Tick

I was 5 minutes late to spinning today, which is so bad of me. I just couldn't drag myself out the door. A great workout--I will contribute it to the bowl of pasta I had just a bit earlier.

I'm eating cereal now instead of salsa, so not bad food just very, very high calorie. After this box is gone, I will have to stop buying it! I don't gobble down oatmeal like this, and I love it for breakfast. There is a solution! Of course, eating like 40 grams of fiber a day from massive cereal intake gets to be unpleasant in more ways than one. (Um, not that this will stop me eating another bowl.) Sigh. I will have a real dinner tomorrow and maybe that will put me back on track.

BMR: 578
FMR: 386.1

Behind, but catching up

Yesterday, I planned on running a day of C25k when I returned from Dr. MM's. But, when I got home after 6 hours on the road I was starving. I ate dinner (black bean quesadillas and more salsa!) and then realized that there was no way I was going to be able to go to the gym at 11pm and run/walk. Traveling just makes your brain tired sometimes.

Of course, that put me off track on my little chart for the 1000 mile year. I didn't realize this until today, or I probably would have hauled myself to the gym last night. Grr! I'm only 2.15 miles behind where I want to be, so it's not a huge distance. The little piece of paper has been revised to take that into consideration, and I hope that I will be able to knock off those extra miles by the end of the week. Because I am already behind where I would like to be for the challenge, I walk after my spin classes--a mile on Tuesday and a half mile on Thursday. This week, I will walk a mile on Thursday also. On Saturday, I will probably walk around the neighborhood to get an even 3 mile walk in--and that should put me ahead by about 2/10ths of a mile. Yes, we will measure down to the tenth of a mile!

My chart only goes until the end of the semester, and by then I hope I will be able to run 3 miles, 3 times a week. At that point, I will definitely have my bases covered for the foot miles (as long as I keep it up, of course!).

In February, I hope to ride 50 miles on my bike. Perhaps I will be able to ride with the rec group in town a couple of times and rack those miles up. I will need to buy a new bike computer or either see how well my Garmin works on my bike, because knowing about how many miles you have left can really help your mind.

Today, I did my arms and abs routine. I did the plank leg-lifts at the beginning--not too shabby, although I had to take a break before finishing all of them. Then, I wanted to wimp out of my little ultra-beginner Pilates routine, but I reminded myself that I was doing it to strengthen my body for my bike ride. Work now or regret it later? Work now it is. Then the plank for 2 minutes. Listening to music made the plank about a million times easier. I closed my eyes and just listened to the song until it was over, and at that point I only had 25 seconds left to go! Woohoo! Still a lot of trembling going on, but I can see myself increasing the time by 30 seconds in week.

Pretty day

It was a beautiful day today, so Dr. MM and I went hiking at Eno River State Park. The river was so beautiful, blue and green as the light hit it. We're going back in the spring to see the wildflowers that are growing on the opposite back, since it will be even more beautiful then!


BMR: 578
FMR: 387.1

Up and at them!

Even though I overslept til 6:30 this morning, I didn't let that stop me! Even though I thought I would be so tired from spinning that my legs would rebel and I wouldn't be able to run Week 3, Day 3 of the C25k program, I didn't let that stop me! I bounded out of bed, went to the gym and did it! It actually felt pretty good.

BMR: 578
FMR: 389.75

W: 156
M: 40.5-34-40.5

Woohoo!

A much better spinning class today! Right at the end, we had a stretch that the leader asked if we wanted to be harder than the rest--and the two unnaturally cheerful girls in the back cheered and we got a harder section! Actually, that was wonderful because all my competitive juices kicked in and I could see myself attacking the hill (spinning is easier when I close my eyes and visualize the road). It feels so good to power through a tight spot when you think you're too tired to do it. That's when I am at my best, though. Much better form tonight also.

If I want to run tomorrow, I am going to have to get up early! Waaah.

BMR: 578
FMR: 391.75

Ouch

My poor arms! My poor abs! Owie!

I'm not even doing a lot of exercise, and definitely not what I think is enough--at the end of the reps, I could still do a few more even though I want to quit. Right now, I'll stay where I am because I want to get used to doing this, but in a couple of weeks I'll have to start pushing a little harder.

I didn't do Pilates tonight. But I decided to try some plank leg-lifts, or so I thought. First, says a.m. to herself, we'll hold the plank for. . .say 2 minutes, and then we'll do the lifts. Ha! I did hold the plank for 2 whole minutes, but that's just out of pure meanness and spite. I will not let the timer beat me! Of course, after that I couldn't do the leg lifts. So I've decided that I will do the leg lifts before my upper body work and then just do the plank by itself at the end. It would be marvelous if I could hold the plank for 5 minutes! That's another new goal, but I can tell it will take some practice.

Last semester, I had such good intentions of exercising, but it just never happened. This semester, I've exercised so much so far! (Ok, so it's only a week or two into the semester, but that's more than I did all last semester just about.) I've exercised every day this week! And I made little charts for my 1000 mile challenge, because, like Marla, I am strangely motivated by charts. This semester is so much less stressful--surprising what one less class and one less part time job will do! Now I just have 10 hours of class and only one part-time job (12 hours), so instead of working about 60 hours of non-household work (around about what last semester was like), I am only up for a little over 30 hours of non-household work! No wonder this semester seems so much better, and I have time to (go grocery shopping, make my own dinner, do laundry, pay bills on time, go to church meetings) exercise.

On the other hand, eating has not been going so well. I'm just not eating enough, and not eating enough vitamin-rich food. Part of that is I am out of fortified cereal again, and part of that is that I have strange lunch habits. I only want to take food that does not have to be refrigerated or reheated, and I don't like sandwiches very much. Plus, I have been out of containers so it all had to be ok to eat out of ziplock bags. So today for lunch I had cheese and crackers, baby carrots, and an apple (although I ate the apple an hour later). Yesterday, I had cheese, crackers, baby carrots, and dates. By the time I leave work, I am starving! Plus, I can't eat too much on T and R after work because of spinning (another reason I might have had a bad night yesterday). Peanut butter is definitely getting in my cart next week, and maybe some graham crackers or some kind of yummy peanut butter vehicle. Not celery, because it is disgusting.

On the resolution front, I've done pretty well. I had two small pieces of dark chocolate the other day, and then two small cookies tonight (but it was outside the house, so that's sort of like dessert). Not shabby. I have not brought home any sweets, which is a good move on my part.

In random news, I have eaten over 2 pounds of salsa in less than a week.

Another day!

Spinning was horrid tonight. I was tired, wore my least favorite bike shorts, set my bike up differently, tired abs = bad form for me, new (in more ways that one) instructor. Just a bunch of not fun times, so I wimped out of about half of the workout. Had one awful stomach spasm that made me wonder if I was going to have to compete in a "jump off of cycle and sprint to locker room" contest, but thankfully that event was cancelled! Haha. I also walked for a mile later. Tomorrow will be upper body weights and Pilates again here in my home gym! Hah.

Thursday will be better, I'm sure. Every day makes me stronger and healthier.

BMR: 578
FMR: 392.25

Foot miles update!

Bike miles remaining: 578
Foot miles remaining: 393.25

Bwhaha. I knew I was going to the gym tonight, which makes for great near-instant gratification in driving the foot numbers down. Ok, so it's only 2 miles, but it's that much closer to goal!

Renee's Challenge

I just realized that Renee has a 1000 miles by the end of the year (through various means) goal. Wow! I really identify with this kind of goal, because it is so quantifiable. Plus, as she says, it is a goal which she has control over whether she will attain it (within reasonable parameters of course).

On that train of thought, I would like to make the following goals: 600 miles by bike and 400 by foot by the end of the year. I'm going to count what I've done so far this year that has been recorded in fitday. My spinning class won't count, because it's not distance-based. But that's ok. And georgia girl--my first time in a spinning class, I thought I would die and I was incredibly weak afterwards. It gets easier though.

Bike miles remaining: 578
Foot miles remaining: 395.25

Weights and Measures

W: 156
M: 41-34-41

I found out that you can modify the foods on fitday to reflect sodium (etc.), so this morning I cut out the sodium in my oatmeal! Yay! Yesterday was my first spinning class, and it went very well. I am really going to enjoy preparing for my trip this spring, as well as improving in there!

At the moment, I am thinking that I will have spinning Tuesday and Thursday, work on building up my running on Friday and Sunday, and do strength work on Monday and Wednesday. Saturday will either be something like a hike or bike riding or just rest.

The only problem with eating more fruits and veggies and less fast food/restaurant food is that I end up not eating very many calories. After both breakfast and lunch today, I feel as if I have stuffed myself full--but right now according to fitday I have consumed less than 700 calories. Part of that is how much water I drink , and I guess that a lot of the other is fiber. I feel as if I should be eating more, but it's nearly impossible.

Also, on fitday, I reduced my daily level of movement to simply seated work. Most of the day I am seated, so that is a more accurate reflection. It is also a more accurate guideline for how many calories that I should be mindful of.

Lastly, I am going to buy an exercise ball to sit on while I use the computer at home. Someone on a forum recommended it, and I'm sure it will be better for me than this folding chair. Plus, I can do more crunches. How do I choose what size to buy? I am not quite 5'5''. I will have to noodle off to find that out.

Cutting sodium out

In the past week, my average sodium intake has been a little over 2600 mg. Since the average American's diet is 3000-5000 mg a day, I'm doing ok. But, the NIH suggests that 2400 mg daily is the max that we should consume--it's not good for the blood pressure or kidneys. I've found this to be almost impossible, even with only eating one of my salty foods a day.

How can I cut 300 more mgs out? I don't eat many canned foods, but when I do (pasta sauce) I pick the lowest/no sodium variety. I don't put very much salt into the food that I make, although I could cut it out in my oatmeal and pasta (although I wouldn't be able to show this in fitday). I guess I have been eating a lot of tortilla chips and cheese recently, and I should look for alternatives. Maybe different types of chips have different levels of sodium. And I can compare yogurt to cheese I guess.

Part of this may just be that fitday assumes that I put more salt onto foods than I do, although I could be more careful about that in real life as well.

More fresh veggies and fruit is the answer I guess. Less Nutella (which I suspect is better than fitday lets on, because hazelnuts have to have some nutrients in them). Grocery store trip is Saturday!

Resolution update

Well, I am doing much better with regard to my resolution now that I am back home. I visited my parents over the holiday weekend and they had a good number of snackies left around from Christmas season still. It wasn't all a wash; I exercised every day I was away. We even rode our bikes for 22 miles on Saturday afternoon. And they have a treadmill!

Anyway, I'm back in my nest getting back on track. The semester is still going well. My spinning class starts tomorrow!

I have not been eating very much calorie-wise in past couple of days, all the while feeling as if I were stuffed to the gills. In a way that is good, but on the other hand I'm not getting all my RDA's either. Part of that is that I'm out of my mega-cereal for breakfast which is fortified, and I'm running down the vegetables list. On the other hand, I've realized that I need to get more beans and cabbage-family veggies in my diet. So, more broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, chickpeas, red and black beans, and lentils! I like those things a great deal, and it shouldn't be such a hard thing to do. A little bit more low-fat dairy wouldn't hurt either.

Yum! I can't wait 'til I go to the grocery store, which will probably be this weekend.

Thoughts on RDA's

Since I've been back in town and after my giant shopping trip where I only bought my favorite wonder foods, I've been very good about tracking my food and planning out what I want to eat. Mostly this doesn't take too long because I want everything that I have around. So I just throw some spinach on a plate, make a lemon/olive oil vinaigrette, and figure out what kind of protein is hanging around. And some leftover crusty bread, yum. After that, I know that I will need some kind of snackish dessert to get me through the day so I grab some nuts and dried fruit. My RDA's are showing up pretty well--some of the usual suspects like zinc are hard to come by, but I just need to add some beans to my diet. I'm also having trouble with keeping my sodium levels below 2400, but that is because I have some high-salt snacks that I've been eating. I have decided to limit those from now on, so that I only have one of them a day.

I really love tracking RDA's. It's a challenge in giving yourself the right food, instead of restricting yourself. (Of course, I do try to keep my fat percentage under 30% and sodium under 2400 mg.) I've learned a lot about foods since I started this, and I know more about why I need some kinds of food. When I first started this last year, I lost weight as well just by giving myself what my body needs to be healthy. I do try to take note of when my calories rise above 2300, but other than that I'm not overly concerned with any calorie limit. I think it's a good system, but you have to be able to shop for healthy foods and plan a little. It doesn't take too much cooking time, I've made pasta and quesadillas this week but other than that I haven't turned on the stove much.

One thing that I have become more aware of since I started thinking about RDA's is the food that contributes nothing to my wellbeing. Sodas are some of them. They don't provide anything much but calories, and you can get caffeine from coffee or tea that also might have some health benefits. It is much easier to get rid of junk when you can see it for what it really is. Plus, it is easier to eat what people think of as "bad" foods when you know the good they provide--nuts are high calorie, but they are chock full of nutrients. I hate the idea of spinach salad, but I know how good it is for me (plus, I like to eat it, I just don't like to think of eating it--weird) so I can have it for lunch.

Just some recommitting thoughts.

Update on the resolution

Well since I've been back in my abode, I have had no trouble at all with my resolution. Mostly, this is because I'm eating only the things I want to eat anyway--pretty much healthy snacks, fruits, veggies. Nutella on toast is the only really dessert-ish thing that I'm eating, but I don't count Nutella. I even went to the gym tonight!

If this semester is anything like this week, I am going to have the best last semester. The strange thing is that I'm having to get used to being stress free. It's as if I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. . . but it's not because I am doing what needs to be done and taking care of myself. I am restraining myself and not trying to be the super-helpful person, but just look at what I can realistically do. It is a real attitude adjustment, but I like it!

Home again

Well, I came home this week to start school and work all over for my last semester! Woohoo! I feel as if I have turned over a new leaf. Everything is going well, even things I have been stressing over have been more than good.

When I went to the grocery store to restock, all I bought were good-for-me foods that I crave. These past few days have been pretty good, and I've been using fitday and thinking about my RDA's. I also signed up for a twice a week spinning class at a sane hour (7pm) already. I am going to try to get in 30 minutes of activity everyday, but I am still working on that.

I'm at 158, the last time I weighed, which is fine. I appreciate starting this year off at a lower weight than last year, and I look forward to the same for next year.

The things that I would like to do this semester, fitness-wise, are: finish Couch to 5k and run in a race, ride in two bike events with my family, ride 3 times with the recreational group in town, and begin an upper-body strength program. Also, I want to focus on not overbooking myself, because I have a real tendency to do that. While I want to cram my life full of good things, most of the time I take on so much that I am terribly burned out. I was describing my last semester to a new intern and realized that it sounded beyond stressful: a full load of graduate classes, 20 hours a week internship, 10+ hours a week part-time job--plus I am an officer of an organization and try to be active in extracurricular activities, and take time to see Dr. MM who lives 6 hours away. It was ridiculous, and I want to try my best to avoid that scenario this semester. I've already felt the pull of volunteering "to help", but I can't do everything and stay healthy and happy.

Online Quiz

I discovered a site about happiness today: Authentic Happiness. Because I am attracted to quizzes, especially if they purport to tell me something about myself, I have taken a handful of them. One of them, the VIA Signature Strengths, is 240 questions and determines what your signature strengths are so that you can focus on them and put them into play more often. First, it will tell you what your 5 signature strengths are and then you can see how the other strengths are ranked for you.

Guess what? My 24th strength out of 24 is self-control and self-regulation. In other words, self-discipline is probably more accurately described as a weakness rather than a strength! Some of the other questions that I answered made me think about self-discipline--they asked whether I practiced a skill every day. Well, no I don't practice healthy eating or living every day (broke the resolution again today!), but it is good to think about this as practice to build a skill. There are so many skills to build with respect to healthy living that it will take a while to hone them. But tomorrow is another day!

On the other hand, my signature strengths are: capacity to love and be loved, love of learning, forgiveness and mercy, curiosity and interest in the world, and humor and playfulness. I don't think these are too bad, even if I'm not very disciplined. Modesty and humility is my 23rd trait. ha!

New Resolution Thoughts

My new resolution is extremely annoying. I've already broken it, but today is a new day.

No non-homemade/restaurant desserts means no cookies. No candy. No cinnamon rolls. No little sweet munchies. No ice cream. GAHH. Of course, I could make some, but I'm away from my cookbooks so I would have to search up some recipes. And I'm just a little too lazy to do that.

I did have candy at the movies last night, shared with Dr. MM. We rationalized that because I was able to get dessert at the restaurant and didn't, that they counted like dessert. That's a lie. Anyone with a brain can reason that store-bought candy from the movie theater is exactly the thing I am cutting out, and cannot be substituted for restaurant dessert. Heehee.

But it is difficult, and it is something that is not fantastic for me, and my sweet tooth means that these are regular parts of my life. So a good thing to approach healthy living-wise.

I envision when I have mastered this habit that I will make a treat of sorts every couple of weeks. Boxed mixes are out, as well as bought pie crusts. The point is not to have some easy, gooey sweetness, but to make something I am proud of and to learn new things while controlling my sweet tooth to a degree.

Funny Re-reading

I love the fact that my blog is about self-discipline, yet every third post I'm trying something new or admitting that I've abandoned my old plan. Really, it cracks me up because it shows that most of the time I am not even thinking about the purpose of the blog, and yet how much I probably should focus on it!

The one thing that I have done and stuck with is stop drinking soda daily. Now, I have had some since I decided to stop drinking it--I share one with Dr. MM at the movies usually, but that doesn't happen very often anyway. I've also stopped watching tv at my home, but tv is not something that I really love to pieces anyway.

So I have had success as a result of this blog, and applying some self discipline.

I do have a resolution for the new year. I'm not going to eat any sweets that I don't make myself or have at a restaurant. So no more cookies or candy bars or chocolates or ice cream. I figure if I make something, I'll at least have spent the energy it takes to shop, make/bake, and clean up afterwards. Plus, I'll know what goes into them and it will be a chance to enjoy myself because I love to cook or bake. Otherwise, I'll just have to have fruit! Restaurants get a pass because I usually share a dessert, and also dessert at a nice restaurant is one of the small pleasures of life.

Happy New Year!

Update and Blarg

Well, I didn't end up running every day in December. In our travels for Christmas, I forgot to take a sports bra. Then when I came back home, I brought back a nasty cold/sore throat which I did not want to run on. I'm over my sore throat now, but my pile of snotty tissues shows that I am still hanging on to the cold. Eh. I also don't have a scale, so I can't say how short I am of my goal to be 155. I am probably short of it. Christmas was great with family, but I'm glad to be back home.

This morning I am watching Extreme Makeover. (Like a car wreck, you know.) Of course, the people who are on the show are not hideous or ugly--they look like perfectly nice everyday people. But they are wallowing in poor self image, and it is just painful to see how pathetic that makes them. On top of that, they are given unrealistic requirements to lose around 25/30 pounds in 5 weeks. When these people go to the trainer, some of them have NO expectation of success. It's just sad that they have such little capability for positive thinking. One of them says that she wants a brow lift because people say she never looks happy, and she thinks it is because her brows are too low. Um, based on the rest of the show, it's probably because she doesn't smile ever and looks as if she expects every second to bring failure.

Anyway, most of these people would probably feel better about themselves and look even prettier if they had a makeup makeover and a really good haircut. And then had friends and family who focused on their personalities and talents instead of their physical selves.

Why don't we focus on how kind, generous, and thoughtful people are? Why aren't our comments about other people ones that build people up instead of belittling them? All my life I've heard very critical comments about other people, especially other women--comments that focused on their less than perfect appearance. Now I think these comments reveal more about the meanness of spirit of those who are making them, instead of actual criticism of the person spoken about. I try to never make mean comments about other people, especially about their physical selves. [I went back and re-read this post, and I think that while I try not to make mean comments my comments about the not smiling are probably not very nice. Maybe I should try harder.]