Documenting It

So today is the 15th day of the new year. For fifteen days I have been dieting and exercising, on a mission to lose 25 lbs. Fifteen days, for me, is a very. long. time!  Given the success I've seen, not just on the scale, but mentally, I thought it would be wise to write down exactly what I'm doing so I can acknowledge what is working and see why it is. There's a lot, so bear with me.  Here goes:

• I have a designated "workout calendar" in my basement (where all my exercise stuff is). Each day that I exercise, I write down my weight that day, what time I start (and what time I finish), what exercises I do, and then give myself a sticker for the day! (Only 1 day missed so far this month!)
  
  
  
• I log my food and exercise on My Fitness Pal. If you want to friend me there, I'm tnt0617, and you'll be able to see what I'm eating and what I'm doing for exercise. Logging my food has helped me, on several occasions, keep a few bad choices from turning into a slippery slope of horrible choices.
• I don't take my phone or laptop to bed. (This was a new year's resolution, actually.) This helps me go to sleep earlier because I'm not distracted by FB posts or comments, and I'm not tempted to google *that thing* I just thought of before turning out the lights.
• I set my alarm for 5:15am. Some mornings I wake up early, some mornings I don't. But not having my phone is incentive to get out of bed because then I (a facebook addict) can go downstairs and check my notifications. I can easily walk and facebook at the same time, and once I'm going, it's easier to get into a real workout. And working out first thing in the morning is really the BEST time to work out. I don't have the kids bugging me and it gets it over & done with before the rest of the day gets a hold on me.
• I have cut out/limited gluten and dairy. I've been more strict with the gluten than the dairy, and if I had a serious food allergy, I'd have to be even more strict than I have been, BUT for the most part, I've avoided both. This is how I've avoided 99% of the junk food pitfalls that normally get me.
• I joined Dr. Lou's Weight Loss Challenge in Portland. This year it included a "bioelectrical impedance analysis". I don't have too much to say about it yet, but basically, it looks like a bunch of info that tells you more than just the number on the scale  I'm going to a class tonight which will dissect the info for us, so stay tuned. Knowledge is power, folks. :)
• I started a Facebook group called "Skinny in 2013" for myself a few like-minded ladies who want to make this the year we lose our extra weight. "'Healthy' is nice, but 'skinny' is really what we want." (Not that any of us will sacrifice health to lose weight, but a healthy lifestyle doesn't particularly motivate any of us. We want to look good in our jeans!)
• I rejoined a facebook group belonging to my fitness expert friend Laurel. Each month, members post their goal number of workouts planned. Then, through the days, each member posts their workouts and what number they're up to - trying to meet or exceed the monthly goal they've set for themselves.
• I joined another facebook group that, so far, hasn't been particularly helpful, but it's another element of encouragement/motivation. It's a group started by Toni Anderson, and she is the reason for my interest. Talk about motivating, look at this!!
  
  
  (And she has 7 kids!)
• I weigh myself every day. First thing in the morning, I get out of bed, go potty, and hop on the scale. I record my weight on a chart I taped to the inside of my medicine cabinet. It has a space for every day this year. I did that so I wouldn't have a specific goal date looming in front of me. Some people are motivated by having a specific goal date. Not me. It's like driving near a cliff and watching the cliff and then driving off the cliff. But weighing every day does help me stay on track. I'm aware that the body's weight can fluctuate up and down for various unknown reasons, but I'm also aware that if I have 4 margaritas, I won't be able to hide them from the scale for long. I depend on the scale's daily feedback to keep me on task.
• I joined an email group of women who are preparing to run the Beach to Beacon 10K this year. I ran the race for the first time last year. I had not properly trained for it, and though I was able to run the entire distance (1:06:43, thankyouverymuch!), I felt like dying the rest of that day, complete with flu-like symptoms.  I would like my body to be more prepared for it this year - - and I'd like to complete it in less than an hour.  So, in the email group, each Sunday, we email everyone what our workouts were for the previous week. It's a place for encouragement or questions or whatever, but mostly, it's just another level of accountability.
• I made myself 2 big pots of soup and a big pot of chili, dished them out into single-serve dishes, and froze half of them. The other half I put in the fridge so I have them to grab for a quick meal. Having healthy food at-the-ready is KEY for me!  Here are links to the recipes: (1) PT Motivation Booster Soup, (2) Bean & Kale Soup, and (3) Sweet Potato Chili.
• For exercises, I've started the couch-to-5k program again (I've done it several times, but I think I've only completed it once before!). I do that on Mon/Wed/Fri.  On Sun/Tue/Thu, I do a session of JJ Virgin's 4x4 workouts. I bought her dvd's, so I have 8different workouts to choose from. I use Saturday as either a makeup day (if I'm off a day in the week) or do the elliptical or some wii fit games or whatever. I also throw in a mile walk just about every day (because I can do it while cruising facebook!)  I've started adding inclines to the treadmill setting and either wearing ankle weights or carrying hand weights to add extra resistance.
• I've watched all of these videos. Honestly, anything that comes from PEERtrainer and/or JJ Virgin is solid gold. Listen to what they say. It's all such great info!!
• Speaking of solid gold, I watched this video last week. It really hit home for me. If you want to reach your goals, do it! Don't convince yourself you're "fine" not achieving them! Take this advice from Mel Robbins!

Hmmm. I guess that's all of it. As I suspected, there is a LOT here. No wonder my housework is suffering. It is a full-time job staying on top of this stuff.  But for the first time in a long time, I'm doing it.  I'm taking making the time to exercise and focus on my goals. And it's working. Since January 1st, I have lost 6 lbs. I still have 19 to go to reach my goal, but I'm confident I'll reach it THIS YEAR!!
I'm not sharing this info to brag - I wouldn't set myself up for imminent failure like that! - but to help anyone who may be struggling.  Trust me... if I had my act together, I wouldn't need all these tips, tricks, and tools to keep me going. We're all in this mess together! If any of these ideas sound like they may help you, please feel free to copy me! Helping others motivates me!

I've Got The Shakes!

Ha-ha!  Protein shakes, I mean.
I've been making some variation of these shakes for quite some time now, and I thought I'd share how I make them - my current version anyway.
I drink one of these for breakfast, and for the next week anyway, I'll be having another for lunch (or dinner, if the need to CHEW comes at lunch time).
Ingredients.

Protein powder - 1 scoop.  At present, I am using something I don't recommend.  It has a lot of good stuff in it, but it also has sucralose (splenda), and that's something to really stay away from.  But I bought it a long time ago, and I hate throwing away perfectly good (ha ha - you know what I mean!) stuff.  When it's gone, I'll probably be switching to Jay Robb Whey Protein.  A bit more expensive, but you get what you pay for, right...?
Chia Seeds - 1 Tbsp.  I use the Nutiva brand.  I bought them at GNC.  They were on sale for buy one get one half off, so I bought 2 packages.
Fiber supplement - (just under) 1 Tbsp.  I have some Medibulk from Thorne Research leftover from the cleanse I did with PEERtrainer, and I've been putting it into my shakes.  But I won't bother reordering any more when it's gone.  But I also won't be using the Metamucil I used to take.  There's 8 grams of sugar in one serving!!  I might replace it with ground flaxseed or just leave it out all together.
Spinach - 1 big handful (about a cup).  Fresh.
Mixed berries - 1 cup. I use Wyman's Triple Berry Blend.
Coconut milk - 1 cup.  I use So Delicious, unsweetenend.  I used to use the canned coconut milk, lite and  regular, but I prefer the much larger serving size of the kind in the carton.  It makes a better shake.
Water - 1 cup.  Without it, the shake would need to be eaten with a spoon.
Blend and enjoy!!

I use a stick blender.  I bought it a couple years ago to blend homemade vegetable soup into drinkable soup.  I put all the ingredients in the big cup, blend it there, and drink it right from that cup.  After trial and error, I've learned that the best order for adding the ingredients is this: spinach, dry stuff (protein, fiber, chia), berries, coconut milk, then water.  If you're using a regular blender, I don't know what order would be best.
Also, for quick shake-making, I pre-single-serve what I can.

The water and coconut milk, I pour as I need it, but the spinach gets put in ziploc bags.  The berries get put in 1-cup containers in the fridge.  Leaving them frozen makes the shake too cold for me to drink, but I know a lot of people would prefer that.  The protein powder, fiber, and chia seeds all go in to containers together, and I store them in the pantry.
When I'm running late - as I was this morning, and as I do OFTEN - it's nice to know I can make a shake in about 1 minute from start to finish!

At It Again...

Tomorrow I'm restarting a cleanse/diet/whatever.  Protein shakes, veggies, water, exercise.  Same ol' same ol.    I'd go into more detail, but I've tried and failed so many times, I'm a little leery of making a big deal out of it.  If I see some success and manage to continue on for more than a few days, I'll talk more about it then!

(non)Dairy Delight

Today marks day 7 of little to no dairy for me.  I didn't plan on cutting it out, but it kinda happened, so I just went with it.  Last month I did a cleanse - not a stupid, unhealthy cleanse, but a healthy, nutrient-rich, non-allergenic cleanse - and it was stated by one of the people conducting it, that excluding dairy from her diet really cleared up her skin.

Well, I only made it through 10 days of the 14-day cleanse (and maybe more about that another time), but I did notice my skin was fantastic!  So smooth and clear!  And my skin isn't normally too bad, but washing it in the shower, I could really tell the difference in how it felt.  Like glass, I tell ya!
So the cleanse didn't go exactly as I hoped (ok, yes - I will talk about this some other time), and I kind of fell off 4 wagons at once, and that was one of them.
But last week, unlike me, I tried a new diet.  I don't like "diets."  Anyway, I did 2 days of the Dukan diet (protein only) and then planned/tried to go back to my pre-cleanse diet of protein, veggies, a little bit of healthy fat, and small portions of rice, beans, lentils, etc. With that there is no dairy.  After a few days, before I really noticed dairy was missing from my diet, I noticed that my skin felt awesome again!
Oh, yeah!!  No dairy = clear skin, apparently.
The true testament?  I got my period today and my skin didn't produce one speck of a blemish!  Amazing!!
So, I'm obviously not lactose intolerant - and I'm not swearing off dairy forever (isn't ice cream made from dairy??) - but it's definitely a good little piece of info to possess.  Don't ya think??
Oh, and another thing.  I take calcium supplements for the couple weeks before my period to alleviate pms symptoms and reduce cramping.  So, ironically, increasing calcium and decreasing dairy helped me this week.
Have any of you (you know, "you" - you phantom readers I hope to have some day...) had any experience with foods affecting your skin like this?