I HATE exercising, but I am committed to do this!!!! I have lost almost 70lbs now, but I just cant seem to get a handle on the exercising regularly part, I don’t like it, maybe because I am lazy, I don’t know, all I know is I really don’t enjoy it, and with that said it makes it soooooo easy to make excuses to not get off my ass and do it. I love the results and I actually love the good feeling you get after your done exercising, for me it is just getting my butt in gear to DO IT!! One of the motivating factors that is helping me get focused is I keep hearing how good exercising is for you whether you have extra weight to loose or not, they say everyone really should be exercising, it has been proven over and over again how good it is for your general health and helps you live a long healthy life. Since I said previously one of the big motivating factors for me to loose weight was I wanted to be around for my kids, I want to live a long healthy life, and exercising from what I keep hearing is one of the key factors to this. So it is time to kick it in gear and make myself do this and stick with it!!!!
We joined a gym in November 2009 (first time I have ever belonged to a gym) my goal was to go 4 days a week, I did good at first but the last 2 to 3 months I have slacked way off. I have been having some hormone issues, because of the weight loss. My dr said because of the amount of weight I have lost it messed up my hormone levels which has given me a number of horrible symptoms. Two of the worst is shear exhaustion mid way through the day, and my body feeling like I have been hit by a semi truck, I am in the process of trying to get my body back to normal, so yes I have a excuse for not being able to exercise as much, but still there are probably sometimes I could have pushed myself to go, but it is just easier to sit on the couch and whine about how crappy I feel!!! I am slowly starting to feel somewhat better now, so I have been making it to the gym 1 to 2 days a week, and just this last week I started walking early in the AM. I walk around my neighborhood for 2 miles, it takes 30 minutes. 30 minutes out of my day is so doable for me, and I will say I am actually kind of enjoying it. At this point I can seem to MAKE myself do 30 minutes everyday, opposed to going to the gym for 1 ½ to 2 hours a day 4 days a week. I know I am not getting nearly as good of a workout this way, but the way I am looking at it is at least I am doing something, and hopefully when my body gets back to normal (whatever that is, ha ha ha) I will have more energy to get back to the 3 to 4 days a week at the gym. I must give kudos to Roy though, through all these months of me slacking at going to the gym he has continued to go by himself, which is wonderful, I am very proud of him!! The only time he didn’t go regularly is when he was worked almost 240 hours in 19 straight days, that of course was during grad season and they were slammed at work, and he was working his ass off at work.
At this point I am trying to find a exercise program that works for me, my goal is to progressively push myself to do more and more. As I said I guess I am just lazy, and I know myself if I push myself to hard I WILL not continue an exercise program, but I also know I need to push myself some or I wont get anywhere either, so I am in the process of trying to find a happy balance. This is all a learning experience for me.
I found all this info on the internet and thought it was worth passing along:
* Heart disease is twice as likely to develop in inactive people as in those who are more active.
* Physically active women have a 60 to 75 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease than inactive women.
* Physical activity helps maintain weight, blood pressure, and diabetes—all risk factors for heart disease.
* One of the easiest ways to begin exercising is walking.
*No medicine is as powerful as physical activity.
Exercise is not just something that you do it is something that you become. Whether you like to exercise or not isn't really an option, it is a choice, a choice that is dependent on you!!! Nobody can do this for you no exercise program or trainer, no pill or supplement. It comes from deep within you. (this is what I am trying to tell my self)
Most people need at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days per week.
People don't want to hear about the patience aspect. They want instant gratification. But the cold, hard reality is if you want to lose weight and keep it off, it's work. No one loses weight and keeps it off without trying.
In closing exercising is great for everyone’s overall health, doing the walking for 30 minutes 5 days or more a week, is a wonderful start then you can start increasing your amount of walking or start doing more cardiovascular exercises and weights. If you are doing nothing right now 30 minutes a day is a GREAT start, everyone can find 30 minutes a day to help yourself have a better quality of life, you and your families deserve it!! So get movin
Monday, July 5, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Portion Control it is the key to weight loss
Portion control is the key to losing weight and keeping it off. You have to learn what a “serving size” really is.
I now know why I got so fat, for God sakes I was eating for 2 sometimes 3 people according to “serving sizes“.
I was very resistant over the years to what I called “letting food consume and control my life” well food was consuming my life, you don’t get up to 216lbs WITHOUT food being a controlling factor in your life, hello!
I would listen to my skinny/healthy friend (Jenny) always talk about food and what was good for you and what wasn’t, reading labels on foods, & weighting and measuring everything. I use to think that is WAY to much work, I have better things to do than keep track of what I’m eating each day. I have now learned Jenny knew what she is doing (sorry I am so thick headed Jenny, clearly I should have listened to you over the years). I just saw weighing, measuring, counting calories, planning in advance what your going to eat, and reading labels, as to much work, and not worth it. Well I found that being lazy and stubborn about this isn’t worth it either. All of these things are very very important to me now, and it has been the main factor of how I have lost the weight. I learned it is a plain fact of life if you are going to lose weight you have to be conscious of everything you put in your mouth.
You have to start reading labels, and find out what an acutely serving size is and more importantly what it looks like, (you will be shocked at how small a serving size really is, I know I was)
You will also be surprised how food can fool you, take a bagel or a bran muffin you may think these are good for you foods, (which they can be) but when they are big ones that is usually more than one serving size, which doubles the calories. A lot of juices, or pop’s are more than one serving size per bottle/can. Many foods are available in "single serving" size packages. You need to be careful because sometimes these are not just 1 single serving. Look on the package's nutrition label and find the "servings per package" or "servings per container" section. If it says "1" then you do not need to measure or count the food out to know the your caloric intake will be, but sometimes it will say 1.5 serving or 2 servings per package, then you have just doubled your calories and didn’t even know it, so read your labels carefully.
I would assume everyone has measuring spoons and cups, but probably not everyone has a kitchen food scale, I would highly suggest purchasing one, it is well worth the money and will be so helpful for you. The one I got cost a bit more than I normally would spend, but again worth it to me. Mine is a digital one with a lot of bells and whistles, I got mine from the shopping channel QVC, but you can find them anywhere, Fred Meyers, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Wal-Mart, really most stores carry them. I still for the most part weigh and measure everything, because it is to easy to falter. I sometimes will sit down with my bag of baked chips and take out a handful (which for my size hands I have found a normal handful not overly big of chips is “about” an ounce of chips which is a serving size) BUT I will sit there and eat that serving and not even think about it and dive back in the bag for another handful, I sat there one day and did this THREE times, that was 3 serving of chips, NOT something I needed. So now I try to make sure I weigh out ONE ounce of chips (1 serving size) and sit down and eat that, I don’t take the bag with me and eat directly out of the bag, because it is just to easy to over eat that way. You just don’t realizes how much your eating unless you weigh/measure out each serving size.
I would suggest if you are not familiar with what an actual serving size is and looks like, dish yourself up a regular meal like you normally would then read the label of what a serving size for that particular food is, and get out your measuring cups and scale and measure out everything you just severed up. I did this with Roy when he started eating better, I had him serve up noodles for spaghetti, then I took it all out and measured it all, he had 5 to 6 serving of noodles, he had no idea what a serving size was or should look like. A bowl of cereal is another one I would over eat on. Most cereals a serving size is ¾ to 1 cup, if you take your average bowl and dump cereal in it, it will be 2 to 3 serving of cereal.
So start checking your labels to see what a serving size is suppose to be and weight and measure out your foods. I like to use my fitness pal web site (there is a link for them on the right side of my page) there are many calorie counting web sites out there, you put in your current info, (weight, height, what you want to weight) and it will tell you how many calories you should be eating each day, and has an area you can keep track of what you eat each day, it’s a easy and free way to get you started to keeping track of what your putting in your mouth each day.
I now know why I got so fat, for God sakes I was eating for 2 sometimes 3 people according to “serving sizes“.
I was very resistant over the years to what I called “letting food consume and control my life” well food was consuming my life, you don’t get up to 216lbs WITHOUT food being a controlling factor in your life, hello!
I would listen to my skinny/healthy friend (Jenny) always talk about food and what was good for you and what wasn’t, reading labels on foods, & weighting and measuring everything. I use to think that is WAY to much work, I have better things to do than keep track of what I’m eating each day. I have now learned Jenny knew what she is doing (sorry I am so thick headed Jenny, clearly I should have listened to you over the years). I just saw weighing, measuring, counting calories, planning in advance what your going to eat, and reading labels, as to much work, and not worth it. Well I found that being lazy and stubborn about this isn’t worth it either. All of these things are very very important to me now, and it has been the main factor of how I have lost the weight. I learned it is a plain fact of life if you are going to lose weight you have to be conscious of everything you put in your mouth.
You have to start reading labels, and find out what an acutely serving size is and more importantly what it looks like, (you will be shocked at how small a serving size really is, I know I was)
You will also be surprised how food can fool you, take a bagel or a bran muffin you may think these are good for you foods, (which they can be) but when they are big ones that is usually more than one serving size, which doubles the calories. A lot of juices, or pop’s are more than one serving size per bottle/can. Many foods are available in "single serving" size packages. You need to be careful because sometimes these are not just 1 single serving. Look on the package's nutrition label and find the "servings per package" or "servings per container" section. If it says "1" then you do not need to measure or count the food out to know the your caloric intake will be, but sometimes it will say 1.5 serving or 2 servings per package, then you have just doubled your calories and didn’t even know it, so read your labels carefully.
I would assume everyone has measuring spoons and cups, but probably not everyone has a kitchen food scale, I would highly suggest purchasing one, it is well worth the money and will be so helpful for you. The one I got cost a bit more than I normally would spend, but again worth it to me. Mine is a digital one with a lot of bells and whistles, I got mine from the shopping channel QVC, but you can find them anywhere, Fred Meyers, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Wal-Mart, really most stores carry them. I still for the most part weigh and measure everything, because it is to easy to falter. I sometimes will sit down with my bag of baked chips and take out a handful (which for my size hands I have found a normal handful not overly big of chips is “about” an ounce of chips which is a serving size) BUT I will sit there and eat that serving and not even think about it and dive back in the bag for another handful, I sat there one day and did this THREE times, that was 3 serving of chips, NOT something I needed. So now I try to make sure I weigh out ONE ounce of chips (1 serving size) and sit down and eat that, I don’t take the bag with me and eat directly out of the bag, because it is just to easy to over eat that way. You just don’t realizes how much your eating unless you weigh/measure out each serving size.
I would suggest if you are not familiar with what an actual serving size is and looks like, dish yourself up a regular meal like you normally would then read the label of what a serving size for that particular food is, and get out your measuring cups and scale and measure out everything you just severed up. I did this with Roy when he started eating better, I had him serve up noodles for spaghetti, then I took it all out and measured it all, he had 5 to 6 serving of noodles, he had no idea what a serving size was or should look like. A bowl of cereal is another one I would over eat on. Most cereals a serving size is ¾ to 1 cup, if you take your average bowl and dump cereal in it, it will be 2 to 3 serving of cereal.
So start checking your labels to see what a serving size is suppose to be and weight and measure out your foods. I like to use my fitness pal web site (there is a link for them on the right side of my page) there are many calorie counting web sites out there, you put in your current info, (weight, height, what you want to weight) and it will tell you how many calories you should be eating each day, and has an area you can keep track of what you eat each day, it’s a easy and free way to get you started to keeping track of what your putting in your mouth each day.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Food addiction
For years I have said I believe that being fat and therefore being addicted to food is like being an alcoholic or drug addict, (not that I know what being an alcoholic or drug addict is like) but I think food is my “drug of choice“. For people addicted to food I do feel it is a little harder because you cant just completely give up food, obviously we need food to live. You have to retrain yourself how to eat so to speak, you cant just give up the “addiction” all together. Therefore making it very hard, to get a handle on this addiction. My own opinion is that anyone that is fat is a food addict to some point, because if you weren’t addicted to food and wouldn’t be fat, it’s that simple. None of us grew up saying oh I cant wait to be fat, I want to be fat, therefore if we weren’t “addicted” to food we not be fat right now.
I feel I am on my way to becoming a recovering food addict, and just like a drug or alcohol addict it will be a life long struggle for me, but I am preparing myself with the proper knowledge and tools to help me stay on the right track for the rest of my life, I know it wont always be easy but one I am prepared for and want to take!!
I will explain how food is such a strong force in my life.
I have always felt that people that have never had an issue with weight just don’t get it, (actually some fat people also I will explain about that in a different blog) frankly I have been embarrassed to sometimes talk with people that don’t have weight issues, because I feel they are just looking at me saying to themselves “just don’t eat it, it’s not that hard” well for people addicted to food it is just that hard.
The first time I heard another fat person say “It’s like the food calls to me“, and they went on to say “you get this overwhelming feeling you just cant fight, knowing full well you shouldn’t be putting this piece of food in your mouth, but you just cant stop“. When I heard someone else say what I have felt, it made me feel good because I knew then others feel the same way I do, and it made me feel maybe I wasn’t so crazy, weak, stupid, and a horrible person because I couldn’t control this part of my life, if others felt the same way as I have.
I have heard now scientists are actually doing more and more studies on “food addictions” they are truly finding that food addictions are very very similar to other addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex, or whatever your vice may be). Not that we should use that as an excuse, we just have more information to help us understand that we are not weak, crazy or what ever you may feel when you just cant stop yourself from putting that doughnut in your mouth, when on one hand your brain is telling you don’t eat that because it isn’t good for you, and on the other hand you just cant stop yourself from eating it . If you have ever felt like this just know your not alone. Don’t feel bad about yourself or beat yourself up because you wonder why cant I just stop myself it shouldn’t be that hard to just say no, but clearly it is. You just need to find the right tools to help yourself control your food addiction. Not all things work for all people, the key is finding the right ones that work for you. In future blogs I will write things that have worked for me and things others I have told me that work for them.
Roy and I still struggle with the addiction part at times, it does get easier but there are times that it still can be overwhelming. It is just a uncontrollable need/want to eat something knowing full well you shouldn’t be, and for me personally it’s never when I am actually “hungry“. I am currently trying to pin point when this happens and I think for me it is when I am bored, mostly when I am home alone, just sitting around watching tv. Also for me now when this happens it is (sorry to all then men that are reading this) when I am around my period is when it happens the most. Most women understand the crazy and uncontrollable cravings related to their hormonal monthly issues, but that still isn’t an excuse to over eat, again the key is to finding tools that help you take control over it not let it control you. The only difference now is when I go on this I guess they call it a binge, I use foods that are better for me, but that still doesn’t make it ok and hello those food still have calories and still will pack on the weight. Yes I can say to myself it is better for me to eat baked chips opposed to regular chips, but like I said if you sit down and eat several handfuls, that is simply still to many, and not something I NEED. When I get like that and find myself wanting to dive into a bag of the baked chips, (that seems to be my “drug of choice” these days, I will put the bag out of site, and grab veggies. I am getting better and better with being able to control this issue. I keep talking to myself telling myself I have come to far and feel to good about myself self to throw it all away for a stupid chip, it’s not worth it!!! The old saying is so true, NOTHING taste as good as being healthier feels!!! (Well the actually saying goes nothing taste as good as thin feels) but first and foremost I love the way I feel better, physically, emotionally, and mentally, and secondly comes how I feel about the way I look. So for me it’s not about being “thin” it’s about being healthier for life is what’s most important to me. Loving they way I look now is just a great side effect per say of what I am doing, certainly not the only reason for doing this.
I feel I am on my way to becoming a recovering food addict, and just like a drug or alcohol addict it will be a life long struggle for me, but I am preparing myself with the proper knowledge and tools to help me stay on the right track for the rest of my life, I know it wont always be easy but one I am prepared for and want to take!!
I will explain how food is such a strong force in my life.
I have always felt that people that have never had an issue with weight just don’t get it, (actually some fat people also I will explain about that in a different blog) frankly I have been embarrassed to sometimes talk with people that don’t have weight issues, because I feel they are just looking at me saying to themselves “just don’t eat it, it’s not that hard” well for people addicted to food it is just that hard.
The first time I heard another fat person say “It’s like the food calls to me“, and they went on to say “you get this overwhelming feeling you just cant fight, knowing full well you shouldn’t be putting this piece of food in your mouth, but you just cant stop“. When I heard someone else say what I have felt, it made me feel good because I knew then others feel the same way I do, and it made me feel maybe I wasn’t so crazy, weak, stupid, and a horrible person because I couldn’t control this part of my life, if others felt the same way as I have.
I have heard now scientists are actually doing more and more studies on “food addictions” they are truly finding that food addictions are very very similar to other addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex, or whatever your vice may be). Not that we should use that as an excuse, we just have more information to help us understand that we are not weak, crazy or what ever you may feel when you just cant stop yourself from putting that doughnut in your mouth, when on one hand your brain is telling you don’t eat that because it isn’t good for you, and on the other hand you just cant stop yourself from eating it . If you have ever felt like this just know your not alone. Don’t feel bad about yourself or beat yourself up because you wonder why cant I just stop myself it shouldn’t be that hard to just say no, but clearly it is. You just need to find the right tools to help yourself control your food addiction. Not all things work for all people, the key is finding the right ones that work for you. In future blogs I will write things that have worked for me and things others I have told me that work for them.
Roy and I still struggle with the addiction part at times, it does get easier but there are times that it still can be overwhelming. It is just a uncontrollable need/want to eat something knowing full well you shouldn’t be, and for me personally it’s never when I am actually “hungry“. I am currently trying to pin point when this happens and I think for me it is when I am bored, mostly when I am home alone, just sitting around watching tv. Also for me now when this happens it is (sorry to all then men that are reading this) when I am around my period is when it happens the most. Most women understand the crazy and uncontrollable cravings related to their hormonal monthly issues, but that still isn’t an excuse to over eat, again the key is to finding tools that help you take control over it not let it control you. The only difference now is when I go on this I guess they call it a binge, I use foods that are better for me, but that still doesn’t make it ok and hello those food still have calories and still will pack on the weight. Yes I can say to myself it is better for me to eat baked chips opposed to regular chips, but like I said if you sit down and eat several handfuls, that is simply still to many, and not something I NEED. When I get like that and find myself wanting to dive into a bag of the baked chips, (that seems to be my “drug of choice” these days, I will put the bag out of site, and grab veggies. I am getting better and better with being able to control this issue. I keep talking to myself telling myself I have come to far and feel to good about myself self to throw it all away for a stupid chip, it’s not worth it!!! The old saying is so true, NOTHING taste as good as being healthier feels!!! (Well the actually saying goes nothing taste as good as thin feels) but first and foremost I love the way I feel better, physically, emotionally, and mentally, and secondly comes how I feel about the way I look. So for me it’s not about being “thin” it’s about being healthier for life is what’s most important to me. Loving they way I look now is just a great side effect per say of what I am doing, certainly not the only reason for doing this.
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