Stepping it up!

After weeks now of working on changing my diet and making healthier choices, while I have not yet lost weight (according to the scale) I am doing SOMETHING right, because I've lost an inch or two here and there and my pants are fitting better! Wahoo!

But I realized I can't do this alone, and I've gone off track with exercise at home. So, after some research and advice from friends, I got a gym membership at Planet Fitness. It's close to my house, has a great atmosphere and lots of equipment. I've never had a gym membership before (excluding the rec center in college) and I'm curious if it's true that the gym will be overrun with "New Years Resolution" dieters in January and will be barren again in February. I guess we shall see.

It's important that I don't let the crowd deter me, and I must remind myself that this is not a short term thing, I'm not quitting once I reach the weight I'd like to be. I am working toward a healthier me, and that has to be a lifetime commitment. So, even if I hit my "goal" and am in the best shape of my life, that should only be fuel to the fire, and should encourage me to continue working out.

I'm not very big on the whole "New Years Resolution" thing. It's too easy to promise yourself change and have nothing come of it. There is nothing wrong with people who want to use the New Year as a time to finally change something about themselves, but it's important to make it a life time commitment, a promise to yourself, otherwise you'll end up getting bored after a month in the gym and back on the couch in February.

Happy New Year to everyone, and for those trying to get back into shape, stay focused and don't ever give up!

The scale can discourage and trick you

I have to admit I'd been getting a little frustrated. I'd have a great workout, really push myself, and manage to stay under the 2,000 calorie limit that my phone app limits me to. Then I weigh myself the next day, and my weight has increased! ARGH!

I wasn't able to find much for answers online, other then you will weigh more right after a workout because your muscles, which are heavier than fat, are swollen and this can temporarily increase your weight. However, this shouldn't carry on to the next day, so the only remaining factor must be water weight.

Water weight tends to trick you like this, and it's hard to tell if you're losing weight when water weight can vary up to 5 lbs. Sneaky.

So, I think it's important should you find yourself in this situation to stick to your plan. Keep up with the exercise, log your food (there are lots of good apps for this, I used to use my Fitness Pal, I also like My Plate) and don't give up!

I started a fitness board on pinterest, and have some exercises on a Youtube channel that I go to when I want to do something different.

I found a great website through Pinterest to make your own fitness journal, and I've found this to be a great tool. I can log me weight, and once a week I log my measurements because the scale can be deceiving and I may be loosing inches instead of pounds.

This website has a free printable version: http://fitstronglean.com/fit-strong-lean-fitness-binder-free/

 
I ended up making my own to save on printing funds but it's a great website and worth a look.

I've been over on my calories this week, and I admit it's because of my weakness for pie. The pie should be gone soon, and with it, sweet temptation!

I have also read a great motivational quote, Don't worry about your weight. If you start exercising and eating right, the weight will fall off with it.

A diet has to be a lifestyle change, not a quick fix to look good in a bikini. Otherwise that weight is going to come right back, and there is a very good reason why fad diets don't work.

Motivation as a visual!

Like most people trying to keep their weight in check and working toward a healthier lifestyle, I can struggle with motivation. I'm not super overweight, so often times when I'm feeling lazy I might look in the mirror, shrug, and think "good enough" and proceed to conquer the couch instead of the gym.

So, because I am at the heaviest I've ever been and diabetes is a thing on both sides of my family, I really need to keep myself on track and on the way to a healthier life style. Hence the blog, which keeps me thinking about fitness and staying healthy, and a few motivational things I've found on Pinterest.

One thing I did recently was start a fitness board on Pinterest, and this has helped keep me in the mindset of 'what can I do to be healthy?'

I found a few visual ideas on Pinterest that I have really liked, and so I copied them and took my own pictures!

One is the cup of exercises idea, which I found on Pinterest where they used popsicle sticks with exercises on them and two cups labeled "To Do" and "Done"

I used strips of paper because I didn't have popsicle sticks and made sure to include several exercises that worked on each part of the body. (Core, ab, leg, arm, etc). I made a LOT of these, so I plan on doing a rep of whatever I take out of the cup and see how many I can get through in 30 minutes.

I also found another visual aid that I really enjoy, that I keep by the bathroom scale. Two jars, one with marbles in it labeled "Pounds I want to lose" and the other "Pounds destroyed". This one I really like because it is so rewarding to take a marble from the 'pounds to lose' jar and add it to the 'pounds destroyed jar'!

I have to admit, after Thanksgiving I had to do the opposite of this, where a pound lost became a pound gained, but it reminded me that eating pie does indeed have consequences. Alas.

Lastly, I turned my den where I usually veg out into a pseudo workout room, where I am reminded to exercise if I have not yet done so that day.

I hope any of these ideas might be useful for others, good luck and hang in there!

Pomegranate power!

I mentioned in a previous post that pomegranates are an awesome snack to have and that I peel several at a time and have a ready supply for the week. Pomegranates are great but they are a pain to peel, so let's take a quick look at the benefits of eating these, and then I'll post a few photos of the way I learned how to deseed them and get all of the glorious fruit that I can!

For starters, for anyone unfamiliar with pomegranates, they are these large reddish fruits with thick skins. When you open them up, they are a maze of folded seeds and weird fleshy layers. The seeds are the part you eat, and each seed is surrounded in a juicy red cover.

When refrigerated, the seeds can last for a good two months! They are full of antioxidants that protect against heart disease and cancer, and it's a fantastic source of vitamin C. It is believed that it lowers cholesterol, decreases blood pressure, and may even be beneficial for people with diabetes to consume.

They are typically available year round and have been enjoyed throughout history, but most of all, they are delicious!

3 Super easy steps to deseed that pomegranate!

Step one. Cut the pomegranate in half and immerse in a strainer in water. The layers float and the seeds sink, so it's easier this way to separate the two.

Half a pomegranate in water

 Step two. Roll the seeds off the skin, and remove the floating layers from the water. I keep a trashcan right next to the bowl during this process.

Step three. Remove from the water and enjoy! I put all of this into tupperware in the fridge and take a cup at a time for a snack at work.

I try to deseed several pomegranates in one sitting because this can be such a time consuming process! But so worth it!!

Stuck inside? That's no excuse!

I often find it hard to motivate myself to the gym after a long day at work, so I've decided to do the next best thing; exercise at work!

This isn't for everyone, and it really depends on the kind of work that you do. My job I'm inside a gate house for 8 hours a day, and in the winter it gets very, very slow. This means I can do any number of standing up exercises, and a lot of pacing.

I've used the app Map My Run to help me figure out how long and for how far I've been walking, all while confined to the limits of the gate house. I don't have a lot of space, so the GPS distance might not be accurate, but getting the workout done is what counts.

I also struggle with boredom while pacing the small area, so I try to commit to just a half hour and no longer. I've found that having a time commitment helps me, because I can count down to when I'm done.

Being in such a small area, the ending map of my walk looks a little funny, but what's important is that I walked for a good half hour and any exercise is good exercise!

The map is a bit off. I was only in one of  the gate houses, but the map suggests that I not only left the gate house I was wandered in the next one. Not the case! So it means I may not have walked the half mile the app told me I did, but that's ok.

So it's been a little while...

Ok, so I haven't added a post, well, all summer. Sorry about that. 

You may say I fell off the band wagon, but it's not like I spent the summer lying on the couch and eating pizza pockets. I was working two jobs, one of which was very time consuming and including a LOT of walking. 

I ended a lot of days completely worn out even when I hadn't worked that hard, and it made eating healthy difficult because eating mac and cheese is so much easier than putting together a healthy well balanced meal. 

So, despite all of the walking, and working, I maintained my weight and there was just no change. So, now that it's winter and I'm back to working one job, it's time to start up again. I made a short list of things to start off with, 

Only a few things I am banning myself from having (too many things you're not allowed to have spells disaster!) A few things to have less off, and a larger list of things I think I can do more of. 

One project I found for getting more exercise is should I be too lazy to make it to the gym, I have some slips of paper with exercise on them. I made sure to include arm, leg, ab and core exercises, and I just grab 15 of them and treat it like a chore list. 

I also have been planning my lunch meals out a little better. I may have said this in another post, but I like having an 8-9 hour work day because I can force myself to eat healthy by packing a healthy lunch.

If I don't like what I packed, it's not like I can raid the pantry for a cookie, or open a bag of chips. If I'm hungry, I have to eat what I've packed.

One of my favorite items to pack is pomegranates, because I can buy a few of them, take all the seeds out during a day off (I will have to post a few pictures on a good way to deseed a pomegranate for those who are unfamiliar with the process, I myself only just learned this thanks to a friend) I put all the seeds in tupperware and then pack a smaller tupperware for lunch, and I have enough for the whole week. It's a great snack.

Today's breakfast, lunch and snacks: Pomegranate, green olives and chick peas, kiwi, clementines, carrots, string cheese, an avacado, and chili (arguably healthy but it's nice to have some sustenance food)

If you're like me, you may struggle with making a healthy breakfast in the morning. I have gotten around this by making a nice breakfast at night (usually scrambled eggs) tossing it in the fridge and just microwaving it the next morning. Saves me a lot of trouble in the morning, and eggs are a great way to start off the day!

I'm going to end this here before I start ranting about too many different things!

So little to do and so much time!...Wait, scratch that...reverse it...

I have found myself in a pickle, and I don't mean literally of course, because that would be very odd and just a pinch uncomfortable, but I digress.

I have taken up a class in Fort Collins, which is an hour commute to get to, but is an amazing networking opportunity and holds some potential career options. 

Meanwhile, work is picking up and I'm getting more hours, and I still have a two days a month obligation to volunteer in Keenesburg, yet another hour's drive.

This leaves me with 8 day work/class/volunteer weeks that don't exactly give me a lot of free time. Not to mention I'd been feeling tired a lot before this hectic schedule even began, and once it did start I got a sudden case of vertigo that didn't go away until I slept it off that night. It was weird, came on very suddenly, and left me unable to move without feeling nauseous. 

So while I still want to work in more exercise into my insane schedule, I also have to not push myself too hard. 

So I'm trying to at the very least drink more water, reduce some junk food and if I'm tired after work/class/volunteering, to go ahead and be lazy and NOT push myself.

That's my spiel for now, sorry I don't have any good pictures to add to this.

For everyone else trying to find a fitness schedule that works for them, good luck! It's harder than I'd like it to be!

Another day, another hike!

After work I ventured off for another hike. The place I really wanted to hike was still closed from the flood, and I suspect the parking lot and other parts have been washed out. 

So, I ventured to Rabbit Mountain (formerly Rattle Snake Mountain, and for good reason, unlike the mountain in Maine with the same name) and took a different path then my usual. (Saying usual here is a stretch, I've only been to Rabbit Mountain 2 times before).

However, I was longing to be somewhere that had trees overhead, and while the park I wanted to go to was thick with tall ponderosa pines, Rabbit Mountain has fewer trees unless you walk for a mile or two. Even then, it's not like the forests of Maine, but still pleasant.

I had only meant to walk for a half hour, but I ended up walking for an hour instead, as once I got started I became too curious where the path lead and had a hard time turning around.

Look! TREES! Oh, boy.

Golden Eagles. I watched one land and catch a rabbit

So it's been roughly a week since I've officially started! Hurray!

It was another very windy day.

Establishing a habit and dehydrated fruit!

After my two days of failure to do anything healthy, I vowed Sunday after I worked 8 hours and went to a cookout that I would get some exercise before bed.

I was able to do this, though exhausted, I did about 15 minutes of crunches and pushups before I crawled into bed. It wasn't the half hour of exercise I was hoping for, but it's better than nothing at all, and Monday and Tuesday were about the same amount.

What matters most to me is not having a zero day, and establishing a pattern. I'm working on not exercising right before bed, because that means I'm already tired and less determined to get a good workout.

As this habit is established, I'm hoping to increase the time I spend on it from 15 to 30 minutes, maybe more depending on the stress I need to work off or how energized I am that day.Going longer than planned is certainly not a bad thing.

Yesterday I went for a hike after a job interview, it took me about an hour and it was a good climb, only 2.8 miles but enough to leave me winded.

Mule deer

The town below was my starting point. I got a bit higher than this

Now onto the subject of food. I have a dehydrator, and it's perfect for me because I love chewy foods!

So when I pack for lunch, I often include both fresh fruit, and dehydrated fruit!

Mmmm, Fresh fruit!

For those of you who have a dehydrator, I've found that the best fruit leather is applesauce!

Just slather it on a fruit leather tray, get it as flat and even as you can, and let it go for about 6-8 hours.

Plain old applesauce!

I also love using peach or strawberry applesauce!

There are lots of good fruits to dehydrate, my personal favorites being bananas, kiwi, mango and strawberries! 

We eat a lot of banana chips, and they get their own jar. Since I moved into my house in July, the jar has never been empty. Here I am below with the very nearly empty jar.

Yes, I took a sad selfie with a banana chip jar. See how much I care.