Category: Diet

Morning,

Well, finally after 48 hours, my (24 hour times 2) cold has disappeared.   It’s about time!

That’s the good news – the bad news is I’m as weak as a newborn puppy and witnessed my get up and go, got up and went.  Still, though, this would be day three with no discernible exercise… and that’s simply not an option!

So instead of throwing myself at the local gym as usual, I’m going to do my beloved 2.4 mile circle walk and lift weights in the basement.  I’m pretty certain that shouln’t overtax myself…which brings me to the real topic of this post.

Sometimes your body and your mind will shriek two separate, distinct, non-intersecting entities with regards to health.  They really will!  Your mind wants you to neverSayDie and press forward no matter how idiotic it might be… while your body chortles in hysterical glee, saying, over my comatose body, which is quite a climb!

In my humble opinion….you should just about always listen to your body first and foremost if you’re ill.   Beating yourself up while you’re sick as a dog might simply cause a relapse in the future, resulting in more down-time than if you had taken honest care of yourself in the very beginning.

Tomorrow is always another day.  If you’re too ill to workout today, give yourself permission to heal.  You can always tackle things when you’re back to the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed self you normally are. 

Enjoy,

Barbara

Morning,

It seems that as everything grows older, it gets bigger, not just people!

Check out the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Portion Distortion. You’ll be presented with a slideshow of how food portions have grown over the years like this:

It’s a fascinating story – I urge you to visit and read.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – One great way to measure portions is to use a kitchen scale, like:

Morning,

The good news is that I’m breathing.

The bad news is that I’m ‘way sick with allergies or a cold. Hopefully allergies…I really don’t have time for a cold right now!

Wah. Methinks today I will simply do my circle walk for exercise (so long as my nose ceases to trying marathon competitions) and then do bodyweight workouts at home.

In other news, we had a different instructor in swords/kendo yesterday, and wow, both the senseis are truly superb in their own individual ways. I really liked how Sensei II had use do 4 move combos until they were etched in the mind – the repetition made for much better retention.

Did I mention I’m sick?

Time to dose myself with chicken soup,

Barbara

ps – need allergy/flu remedies? Consider:

Morning,

Life is truly joyous when you are awakened at 2am by your spouse or kids and no matter how hard you try, your sleeping ability laughs hysterically at you as it chortles in the distance.  Not.

Ah well, these things happen.  At least I got a lot of writing done!  

Anywhos, I’m now participating on SparkPages!   It’s a super free diet/weight loss/fitness/get healthy place that has tens of thousands of bunches of members, many of whom post up a storm!

I really adore some of the message board threads like:

• Funny Gym Stories
• What Tempation Did You Resist Today?
• Things You Did Right Today
• My Kids Are Being Positively Influenced…

All in all, it’s a really exciting supportive place!  I’m looking forward to participating.

One thing I noticed is there’s this neat Panic Button message board too!  Some of the titles include:

• Why in the name of everything that is holy…

• falling off, again and again and again…

• How do you recover from a binge??????

All in all, a very impressive place indeed!  I encourage you to check it out as well.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Lots of people try Weight Watchers. Here’s some things I’ve found regarding it:

Morning,

Well! Today I weigh 140 instead of what I weighed yesterday, which was 135. Ain’t life grand?

Actually, however, I’m not worried about it whatsoever. And here’s why…..

Every weekend, I give myself one cheat day in which I assume responsibility for actually (dare I say it?) eating stuff that is, well, really, really darned dumb! In my case, it’s veggies with additional salt (I love salt but don’t eat it hardly at all during the week). Oooh I love that (lettuce, onions, etc.)….but Oooooh, I pay for it the next day!

Speaking of which, today IS that next day, and as expected, I was retaining more water than the Hoover Dam! (How did I come up with this blindingly obvious observation? Whenever I’m huger than usual, my wedding band wont’ come off of my finger. But I digress.) But! I know that drinking water always helps such conditions, so I quickly downed 5 large cups of the miracle liquid.

The good news is that my fingers no longer resemble a McDonald’s sausage special!

The bad news is that I had the extraordinarily bad judgment to weigh myself…instead of 135, the scale read, 140!

Well, duh, of course it would! Each cup of water weighs a pound (yes, I did weigh that). So if I drank 5 cups, obviously, I’d gain 5 temporary pounds until it flushes away.

That’s one of the reasons why losing weight and getting healthy can be such a hero’s journey. Many many times, you’re faced with increases that are temporary…but perhaps your mindset gives way to all those insidious voices that chant, it’s useless, why are you torturing yourself, just give it up and get thee to a seven pound chocolate cake!

Remember, scales reveal only numbers…and those numbers can reflect temporary gains. Never let that sway you from what you know to be true (that weight loss is a long-term process that has ups and downs).

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Speaking of salt, did you know salt shakers could look like:

Morning,

I have officially decided that given a choice between enjoying life and dragging myself thru it like a ladybug towing a Mack truck, I much prefer the first.

I was reminded of this after my gym workout. Today was supposed to be my bash-the-body day (the day in which I joyfully become one with the iron in the free weights room and also tackle the Cybex route)…but my muscles were still a bit flabbalated from my Monday workout. So! I dropped the poundage by 5 pounds did a slow-steady workout instead. It went well.

While driving home, I was quite ravenous, so I immediately whipped up my beloved beef bone soup which I’m currently devouring as I type. Made with tofu, eggs, chili peppers (my particular quirk), shitake mushrooms and other goodies, it really hits the spot in a filling fashion.

And that reminded me of the following. So many people will “fail” at diets because the portions they eat don’t fill them up, their calories are restricted, their food choices are as anticipated as shower-mold-on-a-stick, etc.

That’s why diets by themselves will never work! If you want to get healthy, it’s a lifestyle change. You have to be able to eat the foods you enjoy, you have to give yourself permission to get rid of the foods that cause you to balloon up, you have to be content with your dietary choices.

After all, if you’re not….all you’ll do is fall off the wagon with a resounding crash bigger than Godzilla playing dead…and all of your previous hard work will be for naught. And you’re much too important to that; you should never be a victim of when diets attack.

My morning musings,

Barbara

ps – When I started losing weight, one of my favorite helpers was the Richard Simmons videos and DVDs. RS has to be one of the most supportive individuals out there…and his workouts include people quite over 300 pounds as well. I can vouch for the magnificence of his series – his ‘Sweatin’ to the Oldies’ III’ was the first time I have ever danced in years and years. Check ’em out!