Change in Plans

“Some changes might look negative on the surface, but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge” Eckhart Tolle

I hate winter. I hate snow. I hate ice. I know this is a pretty common sentiment from most people right now. My city was hit with 70 cm of snow last week. That’s more than 2 feet, on top of all the snow and ice we already had. My sidewalk currently looks like this.

That is the same sidewalk that I would usually run on, buried under more than 4 feet of snow.

Needless to say, I haven’t been able to run outside in almost 2 months. I have been able to get to our indoor track and to the gym on occasion, but it’s not as easy as getting home from work, lacing up and heading out the door.

I’m not giving up, I’m just starting over.

So I need to change my plans. I have not trained enough to even consider running the Blue Nose ½ Marathon in just over a month. I would be hard pressed to run a 5k right now. The new plan is to start running again as soon as I can. The weather is starting to clear up, the snow will eventually melt and the sidewalks will be cleared. I have 2 5ks planned for May, and of course the Ocean Breeze Trail run in June. I WILL run a ½ marathon this year, likely in the fall.

Change can be good.

20 days of Nourishment - Review

Mind – Body – Spirit

Today is the last day of the 20 days of nourishment challenge. It has been very interesting to reflect each day on what aspects of my life I seem to be doing well with and what areas I could probably focus more on.

The challenge was to list your daily activities in one of three categories – mind, body and spirit – and to give each activity a score out of 7 depending on how helpful, positive or healthy the activity was. There isn’t a perfect score, or even a number to aim for. The point is to see how your numbers vary from day to day and what activities may be good or bad for you.

Unsurprisingly, my numbers were highest every day in the BODY category. This category dealt with food. Since I focus a lot on food and making healthy choices, I had pretty high numbers for most meals. And food is the easiest one to remember to track every day.

MIND came in second for me. This category was all about entertainment and education. I don’t think I had a single activity that I would label as educational! And my entertainment was pretty much the same day over day – read blogs, play on the computer, watch TV. I did get a new book while we were away for Liam’s birthday, so I did have a few days with reading.

My SPIRIT numbers lagged far behind. I found it was a lot easier to reflect on negative things that happened during the day and to write those down, then it was to come up with more positive things that I did. However, it did help me realize that I need more positives in my day, so it sent me looking for them. It’s an area that I’m going to continue to focus on.

Thanks Hutch for hosting a great challenge and helping me become much more self aware.

20 days of nourishment

http://runninghutch.com/faith-fitness/20-days-nourishment/

This month I'm taking part in a different type of challenge.  It's overall focus is on how you nourish your body, mind and spirit.  It's not about counting calories or losing weight.  Part of my focus on a healthier lifestyle also needs to include those areas.

Hutch, the blogger who is hosting this, sums it up best:

Just like you have to train your body to run a marathon, you also need to train your mind to stay tough when the race gets rough. Training your mind and spirit is just as important as training your body.

Every day for the next 20 days I will rate the activities in my life as part of three categories – body, mind and spirit.

HOW TO PLAY:  

1) Keep a daily log of what you feed your body (eat and drink), mind (entertainment & education choices), and spirit (truths or lies you dwell on). It’s like a food journal for life. You must write down the good and the bad. It doesn’t have to be super detailed.

2) Give each of your items or group of items a score on a scale between 0 and 7. Use 0 for anything completely unhelpful, or negative, or unhealthy. Use 7 for anything completely helpful, positive, or healthy

I’ve focused almost exclusively on the physical aspect of my life of late – what I eat, how many calories, getting enough exercise. Focusing on the other aspects of my life should be justt as important. Being an atheist, it sounds odd to be focusing on the spirit side, but I see this more as concentrating on the positive influences in my life and having a better attitude. It also reminds me a lot of the tenets of Tae Kwon Do, which I would like to think that I strive to achieve in my day to day life.

• Courtesy Showing courtesy to all, respecting others, having manners as well as maintaining the appropriate etiquette at all times, both within and outside the dojang 
• Integrity Although it may be similar, this form of integrity takes on a more wider role then defined in the common dictionary. In Taekwondo, integrity means not only to determine what is right or wrong but also having the conscience to feel guilt if one has done wrong and to have the integrity stand up for what is right. 
• Perseverance One will persevere time and time again until they have achieved a result which is adequate towards what one was trying to achieve. 
• Self-control This means to not only have control over one's physical acts, but also their mental thoughts and actions. 
• Indomitable spirit To have indomitable spirit means to have the courage to stand up for what you believe in, no matter what odds you are up against, and to always give 100% effort in whatever you do.

I truly believe that all aspects of your life need to be in balance if you want to reach your full potential and happiness. Hopefully by focusing on what I’m doing each day, I can find ways to increase my daily score by adding more positives and removing some of the negatives.

Interested in following along? Check out the link at the top of the post!

C is for....

Cookies and Cake and Chocolate and Candy and ice Cream and Chips and  CRAP.

These are all things that I have been eating way too much of and as such, I'm back to gaining weight instead of losing it.

That stops today.

Today I am starting another 6-week accountability group.  My goal for this group is to stop eating all of these C-words.  Overall we eat a very healthy, fresh food diet.  Hilary is an amazing cook who is always on the hunt for new, exciting recipes that are tasty and healthy.  I have a healthy breakfast, a well packed lunch and a great dinner.   I need to stop snacking after work and in the evenings before bed.

My other detractor of late has been having a car.  Due to various commitments, we've been keeping our weekend rental car during the week which adds 2 problems to my weight loss/health plan.  1) I'm not walking 20 minutes every morning from the bus to work.  2) It's far to convenient to skip breakfast and pick up something at the drive through.  My food choices for the last 2 weeks have not been great.

While this feels a bit like starting over, it really is just getting back on tract.  I've had 2 weeks of sloth and gluttony, so no it's time to settle back into my healthy routine.

Mid-May Update

It’s a wee bit past the midway point of May, but never too late for an update.

1. I’m on par to get in all my miles for the May Mileage challenge. I wanted to finish with 155 miles (5 miles a day) and I’m currently estimated to finish at 159. 
2. I hate the scale. The numbers are going up, not down. 
3. I can’t seem to control my snacking lately. This might be the problem with the #2.
4. I had a moment last week when I realized that I AM a runner – with less then 10 minutes to go till the start of TKD class, I was able to run to the house and back to class to get Liam’s sparing helmet. And I still managed to run the warm up with the class. 
5. I’ve only missed one TKD this month. I finally feel ready to test next week.
6. I ran 6k on Sunday with my co-worker who is running the Ocean Breeze with me. We seem to be well matched for pace, even if she can carry on a full conversation the whole time while I wheezed out one answers.

How are you doing this month?

Willpower

The next few weeks are going to be a true test of my will power. Every year our TaeKwon-Do club has its members sell chocolate bars to raise funds. We are each asked to sell 2 boxes, so 60 chocolate bars. Or in my case, 4 boxes, since Liam and I both train together. Each box contains a mixture of chocolate covered almonds, almond bars, caramel bars and individually wrapped caramels. They are some of the BEST chocolates I have ever tasted.
 

The good thing is that I work in an office with a lot of people, so it’s usually pretty quick and easy to sell off 4 boxes. Just set it up on the corner of my desk and spread the word. The people will come, Toonies in hand.

The bad thing is that I have a box of chocolates sitting on my desk for the next couple of weeks.

The first box was set up on my desk this morning and I’ve already sold 7 bars. The box won’t last long, and will be replaced by the next one (which is already 3 bars light, since Liam emptied his wallet as soon as we got home with them last night).

I really want to stick with my 21-day plan and get my eating back on track, which does not include eating chocolate of any type, let alone a box of almonds that has 440 calories. So until these chocolates are all sold, I will be working on my willpower

“It's not that some people have willpower and some don't... It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.” ― James Gordon

If only...

I am currently suffering from a bad case of the "If only's..."

·         If only it weren’t dark out when I got home... I could go for a walk.
·         If only there wasn’t snow on the ground… I could go for a run.
·         If only it weren’t so cold outside… I could play in the back yard.
·         If only I could lose 20 pounds… it would be easier to exercise.
·         If only I would exercise… I could lose 20  pounds.
·         If only I could get more sleep… I wouldn’t be so tired.
·         If only I wasn’t sick… I could do more.
·         If only the bag of chips wasn’t open... I wouldn’t eat them.
·         If only I didn’t have to work full time… I would have more time to work out.
·         If only I had a car… I could get to the gym.
·         If only we had a basement… I would have room for a treadmill.
·         If only I wasn’t so lazy… I could get up and do something.
·      If only ...

Does anyone have a good cure-all for the "If only's..."?

No Thank You

The smell of a vanilla cappuccino wafts down the row to mingle with the scent of toast and peanut butter. A plate of homemade cookies sits on the desk to my left. 3 rows over is the bowl of expensive dark chocolates, placed out for people to help themselves to. At lunch time a delivery person walks by with 15 piping-hot pizzas, leaving a trail of aroma in his wake. Someone does a mid-afternoon run to the store, coming back with mini chocolate Easter eggs and a box of Halloween sized chip bags to share. At least once a week someone forgets their lunch so they run and grab take out, bringing it back to eat at their desk.

These are the office food pitfalls that I navigate every day. I arrive with my healthy, pre-packed, pre-measured lunch, making sure that I don’t have any change on me so that I can’t augment my meal with an extra snack from the vending machine. My co-workers know that I am trying to eat right and lose weight, and in fact, more than half of them are doing the same thing. Mostly they don’t offer me whatever item is currently being passed around, but every now and then I have to deal with what I refer to as “the pushers”. You know the type…. “Aww come on, just one won’t hurt you, have a cookie/chocolate/timbit/snack.” And they seem genuinely insulted when I decline, as if our level of friendship is directly related to me accepting or refusing their fares.

Too many times of late I have fallen into the trap of accepting just one, having a wee taste or sampling something new. I know that individually none of these will derail my progress, but I don’t always have the willpower to stop at just one. So for my own success I have had to take the stance of saying “No Thank You” to all of it. One day I may be at a place that I won’t have to refuse, but I’m not there today.

Do you have “pushers” in your life? How do you handle them?

21 days

After gaining weight for the last 3 weeks, it’s time to knuckle down and get serious again. Luckily that coincides with a 21 day challenge I’ve signed up for. I was recently introduce to “Shakeology”. Not one to believe in fad diets, supplements or other snake oil ideas, I was pretty skeptical. An online friend who is a Team Beach Body coach, hooked me up with a couple of free samples to try. It was surprisingly tasty and my research has me believing that it really is made of all natural, good for you things. Since I like shakes, I figured I would give it a try.

The 21 day challenge also came with food containers to help with portion control and some work out videos. Since I’m old pro at calorie counting and portion control, I don’t think I’ll be using the containers as intended, but they do make good containers to take my lunch to work in. I was initially resistant to the work out videos as well, but I tried on last Thursday to see what it was like. I only made it through 20 of the 30 minute workout before I thought I was going to throw up, and it took 3 days before my thighs recovered enough that I could get in and out of a chair on my own. The part that I like the most about the video was that even though it was led by a skinny, chipper, I-workout-10-times-a-day woman, they had a regular sized woman also featured doing modified versions of the exercises for those of us who can’t keep up with the skinny, chipper leader. I found I was following a little bit of both of them – more so the modified versions as time wore on and I got more and more tired.

My goal for these 21 days is to drink one of their shakes every morning (I bought the chocolate version, and wow, is it great tasting!), keep my calories under 1900 a day and to work out at least 30 minutes a day – either at TKD or one of their videos. 3 weeks is a small enough time frame to not be overwhelming. We have no plans or celebrations in the next 3 weeks, and won’t be renting cars either, so that will keep me out of the fast food drive thrus.

Yesterday I weighed in, got Hilary to help me take my measurements and some "before" pictures (which  won't be sharing!)   I'm really hoping that this is the kickstart that I need to get myself back on track!

6 week accountability

6 weeks ago I joined an online accountability group.  The premise was simple.  A group of people virtually meeting up every day to help keep each other accountable to the goals we set for ourselves.

I set a goal of not skipping Tae Kwon Do for the 6 weeks.  That would equate to 16 classes.  I made it to 11.  A couple were cancelled because of the weather, 1 I was legitimately sick and the others..... I just didn't have it in me to go those nights.

And that was okay.

Not making my goal to 100% helped me realize that no one is perfect and that there are times when you just have to let something go.  That doesn't mean you've failed.  You haven't ruined everything for ever.  Let it go and move on.

I made it to more classes in these last 6 weeks then I did for the previous 3 months combined.  I felt accountable - to myself for setting the goal and to the group who was there to encourage me and cheer me on.

I will continue to grow my accountability to myself as I strive towards my overall goal of better health.

Sugar

I have a very sweet tooth. I love candy and sweets, and have a hard time moderating myself. I also have adverse reactions to sugar, which would make you think that it would be easier for me to avoid. Yet I always forget how I’m going to feel after, when I’m popping candies into my mouth. I’ve noticed in the last week or so that I now get a headache after eating candy. I suspect because I’ve been eating healthier lately, that the sudden rush of sugar goes straight to my head, literally. It also plays havoc with my blood sugar.

As a teenager I struggled with Hypoglycemia – the opposite of diabetes – where my body produced too much insulin. If I didn’t eat regularly and let my blood sugar drop, I would pass out. I have too many stories about passing out in strange and embarrassing places, before I learned to listen to my body and fuel it appropriately. Over time and likely with my weight gain, my body shifted to a pre-diabetic mode and I was dealing with the opposite problem. While I’m no longer considered in either state, I feel the effects of my blood sugar levels almost instantly. Within minutes of having a high dose of sugar, my cheeks and ears turn bright red and start to burn and I can start to feel light headed and sick to my stomach.

And yet it still doesn’t stop me from eating it.

I came across a group today that is running a 30 day challenge starting on February 1st. They are challenging people to change just one thing for 30 days to help your goal of a healthier lifestyle. While I always maintain that I don’t deny myself anything and that I’m not on a “diet” but on a new way of living, I am going to deny myself candy and sugary foods for the next 30 days. I don’t need them, they do nothing good for me and there are plenty of healthy, sweet altrenatives if I feel that I just can’t go on without some extra sweetness. I’m sure I will feel better for it too.

Are you interested in making 1 small change for 30 days? Come join us!

Time

Finding time for yourself is important.  If you don’t recharge and relax you can never be the best person for those around you.  But finding that time can be hard.  Work, commuting, dinner, house cleaning, homework, sleep, grocery shopping, bedtime routines, family time, date nights and every other little detail of life still need to happen.  It can seem overwhelming to try to add in exercise on top of it all.  Yet if we don’t make the time, it will never happen.

Some people wake up early, before the requirements of the day begin and run or work out then.  I’ve managed to do that a grand total of once.  I value my sleep just as much as being active.  Actually, I might value sleep a wee bit more. 

One of the ways that I’ve added in the time to exercise without feeling guiltyier about taking away family time was to join Tae Kwon Do with Liam.  That way I’m still getting 3 hours of exercise a week, but I’m still spending that time with him. 

Finding time over and above TKD to fit in running is currently a struggle.  I don't get home from work till after 5:00, and even if I'm out the door by 5:30, it's after 6:30 before I'm home, changed and ready to engage in family life. It is doable, and I have an amazing family that is supportive of this, but I find it hard sometimes to just go, Go, GO! 

How do you balance all the requirements of life with finding time to exercise?

21 nice things about me

The lovely ladies over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans offered up a mini-challenge last week to go along with their New Year’s Weight Loss boot camp. While I’m not doing the exercise part of their boot camp and I am following along with the group. I’ve never been very good at self-discovery or being able to talk about myself in a positive way, but I did enjoy this challenge.

This Week’s Mini-Challenge

I want you to say, write, type, paint, or WHATEVER medium you choose, THREE NICE THINGS about yourself every.single.day this week. Starting today and ending next Tuesday. That would equal 21 nicey-nice things about you. You can share them with the world, or keep them to yourself. But honestly, you probably should share them, because it will make you feel so much better, and then we can agree with you and make you feel even more spectacular. So do it, m’kay?

Here are the 21 nice things I have to say about myself:

Tell me 3 nice things about yourself!

Kettlebells

Kettlebells are cast iron weights that have been used since the 1700's.  They were originally developed to help train the Soviet Army but soon become popular with the general population and even started being used in competitive events in the 1940's.  They can vary in weight from as little as 5 lbs all the way up to an impressive 75 lbs.  They are a great addition to a home gym - they don't take up much space but offer a full body workout, including strength and endurance.

I was first introduced to kettlebell workouts when my SIL bought me the book The Swing! The author, Tracy Reifkind lost 100 lbs simply by swinging a kettlebell. The book is a great read and her story is very inspiring. She also includes a great section on selecting the right kettlebell for you and proper technique for building a workout routine around kettlebell swinging. My SIL uses her kettlebell as part of her workout routine and loves it.  It doesn't take a lot of time and you can pick it up and start swinging while you are waiting for the laundry to finish or the water to boil for a cup of tea.

Lots of gyms are now offering kettlebell classes, but really, it's something you can just as easily do on your own at home. Tribesports has a great kettlebell challenge that just came out this week. With just one kettlebell you can do 4 different exercises.  They recommend that women start with an 8 lb weight and once you are comfortable with that and have developed good form, you can move up to a 15 pound kettlebell.  Just click on the image below to see all the details on the Tribesports challenge, including detailed guides on each of the 4 exercises.

Let's get swinging!

My Mental Obstacles

I have great plans!  I know that I can do things... run a 5K, pass my next TKD test, lose the next 10 pounds.   And yet, I struggle with mental obstacles.

I come up with all sorts of reasons for why I can't do something:

• I don't have shoes
• I don't have pants to run in
• It's too cold out
• It's too icy
• I need to lose more weight before I start to run
• I have the wrong music on my Ipod

Then I have what I consider the self sabotaging thoughts.

• I'll skip working out today and do it twice tomorrow
• I've already gone over on my calories so I may as well eat this cookie
• I don't have time to exercise
• I have more important things to do right now

None of the things I have listed can't be overcome.  

• I do have a pair of shoes.  They might be old but they will do to get me started.  
• I have yoga pants, I just need to tuck the wide legs into socks so I don't trip on them. 
• I can wear a sweater and a hat and gloves. Once I get moving I doubt I'll be cold.  
• The ice is now mostly gone and the side walks are clear.  
• If I start running I will probably lose more weight.  
• And really, that last one?  LAME.

Sabotaging thoughts are a lot harder to overcome.  I need to focus each and every moment on what my ultimate goal is: getting healthy.   Every time I'm faced with an option that is not going to help me along that path I need to stop and make the better choice.  I will stop self sabotaging my progress.

What are you giving up?

Growing up as a Catholic, I was always asked by all the adults in my life, "What are you going to give up for Lent?"  Since I've always struggled with my weight, I always tried to give up things like cookies or ice cream.  I don't think I was ever successful.

I no longer consider myself Catholic and I haven't thought about giving up something for Lent in years.  Over at Tribesports though I have been doing a lot of healthy eating challenges, so when one came up asking us to challenge ourselves to give up something for Lent, I figured I would give it a go.  

I've decided to give up potato (and other vegetable, since I much prefer parsnip) chips for the next 40 days.

My other food challenges currently include no candy for 2 weeks, a low carb diet for 1 week, drinking green tea every day and no coffee shop coffee for 2 weeks.  And outside of Tribesport challenges I have also cut myself down to 1 cup of coffee a day (with half the sugar in it that I used to use), no pop and no alcohol.

The surprising thing of all this?  I don't crave any of the things I've given up.  I don't feel hungry or unsatisfied during the day.  I don't feel deprived at all.  And I'm seeing the results in my weight already.  Win-Win!

So what are you giving up?

No Candy Challenge

I had a great talk with my SIL today.  She's one of my biggest supporters and can offer great advice on things that I might not see or realize on my own.  She knows that I struggle with a sweet tooth.  She suggested that instead of trying to cut out all sugar or make any drastic changes to what I eat, that I start off with simply not eating any candy for 2 weeks and to see how that goes.

So starting tomorrow (since yes, I had already eaten a piece of candy before I spoke with her this afternoon) I will challenge myself to not eat any candy (including chocolate) for the next 2 weeks.  I've also challenged folks over at Tribesports to do the same.  You are welcome to come and join us, just follow this link.

I know that I won't go out and buy myself candy, but I have very little will power if it's around.  In just the last week I finished off both my Turkish Delight and all the wine gums that I got for Christmas.  Lot's of people at the office keep candy dishes on their desk and I quickly lose track of how many times I scoop one up as I walk by.  So this will definitely be a challenge for me.  I'm feeling up to the task though!

1400 crunches down!

2 weeks ago I signed up for a challenge at Tribesport to do 100 crunches a day for 2 weeks.

Phew!  I did it!

It was not an easy challenge.  Starting out I could only do 10 crunches before I had to rest.  And after the first day I didn't think I would be able to keep going as I wrenched my neck quite badly.  Your position and using the right muscles is very important when doing crunches as you don't want to use your neck muscles at all, but it is a natural feeling to use them to give yourself momentum.

Originally I thought that I would have to split the 100 crunches into 2 - half in the morning and half at night, but I quickly found I could do all 100 in a go, with a few seconds break here and there.  By the last day I could do 50 bicycle crunches (my favourite of the 6 types I tried) without having to take a break.   And even with breaks 100 crunches only take a few minutes.

I don't think I can see any visible difference in my abdominal area, but I am starting to feel just a wee bit firmer and more toned.  I don't know that I'll keep up with 100 crunches everyday, but they will certainly be a part of my rotating routine.

Walk to the Moon

Did you know that the distance to the moon is 384,400 km?  I didn't.  It's a great goal though, logging enough steps to walk to the moon.  But if I tried to do it on my own, even if I could hit my 10,000 steps a day, it would take me 48,050 days or 131 years.

Not likely to happen.

But if you get a whole group of people logging not only their walking, but their running, rowing and cycling kilometres too, it can be done.  And that is exactly what we are doing over at Tribesports.com

The challenge started at the end of August and currently has 537 people adding to our distance every day.  So far we have moved 48,605 km.  That's 12% of the way there!

We can always use more people to get us to the moon faster, so come on over and join up.  The goal is to get to the moon by August 5th, 2013 to celebrate Neil Armstrong's birthday.

Motivation , Accountability and the Internet

Getting fit, eating right and working out can be hard.  Having people in your corner cheering you on can be the difference between sitting on the couch and getting up and moving.  I have amazing support in Hilary.  She helps with making good food choices by planning healthy meals and having fresh, great food in the house.  She also reminds to me exercise and go for walks and puts up with my hula-hooping on the Wii Fit in the living room.

In other parts of my life, the internet has been an important way for me to meet people, talk about topics that are near and dear to my heart and learn from people who have already been there and done that.  So it makes sense that I turn to the internet for weight loss and fitness (even though the fitness part seems counter intuitive) 

I track my calories on the MyFitnessPal website.  I really like the site as they have a great database of foods. But their forum never really appealed to me for a place to chat and get support. 

I joined the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and for awhile they seemed like an okay place to hang out online.  They sponsored an opportunity for me to participate in the Healthy Wage Matchup.  But they never seemed to follow through on things  and the discussions weren't what I was looking for so I strayed away from them.

Then this week I stumbled upon a fairly new site, Tribesports.  While I don't consider myself a sports enthusiasts like some of their members do, that doesn't seem to be an issue.  I can track my fitness progress there, participate in discussions from weight loss to fitness to how my day is going and they also have exercise challenges that you can participate in.  The more active you are on the site, the higher your ranking.  But it's really the people that keep me going back to it.  I can post that I did 25 lunges and within minutes 3-4 people have "encouraged" me or left a comment telling me what a great job I'm doing. The instant satisfaction of knowing that  someone else is encouraging my progress is great.  I also feel accountable to complete the challenges I've signed up for, because people will see whether or not I have posted each day with what I've done.

This week alone I've been motivated to get up every morning and stretch, stay off Facebook, do lunges, planks and wall push ups.   And I feel great!