October Unprocessed 2011

Oh, man!  I stumbled upon a challenge in the blogosphere this week.  A challenge I'm seriously contemplating.  One that speaks to the heart of what I'm trying to do in my family's kitchen.  A challenge that Halloween is going to make very difficult!

It is called October Unprocessed and the simple idea is to go a month without eating any processed foods.  Re-calibrate your taste buds, as it were. 

The definition of "processed foods" is a topic of debate.  Andrew at EatingRules.com, the instigator of the challenge, defines it as Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.  But your definition can be whatever YOU are comfortable with.

I don't know.  I've been trying it already.  I just hate committing to something that I'm most likely going to fail.  Really ... go all October without Halloween candy AT ALL?   Although, perhaps M&Ms take much more than "reasonable skill in a home kitchen."   (I am a bit too good at finding loop holes!)

Anybody up for a challenge?  You can read more about it over at EatingRules.

-Cindy

A Reset

Have you ever had your computer freezer or wig out on you and the only real fix is to reboot it?

Have you ever had all the lights on your dash flicker at you but when you restarted the engine, the car runs fine?

Have you ever turned a flashlight off and given it a good shake and when you switch it back on, it works?

A reset.  All those instances are just versions of resetting something.  You return to the beginning and try again with the basics.
 

I was motivated by this article at Simple Marriage.  The author is talking about a reset in our parenting, but for me it resonated much more with my weight loss journey and especially my family's eating.

I need a reset.

I didn't do a Meal Plan Monday this week.  I'm kind of winging it because of the mass amounts of fresh produce our neighbors and friends have given us.  But the real reason is that I WANT to reset the way I do them.  I WANT to do our meals a bit differently.  My desire has not yet motivated me to action, though. 

I will get it in gear and get myself organized and return to plotting out our meals.  Hopefully sooner than later. 

Hey! A New Post!!

That's right. After nearly two months of silence, the Bloggest Loser is active again.

I've thought about posting several of the health issues I've dealt with over the last several weeks:

Eating well during pregnancy
Depression eating
Controlling portion sizes during the holidays
Healthy alternatives to holiday cookies and chocolates

Can you tell which aspect of health I've been struggling with lately?

So here it is, a new year.  Time for resolutions.  So far, I've kept my food journal and actually been kind of low in my calorie intake.  I'm going to have to bump it up a little. 

I also started exercising again.  It's been a while.  I pretty much quit running after the two 5k's I did at Thanksgiving.  So now my muscles are screaming at me.  But it's the satisfying, "I HURT SO GOOD!" kind of way. 

And here we are.  I look forward to starting this blog back up again.  I've got some recruits to help me keep things going.  I think it's going to be a beautiful thing!

The Bloggest Loser Day 50 and Weekly Check In

Last week's winner was......

Cindy!

Okay, people.  Time to start weighing in again.  We're just over halfway through!!!  Remember, I'm out of the game, so I live vicariously through YOU!!  Lose weight for me, please.  My gut thanks you.

My goals this week: water, water, water.  And I'd like to make sure I run three days this week.  I missed last Monday.  Ironically, it was the first day after I completed the Couch to 5k.  And the first time I'd missed a day at all in ten weeks.  I think that was more mental than anything else.  Why do I give myself permission to give up?  I've got to change that.  Plus, I'm nearly sure I'll be running the Turkey Trot next month in Syracuse, UT.  I've got a few more details to hash out, but I should be there with my running shoes.  I've got to keep running so I can finish the race without much problem.  I'll be about 12 weeks along by then (give or take a week or two) so I should be able to do it.  Will you?

So despite all the Halloween candy, cookies, and any other yummy holiday treats you can think of, calculate your weight loss and TELL ME ABOUT.  (That's almost a Billy Joel song.)  Any new goals this week?

My (Birthing) Plateau Story

I think that anytime you do some life-altering event, people are always willing to support you. And help you, if needed. And offer lots of advice.

I've come to discover that getting healthy is like going through labor.... there is conflicting advice about everything. Everyone wants to share their successes and their horror stories. And their 1 in a million event that only they have ever experienced. Sometimes the water breaks, sometimes labor is induced. Some go all natural, some get as many drugs as possible. It's all so different for everyone.

But the other day Crisanne brought out a good point. How do you get past a plateau?

This is a good question. One I've been reading/thinking/asking/researching a lot about. It's something I dread happening again. How to we avoid or overcome it?

So here's what I've discovered either has worked for me or several different sources seem to agree with. It's my own birthing story, if you will, of how to get past a plateau.

FUEL

First and foremost, make sure you have enough fuel for your body. This is the part that I have the most questions about. Five small meals? Three regular meals and a snack? No snack? Big breakfast? Big lunch? How many calories? How many carbs, protein or fat? How do you eat healthily but keep the kids satisfied too? Can my grocery bill afford it?

I thought I had all this figured out until I got sick last week. I'm trying a few new things. I've decided to start using Calorie Count from about.com. You set up your personal information and it takes into consideration your activity level and fitness goals. I did read the best advice about how much to eat at which times of day: everyone is different, find what works for you. Your lifestyle, schedule, and physical demands are different than others'.

STRENGTH TRAIN

Here's something I didn't know.... Your body protects its fat. Simply said, your body will get rid of excess muscle before it will use its fat to burn fuel. So, you have to use and develop your muscles so your body will revert to burning fat. Plus, muscle will help your metabolism function much better.

Don't worry about getting all huge and buff. Just learn how to gain the type of muscle you want. Heavy weight with fewer reps will give you muscle mass. Lower weight with higher reps will give you long, lean muscles.

MUSCLE CONFUSION

Your body is always trying to find stabilize itself. That's why we get plateaus in the first place. One thing we can try is confusing our muscles. Alternate workouts. If you do a lot of running, add some swimming in there. Alternate videos. Try a different time of day. If you always workout in the morning, your body begins to prepare for your workout before you even change into your workout clothes. Let your body think it's going to work out and begin getting hyped up for it, but trick it by exercising in the afternoon instead. It'll burn more calories throughout the day. Tricky, eh?

Don't get stuck in a rut with the same old thing all the time. Try a new what, when, where, or how.

RECOVER

I read that you want to take in carbs and protein 15 to 60 minutes after your workout. You want the protein for your muscles and the carbs to keep up your energy.

Are you getting enough vitamins and minerals from your diet? Do you need a multi-vitamin? Mostly likely, a vitamin will be sufficient and you don't need to run out and get whey or something similar.

Get enough sleep. Josh brought up a good point. If you are the perfect Molly Mormon Momma and you fulfill your calling, and take the kids to soccer/band/mutual/Scouts/piano, and you work out twice a day, and you make love to your husband seven days a week (his example, remember), and you care for your garden, etc, you will still hit a plateau and stop losing weight if you are only getting five hours of sleep a night.

Hydrate yourself. I don't know that many of us can confidently say that we get enough water every single day. We need to replenish the water we've lost while sweating but also flush out all the impurities.

So, those are the things I've decided may be helpful. At least for me. Remember, every body is different. And adding a strength training routine may take a couple of weeks to see results. Muscle weighs more than fat (yadda, yadda) and adding muscle will change your inches a little. At least at first.

Maybe see if any of these things are worth trying. Give it a few weeks. And hopefully we'll all get through the plateau periods somewhat easily.

Bloggest Loser Day 14 and Weekly Check In

So much to report.......

First of all,

Pam won the weigh in with a loss of 2.3%!

Congrats, Pam! Glad your foot is finally feeling better!!

So let's get down to business.

This week was a major lesson learned. MAJOR. I ended up losing a mere 1.01% of my weight. Better than last week, and over 1%, so hooray. But after the week I had, I'm just happy I lost anything at all.

Yes, it was my birthday and I had a lot of good food. Hopefully I'll get the details about that on my other blog soon.

But beyond that, it was the trip to the ER that rattled me. Long story short, after a few days of breathing problems (every 4th breath was a conscientious deep inhale and I often felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen, like a yawn that isn't satisfying), I had Josh take me to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon because I had shortness of breath. I was worried that I had some sort of respiratory problem. I ended up with an IV of fluids, chest x-ray, CAT scan, EKG, blood work, and oxygen. Luckily, there were no clots or growths in my lungs. Everything looked healthy, except for my sodium bicarbonate level. It was very low. The doc thought I might be dehydrated since I was experiencing a metabolic acidosis, but I had no other symptoms.

It took a while, but we finally figured out (Josh figured it out, have I ever mentioned how amazing he is?) that I probably had ketoacidosis. What are these words I'm using? I had no idea.

Basically, I was keeping to my recommended online food journal, but the website doesn't take into account the person's activity level. I was eating 1200 to 1550 calories/day. My body wasn't getting enough fuel to run off of. Now, you want a deficit in your calories in order to burn fat, but when you don't get enough fuel you burn fat, muscle, and you begin to keep too much acid within your body.

In my case, the way my body dealt with trying to expel the extra acid was by breathing in more O2 and breathing out more CO2 (carbon dioxide is acidic, oxygen is the alkalotic buffer). The plan to fix it: eat more calories. It's taken me two days of eating anything I want (Italian food, cake, etc) and I'm finally breathing normally again.

I want to tell you about this for one main reason:

ARE YOU EATING ENOUGH????

You want to keep your food in control, but are you getting enough? I did a lot of research after getting home from the ER Wednesday night. It seems pretty agreed that with my rigorous exercising, I should have been eating at least 1700 to 1800 calories a day. Do you know your magic number?

As far as my goal to drink more water than Crystal Light (and then trying to cut out diet drinks altogether), I did pretty well.

Now that my eating is back in order and my breathing is almost completely back to normal, I have a lot of the same goals: eat enough, keep up my exercise, and drink LOTS of water. Oh, and watch The Biggest Loser this Tuesday. Hooray for season premiere week!

So, that was my lesson this week. Did you learn anything new this week? Did you accomplish your goals? What new goals do you have for this week. How'd your weight loss go? (Go HERE for the calculator.) Trials? Successes? Tell me all about your week!

The Bloggest Loser Day 7 and Weekly Check In

Here it is. Another week has passed and it's time to pull out the Honesty. How did this week go? Did you accomplish your goals?



It's also time for our first official weigh in. Go HERE for the Weight Loss Percentage Calculator. And prepare to share.

This week I accomplished my goal of registering for the Bone Marrow Drive. It's a huge commitment. You are put in the registry until the age of 61. Amazing, isn't it? But I think they said only 1 out of 20,000 people match. I did the easy part with the cheek swab. Now it's up to the database to do the rest.


I also worked out pretty hard this week. I did my running (including the extra run last night), I did my work out video 6 days, I kept my food journal and (mostly) kept on it. Still, I only lost .25% of my weight this week. Yup. That's half a pound. I've also been taking my measurements. Somehow I still lost half an inch in my bust, a full inch in my waist, and gained a half an inch in my hips. My body is shifting and changing, but that scale didn't move. I admit, I got really upset about it. Then I went and found THIS ARTICLE. I encourage you to take a look at it. It talks a lot about weight being deceiving and an unreliable resource for measuring weight loss.

The article encourages you to find out your body fat percentage. You can use an online tool HERE. ****Warning**** This tool places you in categories of Essential Fat, Athlete, Fit, Normal, and Obese. I'm no longer obese according to my weight, but I am according to my body fat. So be aware. It really sucks to see yourself in the Obese category!! But even with my gain in my hips, I lost .5% of my body fat last week. That's awesome.

After reading about all of this, I think we'll keep the traditional weight loss percentage winner, but instead of having a winner for the most inches lost, we'll have a winner for the most body fat lost. Or do you want to do both inches and body fat lost? That would be a potential of three winners. Chime in and tell me your opinion.

So here it is. Leave your percentage of weight lost. And your body fat lost, if so desired. Was this week easy? Harder than you thought? Are you hopeful? Or just plain discouraged. Btw, if you're discouraged, hang in there with us. This will all be worth it in 83 more days!!

And for anyone not Bloggest Loser-ing with us (and those that are), what goals do you have this week? Mine include all I've been doing plus drinking more water than Crystal Light.

Weekly Check In

It's Week 3 Day 1 of my Couch to 5k program. This morning I was joined by my sister Tara for my run. It wasn't bad. I was a little nervous to run more than 90 seconds at a time. My knees have been threatening to begin the overwhelming pain they gave me last year when I tried running. But I did pretty well. Tara did really well, especially since it was her first run in a while. We made it back and survived. If you can imagine that.

I kept to my goals this last week. I kept running like I was supposed to. I worked out twice during the week. And I kept my food journal. New challenge is to make sure I'm getting enough food because I've noticed that I'm starting to cut too much out. Sometimes finding that balance is tough. The good news: I lost another 3 lbs.

This week's goals: Continue running and keeping the food journal. But I think I need to step it up with a new goal. Something I don't think about all the time. (You don't know this because you're not sitting here next to me as I type this, but I had to stop and think about this for a minute.) I think I'll have to add the goal for personal scripture study. We do family scriptures, and I was doing really well with my personal scripture reading, but with my routine changes it got overlooked. So that's got to be put back into my day.

What are your goals? How did you do last week? Did you get your short term goal taken care of? What do you want to do this week?

I've got a suggested goal for anyone wanting to do the Bloggest Loser, which begins next Monday. Take this week to begin your new eating or exercising regimen. That way next week you can continue doing it (or tweak it to something that works better) and it may be easier to get the results you hope for. I think that was my downfall over the summer. I wanted to suddenly do a lot of things differently and demanded results that first week and just got bummed when I couldn't do it all. I lost steam and gained weight instead of losing it.

Anyway. How'd you do?

Cheating?

So I've been on this kick to cut certain things out of my diet. No sugar, chocolate, simple carbs, etc. You know, all the things I've always convinced myself that I could never live without.

It's been nearly a full three weeks now and I'm doing fine. I'm alive. In fact, I'm now trying to ponder what kind of cake I can eat for my birthday in a couple of weeks. I may not be able to enjoy a traditional cake after going about six weeks without baked goodies. So I've still got to figure this one out.

But I can't help but wonder if I'm cheating on the chocolate end. I haven't eaten anything I'd traditionally consider "chocolate". No candy, cookies, brownies, or anything like that. However, I needed an afternoon snack and bought some Kashi TLC fruit and grain bars. It didn't even register with me that they had chocolate on them. I was more concerned with the fact that they had no high fructose corn syrup, higher fiber and protein, and low fat. It's dark chocolate and it does taste really good. Also, I drink a chocolate protein shake after exercising. It's also higher in fiber and protein, no bad sugar, and lower in fat.

Am I cheating? I can't help but think of it like chewing gum on Fast Sunday. Am I chewing gum for the taste or am I chewing it to keep from burning the faces off of the people around me? That may be a controversial subject, not the point I'm trying to make. But I think that if I'm consuming these things for the health benefits and not the chocolate benefits, it still counts.

I think.

Check In

It's Monday. Time to evaluate the goals we've made this last week and look forward to a fresh, new week.

Last week my goal was to begin my running regime and keep up on my food journal. Did it. Woo-hoo! And I lost two lbs this week. Bonus!

Plus, Cindy sent me an early birthday present. I got to use my new mp-3 player for the first time today. It was so nice to have someone else keep track of my time to run or walk. And who can turn down some good tunes?

This week I want to continue my running. I want to make sure I get at least two days of a workout as well. I'll keep up my food journal and stay away from the sweets.

I'll tell ya. I had some major temptations this week. I wanted some really good and gooey brownie batter. And ice cream. And chocolate in any form. Our church choir practice is held at the choir director's house and she always has some warm, homemade goodies to share. Yesterday were no-bake cookies. My mouth watered and I almost gave in. But if I had, I would've taken her up on her offer for two cookies. Then I probably would've snuck a third one. But I didn't. My will power to stop is not completely developed yet and I don't need the opportunity it test it. I won't always have to say No. Someday I'll be able to say, "Just one, thanks" again.

How did your goals go this week? We all have some good and admirable long-term goals. What is one short-term goal that you can complete this week that will help you with your overall goal? Mine is to keep running. It's getting to be something I look forward to everyday. That makes me happy.

The Ah-Ha Moment

I'm trying to get myself in order. I think I've reached that Ah-Ha Moment. My body is stuck in a rut. And although my husband (who is the greatest man in the world) loves me no matter what, I want to love that way I look. I'm sick of rockin' Mom Jeans.



In case you missed it, here is the worst line, "Get the jeans that says, 'I'm not a woman anymore. I'm a mom.'"

It's sooo wrong!

What??? Moms can still be women? They can feel beautiful, and happy, and maybe even (dare I say it?) sexy??

I'm going to step out on a limb here and say: Sure. Why the heck not?

Last week I established the routine of walking the kids to their bus stop and then taking Millie for a stroll through the neighborhood. It's helped me get into a good mindset that I'm going to use that time from 8 - 9 am to exercise. This week I'm alternating between my c25k program and my Biggest Loser workout. Today was the workout. It went fine, but I was kind of halfhearted. I let Millie distract me a bit. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, because I actually did. I think I'm off my game a bit because I only have my 8 lb weights (I left my 5lb ones at my parents' house in MT) and my muscles are a little scared of those heavier weights.

I'm also trying to stick with my No Sweets Policy. Last week, with just my walking and my no sweets I lost 3 lbs. That's right! So, I'm very nervous to let myself have any sweets. Because I'm afraid I'll go overboard. I don't know how many years it's been since I didn't go more than two days without some form of sugar. Probably why it's been so hard to lose weight!!

You may be thinking, "Shelly, you're so adorably ridiculous!! 8 lbs isn't much to lift! And no one in their right mind would be that addicted to sugar."

My reply to you is this: Yes, I am adorable. Thank you.

Also, I'm discovering that I've lost control over my body and habits. I let it go and didn't worry about it. Now I'm taking it back. It's really hard and I don't always want to do it, but it's necessary. I can't stay in the weight bracket I'm in. It's not healthy. And it's not going to be easy to not gain the old weight back if I don't change. I'm already 30+ lbs less than I was two years ago. I'm not going back to that weight again!! Not unless I'm pregnant. And then I'd like it to be baby weight, not:




Been there, done that!

Never again, thank you!

First Day of My 1/2 Marathon Training

Today was my first day of the Couch to 5k program. I think this is going to go well. I've been home from my walk/run for about an hour and a half and I think my face is finally back to its original color and not flushed anymore.

The idea of this program is to slowly get your body used to running with a walk/jog combo. This week I run three days using a combination of jogging for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds.

Today's song that I sang over and over again (because I needs me an mp3 player or ipod) was "You Look Good in My Shirt" by Keith Urban. Mostly because I hoped my t-shirt was long enough to keep my booty covered. I'm sure I got people thinking of Jell-o as they drove past me. A bit too much junk in my trunk!!

Veronica and I are trying this new fad called, uh, jogging. I think it's jogging, or yogging. It might be a soft 'j'. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended amount of time. It's supposed to be wild.

--Ron Burgundy, Anchorman

Josh talked to a coworker who is a seasoned marathon runner. She suggested to stick with a program to slowly work my way to running 3 miles (about 5k) and then start running for time, an hour at a time or so, until I can run for 3 hours. I only have a few months to train for this, but I want to do it.

My goal race is called London's Run. It's local and affordable. Some of these races are kind of pricey, but this one is do-able. Plus, all the proceeds go to local children's charities. You can't beat that!! And to add to the fun my sister, my brother-in-law, and my cousins plan to join me. Awesome!

In addition to my new exercise regime, I've begun trying to watch my food intake more. Last week I gave up refined sugar. Hardest thing I've ever done!! I'm a self-proclaimed choco-holic and giving up chocolate is rough! This week I want to focus on keeping my food journal. That should help with several aspects of my diet.

Please feel free to comment, but also join in. What is your fitness goal? We'll begin Bloggest Loser, Season 2 on September 5th. The person with the great percentage weight lost wins.

Get ready!!!