Wednesday, January 23, 2013

I know it appears like I'm a slacker but....

I'm still alive and eating well. Yay me! Not only that, but I FINALLY started going to the gym too. I know, it took me long enough. Hey slow and steady wins the race right? The best part is that my brother has been going with me. Not only am I working towards my goals, he is as well. I'm pretty excited about that to be honest. We are doing some basic strength training (weight bearing exercise is important to prevent osteoporosis) and the couch to 5K program. http://www.c25k.com/

I have a lot of work ahead of me but I am motivated and that is the important part. I have never been a runner. Even in the best of my military days I didn't really enjoy it. But we all know how things can change once some time has passed. Wish me luck with that.

On the food front I have become a bit of a tea addict. It is my "go to" drink now that soda is out of my diet. Most of the time I drink it unsweetened with some lemon. Occasionally I might add one pack of REAL sugar. This is why I chose real sugar:  https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/  There was also a recent study that showed certain foods do not break down properly in the body and make you feel hungry even though you just ate. HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) was one of those ingredients. I have found I prefer green and white teas (and some herbals) to the traditional black teas. Green tea has more flavonoids anyhow so that is a good thing. http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/health-benefits-tea This is one of my current favorites.


One of the other reasons I go to the gym is to work off all the goodies my husband brings me at work. I will never be a person that doesn't eat sweets so I just try to limit them to some degree. (tip, eat the sweets in the morning and you have time to work it off during the course of the day) I also believe that homemade treats are much better than store bought processed sweets. At least we can pronounce the ingredients in sweets made from scratch! That seems safer doesn't it?


I don't believe is it realistic to think we can just deny ourselves what we love to eat long term. We just need to be conscious of our choices. How much of it are we putting into our bodies? Is it healthy for us in any way? Mental health counts too! Just don't overdue any "emotional" eating.

I finally watched the documentary "Forks over Knives" as was recommended to me by my sister. I liked it but it was kinda scary. There was some pretty good evidence as to why a plant based diet is healthier for you. Even so it is hard for me to give up all meat. I like meat! (Mmmm bacon) But it has given me pause to think and I have cut back on it by eating smaller portions when I do have it. I even ate my very first veggie burger and it was good! (Who knew?)

I'm not sure what the working out will mean weight wise. Muscle weighs more than fat so my weight might go up once I start actually building some muscle of my own. It will be interesting to see what happens with that. As long as my clothes continue to fit I will be happy. It is about fitness and health, not a number on the scale. Though after hitting my goal weight I suppose that is easy for me to say now.

Eat well!


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