Ok, I was too tired last night. I didn't put the most important part of what I wanted to say.
I said that your mind was the most important tool. And that's true. If your brain doesn't buy into the process then you are only going through the motions. "I eat on a small plate because Deanne said to." "I drink a cup of water every other time because BB said to." Doesn't work like that.
I have a friend that found themselves in a rehabilitation program for substance abuse. (I know I'm using the wrong tense for a single person but I'm trying to generalize and not reveal any identity). That person left after the first 30 days, which is all that had been agreed to. We all knew it was not long enough. It didn't take long for that person to fall back into the same habits and start using again - albeit on the sly since they were professing to be all better. Another friend made the observation - the body may be dried out, but the mind wasn't.
That is the point.
Engage your most powerful tool. Use your mind. Do more than just go through the motions. Make them mean something.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Health Quest 2009
We got started again this past Monday. I stepped on the scales - the official Weight Watchers scales which are a little heavier than my Wii - 44.4 pounds lighter than almost exactly two years before. My count is actually higher but I had more clothes on at Health Quest and so one. I'm sticking with my closer to 50 pound decrease.
We'll be weighing in each Monday night until April. Let's see how I can do!
We'll be weighing in each Monday night until April. Let's see how I can do!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tip for Today #7
Think First
Your mind is the most important tool in your personal toolbox. Use it wisely.
I've said before that I'm not really big on keeping a food diary - only a log - but that doesn't mean that I'm not tuned in to the emotions that can accompany eating. Your mind can tell you that you're grabbing that piece of chocolate or pint of ice cream for all the wrong reasons. Your mind can tell you that you're only eating out of boredom. Or it can steer your towards that piece of fruit rather than a piece of fruit pie.
Your mind also can get totally pumped up after a workout. Its a proven fact that exercise releases endorphins and you feel better and think more clearly. That's one of the reasons that I try to work out in the mornings. It gets my brain up and ready for the day.
Your brain helps you make intelligent choices. So while we are working out our physical selves, our mental selves are actually running the show. That's not to say that you shouldn't have that piece of chocolate or whatever but eat it "intelligently" - thoughtfully, aware and in control.
Your mind is the most important tool in your personal toolbox. Use it wisely.
I've said before that I'm not really big on keeping a food diary - only a log - but that doesn't mean that I'm not tuned in to the emotions that can accompany eating. Your mind can tell you that you're grabbing that piece of chocolate or pint of ice cream for all the wrong reasons. Your mind can tell you that you're only eating out of boredom. Or it can steer your towards that piece of fruit rather than a piece of fruit pie.
Your mind also can get totally pumped up after a workout. Its a proven fact that exercise releases endorphins and you feel better and think more clearly. That's one of the reasons that I try to work out in the mornings. It gets my brain up and ready for the day.
Your brain helps you make intelligent choices. So while we are working out our physical selves, our mental selves are actually running the show. That's not to say that you shouldn't have that piece of chocolate or whatever but eat it "intelligently" - thoughtfully, aware and in control.
Tip for Today #6
Surround Yourself
This tip is a multi-tasker.
First, surround yourself with "the good stuff". Not to overstate the obvious, but if you can identifiy your weaknesses then you can rid your environment of the stuff that tempts you. A chocolate milkshake is a whole lot harder to get if you have to get dressed and drive down to the Dairy Queen as opposed to just opening the freezer. Exercise can be made a habit if you leave your walking shoes in sight.
There are lots of good food alternatives out there. Personally, I love ice cream. I, thanks to my husband, have discovered the Skinny Cow line of ice cream products. Most are all under 100 calories and satisfy my need. Several snack lines make 100 calories packs. Throw some grapes in a bowl instead of chips. Some motion and sensation of eating one item at a time. Much better for you. Repackage your snacks into single serving sizes, or buy individual bags of chips instead of family size bags. Keep some bananas on the counter so you can easily grab a piece of fruit. Make this journey a little easier on yourself wherever possible.
I know what some of you are thinking - I have kids and they need their snacks. True. But shouldn't they be learning good habits and making good choices also? Don't you want to be a good role model? Hasn't it been proven that we're raising a generation of overweight children? Let them take some control over their health as well.
Secondly, surround yourself with information. Know your ideal weight. Know what your blood pressure and cholesterol counts are, and what they should be. Know what a serving size is. Know how many calories walking a mile and a half in 30 minutes is going burn. Know what motivates you.
Thirdly, surround yourself with supportive people. Believe it or not, some people won't respond well to your changes. For different reasons - insecurity, jealousy, pettiness. Don't let them get into your head. You are making the right changes for yourself and no one can take that away.
This tip is a multi-tasker.
First, surround yourself with "the good stuff". Not to overstate the obvious, but if you can identifiy your weaknesses then you can rid your environment of the stuff that tempts you. A chocolate milkshake is a whole lot harder to get if you have to get dressed and drive down to the Dairy Queen as opposed to just opening the freezer. Exercise can be made a habit if you leave your walking shoes in sight.
There are lots of good food alternatives out there. Personally, I love ice cream. I, thanks to my husband, have discovered the Skinny Cow line of ice cream products. Most are all under 100 calories and satisfy my need. Several snack lines make 100 calories packs. Throw some grapes in a bowl instead of chips. Some motion and sensation of eating one item at a time. Much better for you. Repackage your snacks into single serving sizes, or buy individual bags of chips instead of family size bags. Keep some bananas on the counter so you can easily grab a piece of fruit. Make this journey a little easier on yourself wherever possible.
I know what some of you are thinking - I have kids and they need their snacks. True. But shouldn't they be learning good habits and making good choices also? Don't you want to be a good role model? Hasn't it been proven that we're raising a generation of overweight children? Let them take some control over their health as well.
Secondly, surround yourself with information. Know your ideal weight. Know what your blood pressure and cholesterol counts are, and what they should be. Know what a serving size is. Know how many calories walking a mile and a half in 30 minutes is going burn. Know what motivates you.
Thirdly, surround yourself with supportive people. Believe it or not, some people won't respond well to your changes. For different reasons - insecurity, jealousy, pettiness. Don't let them get into your head. You are making the right changes for yourself and no one can take that away.
Thought for Today
From my daily calendar of quotes (author not listed):
Mark well the three most important words in your vocabulary: persistence, persistence, persistence!
Mark well the three most important words in your vocabulary: persistence, persistence, persistence!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tip for Today #5
Forgive Yourself
Guess what. This trip ain't easy. You will have slip ups. You will hit plateaus and get discouraged. You will blame yourself when the scales don't move. I give you permission to forgive yourself. That means you don't get to give up just because you had a bad day.
Truth time - I broke a couple of rules today. I let my discipline sleep late and I stayed in bed and drank coffee with my husband when I am normally up exercising. I only got in 10 of my 30 minutes today (that was the 10 it took for the coffee to perk). Then I ate 3, yes 3, pieces of chocolate today. A great deal of it was a reaction to spending 104 minutes on the phone with computer support, causing me to be one hour and forty-five minutes late for lunch. I grabbed a mini-Crunch bar almost without thinking. I said almost. I was fully aware of what I was doing. Now, for clarification purposes the only chocolate we keep around are the mini sizes. About one bite is all you get, two max so when I say I had three pieces of chocolate its not like I ate a whole candy bar or Ding Dong or anything. But I knew I was doing it and I didn't care.
Slip ups won't kill you and they'll only derail your progress if you let them. Now, tomorrow I will have to wake my discipline back up at the usual time (its busy season, Saturday is just another work day) and get back on the program. My Wii may not tell me I've lost any weight in the morning. So be it. As Scarlett would say "Tomorrow is another day!"
But, unlike Scarlett, who fiddle-dee-deed her way through everything and never really got to "tomorrow" (as I've said before, it was always "today" in Scarlett's world), I will get back to doing what I know is best for me. I will walk to work and have cereal for breakfast and try not to overindulge in anything for a few days. But I also won't beat myself up or try to starve myself for penance.
Everything in moderation - even guilt.
Guess what. This trip ain't easy. You will have slip ups. You will hit plateaus and get discouraged. You will blame yourself when the scales don't move. I give you permission to forgive yourself. That means you don't get to give up just because you had a bad day.
Truth time - I broke a couple of rules today. I let my discipline sleep late and I stayed in bed and drank coffee with my husband when I am normally up exercising. I only got in 10 of my 30 minutes today (that was the 10 it took for the coffee to perk). Then I ate 3, yes 3, pieces of chocolate today. A great deal of it was a reaction to spending 104 minutes on the phone with computer support, causing me to be one hour and forty-five minutes late for lunch. I grabbed a mini-Crunch bar almost without thinking. I said almost. I was fully aware of what I was doing. Now, for clarification purposes the only chocolate we keep around are the mini sizes. About one bite is all you get, two max so when I say I had three pieces of chocolate its not like I ate a whole candy bar or Ding Dong or anything. But I knew I was doing it and I didn't care.
Slip ups won't kill you and they'll only derail your progress if you let them. Now, tomorrow I will have to wake my discipline back up at the usual time (its busy season, Saturday is just another work day) and get back on the program. My Wii may not tell me I've lost any weight in the morning. So be it. As Scarlett would say "Tomorrow is another day!"
But, unlike Scarlett, who fiddle-dee-deed her way through everything and never really got to "tomorrow" (as I've said before, it was always "today" in Scarlett's world), I will get back to doing what I know is best for me. I will walk to work and have cereal for breakfast and try not to overindulge in anything for a few days. But I also won't beat myself up or try to starve myself for penance.
Everything in moderation - even guilt.
Tip for Today #4
TRACK IT
This is by far-and-away every one's least favorite thing to do. It is also one of the more important aspects to taking control of your health. How do you know what all you need to change if you don't have a clear handle on what you're doing?
A lot of the experts recommend a food diary - how you felt when you ate, what might have triggered overeating and so on. I've always kept just a food log. What did I eat and how many calories did I consume. For me, it was an easy way to spot what foods were not really contributing and could be eliminated. It also made it easier to establish some routine meals and assist with planning (that's a whole other day!).
Since I was at first incredulous with what the scales said I weighed, my logging the food and calories was a way to prove that there had to be something wrong with me. I couldn't possibly be eating that much! But there it was - in black and white and on paper. And I once I started on my weight loss journey it became an very important tool. I learned that for my activity level (when I started) I could determine my day's needed calories by taking my ideal weight times 10. Basically, that put me around 1,250 calories a day. I needed to see where I could start cutting. I was eating less than 2,000 a day, but I was eating more than I needed.
How to do it is an individual choice. I tried Excel spreadsheets - looked nice but not convenient during the day or when I was traveling. I carried around a separate Day Timer - convenient, but cumbersome and I had to always look up stuff in a separate calorie book. Now I have a program on my BlackBerry. It has a built in food and exercise database to help with the input and I always have it with me (Billy thinks I'm addicted!). But it helps me see that if I've eaten too many calories then I have to up the exercise. My 1,250 calorie a day goal is a net number: food in minus the exercise.
I realize that no one wants to count calories. With the nutrition labels on all foods now it is a relatively simple process. And, like everything else, it became a habit. I give myself a bit of a break on the weekends from logging everything, but I also get a lot more exercise on the weekends.
I look at it this way. You wouldn't start off on a road trip to an unknown destination without a map would you? To make changes that will stick you need to be able to see not only where you're going, but where you've been.
This is by far-and-away every one's least favorite thing to do. It is also one of the more important aspects to taking control of your health. How do you know what all you need to change if you don't have a clear handle on what you're doing?
A lot of the experts recommend a food diary - how you felt when you ate, what might have triggered overeating and so on. I've always kept just a food log. What did I eat and how many calories did I consume. For me, it was an easy way to spot what foods were not really contributing and could be eliminated. It also made it easier to establish some routine meals and assist with planning (that's a whole other day!).
Since I was at first incredulous with what the scales said I weighed, my logging the food and calories was a way to prove that there had to be something wrong with me. I couldn't possibly be eating that much! But there it was - in black and white and on paper. And I once I started on my weight loss journey it became an very important tool. I learned that for my activity level (when I started) I could determine my day's needed calories by taking my ideal weight times 10. Basically, that put me around 1,250 calories a day. I needed to see where I could start cutting. I was eating less than 2,000 a day, but I was eating more than I needed.
How to do it is an individual choice. I tried Excel spreadsheets - looked nice but not convenient during the day or when I was traveling. I carried around a separate Day Timer - convenient, but cumbersome and I had to always look up stuff in a separate calorie book. Now I have a program on my BlackBerry. It has a built in food and exercise database to help with the input and I always have it with me (Billy thinks I'm addicted!). But it helps me see that if I've eaten too many calories then I have to up the exercise. My 1,250 calorie a day goal is a net number: food in minus the exercise.
I realize that no one wants to count calories. With the nutrition labels on all foods now it is a relatively simple process. And, like everything else, it became a habit. I give myself a bit of a break on the weekends from logging everything, but I also get a lot more exercise on the weekends.
I look at it this way. You wouldn't start off on a road trip to an unknown destination without a map would you? To make changes that will stick you need to be able to see not only where you're going, but where you've been.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Today's Feel Good
A person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated! Start by appreciating yourself!
(borrowed from Denise Austin's site this morning)
(borrowed from Denise Austin's site this morning)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I'm trying a tip I read to get in my water for the day - every other beverage you drink should be a glass of water. So my day goes like this - water, juice, water, coffee, water, hot tea, water, etc. I think I'm at least getting close to the ounces of water I should have - but I'm not having to count. Tired of counting!! "Points", calories, glasses of water, servings of fruit, etc.
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