Day 3 check in

Didn't make the stair steps today.
Exercises - check
Treadmill - check
Trying to eat only when hungry - and I can tell I'm eating fewer calories because I'm hungry! Trying to include fruits and veggies.
My children are coming tonight and we love to play in the kitchen. One of them is bringing a gluten-free, dairy-free friend so maybe our efforts will be healthier this time. :-)

Winter exercise

Too slick out this morning to walk. My goal is to do stair steps once an hour as a break from the computer. I'm now part of a small online accountability group and it's interesting to read the different routines others have for exercise. I also like to ask my friends about their routines. Not that I will do everything everyone else does, but I can use the ideas to modify my exercise routine when I want a change. Or, when winter weather sets in!

Day 3 Check in

Morning walk - check
Exercises - oops, skipped due to errands
Treadmill - check
Watching what I eat - each day I try to do a little better...

Day 2 Check in

Morning walk - check
Exercises - check
Treadmill - check (almost made it the full time)
Watching what I eat - better than yesterday

A note about crunches that I read in Strong Women Stay Young: look at the ceiling to help work the abs properly. Also, with any exercise such as crunches, leg lifts, etc. work against gravity slowly to increase the resistance. These simple tips encourage me that I'm getting more benefit from the time I put in to exercises.

Recipes for a New (healthy) Year

I think these all came from magazines.

Broccoli Pancetta Saute
(makes 12 servings)

2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 oz. pancetta, chopped (my sister used prosciutto)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 # small broccoli florets
salt
1/2 c.w ater
1 T. fresh lemon juice
lemon wedges for garnish

Heat 1 T. oil in skillet. Add pancetta and cook 1-2 min. until brown and crisp, stirring. Drain. Use the same skillet and oil to cook garlic and pepper 10 seconds. Add broccoli and salt, cook on high 2 min. Add water and cook 3-5 min. Whish 1 T. oil and lemon juice in bowl and drizzle over broccoli. Toss to coat. Serve with pancetta and lemon wedges.
55 calories per serving

Holiday Ranch Salad
(serves 12)
about 8 oz. ranch dressing (the recipe called for more but we cut it down)
2 granny smith apples, diced
1 c. dried cherries (or cranberries)
2 c. shredded carrots
2 c. crumbled or diced cheese (my sister used gorgonzola but I would use something milder)
1 1/2 c. nuts, chopped (they used walnuts, I would try almonds or leave the nuts out)
romaine lettuce (optional - we felt it made it not so rich and made a nice salad)
Toss all ingredients together except lettuce. Chop lettuce in bowl. Top with salad mixture and toss. This would be easy to cut down to a smaller size, I think.

Beef & Peppers Stir-Fry

1 # flank steak, cut lengthwise in half and very thinly sliced
4 T. low-sodium teriyaki sauce
4 green onions
1 c. instant brown rice
3 tsp. canola oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 red peppers, thinly sliced

Toss beef with 1 T. teriyaki suace. Thinly slice dark green tops from green onions and reserve for garnish; cut remaining onions into 1" pieces. Cook rice as directed.
In skillet, heat 2 tsp. oil on med-high until hot. Add garlic and crushed red pepper, cook 1 min. Add green onion, red pepper, and 1 T. water, cook 4-5 min. until peppers are tenfder, stir often. Keep warm in bowl. In same skillet, heat 1 tsp. oil. Add half of beef, cook 1 min, stirring. Transfer to bowl with peppers, keep warm. Cook remaining beef. Add 3 T. teriyaki sauce to skillet, cook 30 seconds, stirring. Add to beef and veggie mixture, combine. Serve stir-fry over rice. Garnish with reserved green onions. 360 calories per serving - 4 main dish servings.

New ways to eat healthy

On the positive side, I did get two new recipes when I visited my parents. One is for a cooked vegetable dish and the other is for salad. I have to find the recipes in the post-vacation mess before I can post them.
I didn't write down the new casserole recipe because I thought of so many ways to adapt it to create a healthier dish. I'll have to try my adaptations and write them down.

Day 1 - Monday, December 27

Morning walk - check
exercises - check
treadmill - check
Write down what I eat - check

Tomorrow's goal will be to plan healthier snacks. There's still a few Christmas treats calling my name.

Accountability for Exercise

For those of you who picked up this link on facebook, a few of us have agreed to hold each other accountable to meet our individual fitness goals as we move into a new year. Exercise often seems easier with a partner, if not in physical presence, with the knowledge that someone else is experiencing the same struggles and victories along the way. Here's to healthy lifestyles!

Birthdays...

... are disastrous! It will take some time to walk off birthday cake and other family celebrations. However, I remind myself that walking, walking, is good. This morning I read a summary of an article about research linking walking to brain health - that walking may slow down or halt the progression of dementia and Alzeimer's. It certainly helps clear the cobwebs in the mornings!

Reset

We are hearing a series of messages this month at church entitled "Reset." That's a good word for this week. Tomorrow, after the last of the birthday celebrations and birthday cake, I will hit "reset" for eating healthy. The fitness newsletters I receive and read encourage me in this: even if something (like a birthday) comes along to derail my efforts, I can still maintain healthy habits in some areas, like walking and eating healthy foods along with the cake. I do not need to let it all slide. Then it will be easier to get back on track for my fitness goals.

Balance?

Two walks, two cookies so far today. I guess one cancels out the other. Next step, increase the ratio of exercise and lower the cookies. Tough to do.

Weekend exercise

It seems almost impossible to get the second exercise session in on the weekends. One would think I would have more time then but it's harder to stick to my normal routine. I wonder how much housework and the other things I do on the weekends count towards exercise - I don't sit at the computer much on the weekend. Sometimes it's harder to eat healthy, too, but this weekend I tried to stay aware of that factor at least. It feels like it will take a long time to lose these few pounds. Tomorrow is Monday, a new week, back to the exercise (and eating) routine!

Reset goals

Once again, I'm telling myself that I should not eat unless I am hungry. This will take some rethinking and retraining, along with a healthy dose of common sense.

Sometimes I feel hungry between meals. It might be real, if I haven't eaten very much. It might be from habit, if I've been snacking at a certain time every day, and I might need to get into a different routine. It might be boredom, in which case I'll have to find a different way to multi-task. It might be that I'm thirsty, not hungry. I do like to drink water, sometimes I just need to remember between meals.

Getting back on track

One of these days - perhaps after vacation and retreat - I'm going to have to walk more or eat less. Or both. Seems to be an ongoing battle.

My recent nutrition and fitness reading included an article about seeds. I must admit, I've been discovering sesame seeds (using them more often) and flax seeds this summer. I could add sunflower seeds, but I'm not sure I'll ever acquire a taste for pumpkin or squash seeds. Are there other seeds that weren't mentioned in the article?

Good for what ails you

Walking (or exercise) is, that is. 4 miles logged today, 2 more to go. Looking forward to some good book time on a treadmill or a bike, if I can get one rigged up.

Discovered: I can do 30 high steps in the time it takes to make one color copy on my printer.

Home beats Restaurant

Next time we'll have lunch at my house. My bread (homemade sesame) is better, my clam chowder is better, my salad is better. When it's raining, the view is about the same.

Hello again

Some parts of life continued on through the summer... sleeping, some exercise, and yes, eating. A fair amount of traveling kept me away from blogging, but not away from food and exercise! I learned that stairs are a great way to exercise. I learned that yes, it does take 5-6 miles per day to accomplish my fitness goals if I'm not doing anything more strenuous than walking. I learned that a sprained ankle can really set back the fitness goals. And, I learned that 2 months off my regular stretching exercises makes it very hard to get back into the routine!

I sampled Slovak food, even learned how to make a salad. Will learn more this weekend at a Slovak party here in the states. I sampled German food. :-) Tonight, we will have good homecooked food. We'll try to keep it healthy.

Scheduling

I just read a great tip on a message board - schedule the rest of life around workouts (exercise) as you would eating and sleeping. We eat and sleep no matter how busy we are because they are necessary to live - we should treat exercise the same way. Our other activities will always fill any available time we have.

Doing the math

I wonder how much walking it will take to lose this extra 5 pounds. If I do the math, it's rather daunting. 3500 calories for 1 pound. 17,500 calories for 5 pounds. 100 calories per 1 mile walk, give or take, depending on intensity. (how intense is a walk on the beach?) Looks like 175 miles? I'll make the math easy. Let's say I have 20 days. Not quite 10 miles a day? Not very realistic. 5 miles a day I can do. I guess I should have started earlier... and I have, sort of. Well, 2 miles in today already, some more to go.

Learning New Habits

Today, I'm practicing not eating unless I'm hungry. Got to keep busy, but I have a lot to do today so that helps.

Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies that have less than 150 calories each. Yum! I can have my cookies and eat them too.:-) (as long as I don't eat too many)

Motivation

A good book - what a great motivation to get on the treadmill! Another motivating factor - it's still gray here and I'm cold. Exercise will warm me up for a brief time, anyway. I'm back trying to eat healthy, so any small incentives, especially related to exercise, are good.

A New Friend

I decided if I could only walk a couple of times a day, at least one walk would have to be more intense. Re-enter my friend, the treadmill. I had set the treadmill aside, so to speak, to walk outside now that something that is not winter has arrived. (with the constant gray and nearly constant rain - we had 20 days in a row with measurable rain - I'm not sure what season we're in) However, the treadmill gives a good workout, and a way to read a book reliably without getting wet. I'm already seeing results.

"More" Exercise

I ran out of time to walk 6 miles a day. So a few days ago I tried jogging. Not good. It has taken me days to recover. Not because I was out of shape - with all the walking I don't get winded. Too many other things got sore.

Plateaus

Hitting a plateau is always a nice break when hiking, but it's not so encouraging on this journey to fitness. The next few days I'll have to focus more again on healthy eating. My body is too tired to increase the exercise again right now. It feels - and I would agree - that walking 6 miles a day is plenty!

Munch and Crunch

This house needs a cookie... but I'm not sure my waist does! I've been trying to think of crunchy snacks that taste good. I read a post on facebook the other day about cereal - good snack, but my brain hasn't completely bought into this idea yet. It still would like to see a chocolate chip cookie magically appear. We're out of chocolate chips, so that isn't going to happen. Perhaps that fact alone will lead to a successful day of healthy eating. :-)

Moving Forward

I'm starting to see a difference with the extra walk in the evenings. What great motivation to also continue my efforts to eat healthy!

Last night, tacos. Taco salad for lunch today. Tonight we'll have whole wheat pasta (a first!) tossed with vegetables. I'll save the barley soup for when the rains return.

Tips from Lady J

Crazy days with many interruptions increase the challenge of maintaining my exercise routine.
However, it's a good opportunity to allow my friend Lady J "guest" here - I'll include a few tips from her recent emails.

"What about something simple -- like smaller portions, and mostly fat-free food. And stretching exercises to begin with."
"Yes, eating less at meals is a good idea. I try to do that. But buying for one is difficult (right, Pale Ale?). I always have more food around here than I need. And I hate to see food go to waste. (or Waist, as the case is with me). But I'm trying to cut back, and keep my freezer full. That way I don't worry too much about it spoiling. And I've been making myself smoothies. Not always instead of a meal, but they ARE just fruit, yogurt and water whizzed up."

Good ideas. As the weather gets warmer, a smoothie might even sound good!

Keeping on keeping on...

... as my mother likes to say. Today I'm just trying to stay afloat and maintain goals of walking (made it 6 miles again yesterday, won't quite make it today) and eating healthy portion sizes. From everything I hear and read, the next thing I attack may be sugar. I doubt I'll ever be one of those who cuts it out completely, but cutting back would be helpful.

Journey to Fitness

This path I'm on definitely feels like hiking... some ups and downs along the way. I walked 6 miles yesterday, that's a good thing. Then I made cookies for my niece and sampled, that's not such a good thing.
Why is walking so much easier than lifting weigts? I'm trying to tell myself the weight program won't get any easier if I keep taking days off.

A Different Perspective

The pastor's talk today at church was about how God created us, including our physical bodies.
Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made (including humans) and it was very good. (NIV)
Psalm 139:14 I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
i know that full well.
These verses say it all - that it's all good. They affirm my purpose in pursuing health, through eating and exercise.
If God takes care of me as evidenced by His amazing creation of me, the least I can do is take care of my body.
On that thought, I'm off to the treadmill - with a good book.

Eating and Exercise

We have to find the balance between the two. This morning we practiced - a walk to Starbucks (two miles round trip) for Saturday morning hot chocolate. House work and yard work today. Possible dinner out this weekend. New motivation and incentive to eat healthy in the coming week.

When I last did the weight lifting exercises (Thursday) it was a little easier, finally! Takes a couple of weeks to get back in the routine. Now I have to try to maintain the routine through the weekend. Groan.

Elusive Exercise

So, last night the other half invited me on his walk. Imagine that! I begged off, citing cold temperatures and wind as an excuse. I had already taken my two walks for the day. Making excuses, though, is exactly what gets us in these predicaments (wanting clothes to fit better, get in shape, etc.) in the first place.

A week or so ago I contemplated how much my level of fitness would increase if I could just walk and work at the same time. I can read on the treadmill, why can't I walk and work (read nonfiction texts, take notes, write)? I researched a bit on the internet and read suggestions I've seen before - all targeted to the office worker. Good suggestions, just not applicable in my situation. For one, we don't have stairs I can use instead of taking the elevator. I don't have a parking lot where I can park in the last space and walk the distance. I walk down the hall from the living room to the office. It's 20 steps. I paced it once for a science lesson I was writing. However, I have discovered I can do quite a bit of jogging in place just waiting for the computer to boot up. And again while waiting for the operating system that requires coffee to load internet. And again while waiting for the email program to finish loading ads. Perhaps our "desk jobs" have created a bit of exercise opportunity after all.

Marvelous Muffins

Marvelous is my mother's word - used to describe most anything. However, our family does enjoy muffins. I'm working my way through (one muffin at a time!) a batch of orange cranberry muffins this week. Lady J pointed out in a Good Morning post (actually written last night past my bedtime) that some muffins are pretty big and should be cut in half. True, for many muffins purchased at the store. Homemade muffins are a different story altogether. For example, when I use a calorie book and figure the calories for the ingredients in my muffin recipe, then allow for some fruit, such as blueberries or cranberries, to be added, I come up with only 150 calories per muffin. They're not big muffins, especially if I make 12, as the recipe suggests. But I can have one for breakfast - or lunch - and enjoy it. Next I want to try making apple muffins! (Hubby keeps vetoing that idea - I can't imagine why!)

The Great Debate

Last night we started the conversation about diet versus exercise. The other half wants to focus on eating less. That's a good thing. However, he's not real interested in the exercise part of the equation. In my experience, the exercise component is critical to make any sort of progress towards fitness. He says he can't do it until he loses weight first. I believe the two go hand-in-hand. At least he's willing to talk about how we might fit *one* more walk in per day.

I've always enjoyed reading (and talking) about food, nutrition, and exercise. Recently Pale Ale, a member of my circle of friends, suggested I blog about it. Good idea, then I wouldn't bug these dear friends quite so much with my thoughts and preaching.

This circle of friends and I have all determined we want to lose weight. We have different goals and different approaches but the same struggles. Perhaps our explorations will also encourage you.

Teece and Lady J want to wear their summer clothes - no shopping for larger sizes. Funky Mama wants better health for her feet. Miss Fizz wants overall health, and so does Pale Ale, along with fitness.

Miss Fizz reported that her doctor said just cut what you eat in half. I've always thought that sounded like an easy way to eat what I like to eat and still make progress.

Funky Mama and I are short, just barely over 5 feet tall. That presents its own set of challenges.

Another friend recently moved into a living situation where meals are provided. She says she hasn't missed a meal and lost 6 pounds. I asked how on earth that happened and she siad she quit snacking between meals. So I can have my cookie at lunch instead of mid-afternoon? Worth a try!

My mother says it's all about calories in versus calories out. If that's true, why doesn't my practice of walking 4 miles a day at least 5 days a week make any difference?

Some foods definitely have more calories than others. So... some eating plans have a list of "eat-all-you-want" foods, including such low calorie foods as celery, lettuce, some fruits, and most other vegetables.

Today, I'm trying the "eat half" concept along with the "eat more veggies" idea. Until my hip gets better I don't think I can set the treadmill at any higher incline. But I can continue to maintain my current exercise routine. More on that tomorrow.