Nachos made me cheat

I have a fear with this healthy lifestyle I'm trying to live.  That I won't be able to actually practice what I preach.  I am struggling with eating healthy all day long.  A healthy breakfast?  Sure!  A salad for lunch?  Yummy!  But give me the option to purchase a smothered burrito with chile con queso to dip some chips in, and I haven't found a way to turn it down!  This week I gave in to that burrito on Tuesday when I went out for a friends birthday.  And last night I munched on some nachos at the bar during Trivia Night.  The culprit is the cheese.  And I can't figure out how to banish it from my life!

 

"Just Say No" does not apply to a Coloradan

The most confounding thing about my cheese weakness is that I do NOT feel good afterwards.  I feel my shoulders slump, my stomach pooches out a bit, and I'm tired.  I know that if I ate a fully balanced meal instead, I would be energized, working out the next day would be easier and I would be closer to my weight-loss goal! I know this in my mind, but in practice I revert back to the old couch potato in seconds.  How do I overcome this?  I might have to try a new goal for myself.  To spend one whole week only eating healthy. No allowances, no "cheat days." 

 

Cheat Days.  What a horrible device!  Each time I ate 'unhealthy' I would excuse it as being part of my Cheat Day - even though the hubby and I decided that Friday nights would be our Cheat Night.  It allows me this mentality of "oh, if I claim this is a Cheat Day Meal, then it's okay to eat a 900 calorie lunch!  I'll just be better tomorrow!"  And that is the failure of many diets.  And the reason why I continued to gain weight.  I thought that there's always a tomorrow, so I'll inhale that burger today!  What I never realized is that there's no time like the present, and my decisions today will effect my actions tomorrow.  So, to get into a healthy habit, let's give this a try.  1 week.  No Cheat Days.  Let's see if this works.... 

 

Um, I didn't say when I would start that 1 week....it's fully okay to wait until after our Cheat Night Dinner tomorrow night, right?  Don't judge me...didn't I start this post out saying that I don't think I'll be able to practice what I preach?

To Train or not to Train - Are Personal Trainers Worth the Money? Part 1

As I mentioned, we received one free personal training session through our gym, and put us through a workout that a drill instructor would be jealous of.  But it will cost us some serious dough to continue to have sessions, so the question arose: Is a personal trainer worth it?

 

Oh, oh yes. YOU are worth it, sir.

(photo courtesy of photostock)

 

Well, let's examine what a personal trainer actually does:

 

1. Motivates and pushes you.  This is probably the biggest reason most people would give when asked why they throw hundreds of dollars for a trainer.  It takes a firm resolve to actually drive to the gym, and once you get there, even a greater resolve to push your self to your limits.  Which is why most people will do a few weights, spend some time on the treadmill, and go home.  A personal trainer will not let you off so easily, as I experienced with my 'buckets of puke' post!

 

2. Sets achievable short and long term goals and tracks your progress towards those goals.  Sure, I want to lose weight - I mean have you seen me in a tank top lately - and I think I set a pretty achievable goal for the end of summer to hike and camp on that trail with the hubby.  But just like you don't go from a first date to marriage (this ain't Las Vegas, baby), you cannot go from being a couch potato to hiking a fourteener.  You need those steps in the middle.  A trainer has experience and knows how to set that road map out for you!

 

3. Tells you what to eat and what to stay away from.  I know that the first things to be cut out of my everyday munchies include fast food and soda, but a trainer will point me in the right direction with supplements, portion sizes and other need-to-knows with nutrition.

 

The issue with every one of those points is that I could technically do all those myself.  My husband and I are tackling this gym and healthy lifestyle road together, so he's great at providing me the motivation.  Thanks to various apps I can track my weight loss, calorie intake and other goals. And there are numerous websites with nutritious and low-calorie recipes that I can look up on my own.  It's like paying someone to walk with you to work each day, pointing out when you should cross the street and reminding you to lock your car - it's not necessary! 

 

But, maybe it is necessary in this instance.  I mean, I never work myself to the point of passing out like the trainer did.  And looking at rows of protein powders and making a random pick based on a blog you read is nothing compared to your trainer saying that she uses a particular brand - and seeing the results right in front of you!  That's the thing - this trainer is a mother of two, a couple years older than me, and looks fantastic!  I want her body after I have kids!  She must be doing something right to look so good.  That's why I think I'll spend the money for her expertise - how hard she works me and the motivation she gives me by keeping her own body and spirit in shape!  Because hell, if I can look like her one day, I'll have it MADE!

 Welcome to the gun show, bitches!

(photo courtesy of photostock)

Clothes that Mock You

I'm not a fanatic when it comes to clothes.  I don't have to wear the latest fashion (sorry, I think skinny jeans are hideous on women and traumatizing on men), nor carry a Coach bag when I go out.  In fact, my favorite shopping sprees are at thrift stores, where I can get a dozen shirts for under $50!  I've done quite a few of those shopping sprees over the years and have amassed a wardrobe that could rival professional Hoarders.  This is because I'm still holding on to shirts from middle school!  Yes, I've had the same clothes hanging in my closet for over half my life.  I don't wear them, but I still have them in hopes that one day I'll be able to fit into them again.

Stripes and Polka Dots?  So last season!

(photo courtesy of photostock)

 

I'm sure that there are other women out there just like me, that I'm not alone!  There are shirts in that vintage collection of mine that looked absolutely amazing on me at the time, and I'm sure that if I could just get my arm through the sleeve that they would look just as stunning now!  But I had to come to a realization to the following realizations:

 

1.  Those clothes have not been benefiting anyone for these past 15 years.  They're not being worn by me and not being worn by someone who needs them.  I'm selfishly keeping these clothes hidden away for no immediate reason at all.

2.  If I donated those clothes, someone could benefit from them right now, and I would free up much needed space in my closet.

3.  Those clothes are the opposite of motivating.  I would see them hanging in my closet everyday and realize how much weight I've gained and start to beat myself up over it.  After criticizing myself to the point of depression, instead of doing something about it - I would grab some popcorn and plop down on the couch to get my mind off my misery.  Yeah.  That's not going to work with my new lifestyle.

4. If I get rid of those smaller clothes and actually meet my weight-loss goal, I can fill my wardrobe with new clothes instead of wearing the ones I've already worn in my 7th grade Skate City picture!  What a great reward idea!  That will make me push myself to do just 10 more reps on a machine each time!

 

Ok - it's decided!  It's time for a trip to Goodwill and a wave goodbye to any clothes that do not A) fit me currently and B) I haven't worn in the past 6 months. There's my good deed for the day.

And when I look as hot as this, I'll go shopping and make friends with other hot girls!

(photo courtesy of Photostock)

 

 

 

A new kind of breakfast

One thing that I've heard again and again is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  The last time I heard it was yesterday from my personal trainer, mainly when she was scolding my hubby for always skipping breakfast.  Every site I can find says to make breakfast your main meal of the day even WebMD stresses the importance.  So this morning - we decided to have some fun!

A breakfast that the hubby used to eat a lot growing up was rice and raisins...in...milk.  Wait, what?  First off, rice goes with beans, or stir-fry, or rolled in sushi!  Second off, even if you did mix it with raisins, why on earth would you drown it in milk!?  Rolling my eyes at such a strange suggestion, I let my hubby go to work in the kitchen while I vacuumed.  After a relatively short amount of time, he presented my bowl of breakfast to me:

And it looked pretty damn good! 

He added the raisins with the instant rice from the get-go and let them cook together.  When it was finished on the stove top, he poured some into a bowl and added coconut milk.  On top of that was freshly cut apples and bananas - and for my sweet tooth he included a sprinkle of brown sugar.  I'm now sitting here with an empty bowl feeling very full, but knowing this fruity breakfast will help in my workout in a couple hours!  I guess the moral of this blog post is: don't knock it till you've tried it!  YUM!

A personal trainer and a bucket of puke

The hubby and I have been working out and eating healthy for four weeks now.  Part of that includes going to a gym.  With this gym that we joined, we received one personal trainer session - so of course we signed up.

The woman who we picked is almost thirty, has two young boys, and has a body right off the cover of Maxim! Add a cheerful personality with a smile, and my husband and I were looking forward to the workout.  Neither of us have ever even thought of utilizing a personal trainer before, so we didn't know what to expect.  Maybe a clipboard while we're at various machines?  Make us do an ungodly amount of crunches while shouting at us to not stop?  OH IF ONLY!

After starting with a 5 minute warm-up on an elliptical, we started what she called a 'circuit,' and I can't even explain how much pain I was in while performing these seemingly easy moves!  Some my husband and I did together, like facing each other in the push up position, then clapping opposite hands again, and again, and again till we both fell down! And then came the murder move. The trainer had me squatting while holding an exercise ball above my head.  Easy right?  For thirty seconds that should be a cinch!  Nope!  At about the 15 second mark, my vision started to blur and my stomach started protesting...and then nausea swept over me like a bad hangover!  I put down that cursed ball and retreated to the bathroom where I thought I'd be worshiping the porcelain goddess like in my college years - but luckily after sitting on the floor for a little bit, I was able to slow my breathing and get back out there to keep going.

They look so happy because they are SITTING!  I was SQUATTING!

(photo courtesy of Photostock)

Let me sum up what I just wrote - I allowed a woman to push my body so hard that I almost puked!  Not to mention that a tomato red sweaty face is not the hottest thing in the world, and I don't even want to think about the sweat stains under my arms...  But here's the thing - after I was done, and we sat down to talk about nutrition - I felt good.  Really good.  Wide awake, standing straighter and pretty confident in myself.  I'm sitting here writing sore as hell, but I still feel good!  And I'm eager to spend a chunk of my paycheck to do it all over again!

These past few weeks when I've gone to the gym to work out, I jump on the elliptical for about 20 minutes, do some crunches, try a few weight machines, stretch and call it quits.  I work up a sweat, I feel good going home, but I never push myself to the limit.  I just don't know how.  And this new trainer did that - she pushed me, and I gave it my all.  Even to the point of almost puking.  The best thing though, is knowing that in a couple weeks or months I'll do that same routine and NOT feel like puking.  I'll see the improvement, and by that time I know I'll see it in my body as well!  That's motivation.

Not seen: buckets of puke that the balls are about to hit...

(photo courtesy of photostock)

Not obese, not chubby - just out of shape

The Wii Fit called me overweight.  Not much, but enough to make me sell the little criticizing bastard.  When I step on the board and it notices that I've gained a pound since the last time I logged on, it asks me why I think it is.  Um, I don't know!  I've been eating the same junk food for years, so it's not like I suddenly gorged myself on a bag of oreos when I've only eaten veggies for the past month.  But it doesn't let me say 'I don't know' - I have to find an excuse and lie to it just so I can swing my hips to a hula hoop for a few minutes!  Because I have morals and cannot handle lying to a machine, we sold it and looked for a different method of weight loss.

Swing those hips, Chubby McChubster!

(photo courtesy of Nintendo)

 

This is why I'm choosing to lose weight now though, instead of when I really am chubby, or even worse....obese!  I've noticed that I've put on about 10 pounds per year for the past few years, and that's not good!  I have no idea where this extra weight is going, because my clothes still mainly fit well, but it's adding up.  It's so easy to say "well, it's not like I'm buying anything in XL yet, so I can put off that crazy diet till later on in life." then go and make a batch of brownie batter and eat it all out of the bowl by myself.  Mmmm!  But even though that's the easy option - it's not going to help me down the road.  By choosing that bowl of brownie batter instead of some hummus and crackers, I've sentenced myself to huffing and puffing my way up the stairs in my company's parking garage.  I now have to wear a tankini instead of a dreaded bikini to hide the fact that my stomach reflects that batter instead of being flat.  It's choices that I thought was worth it in the past, but really, it's not.  What happens when I can't even make it up to my car and have to ask for a ride to the fourth level?  Or when even a tankini can't hide the roll of fat that will be peeking through the bottom?  Ugh - if I got to that point, it would be ten times harder to lose the weight and get back in shape!  

 

So the time is now, today, this minute.  I'm not wasting any more days of my life thinking that slightly chubby will be an ok-lifestyle!  It's not a hard decision. It's the execution and commitment that's the hard part.  So make that decision today and start that journey!  There will be times that mistakes will happen, or when the baked mac and cheese is just too tempting to ignore on a menu, but we're human - we make mistakes!  I'm allowing myself a couple mistakes - but not allowing myself off this path of becoming fit and healthy! Willpower!

Pick your Goal from the Menu

Life is all about setting goals for yourself.  Even something as small as rolling out of bed at 6:40 to get to work on time is a goal.  So if I'm going to take the time and energy to work out, plan healthy meals and say no to pizzas, I must have a goal in mind, right?  Right!  My goal is to lose weight and be healthy!  However many theories state that specific and harder-to-obtain goals are easier to stick to than something vague like mine.  I mean, I've already lost about 2 pounds over the past month, so technically I've lost weight and can stop trying to be healthy.  But that won't help me down the road, and I'll be right back in the same position I was in after eating Thanksgiving dinner last year.

 

So - what are my goals?  Personally, I want to loose 25-30 pounds by mid-summer.  Yes, I believe that's obtainable, since that's about 1 pound per week overall.  But it will be difficult because I have to steer clear of the candy isle when I go grocery shopping, and actually work out. I came up with this number because that is about 5 pounds more than I weighed at the beginning of college.  I think that's much more realistic that losing 40-45 pounds to get to where I was in high school!  I also have a goal to fit into the same jeans I wore 3 years ago before summer begins.  Also a realistic goal! 

 

Next Goal - be able to button said jeans from 3 years ago

(photo courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn)

My husband (who will be making some guest appearances in this blog with a few posts) has a taken a different direction with his goals.  He's going through this healthy lifestyle change with me.  He's scrawny though, so he actually wants to gain some muscle mass instead of losing weight like I am.  His goals revolve around an active lifestyle.  We live in Colorado and spend our free time indoors instead of enjoying the beauty that is waiting right outside the door!  Not that I'll give up my video games (come on, giving up a nightly binge of pizza and beer is bad enough) but we want to get out hiking and biking during the summer, skiing and snowboarding in the winter, and sprinkle in some camping on top of everything!  When you ask him about his goals, he spouts off about climbing a fourteener and other crazy achievements!  So we slimmed that down a bit:

 

On the day of our one year wedding anniversary last September, we drove up to Idaho Springs to go for a hike and have a few beers and dinner at Tommy Knocker Brewery.  We wandered around town a bit then drove to the trail head.  It wasn't a tough trail, and only eight miles long.  It's not like we were running it, and I didn't even have on a backpack!  Well....I doubt we even made it the first quarter mile before we took a break to rest, out of breath.  Talk about being out of shape!  We are Coloradans and we can't even make it a mile into a trail before turning back to seek out the comfort of a bar?  How lame! 

 

So that is our goal - to be able to hike that 8 mile trail in September for our anniversary, camp for the night, then hike back down the next morning.  Definitely do-able. Definitely challenging. Definitely means that I can't have donuts for breakfast tomorrow morning...

 

But they're so pretty!

(photo courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat)

 

I feel that if we meet and achieve that goal, we will have been living a healthy lifestyle for a good nine months straight, which means it will be a habit!  I'm hoping that when we hike that trail, we'll feel so proud of our achievement and want to set another, harder goal for ourselves, that there is no way that we'll leave this fit and healthy path that we've been traveling!  In fact, I'm hoping we're so far down that path that I won't even be able to see the path that contains downing a family-sized bag of cheese puffs while watching a sy-fy marathon!

 

There's always a light at the end of the tunnel while traveling in warp-speed!

(photo courtesy of Tungphoto)