Even a little exercise counts!

First off, I need to wish my beautiful grandson Isaiah a 7th birthday! He has been such an important part of my life and one of the reason's I am determined to be healthier and live longer.

Ok, that being said, on to exercise. I have come to see how important some type of daily exercise is when you are attempting to get healthier. It strengthens your muscles, it increases your blood flow, lowers your blood pressure, and really just makes you feel good once you are done. I am no fitness guru and I don't go to the gym or spend an hour  doing aerobics or elliptical or even bike ride. Right now, my exercise routine is fairly simple. I WALK. Yep, thats it! No expensive gym membership where I would die if anyone saw me in leggings. No exercise equipment clogging my spare room or bedroom either. Just my old sneakers and whatever I have handy to throw on.

Best part is I can do it outside, or I can do laps in my bedroom if the weather is bad and they both count. I don't even have to do the full half hour in one session if I don't want to. With my back bothering me I am finding that I have to break it into two or three sessions but I am getting it done. Today so far I have walked at a moderate pace for 31 minutes and according to My Fitness Pal I have burned a total of 342 calories. I am pretty happy with that. The main goal is to just get moving. If you can't do half an hour, start with 15 minutes or heck start with 10 minutes if that is all you can do. You can and will build your stamina as you go along. My goals are 1) to work up to an hour a day of walking and then 2) to be able to run and do jumping jacks and sit ups and other things I can't do at the moment. I'm taking it in baby steps though. One day at a time.

Another important thing is water. You need it for hydration and it helps to curb your appetite. I have a 22 ounce plastic glass that I keep near me as much as possible. Each glass of that is almost 3 8 oz glasses of water. I can usually do at least 2 and sometimes 3 glasses which is 44 to 66 ounces of water a day. Bad side of this is I'm running to the john about every 30 minutes but hey, thats exercise too lol.

I'm learning that going over my sodium limit is almost a daily occurrence and that 2300 mg of salt adds up pretty dang fast. I had 2 maple sausage links, 1 scrambled egg and 12 tater tots for breakfast today and I'm already at half my limit. Yeah, I know I need to work on the breakfast thing but my hubby made me the breakfast and he doesn't do it every day. Usually its a bowl of raisin bran, rice crispies, or 2 packets of plain oatmeal. I have to really read labels and look up food before I eat it if I want to stay within my restrictions.

So that is it for today boys and girls :) Get up get moving drink your water and read your labels.

Until next time

Rottie

Tuesday Weigh In, Dun Dun Dunnnnnnn

Nothing to report today, what a surprise!

I figured as much due to the lack of being able to do any type of exercise and the tempting See's candy that I dipped into. I mean I can look at this two ways either DAMMIT I didn't lose anything since the last weigh in, or...YAY I didn't gain anything since the last weigh in. I choose to take the attitude of the latter. I didn't gain and that's a good thing.

I am really frustrated at this back issue. Again today it's stiff, sore, and uncooperative. I need to get back on the exercise train and fast. Part of me is saying to just get up and do it. Walking around for 30 minutes won't burn a ton of calories but it will burn some and work some muscles. Part of me is saying if I do and I screw my back up more, I'm back to square one and off my feet. I don't know, maybe I'll find some happy medium in between the two.

And on the Sees Candy front, I'm really tempted to toss the flipping box in the trash and be done with it!. I tried placing it in the living room near hubby but that was rejected. He is diabetic so he dosen't want the temptress near him either but that dosen't stop him from raiding the box in our room. Maybe I'll just oooooppps drop it on the floor and then I have to throw it away. Other than that candy, I am doing well on my eating and I am pretty proud of myself. Its been about a month now since I went to the doctor and I have really been sticking to the plan. Maybe I really can do it this time around.

Until next time
Rottie

 

Kind of feeling meh

Today is Monday, February 23,2015 and tomorrow I am going to weigh in again. I threw my back so I didn't get my exercise in for Saturday or Sunday. Funny, it used to be such a big deal for me to get off my ass and do anything and now without exercising for two days I kind of feel lost. Besides that, tomorrow is my weigh in day and I'm afraid that it won't show any weight loss. I've been pretty good with my eating but not perfect. Somehow being perfect on this has become important. I feel I need to be perfect in order to succeed at this even though it isn't the point. The point of this is to get healthy and along the way drop pounds and I need to accept that there will be days where I don't eat 100% healthy or I go over my calories of the day. It dosen't make me a bad person, it makes me human. But as easy as that was to type, the reality is I don't usually feel that way. I feel like if I stray I am weak and if I am weak I am a failure. I'm going to have to figure out a way to get over that issue. If any of you have struggled with that and have an answer I'd love to hear it. 

Temptress thy name is Chocolate

  So yeah, one day I ate 4 pieces of the See's chocolate that I got for Valentine's Day. The first time I had eaten any of it since receiving it actually. I had it sealed on my dresser until my husband decided to open it so he could have the scotch mallow inside. I didn't even touch it for days after it was opened but finally gave in to a small craving I had. At the end of the day I hadn't gone over my calories for that day but I still felt like I shouldn't have given in to the urge because I shouldn't have been so weak. This weight loss journey is turning into a bit more than just a need to get healthy and drop pounds. Its becoming a bit of a self exploration of my psyche as well. I am becoming aware of some of the issues I have with food and with myself.

 The issue of being perfect is a real one. I have always needed the approval of others because if others approve me, then I must not be as bad of a person as I believe I am. My validation of my own self worth seems to be reliant of what others think of me. Is that right? No, I shouldn't have to have other's approval or liking of me to have self worth. It's all tied into first my childhood with my parents and later in my marriage to an alcoholic who both mentally and physically abused me. I know I have a lot of issues that I need to tackle and they start with learning to love myself for me and finding out who I really am. I hope as I blog and move along this path of health and well being some of those things will be resolved and I will be a better stronger person.  

Again, thanks for reading and please take care of yourself.

 Rottie

I'm Fat

This is me, today February 21,2015. It's one month into my weight loss journey and yes, I  am FAT. I'm not chunky, or phat, or fluffy or any of the other cute acronyms for being overweight. I've used them all during my life and have said over and over that I am happy being big. The truth? I'm not. I never have been, and I never will be. I don't like me. Now that doesn't necessarily have to do with the weight or the body image. It has to do with a lot of things probably starting back before I was even conscious of it. Beyond the fact that I don't like me, I don't like being unhealthy. I have high blood pressure which I have to correct using pills. I have a hard time getting up off the floor if I have to get down there and do something. I breathe heavy when I walk outside more than a few minutes and I just generally worry about an early death.

I went to the doctor a month ago for a routine blood pressure check. Because I have hypertension I have to check in every 6 months to see how I am doing and make sure the meds are doing their job. I got on the scale and I knew, I mean I KNEW it was going to be bad. I had gone up a size in pants so that was one clue, and during the holidays, I sampled everything. We baked dozen's of cookies, a gingerbread house, a couple of cakes and some very large holiday dinners. So, it wasn't really a surprise that it was up but it was humiliating especially since the nurse that took my weight down was a thin young girl. She wasn't rude or anything and I'm sure this is in my head but I could almost see her clucking her tongue and going "Oh my god what a fatty". So, when my new nurse practitioner came in I told her I was sick of it and was going to start trying to change things. She was very empathetic and since she is a nutritionist she gave me some good pointers and a sense of power over my demons.

So, on January 28th 2015 I started my journey to get healthier. I decided that a pound a week would be a reasonable goal. It dosen't sound like much, especially when I have to lose over 100 lbs, closer to 120 pounds. God I hate typing that out! But a pound at a time will have me down 52 pounds in a year and will take about 2 and a half years to get to my ideal weight. I'm sure some weeks I will lose more than a pound and some weeks I will plateu and not lose anything but the main thing is I'm trying to change my life.

I started on my own, and the first couple of weeks I didn't lose more than a pound. In hindsight it was because A) I gave into some temptations that I shouldn't have B) I wasn't measuring my food servings, and C) I wasn't doing ANY exercise. Giving into temptations is going to happen. If I don't, I'll end up feeling deprived and give up and I do not want that. Measuring portions and getting out and moving, are musts though and they really aren't that difficult if you have the correct tools. I found an app on my tablet, that actually my brother suggested when I first started. Its called My Fitness Pal and its wonderful. I log honestly every day what I eat and what portion sizes. It has a huge database so practically anything you eat can be found, and if not you can input by a bar code scan or simply breaking down the components of the food.
It asks you your weight, height and age and then calculates your daily caloric goal to hit in order to achieve your weight loss. I am a 53 year old woman, I am 5 foot 3 inches tall and I weighed 264lbs when I started. (OUCH that hurt to admit) The app gave me a daily goal of 1700 calories which I think is nuts and it often yells at me because I go below my goal. I try to keep it at around 1200 to 1400 calories. Not only will it keep track of my calories, it will keep track of my exercise if I log it and the feature I love is that it keeps track of my nutrition. I can see how much sodium I have eaten, trans fat, saturated fat, iron, potassium, vitamins, and calcium. Since it does that for me, I can adjust what I eat and make healthier choices.

So today, February  21st I got on the scale and I am now down to 259. Still a big OUCH number but at least its moving in the right direction. Since I started the My Fitness Pal app I have lost 4 lbs. One more pound and its almost 5% of my goal. Thats like buying something and getting a 5% discount and we all love discounts. So, I am happy with my progress so far. Soon hopefully I can get back into those pants that I outgrew and then go down to even smaller sizes. It's not going to help on the loving myself front and maybe later I will touch on that in another blog. I have had so many things happen in my life that have shaped my self image starting from when I was a preteen. That, as I said, is for another blog otherwise I will be here all night. I don't want you dear friend to fall asleep from sheer boredom.

So ends my first blog post. I have put it out there and I own the fact that I am fat but working on it. I think most people won't even read past the first sentence but maybe some will find this helpful.  I'm doing this for me, but I could use all the support I can get. I hope you want to follow along with me. Knowing the way I enjoy writing, I'm sure there will be plenty of posts to read.

Rottie