I need to weigh myself tomorrow morning and check-in with my stats. It’s been a while since I’ve done that and I want to try and be consistent with it so that I am keeping a closer eye on how things are proceeding.

I have also come to the conclusion that I need to eliminate sugar from my life (or at least most of the time). I don’t intend on eliminating the natural sugars found in fruit, of course, but all other processed items (and that white sugar crap) need to be gone. I feel so horrible after I indulge (physically) and I feel my body deteriorating from the abundance I have been consuming lately. I think I replaced the sodas I was drinking with other sugar fixes and while I am VERY pleased with the fact that I haven’t had all those sodas every day (I think 1 once when I was out) since I’ve started this journey, I am also aware that I have been over-indulging on sugar elsewhere. Particularly in all the fudge I have been making for my mother – she doesn’t need it either so I shouldn’t make it for her or me.

I need to be as healthy as I can be and strong and well rested so that I can pursue my dream full throttle now. Everything is riding on this. My critters very existence is depending on me and what I make of this dream/goal of mine. So I need to be particular with what goes into my body so that I can produce what is necessary to thrive.

Stay Tuned…

Do you have high blood pressure? I do on occasion. So far (knock wood), nothing that needs medication or that is a daily issue, but still it’s there – a borderline issue I need to be aware of in my new quest for health and fitness.

I know that there are many people out there that have issues with their blood pressure, so I thought I’d share this little clip from an article that I read yesterday — it goes over some of the things you should be eating that can help with this issue. If you would like to read the whole article, including foods to AVOID, you can do so here.

 

Foods That Help Manage High Blood Pressure

There are plenty of foods that can actually help lower high blood pressure. Studies show that potassium is very important in helping to lower high blood pressure and is a key ingredient in a diet that helps reduce hypertension. Choose these high-potassium, low-sodium fruits and vegetables:

• Raisins, prunes and prune juice
• Citrus fruits and juices
• Honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelons
• Avocados
• Apples and apple juice
• Bananas
• Fresh corn
• Cooked squash, eggplant, cabbage, and cauliflower
• Lima beans and peas
• Peppers and radishes
• Baked or boiled potatoes

Stay tuned…

I really wasn’t planning on weighing myself today, but when I went downstairs to do the laundry I got a little curious. It has been a crazy week, with starting the new job, being busier then I have been in a long while and starting this new ‘fitness journey’, so I was curious as to what the effects of it all would be on my weight.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that I had lost 7.2 pounds my first week. Although not a huge number, in the scheme of things, it was a large enough number to be a nice little motivational boost to get me to want to kick it up a notch for the upcoming week.

Normally when I start things like this I would tend to obsess. Meaning, I usually would weigh myself daily (at least), more likely it would be several times a day — you know, morning and night, before and after eating, etc. just to see how different things effect the scale. I’m glad to say I haven’t been doing that this time. In fact I haven’t gotten on the scale at all the entire week. Surprised me too. lol. I guess I have my new, busier schedule to thank for that because I just haven’t had the time (or mental capacity) for obsessing this go round. And that may be a good thing.

I think once a week should be sufficient to keep an eye on things and make sure I am staying on track or need to adjust. More than that and I’m afraid it will seem more like a ‘diet’ and less like a lifestyle change. I want this to be as natural and easy as possible so that it becomes a lifelong way of doing things instead of a spur of the moment, I’ve got to lose weight now, kind of thing.

It’s really odd, because many people say that stress is one of the things that makes them eat more or unhealthy foods, etc. I am the opposite – I have to MAKE myself eat when I’m overly stressed. If I’m bored on the other hand, I will stuff my face constantly – so that is the marker I need to be most leery of during this change.

I have been getting some different types of movement incorporated into my daily routines – with the one to two hours worth of cage cleaning and floor sweeping at work each day, but other than that I have only had my regular activities of caring for my ten critters to count for exercise. I really would like to start incorporating more consistent strenuous activities into my daily routine to help boost metabolism, give myself some much needed energy and build back a little lost strength as well. I should make that my priority for the upcoming week. I’ll be eagerly awaiting to see what difference that makes in the scale numbers.

I must admit I’m a little bit nervous about that (exercise and the scale) because the last few times I’ve tried starting to add the treadmill back into my routine the scale went UP. I can understand after weight lifting awhile having numbers go up (because of the added muscle), but I’m a little unsure of why the weight would be higher after a few times on the treadmill. Shrug.  Guess I’ll just have to work with it and see the effects it has on my besides the scale numbers and go from there.

All in all a good week for weight loss, even if it was a very stressful week for most everything else.

Stay tuned…

Well, I did better then I thought I would on my trip to Virginia this past Wednesday. I ordered water to drink when we were out at the restaurant and got a pasta w veggie dish with light garlic sauce instead of the creamy sauces i would have normally asked for on my pasta.  Would have been even better if they had wheat pasta. Oh well, it’s a start.

I also took a basic introduction course to scuba diving that morning (and froze in the water), and then treated myself to a nice body massage and facial. The zip lining was to late in the day for me to make it back home that evening so that will have to wait for another time.

I also have been drinking more water at home, though I need to up my intake as I feel a bit dehydrated still.

As for the rest of my eating – well I haven’t gotten myself into a routine yet with this new job that has different hours just about every day and no time at the job to eat — so I have still been more or less eating one or two meals and usually late in the day. So that I really want to change. I have been eating better foods for the most part, so I guess that’s a start.

As for the exercise — well, I’ve been bending & lifting 50lb bags of critter food at work, cleaning tons of cages and walking back and forth a lot more then usual so I think that should count for a little boost in that area, but I’d still like to incorporate a regular workout into my schedule as well. I just need to get my body into a rhythm with these different hours etc. (that and, to be quite honest, by the time i get home from this job I am completely drained mentally, emotionally & physically and don’t feel like doing much of anything by sleeping or zoning out). I don’t know how good this job is going to be for my well-being.

Stay Tuned…

Ok, let’s layout some kind of a plan, a road map if you will, for this journey I have undertaken.

First, as I have mentioned earlier, WATER is going to be a big part of my health quest. I know, from prior experience, how much better I feel (and even look) when 95-98% of my liquid intake consists of water and 0% soda, so that will definitely be a big thing for me. It will also probably be one of the easier things to start and stick with as I actually like water, feel it quenches my thirst more then any other drink and has almost instant good feelings associated with it.

A second part of my new, healthy lifestyle is that I will NOT diet. No depriving myself of anything that I choose (with careful consideration and moderation of course) to taste/eat. I found the last go round that when I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted (within reason/moderation) I was much more fulfilled and so much less likely to ‘cheat’ and go overboard with bad foods.

Other then those two things, the only other thing I am going to do with regards to my nutrition is to eat small meals throughout the day (instead of really large meals, mostly in the evening like I have been doing). That’s it. Sounds simple, huh?!  That’s what I like about it and why it worked for me before.

Now, I do have ‘guidelines’ in mind (that I have followed when losing weight before), such as not eating white, processed, sugar loaded, and overly fatty foods. But I am not following any strict diet or eliminating potatoes etc altogether from my diet. I do plan on trying something I recently learned, by substituting cauliflower for mashed potatoes and see how that tastes, goes. I am a big believer in NOT doing something you absolutely hate in quest for health for two reasons — 1. you most likely won’t stick with it long, and 2. why extend life a couple months or whatever if you are having a miserable time. I’m going to explore new recipes (even though I’m not a big ‘cook’), try new foods, and be mindful of what is in the things I eat, but not to the point where I beat myself up if I eat something that may not be the best choice for me.

As far as exercise goes, this will be a little harder, but only until I get the habit re-ingrained into my life. I KNOW intellectually how good exercise makes me feel, how much more energy I end up having, how much stronger and confident I am…so it’s a bit baffling as to why I just don’t DO IT now and daily, but I know once I get past that hardest first step of STARTING that I will slowly make it a habit that will then be harder to not do then do.

I have a few tricks, that have worked before – the biggest one…just tell myself “Just use the treadmill for 10 minutes, you can do 10 minutes no matter what so just do that at least you will have done something” — then when I get to that 10 minute point I usually (though not always) want to keep going. My basic goal is at least 30 minutes of some sort of exercise at least 4 days a week for the 1st month, then 5 days the second month, then 6 days/week.  I will likely do more once I get started, but I don’t want to set them as goals because I want to set myself up for success not failure.

So, that’s it, that’s my BIG PLAN. Not so big, huh?! It’s simple, it’s basic (notice the word easy wasn’t used) and very doable. So I think I am ready for the next step in my journey. How about you??! Are you going to follow along with me on your own journey??

What are your thoughts on my ‘plan’?

WooHoo - Let's Get Started!!

It's worse than I thought!

Ok everyone, I kept my first promise and took all my measurements and before photos today (as scary as that was). I posted all the measurements and downloaded the pics from my camera — I hope to get them uploaded to the blog by the end of the day (don’t be surprised if I don’t post a link on facebook when I do (lol).

I’ve also started adding more water to my daily intake, but have drank 1/2 a soda with lunch — I kind of used the excuse that I had 3 sodas left in the fridge and with money as tight as it was I didn’t want to just dump them. They are diet sodas, but sometimes I think they are worse then the full sugar ones  - since they have all those chemicals etc. Oh well I WON’T be buying them anymore – nor will I order them when eating out (I usually don’t get soda out – usually I get water – isn’t that odd?!).

I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty this morning (taking the measurements and the photos), but I’m glad I stuck to my plan and did it. I’m glad it’s over and as bad as it was it was a very needed step to move forward with my journey. It has given me some added motivation (once the shock wears off some) and has made me feel good that I am progressing no matter the comfort level.

Exercise wasn’t really on my ‘plan’ until after my first day at work tomorrow, but I may try and sneak in some treadmill work later today just to boost my mood and give my new fitness lifestyle a jump start.

I hope you will all stay with me throughout this journey and I hope that my struggles give you the encouragement you need to keep trying on your journeys (no matter what those journeys may be).  :o)

Stay Tuned…

 

Ok, so let’s not ‘Wait Til Monday’ to get started. I hate that, like I may have mentioned before, I’m impatient – this is one way that my impatience can benefit me — I want to get started already.

So the first thing I am going to do is eliminate sodas and most other liquids from my drink list. I am going to go back to my water only thinking with an occasional treat of a glass of fresh juice. This was a huge boost my last go round and not only dropped a few quick pounds, but also gave me almost an immediate boost in the way I felt.

Along with doing that (starting now), I am going to take the rest of today and tomorrow to get this blog setup, get my weights & measurements and photos for my BEFORE stats, and lay out my eating goals (and grocery list to support those goals).

Once I get a feel for my new work schedule Monday, I will then set in place my workout schedule and get started (immediately) on 30 minuets of daily exercise (I have a good treadmill, small stepper, free weights, universal machine & even a total gym in the basement – there is NO excuse I can’t do SOMETHING active for 30 minutes each day even on the days I can’t get to a class).

What is everyone else’s experience when starting a new fitness journey? Do you get excited and jump in with eagerness (like me)? Do you go kicking and screaming? Do you start out with small steps or do you go for broke and try to change everything at once?  Talk to me – let me know what has worked (and hasn’t worked) for you….

Let's Get Started!

Ok, I’ve decided to start a little blog to document my fitness journey. I should have started this ten years ago, when I first lost over 80lbs, maybe then I would have caught myself slipping back into old, bad habits and in turn prevented the return of the weight (and then some), but hindsight being 20/20 and all….I’ll start it now.

I hope this blog serves not only as a motivation and education for myself, but for anyone else that may be struggling with this thing we call ‘weight loss’, ‘healthy living’, etc., etc.  This blog will most likely be of value (at least I hope) to women and more specifically middle-aged women.

WOW, middle-aged, I never thought I’d be calling myself that – not with a straight face at least. I have learned one thing about this new stage of my life…weight loss is definitely harder! I had started (a couple of times) doing some of the same things I did in my early thirties when I lost all that weight, but the effects were meager at best, but mostly frustrating and a failure. So now I will begin, as I did ten years ago, with research and arming myself with the knowledge that I will need to beat this beast once and for all.

I chose this theme for the site (see headline photo), because it reminds me of my skydiving adventure and that is one of the things I am longing to do again — be adventurous and active — this is a motivation for me as well.

If you have an interest in following along with a normal, average, aging woman in her quest for health, strength, and fitness, then please join me here for all that will be — Jan’s Fit Life.

All your comments, support, advice and input is always appreciated and welcome. So feel free to become part of my journey and share your own with us as well. )