Happy Birthday to me. :)

Yup, it's my birthday and I'm celebrating. I thought this morning about it, and was reminded of a saying we learned in Weight Watchers a while back. When talking about holidays they ask "Do you want to count calories or count memories?" Well, for my birthday this year, I'm counting memories. A delicious Starbucks 5 pump White Mocha no whip this morning, breakfast burrito for breakfast. And later we're going to the new Harry Potter movie, where I plan to eat buttery and yummy popcorn. Then we're going out to dinner, and I'm going to enjoy the food and the company of my husband and son. Lastly, there's the birthday cake, German Chocolate, my favorite. Going to enjoy a nice big slice of that cake. 


Back on the horse tomorrow with Patty. 


Speaking of Patty, she had to cancel our session on Tuesday. So sad, but these things happen. I was very proud of myself though, I went to the gym anyway and put myself through a workout. I was brutal and ruthless, but caved when the lunges started to hurt. I know, I'm such a softy. I think I did pretty well, I hit my calorie burn goal for the day, and was pleasantly sore. We'll see how sore I am after tomorrow's workout when Patty finds out about today. 


Wish me luck!


Healthy and Happy Living

Changes

Had my first training last Friday, man she kicked my butt. Have my next one tomorrow. In between I was given 2 days of homework, 30 minutes of cardio. When life gets busy, it's easy to say "I'll do it tomorrow" but when I know I'm going to be seeing my trainer and she will ask if I did my homework, I find myself a little more focused on getting it done. Good thing number one about a trainer, accountability. 


I am finding it hard to shift my eating habits to 5 or 6 small meals a day. Usually during the day I'm lucky if I remember to eat. I find I do most of my calories at and after dinner. But I'm getting better. Both at spreading out the meals, and making dinner a little smaller. Last night, for example, instead of 6 oz of chicken I cut it in half and did 3. I also did some oven fries with a spice rub seasoning, and kept the amount I had down to a manageable amount. Not bad, right?


Then came the ice cream, only a half cup, so it could have been worse. Can't completely deny ourselves. And then I stayed up late watching scary movies with my son, and we shared a plate of nachos. At least we don't have any soda in the house, so I had Crystal Light instead. Still, if I add it all up, I'm pretty sure I went over my calorie count for the day.


One step at a time I guess. I once heard someone say "You didn't gain the weight overnight, what makes you think you can lose it overnight? So I'll just continue making small changes to eventually change the big picture. 


Healthy and Happy Living

Patty the Trainer

Had a great first meeting with Patty. We talked about her training style, some success stories including her personal weight loss success, my current habits, and my goals. She even gave me homework. I hate homework. But I guess I can manage this one. It's 30 minutes of cardio. 


She gave me a specific way to do my cardio, we talked about heart rate, perceived effort, and interval training. I'll be heading to the gym when I'm done with my workday to do my homework and hit the pool for a while. I think I'll use the recumbent bike today. Doesn't leave me with a sore rear end like the upright type bikes do.


Patty reiterated the importance of 5 to 6 small meals throughout the day to keep my metabolism burning all day. The things I know, but don't do. Silly me. I've been trying to do the small meals, but haven't been eating "good" food, so my small meals are too small. Need to pick up more fruits and veggies to bulk up those meals and still keep the calories manageable. 


Well, my first official training session with Patty is tomorrow evening. I'm looking forward to it, but a little nervous at the same time. Probably because when we went through my medical questionaire, I didn't have anything that she needed to be concerned about. I believe what she said (with an evil smile) was "Good, then I don't have to worry about hurting you." Should I be worried about that? Guess I'll know tomorrow. 


Heading to the gym, push out that cardio so I can tell Patty I did my homework like a good girl. 


Healthy and Happy Living

What a week!

Busy, busy, busy. Had a friend from out of town over to visit for several days, and we kept busy. A 5 mile hike around a local reservoir, an obstacle course followed by a 1 mile nature walk, swimming laps at 24 Hour Fitness (I did 25 laps in the Olympic size pool), and I can't even remember what else. I'm still a little sore, but it was so worth it!


Today I meet my new trainer for the first time. I'm looking forward to working with her. Her name is Patty and from what I've heard she has had great success helping people lose a lot of weight. Hopefully she is just what I need. I'll be seeing her twice a week for the next 5 weeks to get a jump start into getting fit, and to help me get prepared for my next challenge. 


What's my next challenge? I'm so glad you asked. I'll be participating in the Dirty Girl Mud Run in September. It's a 5k muddy obstacle course. I've never done anything like it, and am really looking forward to proving to myself that I can do it. It's non-competitive, so I don't need to worry about how fast I can complete the course, I just need to make it to the end. I've got 2 months to train for it. I know I can do a 5k hike, and the obstacle course I went through last week had many of what I'll be doing in the DGMR, but I had a LOT of trouble trying to get over the wall, so much so that I ended up walking around it. I also had to walk the course, I probably looked a little silly walking through the tires, but hey, I didn't fall. 


So over the next month I'll be doing that obstacle course at least once a week, and will keep trying to get over that wall. I will also be doing the 5k hike to try and pick up the pace a little. Add that to working with my trainer, and I should be set to do the DGMR and will hopefully have between 10 and 20 lbs less to carry through that obstacle course. 


Oh, and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you may notice a change in the name I'm posting from. I've decided to consolidate some of my accounts into one, so I don't have to try and remember which account posts to what blog. 


Healthy and Happy Living

Bye Bye Trainer Paul

I recently had my last session with my personal trainer. By last, I mean I used the last one in my package, and unfortunately can't get another one...yet. Boy did he make that last one a good one. Jumping from one thing to the next, I did split squats (they're like a cross between a lunge and a squat), moved right into wall/ball squats, then ball crunches, then back to the split squats. He had me do 2 sets of everything without a pause. By the end of the second set, I was sweating hard, breathing hard, and weak in the knees. On to the arms, used the chest press machine (he bumped up the weight), then did a push up thing where he had me put my hands on a weight bench, get in a push up position, and hold it for a minute! Then some leg lifts. By the end of the first round of these I was at the point in a workout where you know you have hit your limit. The place where you aren't sure if you are going to pass out or throw up first. I sat down, my trainer got me some water, and I waited it out as my eyes got the sparkley spots on the side that tell me I'm dehydrated and about to black out. Wow, what a workout! By the time I could walk again, my session was over. Whew.


The good thing about pushing that far, is I know where my current limit is. That gives me a starting place, so I know when I've gotten better. So, I figure I'll keep up my workouts, keep up my healthier eating, and in a few weeks, I'll put myself through that same workout & see if I can get further before hitting the wall. 


Life has been so busy lately, I haven't had time to do my workouts as regularly as I should, and unfortunately I'm seeing the results (or lack of results) of that on the scale. I have maintained my 20 lb loss, but I haven't lost any more. I've got to step it up though. I'm going to a big convention (work related) in mid November, and I'd like to try and drop a bit more before then. Last year when I went to this convention I took a lot of pictures & put together a presentation to share with my department when I got back talking about why I went & what I learned to help the team. Well, I saw a couple pictures of myself in there, and had to do a double take. I'm usually on the taking side of the picture, not the "smile" side. And I was surprised at how big I was. I'd like to take a picture a little more representative of the industry I'm in. I'm sure people are a bit surprised to find I work for a fitness gym chain, looking like I do. We'll see if I can't look a little more like a fitness person this year. Wish me luck!

Healthy and Happy Living

Tips and Challenge

During my last training session, I spoke to my trainer and asked him for a tip for my readers. Paul's first tip is, when you are exercising, try to keep the time between exercises really short. The less rest time, the longer your heart rate stays up and the more fat you can burn. His second tip was to practice Push Aways. Paul said they are a great exercise for people trying to lose weight. Now I hadn't heard of these before, so was very interested to hear the details. So I had his explain exactly how to do one. So here's how a Push Away is done. First, while seated at the table, place your hands on the end of the table in front of you and push back so your chair and you push away from the table. Now for the important part, this is to be done while eating a meal, and before you have finished. Just when you've had enough to feel satisfied. The idea being, if you can push yourself away from the unfished meal, you'll eat less. :) We got a good laugh out of it being an "exercise," he said it as a joke, but I told him I was going to put it in anyway.

Now, those of you who have been following me for a while (or have read some of the old posts), may remember the Fabulous Fatties challenge that I was a part of. Well, they're at it again. The Fabulous Fatties Challenge #3 is in full swing. I just found out about it yesterday, barely in time to join up to participate. But even though it's too late to participate in this one, I'd recommend popping into their site anyway. They are full of life and very inspirational, plus they are sure to have another challenge soon, so you can get a feel for how they work. Stop in and say "Hi", tell them a_healthier_me sent you. :)

So far I have 5 points for yesterday (cut me some slack, I didn't find out until late in the day).
Set a goal of what you want to achieve during this challenge. *2 entries
Exercise 30 minutes a day or more *2 entries
Eat a healthy breakfast *1 entry per day

Today will be a higher point score. :)

Healthy and Happy Living

And it's Monday Again

I was so happy this morning when I stepped on the scale and discovered that I had made it to 15 pounds lost! Woo Hoo! I'm starting to feel it, and my husband is noticing too, which is really great. Because as the saying goes, you want him to hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave.

I think my trainer is trying to kill me though. I'm quite sure he's plotting all week figuring out just how much weight and reps I am able to do and then adding 10. Here it is almost 2 days after my last session and my abs are still sore. But I guess it's working, so I can't complain too much (well I could, but what good would it do me).

Yesterday I went for a nice walk later in the evening, so it wasn't as hot. An unexpected benefit of that was getting to see the sun set as I walked, which was amazing. I decided to see if I could beat my time, so I threw in a little jogging here and there, and cut 3 minutes off my best time for the 2 miles.

Healthy and Happy Living

Potato Chips

My trainer gave me a fabulous tip yesterday. We were chatting a little between sets, as I cought my breath in preperation for my ball squats (that's where you put a big stability ball behind your back, lean against the wall, and do squats, great thigh workout). I mentioned that I was sitting on a ball at work now, and would find myself bouncing on it constantly. He said, "If a chip a day equals a pound a year, then that has to do something."

What? Did he just say what I think he said? A chip a day, one single, solitary, lonely little potato chip per day, equals one pound! Can it really be that simple? Lets see, so twice a week, I've been getting a particular coffee drink from a famous coffee chain. My drink has 380 calories. So if I cut just 10 of those out per year, there's a pound. Well, what if I stop drinking them all together? That's 11 pounds in a year, just by stopping my twice a week coffee habit and replacing that caffeine with a no cal drink (and yes, my no cal morning drink is full of caffeine, and yes it's soda!)

Gee, if that little change can make such a big difference in a year, what else can I change. Well, my afternoon walks (which I admit I haven't done as often as I should in the past couple weeks, I blame it on the heat, but that's a poor excuse), I burn more than 400 extra calories that I would sitting on my butt for that 45 minutes to an hour. So, lets say I go for an afternoon walk 5 days a week, every week for one year. That's 30 pounds lost in the year!

I knew I loved math for a reason. Seeing these numbers add up is driving home a point for me. If I cut one little thing out a day that I may have otherwise eaten, or replace it with something with slightly fewer calories, I can make a huge difference.

I'd love to hear about other ideas for making small changes for big results. Do you have any tips to share?

Healthy and Happy Living

Everything

Well Monday is my next weigh in for the challenge at work. So tomorrow I'm going to spend the day sweating. Not out of nervousness, but because I'll be working out. Going to hit the gym, hit the pool, hit the bands, and whatever else I can hit to burn off every last calorie I can spare. It's my last chance workout. On one hand, I know any pound lost is a good thing, but I think my competitive nature is kicking in now that I realize that people at work are taking this seriously. Now, I know I can't expect to drop 10 pounds in a day, I'll hope for a couple at least. I figure if I'm drenched with sweat and can't move Monday morning, then I did a good job.

Sometimes, Life happens. So I missed my training session this week. So no new tips from my trainer this week. Darn, well. I learned that bouncing on my stability ball burns way many more calories in a day (according to my bodybugg), if I add it to what I'm already doing (can't replace all my workouts with it.) But I did find some exercises to do on my ball besides sitting and bouncing check it out here.

Thought this was cool too, it's a base to put your ball on. J Fit 10-0900 Stability Ball Base

Healthy and Happy Living

Happy 4th of July! Turning a Corner

Here we are, another holiday on our journey to live healthy. Lucky for me, this isn't one of our big family gathering holidays, so not as many temptations. My hubby is going to grill some steaks, and I'm making a pasta dish and trying some whole wheat noodles. Toss in some corn on the cob, and you have the perfect summer holiday dinner. Set off some little firecrackers and poppers to celebrate Independence Day, does it get any better? So, Happy 4th of July to all my blogging buddies, and any blogstalkers out there. :)

Well, my training session yesterday had an interesting start. I woke up, after sleeping in until noon (boy was that nice). I leasurly rise, head into the garage in my robe to grab my freshly laundered gym clothes from the dryer. My son asks me if daddy is still in bed . . . he wasn't . . . we only have one working car right now . . . my session starts in an hour. I grab my phone and call my hubby, who is at the tire place. Turns out he took the car this morning to fill my tank, and realized my back tires were bald to the point metal was showing, oops. Well, no way he would be home in time for my session. Darn, guess I'll have to call Paul and let him know I need to reschedule. Reaching for the phone - mind ticks - here's the conversation the little angel and devil on my shoulders has;

It's the first time you've rescheduled so no big deal

If you cancel once, it'll be a lot easier in the future

There's not enough time to get ready and get down there

It's ok if you're a few minutes late, you will have already gotten your warm up

Oh come on, give yourself a break!

Are you really giving yourself a break? Or are you sabotaging your efforts and taking the first step towards ruining all the effort you have put in to acheiving your new healthy lifestyle?

Wow, OK, the little angel won this round. Before my hand even hits the phone, I was pulling it back. I grabbed my workout gear, threw on my clothes, grabbed my ID and gym card, filled my water bottle, and headed out the door. As I took the first few steps and realized what I had done, I felt a lift in my spirits. Wow, did I just really talk myself IN to going to the gym?! It's usually the exact opposite. I feel like I've turned a major corner in my life. This is a big sign to me that I'm finally really on the right path.

So, now to the actual training session. This session we worked with a Medicine Ball. Standing in one small area I got a full workout that had my arms and legs wobbly and sore (but in a good way). Lets see if I can remember everything (now I had to make up names for some of them):

Ball Crunches:

1. Lie on your back on an exercise ball

2. Hold medicine ball in hands with arms straight pointing at ceiling

3. Push the ball towards the ceiling while contracting the abs

Toe touchies:

1. Hold ball above your head, legs hip width apart

2. Bend down and (try to) touch the floor with the ball

Twists (this one we did with a heavier ball):

1. Elbows bent, feet hip width apart, hold ball in both hands about stomach level in front of you

2. Twist to the side (keep your feet planted, you should feel the twisting all the way down to your ankles).

3. Return to the middle and pause slightly before continuing to the other side.

Swing Squats:

1. Take a wide stance, hold the ball in both hands above your head, arms straight

2. Swing the ball down between your legs and do a partial squat

Toss backs:

1. Stand with your legs hip width apart

2. Behind you slightly to one side

3. Holding the ball with both hands in front of you, twist towards the person behind you and toss them the ball

4. Pause and have them toss it back

5. As you catch it, swing to the other side and repeat

6. When you're done with the one side, repeat the other way.

Diaganal Tree Choppers (this was felt a little awkward at first)

1. Legs hip width apart, hold ball in both hands above the left shoulder

2. Swing the ball down and past the right leg towards the toe, bend the left knee a little

3. Swing the ball back up to the shoulder

Knee Lifts (these felt pointless for the first 10 reps, then I suddenly felt what they were doing, by 20 I could barely lift my arms):

1. Hold ball ofer head in both hands.

2. Bring it down bending at the elbows and keeping the ball close to the body

3. Lift right knee and touch ball to knee

4. Repeat with other leg

We did between 12 and 20 reps for each exercise, and did 2 circuits (once through everything, the through it all again), with an extra set of the crunches and knee Lifts thrown in at the end to torture me.

After this, I don't think I'll be skipping any of my planned activities in the future. If I can make myself walk to the gym when I don't have my car, I can make myself stop whatever I think is more important long enough to do my workout.

Healthy and Happy Living

Modify for Success

"Modify for Success" my trainer said to me at my session last Friday. This was in response to the horrified look I gave him when he said I would be doing pull ups. On one hand I know how trainers work, and was afraid he was actually going to make me struggle through pull ups, and I felt like I was in my high school PE class again. On the other hand, I wanted to laugh out loud at how ridiculous the prospect of me accomplishing a pull up was. OK, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, he hasn't yet steered me wrong. So we walk through the gym to a very strange contraption, he explains it to me, but it doesn't make it seem any less strange and scary.
Basically it's a movable bar, so you can adjust the height, from almost on the floor to way above my head. The purpose is to give you a level in which you can accomplish push ups and pull ups without going full out. So with the bar about stomach high, I pushed out some pull ups, and with the bar about chest high, I pulled off some pull ups. At the time, all I thought was "Cool, like that I can do this." But yesterday as I took my afternoon walk, I started thinking about it again.

"Hm," I thought to myself. "It seems to me, I can take that phrase and apply it to just about anything. Modify for Success." Well, if that didn't get my mind churning. What else in my life needs accomplishing that is a struggle? Well, obviously my weight loss efforts. So, Modification #1: Altered mindset. It dawned on me that in the 2 weeks before the Biggest Loser contest at work started, I had dropped over 10 pounds without really trying. I just started moving more, watched my portions, threw in more fruits and veggies and increased my water intake. I wasn't thinking about how much weight I lost every single day. Well, since the contest started, that's all I can think about. Every day, "Did I lose any weight today," "Did I do anything I shouldn't have," "What did I eat that I shouldn't have," and all sorts of other negative thoughts. Head slap moment, what am I thinking! This isn't just about losing weight, this is about lifestyle changes towards a healthier me! So, switch that mindset back to what was working before. I am no longer focusing my efforts on winning the contest, I'm back to focusing on healthier living. If it isn't a change I am making in my lifestyle, it isn't something I need to do. Even after a few hours with this new mindset, I feel so much better about myself. For a while there, I had forgotten that I liked myself!

Now, a big part of my efforts are in blogging & Twitter. So, Modify for Success number 2 & 3 - Twitter is now mu homepage. So every time I log in to the internet, I'm brought right into the warm support of my tweoples! As for my blog, those of you who have been here before, probably noticed the dramatic changes. It feels more like me now. I feel at home in my blog. And besides being prettier to look at, I think it has really given me more freedom in my writing. I'm not afraid to say anything, so don't be surprised if my posts start to sound different. You're getting insight to the real me now. In addition to the cosmetic modifications, I'm modifying my blogging for success by making a schedule of things to talk about. So coming soon you'll start to see my weekly recap (including weigh in) every Monday, I'll start featuring a Weight Loss Blog Buddy, you'll see healthy recipes (deserts for sure!), Fitness tips and articles including tips from my trainer, and more.

Now, this isn't all about me anymore! If you notice, I also changed the name of my blog. It is now "Journey to a Healthier Life", I'm modifying for the success of all my followers who want to live healthier lives.

Healthy and Happy Living

De'Anna

Week 2 Results

Well, not exactly what I'd call a stellar week. This weekend my son spent at grandma's house. Which left my husband and I all alone. We decided to go out to dinner Saturday night, and Sunday we rented a movie. Between all this, I had my personal training session with Paul on Saturday and followed that with a nice long walk, and my hubby and I took the dogs for a walk on Saturday. That's where my good habits ended. Sunday I didn't journal my food, drink my water, or have a healthy breakfast. I even broke down and had a soda (it was one of those All Natural ones, but it was still a soda). Today I'm paying the price. I'm sluggish, tired and retaining water from too much sodium (I may not have journaled it, but I know all the bad things I ate yesterday).

Unfortunately today was my weigh in day, boy I sure wasn't thinking ahead was I. But I guess it could have been worse, through it all I only saw a 1 lb gain this week. Which I'm pretty sure will be gone by tomorrow once I flush my system (drinking plenty of water today).

All in all, I can't say I feel guilty or regret my weekend. Everyone is bound to slip up, the trick is to pull yourself back up and hop back on track. I can't expect to be eat perfectly for the rest of my life, I'm just glad I recognize what happened and am not letting it derail my efforts. I'm back on track and journaling today. Had a nice breakfast and going for a walk this afternoon with some co-workers.

Healthy Breakfast

I discovered today how important a healthy breakfast actually is, by not having one. Since starting the Healthy Challenge, I've been having healthy breakfasts and feeling great. Today my husband received some chocolately, carmelly, nutty, ooey, gooey deliciousness from a friend. Well, I couldn't help but have one, first thing this morning, before anything else...

First off, I do not feel one little bit of guilt for having it, I don't feel like I'm failing because I indulged a little, I'll just adjust my calories a little to make up for it.

Well, that's where the happiness ends. I had a healthy mid morning snack and prepared for my training session. And it was twice as hard to do the same exercises as it was last week. All that sugary fat sitting in my gut made me a little sluggish, and made it harder to breath through all the core strengthening exercises. Now, being the stubborn person I am, I pushed through like it wasn't bothering me, but I felt icky. So now, I will be taking that part of the challenge to heart, now and forever! Here's an article I found on the importance of eating breakfast - there are tons out if you do an internet search.

You only fail if you don't learn from your mistakes, eating ooey gooey deliciousness first thing in the morning, mistake. What did I learn? Save it for later when you don't have to perform any physical activity right after. I feel like I need a nap, but instead I'm going to see if I can't burn the rest of it out of my system with a nice long walk.

My First Personal Training Session

WHEW! Made it through that. Boy, it's amazing how much of a workout you can get just by being on a mat. My new trainer, Paul, worked me out on a mat for some exercises to increase the neurological link between mind and muscle, because when you aren't on a machine that guides your movement, you actually have to think about what you are doing. The good and bad thing about this is, now I have a real and hard workout routine that I can do anywhere. No more excuses about not having time to get to the gym to do my workout, darn. 

I have to say, I think my relationship with my trainer is going to be a love/hate, I'm going to love to hate him. OK, that's not totally true, he did a great job of pushing me to my limits, but not beyond them. So I feel like I got a workout, but I'm not so sore I can't move. The benefit of that is, I'll be ready to do more exercise tomorrow (cardio day), and won't be so sore that I can use that as an excuse not to. 

After my workout, my husband, son and I went to my mom's place and went swimming for about an hour and a half. Exercise that is so fun you don't realize you're exercising is my favorite. 

I'm also taking part in a fun challenge put on by a couple ladies who call themselves the Fabulous Fatties. It's a fun challenge about doing healthy things, and good deeds. Plus, you can meet a bunch of other people working to improve their health and weight. If you'd like to join in the fun, click the link below, to go to their blog. Be sure to tell them you were recommended by me (Twitter ID a_healthier_me). http://weightlosswiththefabulousfatties.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/today-is-the-last-chance-to-join-challenge-2/ (don't worry that it says "last day" they changed it and allow late comers now). 

I'm aiming for 150 pts per day in the Fabulous Fatties Challenge #2, so I set up this tracker to follow my results.

Made it through the holiday

Holidays and other occasions where people find reasons to gather and eat (too much), have always been hard for me. I managed to make it through this one without breaking my stride. Sure, the foods we had may not have been the healthiest thing I've eaten all week, but I watched my portions and went to the gym for an afternoon workout. I'm a little sore today, but boy was it worth it. 

I'm looking forward to my first session with my personal trainer on the 30th, I had forgotten how to use many of the machines, and felt a little out of place. A refresher will be very helpful. 

I just started using this new online program, it's based in Facebook, but you sign up at www.weightview.com (I'm sure there's a way to get to it from Facebook, but I did it from their website). You upload a full body shot of yourself, and they'll show you what you'll look like up to 50 lbs lighter. Excited to see what my pic will look like, it takes a couple days. I'll be sure to post it, we'll see how close they are when I actually lose 50 lbs. :)

Things are looking good so far, I feel good, I can already feel my pants fitting better and have had more than one person ask if I've lost weight! Very encouraging.