FamilyInShape

I left my healthy habits at home, now what?

Photo: Coffee and Cake by reya

This has been a crazy month in my house. Our oldest son (the musician) is auditioning and interviewing at various colleges looking for that perfect fit (and a scholarship of course.)  What this means for everyone else in the family is a well coordinated schedule of things and people to make sure the trips and life at home continue on a smooth course.  The second to oldest (the artist) is reaping the benefits of paid babysitting services this week and Dad is getting to do some of what I normally do while trying to get to work on time.  There were no complaints and I refuse to ask. 

My fitness schedule, however, is pretty much....well, let's just say that schedule stayed home along with my healthy eating habits.  For me, going to the gym once a week does not provide enough endorphins to keep me happy.  I get cranky, tired, and crave everything and anything because after all, "I'm on the road for hours and gosh darn it I deserve it all!" 

In general, my "normal" life is filled  with chasing the toddler, walks to the bus stop and my hard core fitness program at the gym.  Instead I get 2 days of spinning, 1 day of some lite interval workout and a swim lesson.  That's it!  There are 28 days in the month of February and in the first 21 days I worked out 4 times and ate pretty much what my little heart desired.  Needless to say, I'm not stepping on the scale any time soon.  

Good News--all the stress of driving for hours, not sleeping well, not exercising and eating all the wrong foods paid off.  We got a letter of acceptance from my school of choice and his second; that's part one, the second and best part is the scholarship offer.  

Oh sweet!! His hard work and my sacrifice paid off!   Woohoo!!  OK I can get back to my health and fitness track now that I'm back home and I know where my kid will be come August 2009.  One less thing to worry about.  

Just because life throws you curve balls that interfere with your daily routine doesn't mean that you have to give up completely.  Although I probably could have planned my trips better and taken advantage of opportunities to walk or use the hotel gym, I am not feeling the least bit guilty or upset that I did not do these things. I am proud to say that we sat down to eat most of the time and we did not visit any fast food restaurants, not one.  AND no, I don't consider getting coffee fast food.

Now I am putting my energy on what I know I need to do now.  Live in the here and now for a better tomorrow.  That said, I started back at the gym and got back on track with my nutritional goals.  

Here's my scheduled routine

• Monday/Friday: Total Body Conditioning class, basically, Boot Camp
• Tuesday/Thursday: Muscle Conditioning - Total Body (swimming at night)
• Wednesday/Saturday: Spinning

Nutrition:

• Water was never an issue on the road, well, actually it was only an issue because we had to make lots of stops--anyway, that remains the same - lots of it throughout the day.
• More, lots more vegetables and fruit
• Protein smoothies after my workout
• Add in Whole Grain bread, pasta, cereal, brown rice, sweet potato and nuts
• Yogurt, fat free milk, and green tea
• Most important...Eat all day! 

Sleep:

• This is still a bit of an issue because my toddler sometimes wakes me up, however, I can take a short power nap when he goes down for a nap and still get my chores and other things done around the house.  I might not always do it but I do have that option so I will try to either take a power nap or simply take some time to just sit and relax. 

I hope you know that you don't have to wait 'till Monday to get back on track, do it today, Do It Now!

Stay Well, 

Eat all day

Fruit Salad by yikesleanne

I had a discussion with my friend Lisa who is trying to loose weight and said she was failing, nothing seems to work and what little she looses one week she gains the next.  She shared her daily menu during the week when she was loosing weight and it would seem to her that she had established good eating habits.  She was eating more fruits and vegetables and refraining from late night eating as well. He schedule was what we've all known since forever, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at AM, noon and 6 pm, respectively.  However, this schedule was also the problem as she felt hungry, tired, and cranky around 3:00 pm every day and then she found herself splurging just before dinner because she was just too hungry to wait.  To make matters worse, the late night munchies came back into the picture.

Obviously, this schedule is not working for her so told her to try a new way of eating.  "I want you to eat 5-6 times a day." "What!? Are you crazy? That's way too much food," she said.  "Actually, no, it's about the same amount your eating now but we're going to break those up into smaller meals, that's all.  Just try it for a week or two."

• Old Breakfast:  Bowl of whole wheat cereal, 1/2 cup fat free milk, Yogurt, fruit, tea or coffee.
• New Breakfast: Bowl of whole wheat cereal with fruit or 100%fruit juice, tea or coffee.
• Add a snack about 2 hours later:  Yogurt with granola or plain OR fruit. 

  

• Old Lunch:  Grilled Chicken salad (Romain lettuce, tomato, carrots, celery, radishes and light dressing), Soda and a bag of sun chips.
  
• New Lunch:  Keep the salad and dress it with lemon juice and olive oil instead. Drink water or Crystal Light and drop the chips.
• Add a snack about 2 or 3 hours later: fruit salad OR 1 apple with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter OR a Cheese Stick with 6 wheat thinks or Triscuit crackers OR a Banana.

• Old Dinner: Usually grilled chicken or fish, side of either rice or mashed potatoes and a cup of green veggies or salad.
  
• New Dinner:  Keep the grilled meats lean, but good choice there.  Switch to brown rice and sweet potatoes or eat less off them if you're not ready for the brown version or if sweet potatoes are not your thing.  Definitely keep the veggies, add more of them and/or a salad.
• Evening snack: Not a problem, keep it sensible:  Hot Cocoa made with water, yogurt, fat free pudding or gelatin, popcorn, any fruit, hot tea.

• Drink green tea through the day.
• Drink water in between meals.
• Stay a step ahead of those cravings by keeping protein bars, hand fruits, nuts, and water bottles in the car, gym bag, purse, etc.

The first week she lost 5 lbs, the second and third week she lost 3 lbs, now she is loosing between 1 and 3 lbs each week.  She has since started walking because, she has the energy in the afternoon or after work and she doesn't feel so cranky at the end of the day.  She really didn't have to change much to get her going. 

Personally, I try to keep protein bars and hand fruit in my gym bag and my purse as well as bottles of water.  I really don't like going shopping on an empty stomach because crazy things happen, like the other day my car just automatically turned into a Starbucks.  I don't remember ordering my grande- skinny-vanilla-latte-with whip but there it was in the company of a low fat blueberry muffin, as if that was a good thing.  

I do the same for my kids if I know I will be out running around for more than 2 hours - pack good, healthy snacks and drinks then I will be less likely to buy junk food on impulse or out of desperation.

Are you a scheduled eater or do you eat sensibly all day? I want to know what works for you!

Stay well,

It's been a year, WOW!

Photo by Pappajack

I can not believe I let my first year anniversary pass me by.  Life has been crazy, to say the least, and for some reason I thought my first blogging birthday was sometime in February.  It turns out it was in January.  

So now a little history and some thank you's--

Last year, or no it was about a month before so that would be December of 2007, I was spending a lot of time reading blogs, commenting on blogs and just learning.  During this time I was becoming more and more frustrated that I couldn't just post my own comments online like everyone else.  I had no idea where or how to start.   Then I was invited to participate in a home schooling forum through some friends at Time4Learning.  My, then Kindergartner, had been using the programs daily to learn her letters, numbers, and to play some online games that were appropriate for her age.  

Time4Learning was an excellent way to prepare her for "real school" and she loved and still loves the interactive programs.  She is now in 1st grade and doing wonderfully.  We still use the program, just not as often because she does have homework and other activities keeping her busy, however, we have moved her from the 1st grade module to the 2nd grade module which she is passing with flying colors. Check out their getting started page for more information.

The forum was created so that other users could discuss the many ways that T4L was helping their child's education.  From full time home schools to those of us who used the program during the summer and as a way to enhance or improve upon what they learn at school.  It was a great learning experience for me and gave me a chance to begin writing for others to read.

Through John at Time4Writing I learned about a new Blogging course they would be launching that following year (2008) so I jumped at the chance to be trained but a professional.  In early January I joined a group called Black Belt Bloggers which was an online class with an instructor available to us via email or a group chat online.  It was the best thing I ever did to enhance my blogging goals.  In the class we didn't just get the technical side of the blogs, you know, setting up a blog, adding advertisement, creating a look (still working on my look by the way) and creating a presence on the world wide web, but also general writing tips that really helped me launch my blogs (I have two now the other is Early Morning Peace) and made it possible for me to write and connect with others around the world, I mean literally around the world.  

I am still learning and sometimes I struggle about what to write mostly because I get lost in trying to please the world instead of just writing from the heart.  But for the most part I find this to be very therapeutic and fun.  Although there are times (or things) that force me to take a break for the PC and from blogging, I am always thinking of things I want to write about and most times I either start a post and save it for later or I write notes to myself on a notepad I keep handy.  Believe it or not, the other day I sent myself a voice message about a situation I experienced and want to share (but later).  

Right now I just want to say thank you to John from Time4Learning for the invitiation, to the Black Belt Mama for being such a cool teacher, and some of my first readers too:  John from Black Belt at 50, Topsy Techy, Zandria, MizFit, Renovation Girl.... there are so many others out there who keep on coming back for more and keep reading my crazy, yet sometimes, informative posts.  Thank You all for helping to keep my blog alive an entire year. Woo hoo!!

Sincerely,