three of them would trade jabs and trash talk... but they were all sweet to me as I was new.

It was so much fun! Just comraderie and helping each other max out and achieve.. and laugh and work hard. It opened up a whole new world (why was I afraid of the weight room) and also that you can have FUN while you work out... and that you can form friendships around working out and being healthy.

And.. I am so sore today.. truly in mucslesI have never worked before. Can't wait till our next circut train!

And I encourage everyone.. open your horizons, do something new, make working out fun, find a friend.. laugh! Life IS good!

Eating plan

Hi Julie and all

Here is my eating plan, cut and pasted from Word. Not sure how it will come through but I can email the doc to you if you want.
Really it is just eating 5 times a day. About 1400 calories and spacing them out. You can eat whatever you prefer, but I just listed foods I like, that are healthy, satisfy me and easy to keep aournd. I just like having a structure, so when hunger hits I run to my list to see what to eat, versus grazing through my fridge and pantry! Usually what I have planned sounds really good and I stay on track.

Of course I still struggle, and at night especially. Candy... chips, still call my name and I an working on that. Let me know if you want any more info... sometimes I like structure sometimes not.. hope this helps!
Cindy


Breakfast: 300 cal
2 eggs and toast
or
6 oz yogurt, 1 t honey and
¾ C Blueberries
coffee w/ ½

Snack: 200 cal
Chicken 6 oz
or mini bagel 120 w/ 2t pb 80
Or 6 oz Yogurt w/ 1 t honey

Lunch 300 cal
Salmon patty 4 oz,
or
Chicken
or
tuna 6 oz 200
with salad 1 t Oil/vinegar or spianch
1/2 C corn or small potato

Snack: 200
Tea or banana and 1 t pb
or
Fruit and cheese: choose between
-1 C grapes
-1 orange
-1 C strawberries
Mozz or Feta cheese 1oz

Dinner: 300 cal
4 oz salmon, or chicken
green veg
½ c corn or small potato
small fruit

Dessert:
Sugar free pudding or max glut and tea 100


Vitamins
Omega Oil

Water 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 total 1400 cal

The 42 Day Challenge

"Over Christmas? Are you crazy?"
~ my 15 year old son

"Anytime is the right time for health!"
~ me, (with my MOM-answer)

Yup, I am starting the challenge now. Of course I will have a Christmas cookie and a treat here and there. But I realized I have lost that 'connection' of food to mouth and mind and body. So that is one of my goals.

I am really getting back to basics. A few months ago I got serious about getting in shape as I decided I was really about 40 pounds overweight. I had a picture taken of me and realized I didn't recognize myself. Ugh. I got on a scheduel with a buddy and we really worked hard. I lost about 25, then went into maintenance, mostly because the schedule was pretty rigourous. But then maintenance turned into major-lapse and my old habits came back. So I am back up several pounds. I am not going to weigh. I think that would not be productive at this point. But I want some measurable goals.

So, they are really a lot of what I did before. But this time I am going to also focus on the connections part. Really think about what I eat, how I feel, focus on health and energy. Let weight loss be a by-product.

But here are my goals:

Eat on a plan I made up. It is about 1400 cal a day. Structured, but has options. So I can keep good food in the house and have options I like.

Workout schedule- Aerobics 6X week, Pilates 2 X week, Weights 3X week.
I have my Y schedule and will put it on my planner daily. I want to burn 550 cal a day.

Vitamins, essential oils, water.

Prayer and meditation

Focus on how I feel, health, when I see myself straying and coming up with solutinos (this is the hard part for me)

Ok! Those are my goals! Wish me luck!

Join me if you like! (with your own goals or share some of mine:) )

Hey Fellow Leaners but not Meaners!!

I have been awol, just checking in, but wanted to say hi! I hope to read more regularly and catch up. From what I see, looks like Julie and Leonie have been mostly holding down the fort. Good going, girls!

I have had a rough fall, and unfortunaltely hit has transferred to poundage UP and strength DOWN.

But that is ok, that is life. And I am full of resolve and have myself on a 42 day campaign to bring back some discipline in my life. I am so excited!

More on that later.. but I wanted to share something I discovered today. This is the little stuff, that adds the pounds back. Little things like this...

Ok, I had a great workout this morning and brought back out my heartrate monitor and watch to track my calorie burn. At the end of my workout came on this song I LOVE: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. Who can't jam to that? So I counted how many cals I burn in that 4min `14 second song.

30 calories.

Then I realized that those 3 handfuls of Peanut M&Ms I ate last night (which took about 6 seconds to scarf) probably were somewhat more thatn that hard workout song.

I researched and found out that EACH peanut M&M is 10 cal! So for that hard working, jammin' Born to Run for over 4 minutes... it was wiped out by 3 of those M&Ms! (And I had WAY more than three!)

Where have a gone astray? Not thinking. Not wanted to care for my body. Forgetting that my body is made up of cells (love your fat cell graphics, Julie) and I feed them with whatever goes in my mouth.

The goals in not SKNNY. The goal is healthy and building my body from the inside out.

I miss the way I felt about 3 months ago, when I was stronger, and leaner.. had energy. And my clothes fit so well so life was simple.

But now I am motivated. I have my challenge. Will post it next. Anyone want to join me? Do a 42 day challenge with your own goals?

Missed you all and so glad to be back!

hugs,

Cindy

Updates

Well, I lost a kilogram ( 2 lbs) when in Tokyo. Lots of walking, lots of drinking but not much eating. And a little bit of working out each day in the hotel room.

Now I'm home, am trying to get back into my fitness routine. Done some hard Advanced Taebos, one hour long. And some shorter workouts for busy days - the tough but effective Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred.

I love my workouts! I wake up feeling horrible, have a cold and cough since Tokyo. I do some kickboxing and I feel better - it clears my head, gets rid of the achy thing that comes with a cold.

How are you? Working out or not, let us know what is going on!

The abover? One of the Japanese lunch bento boxes we hd in Tokyo. Definitely not a lot of food - especially when you can't eat half of it!