Working on Motivation, Exercise

I’ve been listening to Tony Robbins lately. Not just for weight loss but for other areas of my life as well. He’s really quite inspirational. He’s saying in order to make permanent changes, we need to get “disturbed” about where we are and work on changing our belief system, that something isn’t “that bad”. It’s about getting totally honest with yourself instead of pussy footing around the adjectives. Yes, 50 pounds overweight is that bad. Yes when I look at myself naked in the mirror it is disturbing. Yes my ass is fat whether in or out of those jeans. LOL.

My mother has been in ICU the last 3 weeks, so the only exercise I’m getting is walking to her room, but I am taking total advantage of it. I walk briskly to get my heart rate up. It’s a fair distance from one end of the parking lot to her room in ICU so it’s sort of like “heart training” and I do it at least 3 times per day. Now I just hope all those health gurus are right when they say 3 ten minute walks are as good as one 30 minute walk. Today I will be adding on walking from my house at least once. I’m actually fairly close and so have decided there really is no excuse.

I Want To Be Valerie, Not Kirstie!

Valerie Bertinelli and Kirstie Alley have always been two of my favorite female celebs. I have to say that I am so jealous of Valerie these days. She took over as spokesperson for Jenny Craig and has never looked back. While Kirstie once again gained back all the weight she had lost when she was Jenny Craig’s spokesperson, Valerie has moved on to bikini ads, red carpets, and magazine covers. She is absolutely in the prime of life again. I am so happy for her! Now I just want to be her. LOL.

Instead, I seem to be more like Kirstie. If you added all the pounds I’ve lost and regained… and here I am again trying to go down the scale instead of up.

I was doing pretty good with the weight training and swimming at the Senior Center, but then my mother had emergency surgery and has been in ICU for the last 3 weeks. What I do to keep in shape now is park on the far end of the parking lot and walk briskly to her room in the hospital about 3 times a day. It does at least get my heart rate up. They say 3 ten minute walks is as good as 1 thirty minute walk. I hope they’re right. LOL. I’m working on just walking to the hospital next. It’s not that far, but it seems like I always am headed for the store or somewhere afterward, so I don’t do it. Even in my own ears, that sounds like another excuse. Maybe I’ll make today different.

A Woman’s Maximum Heart Rate-

Like everything else that fits men but doesn’t quite apply to women, they now have a study that suggests the figure to use for getting our maximum heart rate should be “206″ not 220 like it is for a man. We also subtract 88% of our age vs. subtracting 80% as was the formula up until now. So if you are a woman 50 yrs. old, you would figure 88% of that. Take that figure and subtract it from the 206, and that would be your maximum heart rate. (Obviously not everyone is the same. This is just meant to be a guideline). Then for maximum efficiency during a workout, you would want to build to 70 to 80% of your maximum heart rate. Since I have been so sedentary for so long, I feel happy to get to 60% while I am just beginning to get back in action. Starting an exercise regimen won’t help if I have a heart attack in the process. LOL

It’s Heating Up and I Haven’t Slimmed Down

I am still finding lack of exercise to be my biggest downfall and my most destructive health habit. I have studied more than the average bear when it comes to exercise and diet, and I know they go hand in hand, yet here I still sit. My latest thing to try is going to check out the Senior center by where I live. They consider age 50 a senior. I swear, for 50 being the new 40, the age for seniors is getting younger all the time. LOL.

If you’re a resident of the city you can join for free. They have a fitness room, 3 indoor pools and classes. If I could find something fun to do, I might stand a chance of making it work. I haven’t had much luck finding an exercise buddy, so maybe this will do the trick. I did see one thing on line called “walk and talk”, so here’s hoping… All I know is I’m not paying for any more gym memberships, although Curves still catches my eye every once in awhile. LOL.

Ready To Start Losing Weight…”Again”

Sea Lion Exercising

Yep, I’m ready to start losing weight again. My daughter called the other day and said she really needs to do something about her weight, so we decided that even though we live far apart, we could be each other’s support system. I explained to her that we both had to be accountable to each other. No dodging my phone calls because she doesn’t want to confess. LOL. We’ll see what happens.

I started tracking nutrition yesterday. Not really watching what I was eating, but more for just getting back in the habit of doing it. OMGosh, it’s no wonder I’ve done nothing but grow since I quit working outside the house! Between what I eat and no exercise… well, you know how it goes.

For exercise I think I have an ebook on my computer for good old ‘calisthenics’. If I can do a couple of jumping jacks without feeling like I’m going to fall through the floor, I may start doing those. I think she has a gym membership. Every time I do one of those I get into trouble. LOL.

Speaking of which, I am so mad at the “Right Stuff”. They sucked me in with low payments, no contract you could cancel at anytime, blah, blah, blah. Well, you can cancel at anytime, but you have to go in in person to do it, or mail them a letter. You cannot just call or email. Now they want several months worth of dues. What a pain. When we moved it wasn’t convenient to “go in” to cancel. Obviously I thought the mail was too slow, but now that I look back, I should have mailed a nice CANCELLATION letter. Ohhh, I hate them for my stupidity. LOL.

Figuring The WeightWatchers Points In GS Cookies

It’s that time of year again. The Girl Scouts are out in force with their arsenal of cookies. LOL. I never met a Girl Scout cookie I didn’t like, and any Girl Scout troop that I buy from usually loves me.

A couple of years ago when I bought Girl Scout cookies, I went through and figured out the WeightWatchers points per serving for each kind. I then put how many WeightWatchers points per how many cookies on the top of each box. While it didn’t stop me from eating them, I was at least semi-conscious of what I was eating. It really did help. Many times I would choose which cookies based on the numbers on the top of the box. One may have a point or two more, but there would be more cookies per serving. At least it did make me think about what I was putting in my mouth when I was doing it.

That is what is so great about journaling. If you’re truly honest with yourself, it will definitely make a difference if you know you’re going to have to write down everything that goes in your mouth.

Have you given up Girl Scout cookies? I keep thinking once they grow up, I won’t buy anymore, but they just keep coming. LOL.

Dieting (Again) With Kirstie Alley

The "after" after

I knew something was wrong when I wasn’t seeing Kirstie Alley doing the Jenny Craig commercials anymore. I did happen to notice that she stayed on the “I lost 75 lbs.” mantra an awfully long time without losing any more. Then one day recently in the grocery store I saw a picture of her on the cover of The National Enquirer, of course, and to me she looked bigger than ever.  Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Valerie now in a while either.

The other day I found a new site for weight loss. Kirstie has developed her own line of weight loss products. The whole theme is centered around “go organic”. She states that she has already lost 20 lbs. with her new products, since her money has allowed her access to some of the greatest scientists in the world. Personally I would find it hard to go completely organic as in many cases it doesn’t make any difference, it just costs more.  She has named her line “Organic Laison”.

I’ll be curious to see how she does. I’m really hoping she’s successful. I have always really liked her as an actress, and have many times felt humiliated for her.  Who knows, if it ends up working, maybe I’ll “go organic”. LOL

The Month After Christmas- New Year’s Resolutions

I found this in my inbox and thought it was so cute, I had to share. I don’t know who wrote it. I would love to give them credit for it. Hope you enjoy =)

Twas the month after Christmas,
and all through the house,
Nothing would fit me,
not even a blouse.

The cookies I’d nibbled,
the chocolate I’d taste
and  the holiday parties
had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales
there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store
(less a walk than a lumber),

I’d remember the marvellous meals I’d prepared;
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,
The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese
And the way I’d never said, “No thank you, please.”

As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt…
I said to myself, as I only can,
“You can’t spend a winter, disguised as a man!”

So, away with the last of the sour cream dip.
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won’t have a cookie, not even a lick.
I’ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won’t have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie.
I’ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I’m hungry, I’m lonesome, and life is a bore…
But isn’t that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all, and to all a good diet.

Weight Loss, A New Year, Free Gifts

Free Gifts For You

Here we are facing a whole new year in front of us and most of us have great aspirations. There is something in all of us that we would like to change whether it’s losing weight or something inside of us, begging to get out.

I recently got invited to a 4th annual “Self Improvement Giveaway” which is just like it says. It’s many, many products, (e-books, software) given away for free. Many of them are top products that would cost a fortune to buy them all. I would like to share this opportunity with you.

Just go to Self Improvement Giveaway 4 and register. It’s just your name and email, confirm your email address and you’ll get a link to log in. This year they have made it for internet marketers also, so the first couple of pages you see are “One time offers”, but if you’re not interested just scroll to the bottom. There will be a button to say “no thank you” and you’ll move on to the next page. Once you get past the couple of offers, there’s a whole treasure chest of stuff inside. It’s well worth the effort.

If you have never been to one of these online before, if you wish to get a product they will most likely ask for your name and email. You usually have to confirm and they send you a download link. If you start getting newsletters or anything else you don’t like, just “unsubscribe”. It’s that easy. Meanwhile you can pick up some great e-books, music, etc.

I hope you enjoy, but you’ll have to hurry. It’s only open until the 19th of January. If you should actually decide to make a purchase (which is totally not necessary to be part of this) I may make a small commission. By law I have to disclose this, but it’s not why I’m recommending it. I don’t make enough to make me recommend something I don’t believe in. I just think this is a great opportunity.

Self Improvement Giveaway

Day 5, Week 1, New Year, New Weight Loss Goals

Here we are on day 5 of week 1 of the New Year with our new weight loss goals instead of resolutions. How’s it going for you?

I’m not doing too bad. My goal was to add one healthy fruit or vegetable to my diet this week and I have been doing so every single day. My thing was to ad a salad at lunch. I almost always have a vegetable with dinner, but then that’s usually about it. The benefits to this are:

1) Salad is a natural appetite suppressant. I have a very good appetite so any help I can get in that department without taking some over the counter appetite suppressant works for me.

2) Obviously the one vegetable I eat at night is not going to replace the 5 servings a day I should be getting, even when I eat enough to count as 2 servings at dinner.

I’ve also been walking from the far end of the parking lot to entrances of the places I go. It’s funny. I got a handicapped placard for my mother, for when I have to take her to the doctors or take her anywhere, as she has a walker and cannot walk too far without needing to sit down. The police in the Bay area are starting to crack down on people using handicapped placards and stickers that aren’t handicapped when the handicapped people these things are meant for aren’t with them. I told my mother of all the times in my life that may have been me getting caught pulling that, they don’t have to worry about me anymore. When I took her to the doctors yesterday, it’s the first time we’ve gotten to use it, and there wasn’t a handicapped parking space open anywhere. I still ended up dropping her off at the bench out front while I went and found a parking place! LOL.

Let me know how you’re coming with the goals you set for yourself this year when it comes to weight and fitness. I’m always open to new, better, easier, ideas. LOL.