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My healthy-living blog |
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My "health kick," as I affectionately refer to it, started on the first day of spring in March 2009. I'm not sure where the motivation came from, but something in my life needed to change. I had modest goals. I wanted to control my stress and stay healthy during a very busy period at work. I decided that I needed to offset the stressors by eating better, reforming my sleep patterns, and making more time for outdoor activity. I had small successes and those motivated me to make further changes. By the first day of fall, I was at a healthy weight, I was exercising about 5 days each week, and I felt great. Over the holidays, I neglected the exercise, and my sleep habits got out of whack, but I kept up the healthy eating (mostly). It made me realize that my old habits are much more strongly engrained than the new habits. So, this is the place where I'll keep myself honest and accountable and participate in spidey  's "Healthy Living Blogring"  |
| So I just finished my kettlebell workout and I can still feel my pulse hammering away in my throat. Damn that was tough. I did three rounds of the following: 5 unmodified push-ups 20 Alternating arm swings with a 20lb kettlebell 5 kettlebell cleans to overhead press (20lb) 20 Russian twists with 20lb kettlebell In the last round, I was only able to do 3 cleans to overhead press. I tried hard to squeeze out even one more, but my shoulder was completely fatigued so it wasn't happening. I think my arms and abs may be screaming at me tomorrow. Oh well, maybe it will distract me from the soreness in my calves. They are still aching from the elliptical.  All this exercising seems to have kicked up my appetite. I'm all about portion control, so instead of eating bigger meals, I've added a morning snack. Cheese grapes, almonds and I'm good until lunch. I'm just glad the price of grapes came back down. Sure they are kinda puny, but I miss grapes when I can't have them. So now my day looks like this: 7:30 Breakfast 10:30 Mid morning snack 1:00 Lunch 3:30 Afternoon snack 5:30 Dinner 9:30 Bedtime snack Okay, that's a bit pathetic. I think the day-time snacking is a response to downtime at work. I'm less likely to think about snacking when things are busy. Things will probably get busy again very soon so I think it will be a short lived problem. |
| It's funny how motivation can wax and wane. Yesterday's session on the elliptical left me feeling a bit tight and achy today, but totally energized. All day at work I was looking forward to coming home and jumping on the treadmill for a nice long workout that would leave my muscles warm and loose. I hit the 5 mile mark in 58.38 minutes. I walked about another half mile after that just cool down, and stopped when the calorie thing hit 600. I did some deep stretching after, and I'm feeling good and tired now. I had to make another batch of homemade applesauce tonight. I can't seem to keep the stuff around. My daughter loves it, and since she doesn't eat a lot of fruit, I encourage her to help herself to the applesauce. Really though, I make it for myself. In the winter time I like a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I mix a caramel flavored whey protein powder with the oatmeal (I get it from a local Lehigh Valley company called Just Be Natural and I've gotta say, they have the BEST protein powders in the most amazing flavors). Anyway, I mix the oatmeal and protein powder with water and microwave it for 2 minutes and then I stir in some chunky, unsweetened applesauce either homemade or the Wegman's store brand. I sprinkle some cinnamon on it and add a couple chopped pecans to finish it off. It tastes like some kind of wonderful baked apple treat. Apparently I don't need much variety at breakfast because I'm pretty content to eat the same thing morning after morning. Oatmeal when it's cold and smoothies when it's hot. Every once in a while I get adventurous and have a couple eggs for breakfast, but it's unusual. I save my creativity for later in the day when I'm more awake. |
| So today is the start of a new month, and I guess that makes it a good time to jump back into exercise after being a slacker over the weekend. I really had a tough time getting motivated. After a day at work, the last thing I wanted to do was work-out, so I started negotiating with myself as I tend to do. So don't do the treadmill tonight. You get too goal oriented on the treadmill. Use the elliptical and just relax about the pace and the distance. The elliptical is not my favorite thing in the world. If I had it to do over, I probably wouldn't spend the money on an elliptical again. Sometimes I wish it would magically turn into a stationary bike. I thought that I would like it better, and that it would eventually replace my aging treadmill, but it has yet to win my loyalty away from the treadmill. I'm a big proponent of varying the workout, so I use it despite my prejudices. So tonight I did an hour on the elliptical. I start off promising myself I could quit after 30 minutes. When I made it to the 30 minute mark I decided to quit at 3 miles or 45 minutes whichever came first. When I got to the 45 minute mark, I decided I should at least finish out the 3 miles (I don't have a blazing pace on the elliptical). By the time I finished the 3 miles, there was a good song playing on my iPod so I figured I'd keep going until the end of the song. After that, I decided I should go ahead and finish the hour, so I did. After wards, I did a nice long stretch and felt really good. Maybe tomorrow I'll remember that and for go all the pre-workout whining and bargaining.  |
| I didn't work out this weekend. Well, I took Friday and Saturday off anyway. Today I did a kettlebell workout, but it was half-hearted at best. Yesterday I took my son out for pizza. So there ya go, pizza and no exercise . . . that was my weekend. |
| I have a new favorite yogurt. I've been enjoying Chobani Greek-style yogurt for several months now. It is excellent, super-creamy, fat-free yumminess. And now my local grocery store has a new flavor. Strawberry-banana. Fabulous! I did a 40 minute kettlebell workout tonight including squats, swings, rows and Turkish-getups. We have a wellness committee at work, and today they sent out an article that basically says that sitting around too much will kill you. Turns out that exercise doesn't protect you all that well from the health risks associated with sitting for long periods of time. The thing that wasn't clear in the article is whether the risk is associated with sitting for extended stretches or if it is just the cumulative ass-time that adds up to steal years off our life. In other words, if I work a desk job, but I get up at least once an hour to walk around, does that reduce the risk? These are the things that keep me awake at night.  |
| Note to self: If you have to pick between making applesauce or getting a good stretch, go for the stretch. Yep, definitely stretch. I didn't want to do kettlebells tonight because my arms and shoulders need another day to recover so I decided to use the treadmill again. I walked for 5 miles again, but this time I finished in 63 minutes. I walked at a quicker pace because I had to flatten out the incline significantly to compensate for tight leg muscles. Tonight I'll definitely stretch. spidey talked about the word diet in her blog today. She went so far as to call it a bad word. I don't agree. I think it is a maligned word. When people talk about going on a diet they are almost always talking about placing time limited restrictions on what they eat. That concept of dieting is pointless and potentially harmful. My kids are 10 and 14, and I've talked to them a lot about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, and those discussions almost always include the word "diet" because I want them to understand. Most of us can improve our diet in small ways and those changes all add up to improve our overall health. I tell the kids about things I'm trying to add to my diet and explain to them why it is important and nutritious. The focus is always on adding versus eliminating, and because that is how I explain it, and think about it, I don't feel terribly deprived. There were a lot of foods I added to my diet in 2009 . . . things I'd never eaten with any regularity before including: Plums Pluots Blackberries Zucchini Asparagus Brussel Sprouts Bok Choy Broccoli slaw Veggie Burgers Black Beans Oatmeal Almond Butter Wow, that's a pretty long list and I seriously doubt it's all inclusive. What can I say? I've been a picky eater most of my life. |
| Tonight I did 5 miles on the treadmill in just under 67 minutes. It's progress! Back before Thanksgiving I was able to do 5 miles in 57 minutes, but hey, as long as I keep it up, I'll get back there. I didn't stretch out good like I wanted to after, and I regret that, but I had too much that I needed to do, and I didn't want to be up all night doing it. I made about 2 quarts of homemade applesauce this evening. I had to because I'm almost out of my last jar of unsweetened, chunky applesauce and the stuff is nearly impossible to find in the grocery store. I've been able to keep it stocked because they sell it at a store near my husband's job, but now he's laid off and not commuting that route anymore. Anyway, since I'm almost out, and I had a bunch of apples, I decided to try another batch of homemade. The last batch came out really well and my daughter especially enjoyed it. Hopefully this batch will be just as good. I made fajitas for dinner. We've been doing a lot of those because I opened a can of chipoltes in adobo, and I've been trying to use them up, but little goes a long way. I finally finished off the can, and that's a good thing because I was getting a bit tired of Tex-Mex. Tony is leaving tomorrow and will be gone until Sunday. When he is gone, I tend to get really lazy about fixing meals. The kids will pretty much fend for themselves, and I fall back on whatever is the quickest and easiest thing I have available. It's a bad habit that I haven't managed to break, but now I at least make it a point to have quick, healthy options readily available to minimize the damage. Every little bit helps. |
| Tonight I did a kettlebell workout and spent some time stretching. It was a good workout, and I definitely felt it in all the right places. My husband went to the grocery store today so I had a bowl of my very favorite lasagna soup for dinner. I love it because it is pure comfort food, and very simple to throw together especially since my husband cooks up the lean spicy italian turkey sausage in batches so that it is usually precooked and waiting for me in the fridge when the mood strikes. I use Dreamfield rotini pasta because it is low carb. I boil up 3/4 cup of the pasta and then add 1 cup (1/2 can) of Progresso high fiber tomato basil soup, and one link of cooked, sliced turkey sausage. Usually I'll add some italian seasoning, garlic, and crushed red pepper to taste. While that is heating, I measure out about 1/8th cup of fat free ricotta and 1/8 cup 2% italian blend cheese or part skim mozzarella depending on what I have in the fridge. The cheese goes in the bowl and the hot soup is poured over the cheese and garnished with a pinch or two of shredded parmigiana. The cheese bubbles up and melts as I stir it in and the soup is just this amazingly hearty, gooey, cheesy delicious meal. I highly recommend it.  |
| I walked about 5 miles on the treadmill last night. It took me about 70 minutes. I bumped it up to a slow run for a quarter mile, but my left leg wasn't taking that well. I severely broke my left leg about 11 years ago. Setting the leg required surgery, rods and screws. As a result, my left leg is not properly aligned. My left foot rotates outward which effects my stride when running. Anyway, I keep trying to incorporate some running, but I'm not sure how much progress I can really expect to make. I've thought about going to a PT who specializes is sports medicine just to get some advice on how I might adjust my stride. I went to the grocery store yesterday, but I didn't do a very good inventory of the fridge and pantry before going. Now I'm going to have to make another trip because I didn't pick up several items that I consider staples. And today is cold, rainy and foggy and I don't have my favorite soup on hand.  |
| Last night I didn't do anything more involved than some stretching. My abs and shoulders are still sore from Wednesday's strength workout. I had every intention of walking on the treadmill tonight, but then my Mom called and invited us over for a visit. I worked out a little bit at Mom's because she'd bought a couple kettlebells and wanted to know how to use them. I demonstrated and instructed on several beginning exercises that will get her started. She seemed to pick them up quicker than I did when I started. Tony commented that he was impressed with how well my form has improved, and that made me feel good. I'm getting close to the point where I'm going to need a heavier kettlebell. I'm using a 20 and 25lb bell now. While I was with Mom this evening, we ran out to do a little shopping. I've given her a bunch of clothes as they get to big for me, and she wanted to buy me a few things as a thank you. We hit some great sales and I got a pair of dress pants, two sweaters and a blouse. What else . . . I probably didn't get enough veggies today. I was at a meeting in Scranton all day, and the State Office Building where we had the meeting is right next to the Steamtown Mall, so we went to the food court for lunch. They have a pretty good salad place there and I had a huge Thai salad with grilled chicken and mango. It was excellent. I didn't feel like cooking anything much for dinner. I'd cooked good dinners two night in a row, and that's pretty much my limit, so I did a quick veggie burger for dinner. I love the Morningstar Farm Grillers. I like them better than a regular burger. I ate one of those on a toasted deli round with lettuce, pickle and sliced onion, and enjoyed it with a small side of nachos (Black bean chips, 2% cheese, and fresh salsa). Well now that I write it out, I think I came pretty close to getting all my veggies today. Go me. |
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