Fat-Melting Cocktail

I read this article in a recent magazine and was extremely tempted to give it a try. It sounds so fantastic to loose so easily and quickly. Then, I remembered that I had actually lost almost 27 pounds the summer before last following the Kimkin's method, a very low-cal and low-carb program. I quickly gained it back, which was to be expected under the circumstances, but my desperation compelled me to ignore the programs unhealthy disadvantages. Even if this articles recommendations would work I would rather loose my weight because I made better choices and built my strength and endurance through exercise. Then I will know that the methods I used are both successful enough for me to loose and maintain my weight loss. I'm sure that during my difficult days, while I'm doubting myself or feeling frustrated that I'm not seeing results that I will reconsider this decision or kick myself for not giving it a try, but I know that I am making the right decision.

It's a New Year

It's the beginning of a new year and like many folks I have made a resolution to get into shape, change my bad eating habits, and loose some weight. First, I will concentrate on changing my habits and replacing them with healthy ones. I plan to exercise more faithfully and consistently, significantly reduce junk from my diet, and eat more appropriatly sized meal portions. We have discussed and agreed as a family to eliminate junk from our household and look forward to pre-designated junk days to satisfy any cravings and help us stay focused in between. The first junk day of the year will be our dd's birthday in January. We will no longer purchase the junk from the store as it is easier to say no once while shopping than regularly while at home. The only problem is that we know how to bake. I won't remind them of this option.

I'm reminded that last year I had started out with great success following an exercise regimen and followed it consistently six days a week, with very few missed days, for almost four months. I weighed myself weekly and was extremely disappointed that the weight was not dropping. Even though I had told myself that I would not use the scale as a measurement for my success it was difficult not to become discouraged when it did not slide downward. After four months of watching it go up and down between the same set of number, I determined that hadn't lost anything and quite.

Almost three years ago I had been exercising faithfully with eagerness and determination. Again, I weighed myself weekly, instead of daily. This avoids the confusion and discouragement from the daily ups and downs expected from the scale. However, the weekly weigh-in didn't help matters. I had lost a little bit, a few pounds, and then became stuck at the same pounds and ounces as the previous week. I found that odd since I found the scale reading would go up and down and up and down on a daily basis and would never stay the same. How did the scale read the exact pounds AND ounces from the week before?! So, I had hubby stand on the scale and it was accurate for him. I got back onto the scale and it gave me a different reading, only about 5 ounces less, but different still. I was heading in the right direction. The next week, however, read the exact same weight as the second reading from the week before. I ignored it. The next week showed the exact same weight again. Frustration was building and I had my hubby stand on it once more, but this time it didn't budge for me. So, I put the scale aside and quit everything all together.

The sad truth is that had I remained faithful and focused on the process instead of the outcome I probably would have made it to my goal by now. Instead, I have gained an additional twenty pounds and I would love to get back to where I was before when I was so frustrated with the scale. This is why I don't weight myself anymore.

A few months ago when I had started this blog I went to the doctor and they weighed me. Then, a month later, after all those weeks of actually being faithful, I visited a different doctor and the scale gave me the same weight. I had to quickly ignore it. This time I MUST focus on the process of creating healthful habits, getting stronger and improving myself for the sake of doing the right thing rather than weighing my success on the downward treand of the scale reading.

One thing I did learn is the reason I was most likely not loosing. Before I had gained weight I loved to exercise. (To put this into proper perspective, realize that I had slowly gained weight starting about six years ago and have reached my worst only in the past three years. It's not like we are talking twenty years ago or something.) Back then, I worked hard at it and would see results quickly. I didn't have much to do to reach my goal because I was so small and already tone and strong. Today, those same results will be seen, but I still have pounds and pounds to loose before I reach my goal. Back then I was strong and energetic. Today, it's hard to exercise to that capacity because I'm out of shape and my efforts are not so quickly rewarded. It has become more work than enjoyment. An obligation rather than an outlet. It makes me feel like I'm climbing an uphill battle without any reward rather than enjoying the process and feeling stronger.

Last year my husband asked me if I had been working out when he heard me breathing heavily and I had only climbed our one flight of stairs from the basement. (Hence the title of this blog). I decided to do the Urban Rebounding intermediate DVD. The beginner one was too easy and a waste of my time. The intermediate was almost too much for me, so I started out with five minutes and did that for about two weeks. Then, I would add another routine from the DVD each week. Little by little I strengthened my cardio strength until I finally reached and finished on a regular basis the twelve routines. But, I hadn't lost any weight. I did TTapp for weeks with no weight loss whatsoever.

I tried a lot of different workouts. Then, I came across an article that explained the mistakes that many people make in their workouts and I realized that it was speaking to me. I need to do weight bearing exercises and work them until my muscles are shaking. I had to reach some point of exhaustion in my muscles and I hadn't been doing that. In fact, I shied away from that point. Now that I've been doing that I see changes in my body, but I haven't been consistent. That is my goal for 2009. To be consistent and really, REALLY work my muscles, build up my strength and endurance, and reach my previous level of enjoyment for workouts. I plan to do this while ignoring the scale and replacing my bad habits with healthful choices. I want to be my old self again.

Week 2

I didn't wake and do early morning workouts. I did try to make it up in stairs.

Monday: Stairs 261.
Tuesday: Stairs 525
Wednesday: Stairs 292.
Thursday: Christmas.

Week 1

I've decided to start over. Since my first 8 week goal kept getting interrupted, I felt the best thing I could do was to just start fresh with both a new time-frame and even new workouts. It seems that I always get side-tracked at about 4 weeks. This time I was sick, then my family was sick, then I was sick. My family went to the ER twice. I had some other challenges. That's the excuse this time. Every time there seems to be something. Sometime I will expound on that. For now, let it suffice that perhaps I will just make this a 4 week goal instead of an 8 week goal. Then, I will increase it to a 6 week goal the next time. At work I climbed 223 stairs.

Monday: Legs of Steel with Tamilee Webb. I didn't finish it as it is a very intense 31 minute workout. I did 3 groups of exercises. What I like about this routine is that it IS very intense, we never get on the floor, and we work on one leg at a time. So rather than doing lunges the old fashioned way, we stand on one leg and squat. It really gets the entire leg and tomorrow I expect to be very sore. This video is on a VHS tape. Maybe one day I'll look to see if it's on DVD. I just get tired of buying VHS tapes and then later getting them in DVD. I can't count how many times that has happened to me in the past. I refuse to purchase any more VHS tapes because of it, and YES I've still come across companies only selling their product on VHS! There just not exercise videos.

Tuesday: Billy's Bootcamp Ab BootCamp. This I didn't finish either. I blame this pattern on new videos and having broken my pattern for the past couple of weeks. It is a 35 minute workout and I did about 15 minutes. It seems like a really good workout. So far everything is standing up, however I know I heard him say we will later get on the floor. I won't be, though. He breaks my rules of making an Exercise Video, as he walks around giving instruction. I only need that instruction once. Next time, I'm going to count. I think he does more reps on one side than he does on the other because of his walking around. From that point I started counting the rest and sure enough, he's not worried about proper counting and consistency from side to side. In fact, at one point he actually stops one move to go to the other in the middle of counting the first move. So, he doesn't even complete the counts beforehand. This inconsistency irritates me. With that aside, the moves are unique and very targeted. So, if during the next four weeks I benefit from it and set aside my irritation, perhaps I'll make progress. At work I climbed 74 stairs.

Wednesday: Legs of Steel with Tamilee Webb. I didn't finish it, I did 3 groups of exercises and almost went onto the fourth and quit. I wasn't sore Tuesday from Monday's workout so I allowed myself to worked harder today by going deeper. I was so afraid of being as sore as I was the last time I did the routine many months ago that I must've taken it too easy this time. On the other hand, yesterday's workout has me very sore. I can feel what muscles I worked. I will definitely keep doing that workout until the four weeks are up and keep it on my list of likable workouts.... even though he breaks my rules and he drives me crazy. Tamilee doesn't follow the rules either. Once she gets off beat. She takes too long giving instructions, it's not like her moves are complicated. If we didn't understand at first we would catch on really quickly. She doesn't keep the same count from leg to leg. I'll deal with it for four weeks, though. Then, I won't come back to her video for a while. I also climbed 16 stairs at work.

Thursday: I didn't wake in time for a workout in the morning, so at work I climbed 101 stairs to help make up for it. When I climb stairs I don't jog up on my tip toes or take the next step before straightening my leg from the previous step. I put my entire foot onto the step and using my rear end muscles to lift me up entirely and then repeat on the next leg during the next step up. This makes the effort all that more beneficial for my purposes.

Saturday: Billy's Bootcamp Ab BootCamp. I did 15 minutes and started to go further and stopped. I am liking the workout. I was extremely sore from it the first time. He just drives me nuts, though with his inconsistent counting. The girl he uses as an example even messes up in front of him and he doesn't notice the entire time! On this one move, we are supposed to move only our hips, then only our shoulders, then move both together. While he's over with her giving all these instructions on how to do the move properly, she's moving everything when we are only supposed to be moving our shoulders. Of course, she is the only person we see, 'cause of all the directions he is busy giving. Then, as he walks back to his own spot he reminds us that we should only be moving our shoulders and then takes us directly into moving both. So, it's one of those cases where you need to know the video in order to do it right despite the mistake. I'll be complaining about this video every time I do it, but since it's a good workout I'll keep doing it anyway.

Study: Sugar May Be as Addictive as Some Drugs

December 12, 2008 - A U.S. researcher says sugar can be an addictive substance, wielding its power over the brains of lab animals in a manner similar to many drugs.

Bart Hoebel and colleagues at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute have demonstrated in rats a behavioral pattern of increased intake and then showed signs of withdrawal.

"If binging on sugar is really a form of addiction, there should be long-lasting effects in the brains of sugar addicts," Hoebel says in a statement. "Craving and relapse are critical components of addiction, and we have been able to demonstrate these behaviors in sugar-binging rats in a number of ways."

In Hoebel's experiments, the laboratory animals denied sugar for a prolonged period after learning to binge worked harder to get it when it was reintroduced to them. They consumed more sugar than they ever had before, suggesting craving and relapse behavior. Their motivation for sugar had grown.

"In this case, abstinence makes the heart grow fonder," Hoebel says.

The rats drank more alcohol than normal after their sugar supply was cut off, showing that the binging behavior had forged changes in brain function, Hoebel says.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Scottsdale, Ariz.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

Week Whatever....

Today I walked up 8 flights of stairs in order to get to level 3. By the time I reached the 8th floor I was too worn out to go back down so I took the elevator to the 3rd floor. I walked up stairs all day long.

NOT TODAY! 3 Days

This week I've started my NOT TODAY! program. Usually, during the day I'm eating junk. There is so much around that it is hard not to have any. But, I've determined, with the help of wise and smarter people than I who have reminded me of this important life fact, that this life is a life to learn to overcome and that includes our cravings, impulses, and bad habits. My eating junk throughout the day, whether it is available or not, fits into that category. If I ever forget why I'm doing this I should remember that it is because it is important to have control over myself and not be subjected to the control of my cravings.

NOT TODAY! MONDAY I had some cream of wheat for breakfast. I should remember that does not curve my hunger for very long. So, I went to the cafeteria and bought a slice of some sort of banana bread. That kept me until lunch. For lunch I went to the cafeteria and had a fried chicken breast, green beans and baked beans. I didn't eat all of the green beans or the chicken breast. For lunch I had a small bottle of Sprite. I then was good all the rest of the day.... then, my husband was in the ER so my daughter went and bought some dinner. I had a box of popcorn, which I bought before I realized we were staying for dinner. I had a sub sandwich and didn't eat the whole thing.

NOT TODAY! TUESDAY I had two egos for breakfast and made it until lunch for Jimmy Johns. I had one of their chocolate chip cookies which took all afternoon to eat. With lunch I had a small bottle of Sprite. I'm not considering that a slip from my NOT TODAY! because it was part of the meal ;) Then, for dinner I had some ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll (I feel there was something in that meal, but I can't remember it). I had no desert and ate nothing else the rest of the night.

Wednesday I had a fried egg, with no yolk, over two pieces of buttered toast. I was hungry before lunch, but hung in there. Then, while I was doing my running around during my lunch hour I stopped by Taco Bell and had two soft tacos with onion and tomato and their fiesta potatoes without any sour cream. I only drank water all day. At work today candy bars were passed around the entire facility that were purchased as a gratitude gift to each other in behalf of a fund raiser for United Way. I received a handful of candy bars. So, I slipped and ate a full-sized Butterfinger as an afternoon snack. Then, for dinner, we had a salad, pork chop and applesauce. We were snowed in and so we watched a movie. I had three scoops of ice-cream with Hershey's Syrup. Today was NOT a NOT TODAY!

Thursday. For breakfast I had two Eggo's with butter and Mrs. Buttersworth syrup. Lunch I had pot roast with two red potatoes with butter and about 4-5 mini carrots. I just had to have my 100 Grand candy bar, one of my United Way thank you's. So, this is probably NOT a NOT TODAY!

NOT TODAY! FRIDAY For breakfast I ate tater tots and 3 slices bacon. Lunch: Part of a ham sandwich on toasted bread. French fries with ketchup and mac and cheese with a sprite. For dinner I had some home style egg noodles with a little bit of ground beef. I actually didn't eat much and I didn't have any junk throughout the day. I'll call this day a NOT TODAY!

Saturday. I had a cinnamon bun with icing for breakfast. Then, I had some potato chips and French Onion dip. Then, later three scoops of ice-cream with Hershey's Chocolate. Then, later 3 slices of pizza. Finally, another bowl finishing off the potato chips and French Onion dip. Today was definitely NOT a NOT TODAY!

Week 5 Continued...

I didn't do very well last week and this week isn't looking much better. Monday eve my husband went to the emergency room having been sick since last Wednesday. We were up late and I didn't feel like working out the next morning. Then, every morning all week long I needed to take care of some important tasks in his behalf. Between that and having a busy week with meetings in the evening and not sleeping very well, I just couldn't get myself moving for early morning workouts. A bright note, despite my lack of exercise I have been keeping away from junk more. I've had two days this week, thus far, that have been essentially junk free. Of course, It always seems to work out that when I'm staying away from junk I'm not as diligent with my exercise. I need to master doing both at the SAME time!


Monday: Jari Love's Get Ripped! To the Core. I did 7 exercises, through the step ups with overhead press. I skipped the pushups. I used 3# weights on all exercises except Chest press (no hip raise), bent leg dead lift and bicep curl, and stiff leg dead lift with lateral rows where I used 5# weights. I took it easy and didn't work too hard.

I may not have made it through any morning exercises for the rest of the week, but I did do my best to take the stairs at work. In fact, on Friday I climbed 8 flights of stairs. To really maximize it's benefits I put my whole foot on the step and used my heal to push me up. I didn't simply jog them up, I used them as a substitute for my lunges. By the time I reach the eighth floor both my leg and rear-end muscles were tired and my cardio had been pushed. I was so glad there wasn't a ninth floor.

Also, I noticed these little round signs throughout the building that say "Health Focus Walking Trail" with little arrows for direction. I asked about it. There is a map to give an idea of where it goes and how, besides the little arrows on the signs. It takes you up and through and down and around and when completed is 1/2 mile. I think I will do that twice a day.... depending on how long it takes me. I'm due two breaks anyway, besides lunch. I'll do that, even if I already worked out in the morning.