Kelly, Week Eight: The Road Goes Ever On
I’ve been traveling for work this past week (hence why this post is so late) and that trip threw into relief everything I’ve been doing over the past 8 weeks. Traveling is the least optimal time to try to maintain healthy patterns: your environment is unstable, you’re eating out a lot, your schedule is bizarre, and you may or may not have access to exercise equipment, so this was a real test. How’d I do? Not amazing, but not bad either. Somewhere in-between, which seems to be a theme for me.
There was a lot of eating out and a lot of stress. The hours were very tough: 10-12 hour days, on your feet nearly the whole time. This makes you tired, sore, hungry, and stressed. And there’s a lot of socializing too, so every night ended with a big dinner and wine. Within that, however, I tried to make healthy choices. I had Clif Bars and raw cut veggies for snacks, and cheese and crackers. For dinners, I tried to have veggies as much as I could. But let’s be honest: there were some unfortunate instances with cheez-its (I love a good cheez-it) and too much wine to decompress, and some bacon. As a consequence, I’ve gained 2 lbs, according to the scale this morning.
How do I feel about that? Not great, but I’m not beating myself up over it, and that, right there, is the true victory.
I got into this challenge to find balance and beat my perfectionism; to make food a neutral entity, not an enemy. And I won. I know that this is a temporary setback. I’m already back on target today with a Clif Bar and yogurt in the morning and a salad for lunch. I’m going rock climbing tonight and swing dancing tomorrow. I have big plans to start a wellness program that will incorporate yoga and meditation into my schedule on a regular basis, plus plans for cooking and dancing classes.
Just because I couldn’t be perfect in the most challenging, imperfect of situations doesn’t make me a failure. I did the best I could, and that was good enough.
Things I’ve learned/helpful tips from the underground:
- Planning is everything. You are far more likely to be successful at maintaining healthy patterns if you plan out a general idea of what you’re going to eat, go to the grocery store, buy what you need, and prepare it. We are all bad at choosing healthy food when we are stressed, busy, or maxed out. Also, always have a gym bag ready to go. A little planning goes a long way.
- It’s a project. Make time for it. This is very hard, if not impossible, to do on the fly.
- Seek out variety. You are far more likely to stay engaged when you have options. I hate being bored, and I’ve noticed that it’s sometimes worth it to shell out an extra buck or two to get salad and soup from the fancy deli. They have more options than I can reasonably make, and I look forward to eating healthy, more than I would if I ate the same thing repetitively.
- Try something new. You’ll engage your brain as well as your body if you try a new exercise class or activity. Like I said, I’m trying out rock climbing tonight and swing dancing tomorrow. I’m excited about both and ready to go.
- Be flexible. If Plan A doesn’t work, try plans B, C, D, etc. until you find one that does. Going to the gym not happening? Do a workout DVD, go for a walk with your partner or friend, or crank up the music and dance around. Forgot to pack your lunch? Opt for a light option at a local restaurant. Find ways to make it work for you.
I’ve gotten so much out of this challenge. I was saying to a friend the other day that food holds so little power over me now because I’ve learned to work with it. I eat mostly healthy, and still have some room for indulgence.
I’ve also stopped freaking out when I don’t exercise or eat perfectly. If I had known at the beginning of this challenge that I was going to end up at the end of it the exact same weight I started, I’d have gone postal, wringing my hands at how much of a failure I am. But that is, in a word, bullshit.
I feel better. I am better. I’m less anxious, I’m more fit. I’m starting to get some shapely muscle because I’m actually challenging myself to lift heavier weights. I’m creating a full-body exercise program that will make me fit all over and won’t injure me. I’m incorporating balance into my diet, so that it’s mostly healthy and nutritious, with room for decadence. I’m looking into taking an anxiety management class and more meditation so that I can find inner peace, a sustainable unshakable calm.
I am changed because of this challenge. And I am grateful.
Ashley M: Week 8 – The End is Here
Ah! I’m a day late. Sorry guys! Yesterday was prom night, and I was on major hair/makeup/photography duty.
I’m pretty bummed that this is coming to an end, but I have big plans to use my momentum to keep moving, and keep making progress. At the moment, this was my healthiest (eating-wise) week yet. I made grilled chicken sandwiches, shrimp kababs, delicious stir-fry, and buffalo chicken pizza. It was a nutritious and delicious week!
Overall, I’ve learned a couple things about how I need to get active and stay active:
- My current life does not support exercise. Like I mentioned in the first post – my commute is a ghastly 1.5 hours each way, so by the time I get home finding time is difficult. I’ve learned that I need to integrate it in more discrete ways. My work building is .25 miles if you walk around the inside perimeter. Many people at work take breaks every few hours to do a lap or two. While it won’t be a rigorous workout, it’s more that I was doing normally.
- Planning is KEY. Making sure to plan a menu and a corresponding grocery list is key to my successes. When I don’t create a lunch ahead of time, I’m forcing myself to go out and get food from somewhere unhealthy.
- OMG – exercise and eating well makes me less tired! I’ve complained about being SO exhausted, and wanting more time to be awake – EXERCISE and healthy diet are the missing pieces!
- The gym is ABSOLUTELY not for me. I got my membership is November, I believe, and only went once. I am just not interested or excited about going there. I function better when I run OUTSIDE. And in the winter, I can use my workout DVDs.
- The Wii Fit is a decent low impact workout, but I don’t think it will get actual results. Plus I am too clumsy, and my feet too large to use the balance board effectively. Haha!
Reminder: Before the 8 weeks
Not a whole helluva lot has changed, and I regrettably cannot confirm that (didn’t take my measurements), but I feel like I’m standing a little taller, and I feel a little firmer. I haven’t lost any actual weight (per Wii Fit)
After 8 Weeks and a NEW swimsuit!
I enjoyed doing this challenge, even when things got stressful and hard. And even when I did a terrible job of staying healthy, there was still a voice in the back of my head making my conscious of what I was eating and doing (or rather, not doing), and I found that to be really helpful. It was difficult to be ignorant of what I was doing, and pretend like eating fast food for 3 meals a day was OK. NOT OK. I REALLY really hope to work my way up to running (my goal of running in May is falling alittle flat), and run/walk a 5K in June.
Getting Healthy, I love you!
Ashe, Week 8: Felt the Burn!
Oh Getting Healthy, lover, I don’t mean to gyp you with a short post on our last week together. But you see, tomorrow I fly out to see my Beau. And I go out there feeling pretty confident.
You see, I got back on track this week– with counting my calories (and boy was I overeating! When I ate within my healthy range, I was STARVING for the first two days), with working some exercise in every day, getting more fruit and veggies in to my diet, planning tasty and healthy meals for next week. I go out there knowing the Beau and I aren’t going to be eating out every meal– that we’re saving our waistlines and our pocketbooks.
I feel great– I feel in a place where I can build up my healthy habits before the summer starts, and my schedule shifts again (for the long haul). I was so excited to hit the grocery store this past month and pick up tasty goodies to eat at home (and not out!).
So Getting Healthy, here’s the overview:
My body weight & measurements have just about stayed the same.
My eating habits have shifted up and down.
My exercise habits have increased significantly, for as meek and slim as they may still be.
In short, I’m building a good foundation for building a great year of getting healthy.
Thanks for being along for the ride this chapter, dolls!
Lindsey, Week Seven: Does it really have to end?
I can’t believe this is the last week. I’m not ready to be done! I have so much left to do and so much further to go in my journey. I guess I’ll have to do it without you. sadface. I’ll definitely try to incorporate this as a regular series on my personal blog, so be sure to keep following over there! I love getting your feedback, and it has really helped me through this whole process!
The diet stuff: Last night boyfriend and I got to spend a weeknight together because he had a job interview up here! We made a fabulous dinner consisting of marinated pork chops, broiled asparagus, spinach and feta cheese pirogies, and baked potatoes. I made most of it myself, as I’m finally learning how to cook! Although, I had a lot of help from boyfriend and step-dad!
(I’m definitely not a food blogger, so this picture doesn’t do any justice to how delicious this meal was, but it gives you the idea!)
The exercise stuff: I’ve been slacking a little this week, due to some major stress going on at work. The last three days have been constant running around trying to fix a network problem, and by the time I’ve gotten home each night I’ve been half-dead. I hate coming home and needing a nap! One of my biggest goals as I say goodbye to Getting Healthy, is to work on having more energy throughout the day. I think between eating better and exercising more, I should be able to build that up a bit. At least that’s what boyfriend keeps telling me, we shall see.
The emotional stuff: I finally called the therapist, and of course she didn’t answer. I’ve called and left her two messages, but she hasn’t gotten back to me. If I don’t hear from her by the end of the week, I may start looking for a new one. I’m not sure what else to do, so I may have no other choice. I’d like to get into this one if possible, because she comes highly recommended, but we’ll see what happens I suppose.
Cholesterol check: I haven’t gone yet. I was really hoping to get there before this last post, to give an update on how it’s changed since September, but with the work issues, I wasn’t able to get there yet. If you’re at all interested in that update, I will definitely post it to my personal blog as soon as I get the results. I’m anxious to see if it has gone down, because I have drastically changed my diet and exercise over the past eight months since I last had it checked!
I want to thank you all for being part of this with me! It’s been such an awesome experience, blogging about this major roadblock in my life, and I wish I could keep going! It has definitely made me feel more accountable, and I hope I can continue to make progress without the “I need something to blog on GH about this week” push! I hope I at least opened an awareness to you that you should have your cholesterol checked, even if you are young. Get control of it now, before it’s too late!
Thanks again, for everything you’ve said that has helped me along the way!
Lovies,
~ Lindsey
April, Week Eight: Results
The Results:
When I hopped on the scale this morning I weighed 200 lbs which means my weight actually increased during getting healthy. I am so glad that I took my measurements otherwise I would be really discouraged!
I’m not too sure I can see a whole whack of a difference, but boy, do I feel different! Here are some of the things I have noticed since the start:
- increased energy
- i’m more alert
- more motivation (i’ve been keeping a cleaner house, have been more social)
- i am way more flexible (i wouldn’t even consider myself having tight hips anymore!)
- decreased anxiety
- i feel more balanced (way better moods!)
- better body awareness
- clearer skin
I also have fallen in love with hot yoga, been spending way more time in nature, have become less car dependent, and I am more efficent in everything I do.
In week 3 of GH I talked about half my body going numb along with other symptoms. Yesterday, I went to see a neurologist. Well it’s not 100% confirmed quite yet, but it’s most likely Adem or MS. Adem is quite similiar to MS — both are attacks on your central nervous system. What this means to me is that I have a whole new health journey ahead of me. I will not be taking any medication for anything and I will be focusing on prevention through a strict diet, exercise, stress relief techniques, homeopathics, and supplements. I’ll be going to see a Naturopath when the final tests are through and I am going to be really proactive.
i have the worst squint even on cloudy days!
Last week I wrote about doing a cleanse. I did an okay job at it this week, but still need to do a thorough one. I have tried all sorts of cleanses (lemonade, fasting, herbals), but the best one I have found is to follow a fairly strict candida free diet for at least a week. With my health condition, this will be the long-term plan of attack for my diet.
Here are some things I learnt in the past 8 weeks:
- take your measurements & write them down
- take some pictures so you can see your progress
- find something that will make you accountable to working out and eating right (blogs, friends, etc)
- find an exercise that you like and look forward to doing
Thank you for the comments, thank you for reading, and most of all thanks for keeping me accountable.
I plan to continue blogging about getting healthy on my own blog April Josephine.
Carole, Week 8; I don’t wanna say g’bye :*(
This is me very sad! :*(
Weight: 197 Bust: 40 Waist:35 Hips: 46
I’ve been dreading this post all day, well, all week actually. I can’t believe that it’s been 8 weeks already! Has it really? Can I rewind time and add a few more weeks.. like I dunno.. 8!?! I absolutely love posting on here every week. I love sharing my good and bad experiences, tracking my progress, reading the progress of others, and setting goals for each week. Healthy girls has been a positive experience for me. I’ve lost a fair amount of inches and 7lbs since week 1. I feel better mentally, my clothes are fitting better, and I’m excited to keep it up and see where the healthy road takes me.
My wonderful salad! mmmmmm
Food
So this week we continued the use of our lovely grill! It just makes cooking so much fun! Keith made some more wonderful chicken but this time I made sure to save some and used the extra for my lunch today. It was a wonderful salad with fresh greens, raisins, and cashews. It was sooo yummy!
this is an older pic but shows what humidity does to my hair!
Exercise
I continued to do my Turbo Jam videos this week. I really enjoy them but as I stated last week they are just to prepare me to begin P90x. Honestly, I’m a little intimidated by those workouts! It’s getting so terribly hot and muggy here and it’s not even June! Example; it was 90 degrees the past 3 days and so humid that my hair looked like Shirley Temple.
On a sad note, I was registered to run in a 5k in D.C. on May 2nd and to my dismay I missed it. I took it a little hard but I realized that there will be others. Maybe I’ll even be able to do the next one with someone else! Keith and I were talking and he was even giving in to the idea of walking it with me! how exciting is that?!?!
Keith, my supportive man! and an excellent cook!
Goals
I feel like I need to set a million goals here since this is my last and final post but it really just comes down to one: GETTING HEALTHY!
It will be my overall long term goal to continue down the road to getting healthy, to make conscious decisions when it comes to food and life, and put myself first when I need to!
This has truly been a wonderful experience for me, I wish you all the best of luck in your lives. Stay positive, believe in yourselves, and take every obstacle one step at a time!
Trying to leave HG with a smile! I'm sure gonna miss it!
xoxoxo
Carole
Kelly, Week Seven: Riding It Out
Some weeks you rock it; some weeks you ride it out. This week was the latter. You know, sometimes it seems like things are really bad, otherwise I’d be doing “better” at this. In truth, it’s that things are very busy and have been super emotionally intense over the last couple months, from sleep to stress to relationships to work. It’s kind of perfect in a way, because it shows me that I can be healthy and find balance even when things are not ideal.
Exercise:
I was pretty busy socially on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Sunday, Monday and Wednesday I got my workouts in: Sunday was a hike, Monday was upper body with the 15 lb weights again + 20 pushups + some abs. On Wednesday, I went for an hour+ walk. I’m still trying to be good to my shin splints, and the good news is that I think they’re healing. I walked on many of the other days for lunch. It’s a 30 minute walk and is a mile+. I don’t walk super fast though, so I just think of it as staying active, rather than a true workout.
Food:
Food was… um, well. I ate. We’ll just say that. I’m struggling with emotional eating again. When stress hits, I eat. I’d been doing well with not stressing about it, but today (for reasons that will soon become apparent) it’s bugging me that I’ve had chocolate and peanut butter at least twice this week, and ice cream twice or more.
I started the week with the best of intentions, y’all. I made egg cups and kale chips.
And for lunch, I made healthy choices. Lunch was turkey wraps with different kinds of salad (asparagus, peas and shallot salad and quinoa with apricots and almonds pictured here). It was dinner and snacks that derailed me, and one bagel incident.
The good news is that it didn’t have a super huge impact. I’ve only regained 0.5 lbs, and that’s with a week of fairly indulgent eating. I’m obviously not thrilled, but I’ll live. Given how incredibly rocky this week was, I think you have to give yourself some slack.
My self-esteem hasn’t taken a hit either. I’ve been feeling pretty darn saucy, and that’s major. In fact, I’d say that might be the biggest victory: I “failed”, but I don’t think of myself as a failure. This is just a blip on my radar, a tiny oops! within a greater pattern of healthy, sane behavior. I’ll get over it, get back on the wagon, and succeed for next week!
Stats: Height, a saucy 5’2″, Weight 176.
Also, a note: I’m traveling for work this week. I’ll be posting a day late next week: on Sunday, instead of Saturday. And boy, I’m going to have to work hard this week. Being healthy on the road isn’t easy. See you all next week, hopefully with some excellent news!
Ashley M: Week 7 – Unintentional success!
So, I’ve been crazy busy this last week. Tomorrow we’re hosting a Derby Party at our little house, and I’ve been preparing for it for weeeeeeeeeeeeks.
With all this preparation comes a lot of movement, and lifting and hauling, and unintentional exercise! So, for the last week, I’ve been busting ass and seeing (and feeling!) results. Last Sunday we spent a good portion of the day shoveling, hauling, lifting and dumping tubs of gravel that we removed from our flowerbeds. WHO landscapes with gravel, seriously?! After Sunday, I felt the burn in my arms and back for quite a few days afterward.
Welcome to the Gun Show
I count this week as a success because I’ve been MOTIVATED to move, and clean and be up and moving. Granted, some of that motivation comes from the OMG-I-Have-A-Party-On-Saturday! panic, but the more I’ve been up, and moving and sore afterward, the MORE I LOVE IT. This has made me feel like I have successfully integrated exercise into my life. I’m working to banish the lethargy and laziness that has always plagued me.
Through all this, I’ve learned that I ADORE gardening. It makes me feel calm and accomplished, and gets me outside and physical. Mental health AND physical health, BONUS.
As far as food goes, things have been a little rougher. I made a giant bowl of Pasta Carbonara a la Pioneer Woman, and I’ll be straight with you, it was not a healthy recipe. Bacon, butter, wine, carbs, but OMG delicious. However, I made this pasta with the intention of using it as lunch fodder for the week – and it was a smashing success. I would rather have a small portion of a homemade pasta dish than have to go through a drive thru for lunch. So, while my food choices weren’t lean or light, the portions were, and I knew EXACTLY what was going into my body.
Mentally, I’ve been stressed, but my outlook has been overwhelmingly positive. With May 1st TOMORROW, I decided a while ago that I was going to use May to do a complete overhaul on my life. I’m really looking forward to that milestone and the things that will come along with it. Part of this is integrating running into my life. I’ve been talking about it for a while, but according to Dick’s Sporting Goods, May is National Runners Month, and I’m going running. My plan is to run every day in May, and then run a 5K at the start of June. It’s been pointed out to me that this plan may burn me out, but I do intend to take “rest” days. In the past, I’ve started running with the best of intentions, but once I take my first rest day, I fall off the wagon. I plan to run everyday – in SOME capacity – to prevent that gap. I’ll still take “rest” days, but they’ll involve a slow jog around the block (approx. 0.5 miles) because I need to make running a habit.
My first day of running is tomorrow, and it’ll be slow and short, but it’s the first day of something great.
xoxo
Lindsey, Week Seven: Trying to stay afloat
I want to start off by apologizing for being a day late on this. My mind has been all over the place and I completely forgot about posting until just a few minutes ago. It won’t happen again, I promise!!
The diet stuff: Boyfriend and I went to Wegmans this weekend and picked up some really good food! We got a few new things to try, that I’m pretty excited about. I think this weekend I’m going to marinate pork chops in this garlic dressing stuff we bought, so I’ll try to take some pictures of that to show you! I know I said that about the quesadillas too, but we never got around to making them. I’ve been eating pretty well, a lot better than I used to, although I did go out quite a few times this week, which I need to slow down on. I don’t eat well when I go out, because I can’t pass up french fries! I’m working on finding different things to take in my lunches, so I’m not tempted to pass up what I brought to go out.
The exercise stuff: I finally took my chances on double-dipping classes at the gym on Monday! I did Pilates and then went straight into Yoga. It was my first Pilates class, and I loved it! It’s such a different workout than yoga, and I could definitely feel it the next couple of days! I felt really good about doing both, but I must say it made me realize how not in shape I really am! Yoga was a lot harder for me after the full hour of working out beforehand, and I was hurting by the end of it. I’m gonna keep it up though, and try both again next week. I can’t wait til I can feel awesome after doing both!
The emotional stuff: As you know, last week was hard. This past weekend was even harder, and I’m ready for things to not be so hard! I haven’t called the therapist yet, because I suck and just haven’t taken the time to dial the number. I think part of it is that I’m scared. I’ve felt this way for so long, I don’t remember how to feel any other way. I know it’s stupid to think like that, because I know I’ll feel better. I promise I’ll call tomorrow. I also got another order of those mood elavator vitamins I told you about, and I really think they help. Hopefully I can start remembering to take them!
I still haven’t had my cholesterol checked again, because I keep forgetting to fast for 12 hours. I need to just not eat late one evening, and go first thing in the morning before work. I will have an update on that next Wednesday. You can hold me to that!
As you can see, my mind is kinda all over the place still, and I’m having a hard time focusing and remembering things I need to do. All the more reason to call that lady. I really need to get my mind straightened out!!
Ashe, Week 7:
Body Stats: Pretty much unchanged, weight approx. 215, waist approx. 42″
Let’s give it up for getting slowly and surely back on track!
This past weekend I did the 15 minute warm up from Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease coupled with 5-10 minutes of yoga. Its been my intent all week to make this my new workout plan, but I’ve kind of been forgetting. I HAVE remembered to start back up with my yoga daily, to get out and walk around more every day. Hopefully in this next week I can get my butt back in gear to adding that warm-up in, and eventually moving on to the full work-outs…
(Sorry it’s without instructions, but gives you an idea!)
My diet is slowly getting back on track, although my finances are in a pickle & it’s preventing me from getting my dose of fresh fruit & veggies– and wow can I feel the difference! It’s amazing how switching from a healthier diet to a processed diet, and bouncing between the two of them really makes you conscious of how food impacts your body.
The goals for next week: get regular with my Carmen Electra Aerobic Striptease workout, and stock up this payday on fresh fruits, veggies, swing by the local markets and get back to eating healthy!
