Ah! It's spring! At least about every other day it is. Now I can ride my bike to and from the gym in exchange for the time on the stationery bike. It is wonderful to hear the birds sing as I leave the house early and watch it get leighter. Last Saturday we walked the 5 K rout and got an idea about what it wil be like to participate in May 30's event. The river, sunshine, new blooms, and blue sky made it seem like we were more energetic than we really were....I was slow at sustaining short times of jogging, but will improve.
We were all shocked to hear about the 20 worst foods to eat at restaurants in our nutrition class last week. WHO KNEW? I had no idea a piece of pizza had so many calories. I already knew not to order the Awesome Blossom onion ring appetizers; that's a "no brainer". I often order lettuce wraps and feel so good about my choice, but now I know they are also high in calories. But we'll learn how to make them for 300 calories per serving from our chef, Mike, next week. Like so many other things, eating healthily is better done at home with more knowledge and control of what you are actually eating.
The real shocker for me was that my very favorite restaurant dessert--the Paradise Pie at Chili's--has as many calories and grams of fat as 3 hamburgers!! I haven't had more than one big bite of a juicy hamburger for years, but I have quite frequently shared the appropriately named Paradis Pie with someone, with me getting the bigger half by far. And I'm well acquainted with all 27 desserts at Magelby's grill. Wonder what the calorie count is for those??!! Not to mention the bread sticks I used to consume without a second thought--but with plenty of "second" helpings.
How is it that I have lived so long and ignored the fact that desserts weren't that healthy for you? I remember responding to a friend when I was 24, "what's so bad about cookies? All they have in them is butter, sugar, flour, chocolate chips and nuts."
I never even thought about calories when I was growing up. Homemade desserts were part of my everyday life. Even when I did know better, I ignored the facts and blissfully enjoyed them as I ate myself back to being a little girl happilyeating at my Mom's dinner table. That was OK until I hit 45; calories started to matter and stick around my stomach, inspite of my ignoring them.
I know better now and have re-programmed my little brain. Now a "treat" is Kashi fruit and grain bar with chocolate and nuts on top or a Slim Fast snack bar with 120 calories. I've even started using plain yogurt flavored with lemon or orange extract when I use it as a topping on a fruit salad, saving my Yoplait Lights for occasional treats. When I get hungry for chocolate, I shake up a vanilla protein drink with a spoonful of cocoa and a can of diet Sprite. Pure Ecstacy...
And "real" desserts? An occasional addition, but in much smaller portions, when I'm at a party.
And to what do I owe this change of mind and (healthier)heart? That I can tell you in one phrase I heard many years ago but didn't believe:
"NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS BEING THIN FEELS!"
But I believe now. I'm already able to wear some of the clothes I used to wear when I weighted 10 pounds less than I do now. Although I have a long way to go to reacn my healthier heart and weight goals, I now have the skills, habits, knowledge, and desire to continue eating and exercising this way the rest of my life. I'm committed clear through 2009 until Feb of 2010 so I can give it a full one year test. I want to see where that leads me. I want to see, by following the program and using the helpful holiday hints we got last week, where that leads me. Then I'll decide what to add, improve, change, or continue.
Let's keep blogging to make sure we stay on the right path now that we've found it and help each other to stay on course.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
100 day heart challenge journal
As we've learned, being too 'hung up' on the number on scales is not helpful in our overall health and goals. After all it is "just a number". But those numbers are part of the history of our lives. I know, for example, that the first time I weighed what I do today was when I was 8 months pregnant with twins. Not knowing I was carrying twins, I was horrified at the very number that I now am thrilled to see on my scales! It is now the number of success--of 10+ pounds lost, and more importantly, the direction I am going, the inches I've lost, and the habits I'm making.
It has made me realize once again that life has ups and downs and what we may be disappointed about in one season might be a success in another. A "number" that is good for one person may not be good for another. I look back to size 10 with longing and nastalgia; my friend who longs for a size 4 feels "fat" in her current size 8. For one person, the lower number on the scale and on the clothing lable is a healthier alternative and an huge achievement.
With that in mind, some of us on the program are starting to swap clothes; instead of "hand me downs" these clothes are "hand me ups"!. The size 12 one woman has now outgrown is a delightful "just right" size for me now and indicates a level of success I'd dreamed of achieving. I hope my size 14-16 clothes that now are getting baggy can be enjoyed by someone else who has reached that "number" she has hoped for.
We live in a world where we measure many things. It's nice to be involved in the current numbers of our Challenge program, but we're moving beyong numbers to intuitiviely listening to our bodies and our hearts--the ones that beat inside our chests, as well as the figurative ones of our souls--measuring improvement, new patterns, new friendships, new social interactions that involve foods, new recipes,new exercises, new perspectives. We are striving to "measure up" to our new perceptions of our better selves. Right now it's still somewhat about numbers, but that is slowly changing, just like our bodies are slowly changing. And we all like the changes we're experiencing!
It has made me realize once again that life has ups and downs and what we may be disappointed about in one season might be a success in another. A "number" that is good for one person may not be good for another. I look back to size 10 with longing and nastalgia; my friend who longs for a size 4 feels "fat" in her current size 8. For one person, the lower number on the scale and on the clothing lable is a healthier alternative and an huge achievement.
With that in mind, some of us on the program are starting to swap clothes; instead of "hand me downs" these clothes are "hand me ups"!. The size 12 one woman has now outgrown is a delightful "just right" size for me now and indicates a level of success I'd dreamed of achieving. I hope my size 14-16 clothes that now are getting baggy can be enjoyed by someone else who has reached that "number" she has hoped for.
We live in a world where we measure many things. It's nice to be involved in the current numbers of our Challenge program, but we're moving beyong numbers to intuitiviely listening to our bodies and our hearts--the ones that beat inside our chests, as well as the figurative ones of our souls--measuring improvement, new patterns, new friendships, new social interactions that involve foods, new recipes,new exercises, new perspectives. We are striving to "measure up" to our new perceptions of our better selves. Right now it's still somewhat about numbers, but that is slowly changing, just like our bodies are slowly changing. And we all like the changes we're experiencing!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Kathryn Bankhead--100 day Heart Challenge Journal
I hit the wall last week. The challenge has been my focal point--in my time allocation, schedule, etc. and I've improved my eating and increased my exercise. BINGO: it works! I've lost over 10 pounds and so my driven personality mentally figured I could keep up that pace and lose another 10 before the end of May.
Great plan; unrealistic. I went to the gym last Monday and after an hour, I realized I no longer wanted to do any more; I was tired, went home and back to bed for a couple of hours. When I mentioned it to Traci, our fitness expert, she told me I was tired because I was TIRED! No breaks, no rest, just "keep up the pace or pick it up more".
So now I'm looking at the "long haul", listening to my body for exercise and rest clues, just like I am looking at eatingn intuitively.
lesson learned......
Great plan; unrealistic. I went to the gym last Monday and after an hour, I realized I no longer wanted to do any more; I was tired, went home and back to bed for a couple of hours. When I mentioned it to Traci, our fitness expert, she told me I was tired because I was TIRED! No breaks, no rest, just "keep up the pace or pick it up more".
So now I'm looking at the "long haul", listening to my body for exercise and rest clues, just like I am looking at eatingn intuitively.
lesson learned......
Sunday, March 29, 2009
My Personal 100 Day Heart Challenge Journal Wednesday, March 4, 2009
What a great opportunity! Randomly chosen via computer, I am one of fifteen lucky women who gets to learn and put into practice UVRMC's directives for healthy hearts as part of February's Heart Month. We've been introduced, initiated, tested, weighed, measured, given our personalized eating recommendations with accompanying record-keeping charts. We have been given passes to the Wellness Center's Gym, received our exercise programs and our individual interns to workout with us 2 out of the recommended 3 times a week.
All for FREE. Deliciously, unbelievably, incredibly FREE.
And what is our incentive to get up on those machines or pick up the weights and go? The proverbial carrot (and that is one serving of a non-starchy vegetable, thank you very much) is that the woman who improves her numbers for weight, exercise, cholesterol, etc. wins $500. The rest of us, along with her, get to have healthier, happier hearts pumping inside our fabulously re-sculptured bodies. At least, that's what I'm telling myself as I roll out of bed at 5:30 AM, pull on my gym clothes, and head out the door. I'm actually just hoping that near the end of the 100 days, close to Mother's Day, there is noticeably less of this mother to honor.
I was initially thrilled. Nearly three weeks into the program, I'm ecstatic! The "newness" has worn off and the "drudgery" has begun. BUT there really is no drudgery; just a nice change of pace that is already yielding results, friendship, more energy, and a "shock-er-oo" or two. I really have been eating way too much, way too often, and for many more complex reasons than hunger. And who in the world defined those ridiculous "serving sizes" I'm observing! They certainly haven't eaten out anywhere in the USA for some time.....
All for FREE. Deliciously, unbelievably, incredibly FREE.
And what is our incentive to get up on those machines or pick up the weights and go? The proverbial carrot (and that is one serving of a non-starchy vegetable, thank you very much) is that the woman who improves her numbers for weight, exercise, cholesterol, etc. wins $500. The rest of us, along with her, get to have healthier, happier hearts pumping inside our fabulously re-sculptured bodies. At least, that's what I'm telling myself as I roll out of bed at 5:30 AM, pull on my gym clothes, and head out the door. I'm actually just hoping that near the end of the 100 days, close to Mother's Day, there is noticeably less of this mother to honor.
I was initially thrilled. Nearly three weeks into the program, I'm ecstatic! The "newness" has worn off and the "drudgery" has begun. BUT there really is no drudgery; just a nice change of pace that is already yielding results, friendship, more energy, and a "shock-er-oo" or two. I really have been eating way too much, way too often, and for many more complex reasons than hunger. And who in the world defined those ridiculous "serving sizes" I'm observing! They certainly haven't eaten out anywhere in the USA for some time.....
"Keeping it up" on a trip..... Wednesday, March 11, 2009
As I had a dental emergency but didn't want to pay the relatively expensive co-pay to have it done locally, I got my SWA Rapid Reward ticket out and flew to California yesterday where my dentist brother did it for me without charging me the co-pay. (Hurrah for generous, loving siblings....)
So, dashing out the door in a whirlwind of arrangements, I took nothing but my purse and a book, but grabbed some food to eat on the plane and hoped I could maintain my eating and exercising patterns on a rushed, last-minte trip while having terrific pain throbbing through the left side of my face, and staying with my sister-in-law who always has such good home-made food at her home. I passed on the "famous" SWA peanuts and was thrilled with my can of tomato juice and ice water.
Amazingly, I DID IT!! I returned home today relaxed, buoyed up by the Californina springtime and the visit with family and I stayed within my "calorie budget"-- which even allowed for a delicious, small, homemade cinnamon roll and a half-slice of Lonna's homemade wheat bread. AND I'm free of the extreme tooth pain...
After a light breakfast this morning, Lonna and I went on a one hour power walk and worked with her weights for another 30 minutes while catching up on each other and our children. She had great salad makings and tunafish for a quick lunch before I left to catch my flight, and I wasn't at all tempted to have another cinnamon roll for either breakfast or lunch even though they were readily available and in plain sight on the kitchen counter.
It's so easy to slip into "vacation" mode or "but I'm sick and in pain" excuse-making. Under any other situation, I would have not stuck to my program, but because I have "given myself" to the heart challenge and made it a TOP priority, I was able to gently remind myself that I deserved to nurture myself with good food and exercise, ESPECIALLY when I was in pain and on a trip. I needed the positive flow of energy and self-approval to make me feel "at my best"; I have learned that in these past few weeks and I want to remember and practice those habits for the rest of my life.
Thank you UVRMC!! Thanks to (my intern-trainer) Whitney, Traci, Jolaine, and Janet and all the others who are carrying out this wonderful program and servicing us "challengers". You're changing our lives and, literally, changing our hearts--we are grateful and we love you for all you do for us.
So, dashing out the door in a whirlwind of arrangements, I took nothing but my purse and a book, but grabbed some food to eat on the plane and hoped I could maintain my eating and exercising patterns on a rushed, last-minte trip while having terrific pain throbbing through the left side of my face, and staying with my sister-in-law who always has such good home-made food at her home. I passed on the "famous" SWA peanuts and was thrilled with my can of tomato juice and ice water.
Amazingly, I DID IT!! I returned home today relaxed, buoyed up by the Californina springtime and the visit with family and I stayed within my "calorie budget"-- which even allowed for a delicious, small, homemade cinnamon roll and a half-slice of Lonna's homemade wheat bread. AND I'm free of the extreme tooth pain...
After a light breakfast this morning, Lonna and I went on a one hour power walk and worked with her weights for another 30 minutes while catching up on each other and our children. She had great salad makings and tunafish for a quick lunch before I left to catch my flight, and I wasn't at all tempted to have another cinnamon roll for either breakfast or lunch even though they were readily available and in plain sight on the kitchen counter.
It's so easy to slip into "vacation" mode or "but I'm sick and in pain" excuse-making. Under any other situation, I would have not stuck to my program, but because I have "given myself" to the heart challenge and made it a TOP priority, I was able to gently remind myself that I deserved to nurture myself with good food and exercise, ESPECIALLY when I was in pain and on a trip. I needed the positive flow of energy and self-approval to make me feel "at my best"; I have learned that in these past few weeks and I want to remember and practice those habits for the rest of my life.
Thank you UVRMC!! Thanks to (my intern-trainer) Whitney, Traci, Jolaine, and Janet and all the others who are carrying out this wonderful program and servicing us "challengers". You're changing our lives and, literally, changing our hearts--we are grateful and we love you for all you do for us.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
"Keeping it up" on a trip.....
As I had a dental emergency but didn't want to pay the relatively expensive co-pay to have it done locally, I got my SWA Rapid Reward ticket out and flew to California yesterday where my dentist brother did it for me without charging me the co-pay. (Hurrah for generous, loving siblings....)
So, dashing out the door in a whirlwind of arrangements, I took nothing but my purse and a book, but grabbed some food to eat on the plane and hoped I could maintain my eating and exercising patterns on a rushed, last-minte trip while having terrific pain throbbing through the left side of my face, and staying with my sister-in-law who always has such good home-made food at her home. I passed on the "famous" SWA peanuts and was thrilled with my can of tomato juice and ice water.
Amazingly, I DID IT!! I returned home today relaxed, buoyed up by the Californina springtime and the visit with family and I stayed within my "calorie budget"-- which even allowed for a delicious, small, homemade cinnamon roll and a half-slice of Lonna's homemade wheat bread. AND I'm free of the extreme tooth pain...
After a light breakfast this morning, Lonna and I went on a one hour power walk and worked with her weights for another 30 minutes while catching up on each other and our children. She had great salad makings and tunafish for a quick lunch before I left to catch my flight, and I wasn't at all tempted to have another cinnamon roll for either breakfast or lunch even though they were readily available and in plain sight on the kitchen counter.
It's so easy to slip into "vacation" mode or "but I'm sick and in pain" excuse-making. Under any other situation, I would have not stuck to my program, but because I have "given myself" to the heart challenge and made it a TOP priority, I was able to gently remind myself that I deserved to nurture myself with good food and exercise, ESPECIALLY when I was in pain and on a trip. I needed the positive flow of energy and self-approval to make me feel "at my best"; I have learned that in these past few weeks and I want to remember and practice those habits for the rest of my life.
Thank you UVRMC!! Thanks to (my intern-trainer) Whitney, Traci, Jolaine, and Janet and all the others who are carrying out this wonderful program and servicing us "challengers". You're changing our lives and, literally, changing our hearts--we are grateful and we love you for all you do for us.
So, dashing out the door in a whirlwind of arrangements, I took nothing but my purse and a book, but grabbed some food to eat on the plane and hoped I could maintain my eating and exercising patterns on a rushed, last-minte trip while having terrific pain throbbing through the left side of my face, and staying with my sister-in-law who always has such good home-made food at her home. I passed on the "famous" SWA peanuts and was thrilled with my can of tomato juice and ice water.
Amazingly, I DID IT!! I returned home today relaxed, buoyed up by the Californina springtime and the visit with family and I stayed within my "calorie budget"-- which even allowed for a delicious, small, homemade cinnamon roll and a half-slice of Lonna's homemade wheat bread. AND I'm free of the extreme tooth pain...
After a light breakfast this morning, Lonna and I went on a one hour power walk and worked with her weights for another 30 minutes while catching up on each other and our children. She had great salad makings and tunafish for a quick lunch before I left to catch my flight, and I wasn't at all tempted to have another cinnamon roll for either breakfast or lunch even though they were readily available and in plain sight on the kitchen counter.
It's so easy to slip into "vacation" mode or "but I'm sick and in pain" excuse-making. Under any other situation, I would have not stuck to my program, but because I have "given myself" to the heart challenge and made it a TOP priority, I was able to gently remind myself that I deserved to nurture myself with good food and exercise, ESPECIALLY when I was in pain and on a trip. I needed the positive flow of energy and self-approval to make me feel "at my best"; I have learned that in these past few weeks and I want to remember and practice those habits for the rest of my life.
Thank you UVRMC!! Thanks to (my intern-trainer) Whitney, Traci, Jolaine, and Janet and all the others who are carrying out this wonderful program and servicing us "challengers". You're changing our lives and, literally, changing our hearts--we are grateful and we love you for all you do for us.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
My Personal 100 Day Heart Challenge Journal
What a great opportunity! Randomly chosen via computer, I am one of fifteen lucky women who gets to learn and put into practice UVRMC's directives for healthy hearts as part of February's Heart Month. We've been introduced, initiated, tested, weighed, measured, given our personalized eating recommendations with accompanying record-keeping charts. We have been given passes to the Wellness Center's Gym, received our exercise programs and our individual interns to workout with us 2 out of the recommended 3 times a week.
All for FREE. Deliciously, unbelievably, incredibly FREE.
And what is our incentive to get up on those machines or pick up the weights and go? The proverbial carrot (and that is one serving of a non-starchy vegetable, thank you very much) is that the woman who improves her numbers for weight, exercise, cholesterol, etc. wins $500. The rest of us, along with her, get to have healthier, happier hearts pumping inside our fabulously re-sculptured bodies. At least, that's what I'm telling myself as I roll out of bed at 5:30 AM, pull on my gym clothes, and head out the door. I'm actually just hoping that near the end of the 100 days, close to Mother's Day, there is noticeably less of this mother to honor.
I was initially thrilled. Nearly three weeks into the program, I'm ecstatic! The "newness" has worn off and the "drudgery" has begun. BUT there really is no drudgery; just a nice change of pace that is already yielding results, friendship, more energy, and a "shock-er-oo" or two. I really have been eating way too much, way too often, and for many more complex reasons than hunger. And who in the world defined those ridiculous "serving sizes" I'm observing! They certainly haven't eaten out anywhere in the USA for some time.....
All for FREE. Deliciously, unbelievably, incredibly FREE.
And what is our incentive to get up on those machines or pick up the weights and go? The proverbial carrot (and that is one serving of a non-starchy vegetable, thank you very much) is that the woman who improves her numbers for weight, exercise, cholesterol, etc. wins $500. The rest of us, along with her, get to have healthier, happier hearts pumping inside our fabulously re-sculptured bodies. At least, that's what I'm telling myself as I roll out of bed at 5:30 AM, pull on my gym clothes, and head out the door. I'm actually just hoping that near the end of the 100 days, close to Mother's Day, there is noticeably less of this mother to honor.
I was initially thrilled. Nearly three weeks into the program, I'm ecstatic! The "newness" has worn off and the "drudgery" has begun. BUT there really is no drudgery; just a nice change of pace that is already yielding results, friendship, more energy, and a "shock-er-oo" or two. I really have been eating way too much, way too often, and for many more complex reasons than hunger. And who in the world defined those ridiculous "serving sizes" I'm observing! They certainly haven't eaten out anywhere in the USA for some time.....
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