Breakfast is a Priority Jan 4, 2012

I used to not eat until 1 or 2 o'clock, but have made breakfast of some sort a priority for the past 3 years.  My go to breakfast is usually a full cup of some sort of high fiber cereal.  Fiber One cereals are a good choice with 9-11 gram of fiber per serving.  Sometimes I mix in some Sam's Extra Raisin Bran to save money, but the fiber content is a little lower.  I really like FiberPlus Caramel Pecan Crunch, too.  I always use plain soy milk in my cereal.  I really like soy milk better; it has fewer calories, so it is a win-win for me.

When I am on a tighter schedule, I try to keep some high fiber bars (Fiber One or Kellogg's FiberPlus) that I can eat in the car.  Some mornings I don't want to eat anything, but I force myself to eat at least a half of a fiber bar, because I do believe that it jumpstarts my metabolism for the day, and it is the right thing to do. 

People ask me what "program" I am on, but as a lot of you know you have to make personal lifestyle changes that are not temporary to have a lasting effect on your life, health, and weight.  Eating more fiber and breakfast are two of my "lifestyle" changes that I have made to help me lose 40 pounds over 3 years.  I am slow, but sure!

Jan 1, 2012 Triumph

Believe it or not, I was down another pound on January 1!!!  I have officially lost all of the 20 pounds I gained last school year, and now I am ready to proceed with the next 40 pounds.  My goal is to lose 40 pounds by my May graduation date.  I student teach this semester, about which I am very excited, and I will be continuing my early morning workouts this semester.

When I lose another 10 pounds I will be at a weight I have not seen since I was pregnant 20 years ago.  The 40 pounds that I want to lose by May represents all of the pregnancy weight I gained all those years ago plus an extra 5 pounds.  You see, I gained a total of 70 pounds during my pregnancy, and I have the most beautiful 19 year old son to show for it.  But it is high time for me to lose the weight.

I will set a new goal in May.  Technically, my BMI will still be in the overweight category, so I plan to lose an additional 8 pounds after the May deadline to reach the normal BMI range. After that I want to lose another 12 pounds.

I will enjoy being at that weight in a way that I was not able to enjoy all those years ago.  I would not have my picture made back then, because I always thought I was too fat, but I was not.  I am going to be mature this time around.  I am going to be happy with myself.  I am going to enjoy being alive.  I am going to enjoy wearing the clothes I want to wear. I am going to live in this new reality that I am creating for myself.

Failure is Not an Option

The infamous attitude of Gene Kranz and his team during the Apollo 13 manned mission was summed up by writers for the Ron Howard movie Apollo 13 with the words, "Failure is not an option."

My plight doesn't rise to the epic crisis of bringing a crew of astronauts safely back to earth after explosions created a life and death situation. However, this is my life, and it is epic to me. I must be the hero in my own saga. Failure is not an option.

I have used a lot of things as excuses to not exercise. My grown and almost grown kids have a lot of stuff in my house, and I have used that as an excuse not to exercise, because I "didn't have room to pull out the treadmill and the thigh trainer, etc....." But that has changed this week. I now have set up in the den, which has been my son's "space" previously.

Now you may think my new effort is somewhat anticlimactic compared to the reference to the Apollo 13 mission, but it is really the same. During the Apollo 13 crisis Gene Kranz and his team had to use what was available to the astronauts to come up with a solution to the problem. In the same way, I have had to use what I have to come up with a solution to the problem.

What I have available to me:

den

floor

pillows

dumbbells

thigh trainer

treadmill

tv

tivo

remote control

pandora

online stopwatch

Now I didn't have an explosion like the Apollo 13 mission, but in a way I did or do.

I have had problems with my back for 23 years now. It is a fact of my life and requires a certain amount of management and working around it.

All of the "trainers" do not seem to understand that I am never going to be able to increase my weights or jump or run. I can't do that little machine at the gym that you have to lean into. All of these things throw my back or shoulder or neck out, and I am in some level of discomfort ranging from mild numbness, tightness and tingling to debilitating pain.

If I do the regimen that I know I can do, it is a good regimen, and it works:

20-25 minutes of dancing to music I love with dumbbells in hand.

20-25 minutes floor exercises:  leg lifts, gut lifts, dumbbell arm exercises

10 minutes of Lateral Thigh Trainer

I have had to adjust the way I do my floor exercises.  There are no conventional abdominal crunches in my life. The neck can't take it.  I put a couple of pillows under my head and one under my butt.  I stretch my arms above my head and hold onto the underside of the couch which anchors my upper body, so things don't "pop" out.  Then I lift my legs instead of my upper body.  I do an assortment of leg lifts:  small movements up and down, longer movements up and down, bent knees pulled in toward my abdomen.  I make sure I can feel the use of my core muscles to complete the movements; because of my limitations in other areas, I tend to do higher reps than would be recommended for someone else.  I, also, turn slightly to each side to try to use the muscles on both sides of my rib cage.  These movements are my abdominal crunches, and, ironically, I think they are actually more effective than traditional crunches.

My explosion has lasted for 23 years.  I work around it every day of my life.

But that is okay.  I am still headed home . . to the place that I am supposed to be.  I am supposed to be me, in my real skin.  My real skin is not nearly so cumbersome or such a burden.  My real skin is a place of freedom to be who and what I want to be.

Home is the destination, and failure is not an option.

New Day - Up the water intake

I probably drink more water than the average Joe, but I need to be a bit more consistent.  Yesterday was the 4th of July.  I spent a great deal of time outside, which means I was sweating more than if I had been indoors all day.  The result is that my body is now retaining water, and the scale is up 2 pounds.  But I must cognitively know and accept that this is not a "true" weight gain.  I must persevere.  I love the definition that thefreedictionary.com gives for persevere - remain constant to a purpose.

If I increase my water intake today, my prediction is that the 2 pounds will be gone tomorrow plus a few more ounces.

I am having Kellogg's Special K protein plus cereal with soy milk for breakfast.  I like this particular Kellogg's cereal because it has 10 grams of protein and meets my minimum standard for fiber at 5 grams per serving.

For me fiber is a higher priority than whole wheat.  I do eat old fashioned oats, steel cut oats, and other "whole grains"; however, I don't seek out "wheat".  A number of years ago, my husband and I read Eat Right 4 Your Type  by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo.  According to his book, an O positive blood type metabolism does not work as efficiently with too much wheat.  Right after that, I started eating more meat (which D'Adamo recommends for O positive) and I stopped stuffing wheat down my gullet which was all the rage at the time.  Within 6 weeks I had lost 17 pounds.

I encourage everyone to listen to your own body and filter all the information out there.  Just because the morning news expert recommends something, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is perfect information for you.

My husband can eat far more wheat than I can, but his body reacts to it in a completely different way (i.e. no obvious weight gain).  It is important for me to understand that it is okay that my husband can eat different things than I can.  We are different in other ways as well.  He sometimes says that I have a bionic nose, because I can smell things that he cannot.  It appears to us that this may be one of the reasons why I don't always like a lot of different spices on or in certain foods.  I think they overwelm my senses.  He, on the other hand, is a lover of many spices and large quantities of condiments.  I call him the "condiment king".  He can practically make a meal of condiments alone!

Back to today. . . make sure I get the water I need, exercise, and remain constant to my purpose.

Word for today:  PERSEVERE

Losses and gains

I started this blog primarily for myself and to reflect and flesh out my thoughts, but I also started it to share thoughts that might help someone else in some small way. 

Truly I am an optimist otherwise I would not have survived my life to date as it has been a bumpy ride to say the least.  I must share some of the "stuff" so that those who might feel that I "don't understand" will know that I do.  I will try to be measured as to how much I reveal and how soon.

Today, I will share this with you.  I have lost a net of 20 pounds since January 1, 2009.  The net consists of a total loss of 40 pounds with a regain of 20.  I found myself not dealing with the stress of school this past fall.  Between October 2010 and May 2011, I managed to gain  20 pounds.  Fall semester was stressful in one way and the spring semester was stressful in a different way.  Either way, I gained weight.

 But I will prevail!  You will prevail!

Some people have said to me, "Don't worry, it is just the freshman 15."  Well, the fact is that I am not a freshman.  Technically, I have been a senior for 25 years, though this program classified me as a junior this past year.  I started back to school in January of 2009 and intentionally lost weight slowly but steadily until October 2010.

There were lessons for me about life between October 2010 and May 2011.  Were the primary lessons directly about my weight?  Of course not!  The lessons were mostly about people and secondarily about handling stress in a proactive way instead of a reactive way .  Haven't you heard that old saying that life would be great if we didn't have to deal with all the people?  But deal with people we must!

I am determined to learn the lessons that have been provided for me and move into the future as a wiser and more in-sync-with-my-life person.

Word of the day:  Prevail