Sunday, December 6, 2009

Getting Started

The wave of energy I was riding just prior to and during my trip to San Francisco crested and died. I am strugling with some intense mood swings. In an attempt to kick start myslf and push through this period ofennui, it is time to put fingers to keys and map this shit out.
First point to ponder:

REASONS TO LOSE WEIGHT.... aka MOTIVATION!!!

1. I want to be healthy. No more CPAP machine!!! (I really hate that thing). No more worry about rising blood pressure/stroke/heart disease/diabetes due to obesity. I have not as yet been diagnosed with any of this stuff, but I am flirting with it, I'm sure. NO MORE FEELING WEAK/OLD!!!

2. I want to be a good influence. As a fuure nurse, I want to be ableto give my patients the bst care (no struggling through my own physical limitations). Also as a good example to those around me. I want to lead by example, I want my daughter to learn healthy habits.

3. I want to feel good about myself again. I want to look at myself in the mirror and in phots and not feel negative emotions. I want to be confident enough to actually *want* my picture taken and e proud of myappearance. Ian to earcute clothes, like knee boots and skinny jeans, and I haven't worn skirts or dresses in years.

4. want to b noticed, approached, soght after. I oftebemoan the fact that I have so few friends, maybe thats because of my appearance, and the negative emotions I currently feel about it.

5. I wat musle toe and definitin. I thinkalittl bitof definition is hot on both genders. Not professional body builder type definition, mind you... but ome delineation, particularly abs, is attractive.

6. I have enough to worry about, plenty of stress without the continual weight obsession I've lived with for nearly 15 years now.

EXERCISE ACTION PLAN

1. I will do sme form of cardio 5 of 7 days- Wii fit, treadmill, Gazelle, workout dvd's (I have a ton of them!!!!) Starting at 30- 45 minutes per session.

2. Strength training 3x a week, 30-45 minutes per session to start.

3. Wil increase intensity as fitness level increases.

4. Due to a recent change in my work schedule, I can fit a morning workout in before leaving on most mornings. When nursing school starts, of course, my workout schedule will be revised.

DIET ACTION PLAN

1. Eliminate refined sugars from diet. I am a sugar ADDICT!! Will keep sugar out of the house as much as possible until I can learn to control my binge-ing urges. (This is so true... some friends brought over cookies for the kids when they came to hang out with us last night... and I've been unable to leave them alone.... :-P)

2. I will drink more water, find a water bottle, keep it close by and full.

3. Healthy snacks- more fruits and veggies, whn I want t graze.

4. Time to Vegan again! Cut out eggs/dairy. I felt really good when I was on a vegan diet before. So energetic and my mind was clear and sharp.

5. Not becoming a junk food/soy dependent vegan. I have a bunch of vegan cookbooks that have bean based and other protein sources.

6. Find and regularly take vitamin supplements... vegetarian formula multi-vitamins. (B-12 supplements.. and I also could use some extra Vitamin D thanks to where I live. )

7. Food journal to document foods eaten in day and eyeball calorie counts.

8. Figure out calorie allottments and daily needs, and use this as a guide for meal planning. I don't want to be a calorie Nazi, but I don't want to be too far above or below those allottments.

SUPPORT SYSTEM

Mine is minimal. Most support expressed by people who are not local. This led to the idea of setting up this blog. I welcome anyone who wants to join in here. Please suggest recipe ideas/websites, exercise routines, although I am not able to afford a gym membership/personal trainer at this time, so bear that in mind, please. :) I may have access to gym facilities at PLU though... *fingers crosssed*

I am still hoping to try to find some local exercise buddies though, who might be willing to walk with me or workout in the basesment to the dvd's I have amassed. I may pull rank on my kid to get her to work out with me, and I would like my husband to work out with me also, but interest from both parties is minimal to nonexistant. I want to get a dog because she would be the best walking buddy evar!!! I want a little Boston terrier or a puglet. Maybe Santa will bring me one. ;)

For the most part I am my own support system. So I should come up with strategies.

1. Post motivation/reasons in prominent place(s) in the house. These will be good to see when I hit a wall, or have a rough emotional day.

2. Look through magazines and catalogues fr pictures of cute clothes I want to fit into, te type of physique I want to have, and make a scrapbook to flip through to remind myself of my goals.

3. Remember that it's NOT an all or nothing process. If I go overbudget on calories, it's not the end of the world.

4. And on the flip side of #3, if I am diligent about exercise it isn't an excuse to fudge on calories and overindulge....

5. Do some swaps/find some "cheats" that are a compromise so as not to feel trapped by diet and food choices.

6. Research local organic growers to see if we can get local grown organic fruits/veggies year round, since our farmers market is seasonal.

7. Take a before picture and post it, and take photos at milestone weight loss points, because it will be fun to watch my body shrink and change as the fat goes and the muscle grows... which will be further motivation to keep it up.

8. Get gear for oudoors running/walking rain or shine. That way I can get outside or stay inside...but I'm not just trapped inside. I would also love to get a trail or mountain bike. Maybe Santa will hook me up here, too! ;)

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great plan. I'll be cheering you from afar. You are inspiring!

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  2. I watched a really good lecture on UCTV about how sugar, especially refined sugar is about equivalent to alcohol, which means it's poisonous(sp?) to our bodies just as much as alcohol is in mass quantities. Also, in the 80s when 'fat free' became a major craze, it was really just a big govt deal to start putting high fructose corn syrup in everything since it costs almost nothing and is an easy solution to adding flavor. Many research studies were never published about how sugar is bad for your liver and other organs. Thus the obesity epidemic. Sugar also triggers endorphins, and the reward system in the brain so it's harder to get off sugar because of an addiction.

    He also mentioned that carbs from bread are digested completely different than sugars, so the low carb thing is also bad for us. You can eat carbs without turning it into fat, just don't eat carbs with sugar (and stick to complex carbs like whole wheat/oat). And fat isn't bad for you like the 80s and 90s told us. As long as it's not too high in fat, you're okay.

    As for exercise, the newest research has suggested a lot of resistance training and interval training on a treadmill. So, you don't have to do hours and hours of cardio if you have an interval pace. At an incline of about 12.0, you can do a minute of 3.5 then a minute and half of 1.5 to keep your heart guessing. Also, there is a difference between burning fat and burning calories. When you're burning fat, your heart rate is usually at the target heart rate of about 140-155 depending on your height and weight. Mine is 146. When you go over your target heart rate, it's just excess energy going to waste because you're not burning more fat, just calories.

    Oh and back to that lecture, the researcher said it's really weird that burning calories is such a big deal when it really isn't about that. It's about burning the sugars and everything else we eat into energy instead of storing it. When we eat a lot of sugar it goes through the liver more slowly and triggers certain enzymes that transform it into fat. Those enzymes are dorment when exercising and when processing carbs. So the goal is trying to stay away from those enyzmes so more fat isn't created.

    Whenever I'm at the store and I see sweets, I just think of them as I did alcohol as a child, it's poison. If you try to convince your mind of this it's easier to avoid.

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  3. I forgot to add that with the interval training, 20-30 minutes is good enough. Once you're used to the minute and minute and half, you can go minute to minute, then two minutes of 3.5 and one minute of 1.5.

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  4. All the best for your plans. Sugar is evil so cutting it is an excellent choice. You will make it. Hope you'll enjoy all the sports exercises.

    Always come to our blog when you feel you need some support, Gigi! :)

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