Another New Year Still Fat…

Here we are moving now into 2011, another new year and I’m still fat, which accounts for why this blog has been so neglected. One thing I did accomplish last year that I hope to carry into the new year, is I actually have exercised. I will be moving this year and rebuilding a home, so I already am thinking that will be quite a bit of exercise in itself, but there is a senior center in our new location that is also free to join if you are a resident of the city. Count me in. I really miss my time at the senior center here, but I have been walking 2 miles minimum 3 days a week, plus it’s about a quarter of a mile every time I go visit my mother. Already I am getting more exercise than I’ve had for the last 2 yrs. You would think it would show somewhere. LOL.

I got a new idea for the new year from one of the guru coaches that I follow for New Year’s Resolutions. I thought it was pretty interesting and will be giving it a try. He says to write a paper on 2011 as if it’s already Dec. 31, 2011. Write down all the things you’ve accomplished for the year. This is very close to what another teacher of mine teaches about starting with the end in mind, sort of backward planning. Hey, anything that will help! LOL. I’m tired of carrying around this extra 50 lbs. I’m tired of looking at clothes in a 1 or 2X.

So, I wish you all a Happy New Year and much success as we all try our own thing to bring us to better health and a sexier, new us!

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.

The Importance of Walking

I received this in my email and thought you might get a kick out of it. Since my emphasis has been on exercise lately, I thought it appropriate. enjoy=)

The Importance of Walking

>>>Walking can add minutes to your life.
>>> This enables you at 85 years old
>>> to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing
>>> home at $7000 per month. This is my reason. DWB

>>> My grandpa started walking
>>> five miles a day when he was 60.
>>> Now he’s 97 years old
>>> and we don’t know where he is.
>>>
>>> I like long walks,
>>> especially when they are taken
>>> by people who annoy me.

>>> The only reason I would take up walking
>>> is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.
>>>
>>> I have to walk early in the morning,
>>> before my brain figures out what I’m doing..
>>>
>>> I joined a health club last year,
>>> spent about 400 bucks.
>>> Haven’t lost a pound.
>>> Apparently you have to go there.
>>>
>>> Every time I hear the dirty word ‘exercise’,
>>> I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
>>>
>>> The advantage of exercising every day
>>> is so when you die, they’ll say,
>>> ‘Well, she looks good doesn’t she.’
>>>
>>> If you are going to try cross-country skiing,
>>> start with a small country.
>>>
>>> I know I got a lot of exercise
>>> the last few years,……
>>> just getting over the hill.

>>> We all get heavier as we get older,
>>> because there’s a lot more information in our heads.
>>> That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
>>>
>>>>>>> AND

>>> Every time I start thinking too much
>>> about how I look,
>>> I just find a Happy Hour
>>> and by the time I leave,
>>> I look just fine.
>>>
>>> You could run this over to your friends
>>> But just e-mail it to them
>>>>>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>> If you don’t forward
>> this to 1 of your friends within
>>>>the next 5 minutes your belly
>>>>button will unscrew and your
>>>>butt will fall off.
>>>>Really…. It’s true Ha! Ha! Ha!

On My Quest For Exercise…

I did make it by the senior center and it’s really nice. Of course the day I went they weren’t accepting applications and I couldn’t do anything but tour because their “membership card machine” was not working. LOL. I love the idea of swimming, but it looks like a lot of rules for swimming, laps etc. I guess I’ll just have to find out the hard way what all of them are.

The fitness room is really nice. They don’t hold any classes, but there is a lot of equipment and a lot of variation. In the meantime, while waiting for my chance to make it back to the center, I have been a worker bee at a church “flea market” and have picked up a couple of Pilates videos. Just like my old ones that seemed to get lost in the move, these to were donated “unopened”. 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.

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.

Life Without The Scale…

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have been living the last couple of months without a bathroom scale. My curiosity is killing me. I’m to the point that when I take my laundry into be done, maybe I’ll just jump on the scale they have for weighing my clothes to see if I’ve gained or lost. (I’m pretty sure without my own kitchen either, it’s probably a gain).

For me, the scale and I have never been “friends” but it did help me at least keep track of things. While it didn’t stop me from gaining the 50 pounds I did, it did help prevent me from getting worse. I just refused to go over that 200 lbs. marker. LOL. I know some advocate only weighing yourself once a week, and others say to throw the scale away, that your body image etc. shouldn’t be tied to that, but alas, I cannot let go.

Due to being out of my house for the last month and a half I’ve been eating my share of fastfood. This is not normally my choice. Up until recently I hadn’t had a fastfood burger in months. I usually think about something, decide I can make it cheaper and healthier at home, and pass it by.

I have picked up some good habits though which is why I’m so curious about the number on the scale. I now eat breakfast every morning about 8:30. Before I would be working and lucky if I had a piece of toast before noon. I know that’s not good for the metabolism.

The other good thing that’s happened is I’m not drinking nearly as much. I may have one or two in the evening or maybe not. Compared to the 5 glasses of wine I was putting down every nite, that’s a 500 calorie drop right there. So I’m hoping that has helped balance out the calories from the fastfood. (Who am I trying to kid, right?) But I’m getting tired of burgers, etc. and have been expanding into TV dinners that are microwavable. Now, if I just start buying nothing but SmartOnes and Lean Cuisine, I could conceivably start losing. This all could turn out to be a good thing after all. LOL.

Exercise? My oldest daughter reminded me the Aids Walk is only a month away. If this tells you how good I’ve been doing on my walking, I tried to talk my way out of it. She wasn’t having any. I guess I better get on it. At least being right downtown, they’re long blocks to walk around.

The Importance of Walking

I received this in my email and since diet and exercise go hand in hand, I thought I would share. LOL.

Importance of Walking

Walking 20 minutes can add to your life.
>  This enables you at 85 years old
>  to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing
>  home at $7000 per month.
>
>  My grandpa started walking
>  five miles a day when he was 60..
>  Now he’s 97 years old
>  and we don’t know where he is.
>
>  I like long walks,
>  especially when they are taken
>  by people who annoy me.
>
>  The only reason I would take up walking
>  is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.
>
>  I have to walk early in the morning,
>  before my brain figures out what I’m doing..
>
>  I joined a health club last year,
>  spent about 400 bucks.
>  Haven’t lost a pound.
>  Apparently you have to go there.
>
>  Every time I hear the dirty word ‘exercise’,
>  I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
>
>  I do have flabby thighs,
>  but fortunately my stomach covers them.
>
>  The advantage of exercising every day
>  is so when you die, they’ll say,
>  ‘Well, he looks good doesn’t he.’
>
>  If you are going to try cross-country skiing,
>  start with a small country.
>
>  I know I got a lot of exercise
>  the last few years,……
>  just getting over the hill.
>
>  We all get heavier as we get older,
>  because there’s a lot more information in our heads.
>  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
>
>  AND
>
>  Every time I start thinking too much
>  about how I look,
>  I just find a Happy Hour
>  and by the time I leave,
>  I look just fine.
>
>  You could run this over to your friends
>  But just e-mail it to them!

A New One On Fat People

What else can they blame us for?

Yesterday on the news they came out with a report that fat people are the reason for global warming. Of course we didn’t do it all by ourselves, but we’re a big part of it.

According to researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, fat people cause more greenhouse gases because we eat more food and drive more. Now they’re hoping if you don’t care enough about yourself to lose weight, you might care more about what you’re doing to the environment.

One of the things they state is that it takes more energy to move heavier people. (I don’t think I needed a study to tell me that one).

The population with 40 percent obese people requires 19 percent more food energy for its total energy expenditure than the population with 3.5 percent obese people, the figure from when we were a much more active society 30 years ago. This 19 percent increase in food consumption translates into an increase of 270 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the study said.

That’s quite a bit! What I want to know is how they even measure that?

According to a study done back in 1978 (which I can’t remember hearing anything about) a year the United States experienced an oil shock, a study in the American Journal of Public Health showed that if all overweight people in the country aged 18 to 79 reached their optimal weight, the resulting energy savings would equal 1.3 billion gallons of gasoline.

After the dieting period, about 750 million gallons of gasoline would be saved every year, said the authors, Bruce Hannon, professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Timothy Lohman, now professor emeritus at the University of Arizona.

So supposedly the answer to our warming globe and our dependence on foreign oil, is just for everyone to go on a diet. I can’t wait to see the environmentalists spin on this one.