A New Start at Health

The End

2010-12-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry to say that I am ending this blog. I haven't posted here in a long time. I realized early on that this is way too personal a topic to share with the world just yet. Thank you to those of you who gave me encouragement. The journey isn't ending, it's just a little more quiet.

I have started a new blog that is so much more fun...

What's Cookin' @ Blogger.com

http://pattyswhatscookin.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you there!

Week 1

2010-04-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hola-

First week. Didn't go great.

Food - Didn't have much willpower. Also, Daniel is an amazing cook. Ate things like "Stick-of-Butter Chicken", Corned Beef Brisket, "40-lbs of cheese Lasagna" (my fault), and ice cream. There was probably some fast food thrown in there for good measure, too. This week should be better - bought salad stuff, made homemade chicken soup, and not eating desert until the weekend. Also bought some cereal for breakfast. If only I'd get out of bed early enough to eat it...

Exercise - Ugh
Monday: Bike 45 minutes (medium exertion) during "Dancing with the Stars". This works well for me b/c we DVR two other shows on Tuesdays, so if I want to watch DWTS I have to watch it in the bedroom ON THE BIKE!

Tuesday: Took my carcass to the JC to "run" the track. NOTE: When I say "run" it is actually a pathetically slow jog-like motion. Daniel gave me two goals - both of which I failed: "Run" one complete lap and finish one mile in under 15 minutes. I jogged 2/3 of one lap completely and finished the first of 2 miles in just under 16 minutes. Not bad for the first day, but I had wanted to be "better".

Wednesday: Felt like an 85 year old man. My knees were KILLING ME. Totally ruined my quads. Agony. Thought for sure I had permanently damaged something. Couldn't even take the stairs at work. Lots of Motrin did nothing.

Thursday: See Wednesday. Tried to do some yoga on the Wii to stretch out, but was too sore still.

Friday: See Wednesday.

Saturday: Realized I finally could walk a regular pace. Took a really long nap instead of getting on the bike.

Sunday: Lots of cleaning, felt like I didn't sit much, but didn't really get my heart rate up. There is always next week...

Lessons learned: #1 Exercise in moderation at first, Rome was not built in a day. #2 Reading on Active.com others who can almost walk faster than their "run/jog" made me feel much better. #3 I need to have better back up food at home for those nights when we a) get home late, b) don't feel like cooking what is on the menu, or c) are lazy.

Goals for Week 2: #1 3x exercise bike, #2 no fast food Mon-Thurs, #3 Eat breakfast more days than not.

The Challenge

2010-03-30T16:21:00.001-07:00

Haven't posted in a long time. A really long time.

The first of the year was really rough for me and I haven't been very motivated to work out, or to eat better than a 15-year old boy. That's all going to change, baby!

The wacky folks at my job have a contest every year - The Weight Loss Challenge. This year's challenge is to lose 5% of your body weight in 8 weeks. Everyone participating puts $20 into the pot and the winner(s) split the dough.

I've decided to give it a go this year as an external force of motivation. I'm super competitive and I am also broke. There are already 28 participants (that's already $560 for you out there who don't do math). I can't expect to be the only winner - (Oh yeah, I said it... I'm totally winning) but I can't imagine that there won't be at least a few slackers who don't make their goal - otherwise we'd all be as thin as we'd like. I've also talked my way (shit-talked I should say) into a side wager with a great woman named Jennifer. We're wagering a spa facial for the one who loses the bigger percentage of weight. She's pretty fit and really busy, and I'm not-so-fit and lazy so I think I have the ability to add more exercise to my day than she can and I have more to lose so it should be easier(?). Either way, it's a good time to get some external pressure to make some changes.

I haven't figured out exactly what my new exercise plan looks like. I've downloaded the "Couch to 5K" running plan and I think that's a good idea. I'd like to get up at 6 am and walk/jog in the neighborhood (before the gang bangers get up) but I'm SO BAD about getting up early. I'm just not sure if I can commit to that. We have an exercise bike (that I hate) that I need to become friends with. I just feel like with every exercise, especially the bike, my muscles become tired way before I get a cardio workout. Also my heart-rate skyrockets to fast. I guess that will get better as I work out more. I've also got the Wii Fit but I feel like the exercise parts are short and there is a lot of downtime between them. I need to use it more to find out what I like. I think that will probably be additional work-out time and not my main source of exercise.

Eating. I have been eating candy like a 10 year old - two days after Halloween. It's been bad. I think I need to limit desert to Saturday only. Daniel recently learned he has to totally cut back his sodium intake so that should be a good motivator to CUT OUT (who am I kidding, limit maybe) the fast food. I'm drinking more water and hope to really cut back on evil diet soda.

So - I've got until the day after my birthday (how's that for timing) to eat like royalty and then the challenge begins. I'll probably be bitching and moaning soon enough and will need a place to vent so more blogging will probably follow.

Wish me will-power and violence-free morning jogging!

P

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

2010-01-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I got the Wii and had to decide which "fitness" program to buy. I really wish our Blockbuster rented them. Would have made the decision easier.

Wii Fit Plus - Lots of friends have it, all love it, easy to start with, wanted the board for other games that might use it, liked the yoga and stretching that were part of the program, probably need the "this isn't exercise, it's fun" aspect to get me going.

EA Sports - Not many friends have this so not many familiar with it, like that it was cheaper (didn't need to buy the board to use it), liked the leg band, didn't like that it didn't keep track of my weight.

BL - didn't find out too much about this one...

Decision - I know I'm going to want the board. I decided to get the Wii Fit Plus/Balance Board for now. If I need to add EA Sports later for the challenge I can do that. As Daniel said, he's got lots of games in his desk that don't get used anymore!

Being bad - eating too many things I shouldn't. I'm calling it "last gasp of the holidays-junk food eating marathon". Hope it ends today.

Biggest Loser - New season started last night. I always tell Daniel (in a sarcastic tone), "If I could quit my job and live on the ranch for 6 weeks, I'd kick ass, too!" That show makes me mad. It's so unrealistic for those of us out there who have lives to live. Anyway, he went online to look up the application details and it asked if you had 100 lbs to lose. Huh. I guess I'm not as bad off as I thought. I'd say I'd like to lose 40-50 lbs. So there, Biggest Loser! Then we thought, what would we do with the animals if by some great miracle we got picked for the show. That darn puppy - she ruins everything!

Yes Virginia, there will be a Christmas (Wii!)

2009-12-28T16:33:00.000-08:00

Post Christmas update -

Blood sugar testing: Fell off the wagon again. Ugh. Hate doing this. I started doing my fasting at work first thing but then that prevents me from having a real breakfast at home. Need to find a better routine.

Shoes: Finally replaced my old, possibly spider infested "running" shoes this weekend. Nothing fantastic, but a serviceable pair. Can't wait to break them in.

Health: Caught a cold on the 21st and haven't done anything mildly cardio- since then. Just working on trying to get my breathing back. Feeling better today, finally. Excited to ....

Wii: Between the $400 after taxes from the H1N1 vaccine clinic Saturday work and some money from the parents we scraped together enough to get some Xmas presents for each other (and tires and some other car maintenance) - oh the Best Buy and Sears CC's helped too. So my lovely husband bought me the Wii I've been wanting for ever! I'm so excited! I am excited to play the fun games (Lego Star Wars, anyone?) but I'm also super jazzed at the prospect of a fitness game. I'm doing research on a few...

Wii Fit Plus (of course) - I like the idea of not realizing you are working out and the yoga
EA Sports Active - Would a more "grown up" gym experience be a better fit (pardon the pun) for what I'm looking for
Biggest Loser - Looked good on Amazon.com, would love to hear Jillian/Bob helping me, liked the idea of Challenges and Daniel and I could use the competition aspect to encourage each other; not so keen on the recipes and "tips", would hate it if I ended up with one of the contestants that I HATED being my "stand-in".

That's it for now. Thanks for listening!

Hurdle #1

2009-12-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Breakfast.

Not my favorite meal of the day. My window for breakfast in the morning is between 6 and 6:30 am. I'm never hungry that early in the day, therefore I never eat breakfast. Actually, the only breakfast I eat is when Daniel and I go "out to breakfast" on the weekend and that meal is usually full of pancakes and bacon (or the bacon cheddar waffle!) and it occurs at 10 or 10:30.

So, begrudgingly I need to start eating breakfast.... "the most important meal of the day"...bla bla bla.

Maybe oatmeal. I'm not a huge fan because I usually only eat it when I'm sick and therefore it has a pretty negative image in my mind. I know I need protein, but it's not like I'm going to eat eggs every morning. I don't even know how I'll find the time. Maybe I can bring it with me and take the first 10 minutes of my workday to scarf down some oatmeal. I've had to start getting up early to exercise the crazy dog, and so the thought of getting up even earlier to have breakfast doesn't make me very happy. Maybe it doesn't have to be a great breakfast right away - maybe just getting my body to be hungry so early is a good place to start?

Something good: Fasting blood sugar (162) was much better than yesterday.

Have you ever had a secret...

2009-12-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." ~ Napoleon Hill

I've been harboring the secret desire to be an athlete for several years now. I'm blaming the Olympics. I long to be able to swim great distances, to enjoy the peace and solitude of an early morning run, or to bicycle past great vistas, or even to enjoy physical exercise that most healthy people can enjoy. I feel like I'm not only missing out on these great adventures but abusing the only body that I will ever inhabit.

I was an overweight child who became an overweight teenager and, to no great surprise, find myself an overweight adult. I've always considered myself "healthy" and in decent shape, but the cold hard facts don't lie. I have developed Type II Diabetes because of not only my genes but also my lifestyle - my diet and exercise levels probably were poor enough to increase the odds of a "normal" person to develop diabetes, let alone someone who was genetically predisposed. I knew that this was my likely fate - several family members are diabetic. Why wasn't that enough for me to change my lifestyle 5, 10, 15 years ago? Change is difficult, I'm lazy by nature. Well, lets not dwell in the past, shall we?

So, I've been thinking about making some changes to improve my all-over health, and just maybe I'll find an athlete lurking somewhere inside. I'm not one for resolutions so I'm not waiting for the new year to start. I'm also smart enough when it comes to my own habits to know what are reasonable goals, and what are foolish promises made to myself that I will break. My end goal doesn't have specific facts attached to it - no magic number of pounds of weight loss, no specific A1C number (measure of blood sugar control for those of you not in club Diabetes) I am trying to achieve. I feel like if I set specific goals then this will become a project - not a permanent change.

So, here is what I will be working on toward better health:

Blood sugar monitoring - I've fallen down on the job here this last year (long story) but I need to use this tool to monitor how my body is responding to the food I eat, the exercise I get, the stress of the day. Also this will give me an indication of whether or not my meds are doing their job.
Exercise - Yuck. For those of you who aren't burdened by extra pounds, exercise is not easy when you are overweight. I need to get past this. I also need to get past worrying about what other people think about when they see me exercising. Who cares what they think - I shouldn't.
Food - My great love (besides Daniel, of course!). I need more balance here. Splurging on occasion is fine, having the diet of a 15 year old boy is not fine. Less fast food (even though it is so convenient) and more veggies.
Attitude - This is also an area that will need to be worked on. Sometimes I'm so afraid of failure that I never try. This time I'm not only going to try, I'm going to get what I want - with a lot of hard work, of course.

Thanks for following me on this journey!