Weighing Down

Well, it's now been six weeks.  Give or take, I mean.  I think it's been more like six and a half, but that's OK.

I'm actually pretty excited today!  My official weigh-in has me down 34.4 lbs!  w00t!

However, I'm aching today.  Seriously.  Aching all over.  I ache in places I didn't realize I had muscles.

I've mentioned before that I do water aerobics.  Well, last week, I did it four different times, as well as Jillian Michael's Six Week Six Pack DVD, the dancing thing AND I did some--but not much--walking.  More on why I didn't do much in my column I'm thinking about for tomorrow or Thursday.

I seriously over-did it last week, I think.  On the scale, it was pretty awesome.  I mean, I dropped a little over five pounds last week.  Who wouldn't enjoy that?  Well, my body certainly didn't.  

But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop.

I'm hoping that I'll get used to the stricter, more active regimen that I'm trying to force myself into.  It's been pretty helpful that I've gone to the lengths that I have to work out.  And with our amazing water aerobics instructor, she's really giving it to us and forcing us to work our butts off.

And it's obviously working.

I've even been told by a LOT of people that they can tell a big difference in me.  My face has slimmed down considerably, and my body has dropped two sizes in pants AND shirts.  Heck--and this is TMI I know--I've even dropped a size in my underwear.  Going to have to go buy some new ones soon.

Speaking of buying new clothes, I finally broke down and bought some new pants.  I only had one pair of 42x30s, and one cannot live on only one pair of pants.  My 44x30s and 46x30s now look like clown pants.  The 42x30s are slightly tight, but they're getting looser.  I'd love to be on 42x30s by April.  I'm hoping to be in either 38x30s or 36x30s by December.

I've dropped enough weight up top to go from a 5XL to a 3XL.  This is important to me, because of our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World.  It's difficult at best to find clothes that are larger than a 2XL available in the shops at WDW, so my goal by the time I get there is to be in an XL shirt.  That way, I know I'll be able to just walk into any clothing store in the World and buy whatever shirt or shorts or pants or jacket or whatever I want, and be absolutely sure I'll fit into it.

But I digress.

I was talking about water aerobics and how our instructor is really killing us.

Take last night for example.  Last night was "Latin" night, so we had to listen to Latin music.  Which isn't a problem for me, except we have to keep up with the beat of the music.

And Latin music is FAST.  

And not only that, she worked in a new exercise that--holy crap--is HARD.  Basically, it's just jumping.  But it's a little more than that.  For twenty (20) seconds, we had to LEAP up and out of the water as fast and as high as we could, immediately leaping up and out as soon as we came back down.  Then, we would get a ten (10) second rest to "catch our breath" (HA!), and then it would start all over again.  

Eight.

Times.

I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.

This exercise is SO much harder than the Patty Cake (well, that's what *I* call it) one she came up with last week.  In that one, you have to pair up with someone about your height.  Then, you both leap up and out of the water, and, at the pinnacle, clap your hands together with theirs.  Twice.  And you had to have clapped twice before you came back down.

And we did it for a minute and a half.

Twice.

With barely ten seconds breather in between.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining.  And, from a certain point of view, I know I am.  BUT!!!!  It's actually working well.  Really well.  I can't expect this fat to melt off my body without me doing something easy.  

In other news, along with exercise, it's also important to eat right.  My family has really been enjoying different types of hummus lately.  Especially since it's so low in calories.  Yes, it is a little high in fat, but that's OK.  It's good fat.  Yesterday, I gave you the recipe for Sun Dried Tomato hummus.  Talk about YUMMY.  Today, I'm going to give you a different recipe.  It's called Black Bean Hummus.  And it's even better than the one from yesterday, if you can believe it.  I found this one on SparkPeople.  I changed it up just a tiny bit to make it where my family enjoys it more.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained

1 small sweet onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 tbsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground red pepper

1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp cilantro (optional--you don't have to use it if you don't like it)

1/4 c (MAX!!!) vegetable broth.

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a small skillet over medium-high heat, pour in the EVOO, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic.  Saute until caramelized, about three minutes.
2. While those are caramelizing, rinse and drain your black beans, and place them into a food processor.  
3. Drop in the onion, bell pepper, and garlic.
4. Add in the spices and tear off the 2 tbsp cilantro from your fresh bunch.
5. Clip on the lid (or whatever you have to do with yours), and pulse until it's all combined.
6. IF it's too thick for you, add in some of the vegetable broth, about a tablespoon at a time.  I haven't had to do this, because my family really likes it thick.  Anyway, add any salt and pepper you need to it to make it suit your family's tastes.

I typically serve this with some new multi-grain flatbread that I found that has 100 calories per slice.  I cut it up into wedges, then spray it with my EVOO mister, and broil it for a couple minutes to get it toasted.  Anyway, it's called Flatout.  It's a tiny bit more expensive than regular flat bread, but for only 100 calories a slice and I can use three slices to feed my family of six, well...  That's not too bad.  I use this for all my hummus recipes.

Oh!  The hummus makes eight 1/2 cup servings.  Each serving has roughly 123 calories, 1.6 g of fat, and 7.3 g of protien, so it's LOADED with protein and will go a long way.  

It's the Little Things

I know, I know.  It's Valentine's Day.  I should be posting something lovey-dovey and all that rot.  But I'm not really interested in doing that today.  I'm more interested in telling you more about some things that I've encountered that are, actually, helping me with my weight loss.

So, yeah, I'm back on that again.

At this point, I am down 27lbs as of January 9.  Yes, I'm still doing things like water aerobics, running, watching what I eat, etc. etc. etc.  But I'm also here to tell you that I'm doing a lot of little things that I highly encourage people everywhere to do if they're interested in getting fit.

'Cause, you know, I'm the expert and all that.

HA!

While I have absolutely no idea if these things actually work, I'm psyching myself into believing that they do.  And most involve moving your butts a little more each day.  So, here's a list of things that I'm suggesting we all do.  They may work, they may not, I don't know.  But it's worth trying anyway, IMO.

• Don't park up close to the store.  When you pull into Wal-mart or Target or Kroger's or whatever store you're going to--or even your office building!--don't immediately park in the closest spot you can find.  Unless it's raining or snowing or otherwise seriously inclement, I'm suggesting that you park further out.  No, you don't need to park 200 yards away (although, that wouldn't be too terrible...), but don't necessarily try for the closest parking spot you can find.  Then, power walk your way to the door.  Yes, your children will probably complain (mine do), but hey, it gets in a little more exercise for your day.  Who knows?  Maybe it can actually help burn off that Coke you drank on your way to the store?
• Drink water.  I've talked about this before.  I honestly don't have the slightest clue what drinking water is supposed to do for you.  I just know it's supposed to help.  And with things out there like MiO (and off brands), powdered water additives, etc., it's not too terrible a price to pay for being well-hydrated.  My co-worker says that, when you go pee, you're "peeing your fat away."  I don't think that's necessarily true, but, hey...  Who knows?  Plus, when you're drinking water, you're not adding any crap to your body.  I read recently that pop (including diet pop) can seriously affect your body's functions.  Some of them even add something called "bone fat" (I have no clue what that is), which is hard to detect and is really bad for your body.  I've also seen reports where the acid in pop can cause your bones to become brittle.  And then there are those horrible side-effects of aspertame...  So, try to stick with water.  It couldn't hurt...
• Take the Long Route.  If you're drinking your allotted water for the day, you'll have to go pee.  I promise you, you will.  So, when you need to go, take the longest route you can to the bathroom.  Or, if there's multiple bathrooms available to you, go to the one the furthest away from you.  This is akin to the "Don't park up close to the store" idea.  If you're like me and you sit for most of your day, getting up and walking could potentially help you.  And the more you walk, the better you'll feel.  Especially when you finally make it to the bathroom.
• Carry one bag at a time.  When you get home from your shopping trip, carry one bag into the house at a time.  This will cause you to have to make several trips back and forth to your car, so you can walk off even more calories.  Granted, I would certainly suggest you carry in anything that needs to be frozen and/or cold first before you deal with anything else, but hey...  It will still get your butt moving.
• Park at a fast food restaurant.  I have been so guilty about abusing the drive-thru window at my favorite fast food places.  And, yes, I get seriously ticked off when there's a line a mile long.  But you know what?  I've found that if there's a line outside in the drive-thru, there's usually not one inside.  True, I now buy salads when I'm getting the Cub Reporters their McNuggets with Apple Dippers, but I still feel better about going inside the place. Plus, I usually get in and out much faster than having to sit through the drive-thru.  And then there's that added benefit of being able to correct the order mistakes that invariably happen because English is not the order-taker's primary language.  But let's not go there, shall we?
• Skip the phone call.  If you're at the office and need to talk to someone who is in the building, skip the phone call.  Get up and go talk to them face-to-face.  It gets your butt moving, and it also gets you to socialize a little bit.  This is usually a good thing.  Plus, if they're like me and they don't answer their phone even when they're sitting there, it makes it difficult for them to duck the conversation you are wanting to have.  

So, there you have it.  Several ways that I'm trying to get a little bit more healthy every day.  Again, no, I'm not saying that these suggestions will change your body in dramatic ways, but they couldn't hurt you.

Could they?

Fitness Tracking

I know that there are a LOT of apps and systems out there to help someone lose weight.  I mean, we are inundated every day by a spokesperson discussing/singing the virtues of this weight-loss system and how theirs is superior to everyone else's.

Yeah, I'm not into that so much.  Sure, the systems out there work.  They also cost an arm and a leg.  If I had a celebrity's money, I'd probably go with one of those myself.

But I don't.

And, honestly, I am really struggling with calling what I'm on a "diet" anymore.  I've come to the conclusion that I'm not on a diet, per se.  I'm on a treadmill to get fit.

Sure, I do have aspirations of weighing what I did when I was in college (175lbs), but that's not going to be the case this time.  Why?  Because back then, I was skin and bones before I started really gaining weight to wean me off of my unhealthy lifestyle choices.

Which, now that I say it like that, is extraordinarily funny.  I went from being an unhealthy 175lbs to an unhealthy what I am now.

Yea me.

No, my goal is to become fit, no matter what my weight is.  I know that I'll never get to the point that my body will look like David Beckham's body that they splashed across my television screen Sunday night in all his be-tattooed and underwear glory, thereby making every man in the room seriously uncomfortable as all the wives were trying to contain their drool.

I don't have time to do what he does.  I have a wife and a family--just like he does--but I don't have the ability to play soccer all day long, or lift weights six to eight hours a day, or anything along those lines.

And, truth be told, I don't really want that many tattoos, either.  I mean, HOLY INK, BATMAN!

But I *do* want to be fit.  

So, I went out and talked to several people about what they use to help them get fit, looked at the various options they presented, and picked the one that is right for ME.  Note:  this is NOT the one that The Editor selected for her.  Just letting you know this up front.

I chose a free app/website called SparkPeople.  

It's an app that does different things depending on which phone you're running it on, as well as a website.

And you don't have to use both the app and the website.  You can use one or the other if you choose.  I chose to do both, because it makes my life easier.

You see, I work in a building that has so much concrete and metal in it that it interferes with cell phone signals.  So, the app doesn't really do a lot of good for me while I'm here.  So, I use the website at work, and the app at home.  And they sync when the opportunity arises and I have a cell phone signal.

When you create your ID, it will ask you basic information:  your height, your weight, your age, your sex, etc.  All the things that are normally done for this kind of tracking system.  It then goes through this convoluted algorithm and spits out the calories you should eat every day to maintain your weight as is.  It's not going to tell you what you SHOULD eat to lose weight, as that's between you and your doctor.  

And while it's tracking your calories, it also tracks your fat intake, carbs, etc. and tells you how many you have left for the day.  Based on what you need to maintain where you are right now.  PLUS, it calculates how many calories you burn just by sitting there, sedentary, all day (like how many calories your heart burns by beating, how many you burn by breathing, etc.).  This gives you a terrific baseline for balancing your exercise regimen as well as how much you eat.

With so many people using it, I find that I can usually just click on "Food Tracker" and type in the name of a food I've just eaten.  It will spit out several possibilities (ie, if you've just eaten a McDonald's 5-piece chicken nugget meal and type in "chicken nuggets," it will give you options like "McDonald's" and "Wendy's" and the list goes on) that I get to choose the most appropriate one, tell it how many servings I've just eaten, and it calculates everything for me so I can see my results right there in black and white.  Easy!

If I can't find what I've just eaten, there's an option there for me to input all the dietary information.  For example, if Special K were to release a brand-new flavor of their drink mix and it's not in the list, I can quickly and easily input the information in another screen.  Then it's added to my list of Favorites, and I can, next time, quickly choose it from my list and add it to my food intake.  This is also handy for if I make a recipe out of a cookbook (assuming the recipe gives me all the dietary information), I can input that and it's at my fingertips the next time I make that recipe.

Which brings me to your list of favorites.  The phone app and the website can talk to each other.  Whatever special item you've put in goes into your list of favorites, and you can get to it on both the website and your phone.  On the website, as well, you can choose what OTHER people have input and add it to your list of favorites!  That way, you're not having to search for a new item all the time.

If you have the app on an android phone, there's a scanner option that you can scan the barcode off a food item in the grocery and immediately store it and all its dietary info in your favorites.  I wish they had this option for iPhones.  Maybe in the next update.  I dunno.  But I can dream.

This app will also help with your fitness, too.  You simply type in the search function the type of fitness you've just completed, tell it how long you were doing said exercise, and it calculates how many calories you've just burned off.  In some cases (like running/walking/jogging) you need to tell it how FAR you were travelling, and it will calculate your mph as well as the burned calories.  

You can even track how much water you're drinking each day.

If you give it your goals (daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly if you prefer), it can give you a report to tell you how you're doing.

And speaking of reports, there are a LOT of reports available to you.  From your calories differential (how many calories you've burned, how many you've ingested, etc.), you can quickly and easily figure out how many ounces/pounds you've burned off that day.  In my experience, it's almost exactly dead-on.

The website has so much more to give as well.  There are more reports you can run, there are recipes that people have submitted, there are terrific articles about wellness/fitness...  The list goes on and on.  

I highly recommend SparkPeople.

It's helped me change my life.

The Fun Run Is A Lie

No, I'm not any kind of expert in the field of running.  I'm sure there are loads of people out there who actually enjoy putting on tennis shoes and going out and running from here to there with absolutely no real reason to be doing so other than to move their butts and burn off some calories.

But I do know this:  there is absolutely no such thing as a "Fun Run."

I despise running.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I still do it.  Every day I can.  Basically, at least four to five times a week.  

I just hate it.

It disgusts me.

I think my main reason for hating it is because it's boring.  Sure, I listen to my iPhone play music that helps set a beat so that I can "get lost" in the music and ignore what my poor, wretched body is doing...  In theory.  The reality?  I use the beat to get my feet going, and then I concentrate on not falling on my face and looking like a complete dork.

And while I succeed in the "not falling on my face part," I'm fairly certain I fail miserably with the not "looking like a complete dork" part.

Yet, I continue to do so.

Usually at the wrong times of the day, I might add.

You see, if I'm going to go running, I like to do it alone.  Completely alone.  As in, there's-no-other-person-on-the-YMCA-jogging-trail-except-me type of alone.  And I've yet to be there at a time when there was no one else on the trail.

And I've been there at ALL HOURS.

I think that a large part of my problem has been my shorts.  You see, until last Tuesday (a week ago now), I didn't have any real "running" shorts.  I had jean shorts.  That was the extent of my wardrobe collection.  And not just any jean shorts.  These are OLD jean shorts.  I've had them for roughly fifteen years.  They are my favorite, most comfortable shorts I own.  I do everything in them from lounging around (which I do a LOT of) to painting my children's bedrooms (not so much anymore, but probably will be doing again soon) to running around and accomplishing errands to running around a track and accomplishing little to nothing.

Have you ever tried to run in jean shorts?  They're heavy.  Which, under normal circumstances, would be a good thing.  Except for the fact that as I lose weight, I'm getting disproportionately thinner.  

What I mean by this is that where I *want* to lose the fat isn't where it's disappearing as much.  I'm losing it more around my waist, in my face, and in my arms more than in my belly.  This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

You see, when I started this all on January 9, 2012, I was wearing (holy crap) 46x30s.  I've been wearing them for roughly three years now.  And in the month since I started with all this stupid running business, my old ('cause I kept them) 44x30s are beginning to fall off of me.  

My shorts are 44's.

Meaning, they're falling off of me.

Do you know how hard it is to run in jean shorts when they're falling off you?  As I said before, I look like an idiot while I'm trying to run.  Why?  Because I've been running and having to hold up my shorts.

But I haven't really been wanting to spend the money on actual running shorts.  Why?  They're expensive.  Especially in *my* size.

Finally, I couldn't take it any more.  Well, that, and Academy finally ran a sale on theirs.  Got some UnderArmor's for $25.  XLs, so I'm happy about that.  I think.  I have no idea what size that translates to.  They're a little big on me, but not as tight as the Ls were.  And they have a drawstring, so I can really cinch those babies up tight.  So as long as I'm not carrying anything with me (my phone, my wallet, my keys, all of which I worry about while I'm out running), they stay up where they're supposed to go.

Sheesh.  That was an aside I wasn't banking on.  Let me get back to the point of this post:  Fun Runs are a lie.

So I signed myself up for not one but TWO 5Ks.  

Because I'm an IDIOT.

One of them is at the end of March, and I'm bound and determined to run at least MOST of it.  I can't quite run 3 miles yet.  Well, no, that's a lie.  I can't run a mile yet.  But I'm working my Couch-to-5K like a dog, and I'm hoping to be able to run at least 2 miles of the 5K by the end of March.

And that's if my body doesn't give out on me.  By the time I'm finished with the 30 minutes the Couch-to-5K "lesson" takes me, my knees are cranky, my thighs and calves are screaming, my lungs are burning, and my shins hurt like nobody's business.  Unfortunately, that means I'm usually fairly cranky by the time I'm done, too.  Out of breath to be sure (and that's probably a good thing to anyone who smiles at me 'cause I can't bite their heads off).

And while I'm running (and getting lapped by others who are out there running making me feel even more inferior), I'm looking for that "runner's high" that liars people who run keep telling me about.  I don't think my body is capable of producing those hormones or whatever they are.  So, basically, I've reached a conclusion:  the people who tell you that they get runner's highs?  I think they're deluded.  I think it comes from a lack of oxygen to the brain.  

I hope I'm wrong, though.

But I doubt it.

So back to the Fun Runs being a lie.  I received an e-mail from the people whom I had to sign up with for the March 5K.  It was entitled "Fun Runs 2012!" and listed several "Fun Runs" that are occurring this year.

Given all I've already said, I cannot for the life of me understand why ANYONE would call these things "Fun."

Plateau Planking

I've spent this week sitting here on a plateau.  It's beginning to really irritate me.

If there are two things that really discourage people who are trying to make a lifestyle change, get healthy, and lose weight, it's plateaus and "discouragers."

I'll start with discouragers.

Every one of us has people in our lives that, when we say we want to do something, they're all "Yeah!  I'll do it with you!" and they speak words of encouragement.

Initially.

Then, when the tough gets going for them, they become these menacing little creatures that say snide remarks about your progress.  Or they take something encouraging you've said and twist it around to be a slam towards them and their goals.

I'm here to tell you that, hey, I've been there.  I know exactly how you feel.  It hurts when someone gripes at you because they aren't attaining their goal as well/"quickly"/"easily" as they are.  They don't see that you've spent your days counting calories, fat, cholesterol, etc. and exercising your heart out just to lose those precious few more ounces.  What they see is that it's melting off you faster than it is from them, and then jealousy rears its green-eyed monster head.

And all of a sudden, you become the object of their ire.

They tend to give up at this point, and then it becomes YOUR problem that they couldn't complete their task.  It becomes YOUR fault that they've failed.  So they're going to do everything they can to bring you down with them.

It's OK.  Keep up the hard work!  There are loads of us out there on this same road as you are.  Come to us, and we'll become your cheerleaders!  We know how hard it is you've worked.  We will lift you up and encourage the snot out of you!  

Unfortunately, when you have a discourager dripping acid on you wherever you go, it probably happens when another of life's major obstacles hits you in the face.

The plateau.

Ugh!  I *hate* plateaus.  And I've been on one for most of the week so far.  It's driving me INSANE.  Does anyone have any dynamite so I can blow off the side of this thing?

Fortunately, I've been doing some research, and I've learned a few things about them.  Hopefully, they'll start working soon.  Here's a list of things that I'm attempting to do (some are MUCH harder than others!), so maybe one or two of them will help you if/when you hit a plateau in your lifestyle change:

• Examine Your Diet:  make sure you aren't eating something you shouldn't be.  My most ruthless addiction is to cheese.  I love cheese.  And butter.  Oh, my dear Lord!  Butter is the BOMB!  Unfortunately, both can sabotage weight loss.
• Stop Drinking:  Alcohol, as good as it may be, will slow your metabolism waaaay down.  Plus, it has a LOT of calories in it.  And to make matters worse?  It can cause you to lose your motivation to work out.  It, along with people, is a discourager.  Sorry.  I know it hurts to read that.  It hurts me too.  Red wine is ooooh so good with steak, but I'm trying to find the will to "just say no."
• Vary The Exercise:  This one took me by a little bit of surprise.  But, apparently, it's a known thing to cause plateaus.  Which, honestly, sucks rocks.  If you're like me and you go to the gym and do the same things every day, your body will get used to it.  I know I've been preaching on the glories of water aerobics, but now I need to not do as much water aerobics (although I will still be doing it weekly!) and start doing other stuff instead.  I'll still do water aerobics on Monday nights, Thursday nights, and Saturday mornings, but the other nights I'll do other things.  Like weight lifting.  It turns out your body gets really used to your activity, so it puts itself into this mode where what you're doing doesn't really change anything.  Varying your routine puts the element of surprise in there, and you'll start back off that plateau in no time!  (Note to self--re-read this bullet.  A LOT.)
• Strength Train:  "I think I can!  I think I can!  I think I can!"  Just keep telling yourself this, and eventually, you'll start on the strength training train.  Strength training does a lot of great things for you.  It builds muscle--and muscle burns more calories than fat, and each pound of it burns 50 calories EVEN AT REST during the day.  It ramps up your metabolism.  And, because you're exerting yourself, you're now burning more calories anyway.  (Note to self--re-read this bullet as well.  A LOT.)
• Change Up Your Exercise Routine Timing:  I know this sounds a lot like the previous two bullets, and, it kind of is.  BUT!!!!  There's a reason behind putting it in a different bullet.  If you change up the amounts of time you're doing your exercise, it keeps your body guessing.  However, changing up the time comes with a price:  you need to change the intensity of the training, as well.  We need to exercise at least 30 minutes every day for weight loss (three times a week to maintain it).  If you up this to, say, 45 minutes, you can spend 10 minutes lifting weights, followed by 15 minutes of running/jogging, followed by 10 minutes of lifting weights again, and finishing up with 10 minutes of some cool-down cardio.  Then you can crawl back to your car and drive home, confident that you've done as much as you possibly can that day.
• Drink Water:  According to what I've been reading lately, health officials are now changing up how much water we should be drinking every day.  And it SUCKS.  According to what I've been reading (and I've found it in a LOT of places--on the internet, in health magazines, etc.), we should be consuming half our body weight in ounces of water every day.  So, for example, if you weight 200lbs, you should be drinking 100 ounces of water.  Every day.  As I said the other day, Oh Sole MiO!

So, my point today is this:  rather than just lay down and plank this plateau we're on, we can work at finding a way off it.  I know how discouraging it is to be on one.  It's driving me INSANE.  But I know that we can get off it.

And tell your discouragers to take a short walk off the side of their own plateau while you're at it.

See you tomorrow!