It's A Brand New Week With A Brand New Attitude

I hate to start off a blog saying how tired I am but OMG I am soooo tired!

Prince Charming and I just watched last week’s Battlestar Galactica and are wondering how the heck they are going to be able to resolve everything in the 2 hour series ender on Friday. I still can’t believe that they canceled that show! When there are shows called Rock of Love Bus and I Love Money that are getting renewed. Sheesh!

I was a much better eater and exerciser today and I spent the better part of the afternoon cutting up veggies so that they would be ready for a quick snack or salad. I even cooked and cut up a package of chicken breast so that I would have some available for lunch this week. I have decided that having good food handy for those times when I just want to grab something will help.

I exercised 2 hours today: 1 hour of cardio and 1 hour of strength. I also walked a few miles in the park with Boop-a-do. Yea! Back on track! Although I was sooooo tired for the rest of the day. I guess that I must not have licked this anemia thing because it just wasn’t that much for how tired I ended up.

I ate great today too: Oatmeal for breakfast, a hearty salad for lunch and a nice sandwich for dinner.

All-in-all a good day! I hope that yours was also.

Ella

PS Megara, I have been taking pictures I just haven’t posted them yet. I will get them uploaded tomorrow.

I Choose A Ripe Old Age!

Prince Charming and I stopped at Frye’s (Super humumgo electronics shop that I refuse to go into because it is way too ridiculously big and, more importantly, it has a restaurant inside (come on!!!) so they won’t take pets in the store (makes it way easy for me to choose Best Buy which does allow Boop-a-doo in the store)) on our way home from the beach (Wonderful!). I just read that sentence over and it is soooo packed with brackets it is hard to follow … hope that you’re up to the challenge.

Anyway, while I was sitting in the parking log waiting with Boop-a-doo in the convertible (not hardship duty as I had a crossword to tie my brain up around) I saw a couple and their twin toddler girls and it gave me pause. The dad was huge (at least over 300 lbs) and the mom was even bigger (probably upper 300s). The little toddler girls couldn’t be more than 15 months old and were just cute buttons in their little matching outfits. It broke my heart to think that these little girls, so full of promise for the future, are probably going to end up as fat little girls probably sooner rather than later. What made me sadder was that their parents were so big that they probably won’t be around or around and healthy when the girls are teens. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the parents had all sorts of weight-related medical conditions (dare I use the term “Metabolic Syndrome”?) and are probably spending a ton every month on medications.

If we imagine the best that this couple are (is the correct grammar here to say is?) terrific, loving parents that provide a wonderful home for their little girls will they be around to actually see them grow up? And if we imagine that they are currently feeding their toddlers healthy food how long will it be before that changes? Before they are getting too big portions and not enough exercise? Before their diet isn’t all peas and carrots and squash? Where will their good diet and exercise example come from? What will stop them from just gaining and gaining? How hard will it be for them to learn healthy eating habits later? How hard will it be for them to lose their weight before they have their own children? How many medications will they be taking by the time they are in college? It's really scary!!

When I watch the show Biggest Loser and see the young 19 year old who has already lost 120 lbs (YES – 120 LBS of FAT) in 9 weeks and still has at least 100 lbs to go!! (That's him in the picture) When I watch You: Staying Younger and see a couple with 68% body fat, a 49” waist, and blood test levels through the roof. When I go to the mall or a store or a restaurant and see that over 50% of the people that I run into aren’t just overweight but outright fat it just depresses me especially when I see so many young boys and girls, teens, and pre-teens with rolls of fat and obvious weight issues. And it depresses me even more that in Texas people are somehow proud of their obesity. It is somehow validating of themselves as Texans (BIGGER is BETTER) and a way to "weigh-in" with their prosperity. This is a totally fraked (can you tell that I have been watching Battlestar Galactica for 3 days!) up attitude!!!

I know that I have my own body image issues and weight issues. I know that I don’t eat the way that I “should” eat for my best health. I know that I don’t exercise enough for my best health. I know that I don’t take my vitamins regularly and I know that it is damn hard to shed pounds. I know how hard it can be to change habits. I know how challenging it can be to exercise or eat healthy when it is so much easier and “funner” to eat ice cream or chocolates or fried chicken or pizza and sit around with a good book.

It IS challenging! It does take work! But I also know that I work on it! I work on it! And I work on it some more! Every day!

The question that we each have to ask ourselves is “What is our life worth?” Is eating a salad every day worth 5 years of productive life? Is the prospect of being a healthy active 85 year old worth exercising every day? If you knew ABSOLUTELY that eating that fried chicken today would directly result in a heart attack in 5 years would you still eat it? What if you didn’t know which fried chicken (name your poison … it doesn’t have to be fried chicken) would do it?

The biggest challenge is that it all doesn’t seem real, at least to me. I “know” the facts but I can’t necessarily grasp the “reality” of my old age and what that might look like if I eat ice cream today over spinach salad. I guess it all comes down to faith. Do I have faith (backed up by a lot of medical science) that it is going to make the difference? I guess that I do, sorta, kinda … I wish that it was more believable (NO that doesn’t mean that I hope that I get some sort of personal medical issue to “prove” it to me) because it would make it all a little easier.

Perhaps my issue is really that I often look at the food issues as “sacrifices”. Just as with the couple I was trashing earlier I find it a challenge to give up some of the “goodies”. I know, I know! I don’t have to give them all up. I know all those things but it still seems like sacrifices sometimes. I definitely also know that this is an extremely limiting belief. However, sometimes "knowing" something doesn't make you actually choose it or want to.

I will plug away at it all though. I recognize that I have made huge strides towards health and a healthy lifestyle. I recognize that I am making lifestyle changes and little-by-little the small changes that I make every day will gradually make huge changes later. I recognize that ANYTHING that I do to improve my health and fitness is infinitely better than doing nothing. I recognize that this is the only course that I have available to me if I want a long, healthy and productive old age. And that folks makes it ALL worthwhile after all!

Thanks for indulging my rambling today! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it all.

Have a succulent salad-filled day!

Ella

Reducing Your Debt ... 1 Calorie At A Time

I’m beat! First it was Pilates, then some Cardio, and finally an hour with Little John. Whew! I tell you, you want motivation to work out and eat right … go on a Carnival Fun Ship out of Galveston!

I’m glad I am finally healthy and in one place long enough to get my schedule back. I feel like I have been off track lately and it is time to get back at it. Pumpkin told me the other day that this blog has also been getting off track lately. So, with only minor references to the Ecstasy, I will attempt to get this blog and my life in order.

Thankfully, I haven’t gained any weight over the past few weeks so I won’t have that battle on my hands also. In fact, I have stayed amazingly steady which is both good and bad. I think that it is time that I got serious about taking some of these extra pounds off though. Therefore, I commit to losing 1 pound by February 28th. This doesn’t sound like much of a challenge but it is to me. This is because I will have to exercise it off and then some. This might be the right time to discuss the Debt, Income, and Expense approach to understanding weight loss (the I learned at the Fitness Ridge Boot Camp). I will go through the basics of it and then will do an example.

Accounting Approach To Weight Loss

1. Take the number of pounds that you want to lose and multiply that number by 3500. This is your DEBT.
2. Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get your weight in Kilograms (approx).
   Multiply your weight in Kilograms by 24. If you are a woman multiply this number by .9 This is to account for women’s slower metabolism (Sad but true).
   The resulting number is your INCOME. This is the approximate number of calories per day that your body expends just for being.
3. Your EXPENSES are the number of calories that you EAT on any given day.
4. Just like in real life there are only 2 ways to reduce your debt. The first is to spend / eat less (than your income) and the second is to earn / exercise more. When eating less please remember that it takes at least 1200 calories for women and 1400 calories for men to stay safe nutrition-wise. You should not eat less than this on any given day if possible.

My Real Life Example

1. I would like to lose 10 lbs. Therefore 10 * 3500 = 35000 (Debt)
2. I currently weight 125lbs. Divide 125 by 2.2 = 56.82 (kg). 56.82 * 24 = 1364 * .9 (woman) = 1228. (Income)
3. Although I would love to say that I eat about 1500 calories per day I really end up eating about 1800 calories per day on average (Expenses). This means that if I don’t exercise at all I will increase my debt by (1800 – 1228) 572 calories every day which means that, if a pound is 3500 calories, that I will gain 1 pound every 6 days if I don’t exercise. That isn’t good at all!!!
4. So what it means is that I have to burn (through exercise) at least 572 calories EVERY day, 7 days a week, just to maintain my weight. And, in order to lose 1 lb in the next 12 days I will have to burn 572 + (3500 / 12) = 873 calories per day (Additional Income) for the next 12 days. It shouldn’t seem daunting but it is somehow.

I know that this way of looking at controlling or losing weight has helped a lot of people understand either why they have been struggling with their weight loss. It also helps one get a really good idea of what they have to do to lose or control their weight. It becomes concrete. It doesn’t allow for excuses. The numbers don’t lie!

I think that I might have my 873 calories for the day already but I think that I might just put down the computer for a bit and go out for a walk (walking or running burns about 100 calories per mile) or do a little Wii-ing. Can’t hurt to get a little head start!

Other than getting some more exercise I think that I will:

• Call the contractor to set up an appointment
• Call my mom
• Apply for NEXUS
• Call Connie re my visa application
• Read my book
• Unpack from the cruise
• Answer a few pressing emails

Nothing exciting or pressing. I will save that for tomorrow.

Until then, have a wonderful day!

Ella

Holy Exercise Orgasm Bat Man!

A friend (Thank you Space Monkey!) sent me a scary but interesting article the other day. It was a follow-up to a discussion that we had about endorphins and exercise. She mentioned that she felt wonderful after exercising because of all of the endorphins. I told her that I would probably exercise more if I actually got that who endorphin rush but mostly I just get tired. I wonder if that is the big difference between people who LOVE to exercise and those of us that have a bit of a struggle with it. I really do wish that I could get all jazzed and happy after exercising! I would love to feel that endorphin rush that people talk about. I wonder why it happens for some people and not for all of us. I will try to research this a bit more.

Well, I don’t know if this will help you, and it kind of freaks me out a little, but apparently you can get an orgasm from doing crunches. Yes, the dreaded crunch might not be so dreaded anymore! Apparently (I did NOT try this at home!) on Glamour.com Someone called Smitten writes that This ab workout brings her to orgasm every time.



Here's her secret:
You just lie on your back, bend your knees and put your feet on the floor, like you're doing regular sit-ups. Then press your lower back into the floor, and tilt up your pelvis slightly. Cross your arms over your chest and just do low sit-ups, moving just a little bit up and down.
She claims that if you do them the right way, the pressure it puts on your body gives you a big O … every time!

So would you exercise more or less if you knew that “the Big O” was there for you every time? Can you call that an increase in endorphins? Enquiring minds want to know!! Well, maybe we don’t want to know …