Saturday, January 28, 2006

Hiking in rain!!

I took both the kids hiking today with my son's cubscout troop. It was fun, even though the whole time it was raining. We went to China Camp State Park, in San Rafael, CA. The trail we went on was beautiful!! It's a great way to get exercise, but I didn't walk at a fast pace. I read somewhere that walking at a slow pace burns more calories then walking at a fast pace. I have no idea how many calories I burned today. In total, the hike was close to a mile roundtrip. I want to go agin, with a friend, and follow the trail longer.

As for loosing weight: no change in lbs from last week. Could be the time of the month , or could be I didn't work out hard enough. OR it could be that I'm still not picking the right foods to eat daily. Oh well, there's still 10 more weeks for me to loose weight in the challenge.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Before and After Exercise: Part 2

Whew!! Took a while for me to get back on, but here is the After part.

AFTER:

Since 11/28/05 I've lost 4 lbs!!
2 of those lbs were lost between 1/11 and 1/20!!
I don't get dizzy bending down.
I looooooovvvvveeeeee yogurt now!
Headaches? What headaches?
I CAN TOUCH MY TOES!!
I go to Curves Monday to Friday, rain or shine (or ice)
I can do 15 crunches without my back hurting!
I am constantly moving around.
I can finally dance with my daughter without loosing my breath!
I discovered that I like exercising.
I have ENERGY!!
My husband has noticed the small differences! ;)

AND

I FEEL SOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER ABOUT MYSELF AND WHAT I CAN ACCOMPLISH!

If only I can apply this newfound energy to my home business, then we really will be rockin!! But that's a whole 'nother story, another day, another time.

Now comes the hard part: eating right, watching calories, and keep melting away the fat, and keep it away!!

I have to make dinner now for the kids.

I feel like shouting to the whole world that I feel good!! OK then:

I FEEL GOOD!!!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Before and After Exercise

Ok I think I have enough time before the scheduled outage here.

Before Exercise:

I got winded doing a load of laundry.
Getting in and out of the car both winded me and made me dizzy.
Going up stairs took my breath away.
I couldn't touch my toes.
I couldn't bend down without getting dizzy.
I had waaaaayyy too many migranes.
I ate lots of junk food.
I was a size 14.
I weighed 185lbs.
I slept a lot.
I ate lots of chocolate.
I never ate at home.
I was addicted to diet sodas and Carl's JR.
I was also addicted to McDonald's and BK.
I had to super size everything when possible.
I would eat like I was starving.
I was a couch potato.
I stayed at home and never went anywhere w/out my entire family.
I was sick 350 days of the year.
A cold would last three months.
The cough would last twice as long.

Dare I go on?

Friday, January 20, 2006

The Weight Loss Journey is HARD!!

I found this great arcticle on www.internetbasedmoms.com. There's a section where people post thier free reprint arcticles.

Make A Weight-Loss New Year’s Resolution And Stick With It All Year Long Losing weight is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions each year. We all start with great intentions but after a few weeks, we fall back into our usual unhealthy lifestyle and the weight we did lose creeps back on. Let’s take a look at what steps to take to make sure we still stick to our weight-loss resolution at the end of December. Determine your “Why” and write it down. Think about the reason why you want to loose weight. Is it to look better in a bathing suit for that vacation in July? Is it to be healthier and get your risk for heart disease and diabetes down? Do you want to be able to enjoy a more active lifestyle? Do you want more energy to play catch with the kids? Be as specific as possible. Now take out a sheet of paper and write down your big “Why”. Set and write down sensible weight-loss goals. The next important tip to being able to stick to your weight-loss goal is to set a sensible goal to begin with. You shouldn’t expect yourself to loose more than 1 to 2 pounds per week. Look for a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator online to help you determine whether you are underweight, normal, overweight, or obese. The higher your BMI, the more weight you can expect to lose in the long run. If you are in the normal range, but feel that you should lose weight, you may not want to aim for more than 5 pounds. On the other hand, if you are obese, than losing 50 pounds this year may be a good goal for you. I would also like to encourage you to consult with your physician before starting any weight loss program. He or she can give you an even better idea on a good goal for you. Make a plan you can stick with all year long. You know yourself better than just about anyone else. Most likely you’ve been on a diet or two (or more). So you already know what doesn’t work for you. You’ll be most likely to stick with something common sense making small changes that you can live with from here on. Eat healthier and consume fewer calories, but also get more active. Set small goals along the way. Look at where you are at now and at your goal for the end of the year. Now break it down into several small goals. You want to break your weight loss journey down into small chunks that seem more attainable. Focus on the first “mini” goal until you reach it and then move on to the next one. Keep track of your progress. Keep a journal and record what you eat and how active you are during the day. If you chase the kids around the yard for 20 minutes, record it. Writing these things down builds accountability. You’ll find yourself thinking, “If I eat that cookie, I’ll have to write it down. I better skip it”. Or if you haven’t been a couch potato all day, you may be motivated to take a quick walk around the block so you can jot it down in your journal. Celebrate each small goal. Remember those small goals you planed out? Make sure you celebrate each goal you reach – but not with food. Reward yourself with a new blouse, a manicure, or a good book. Pick something you truly enjoy. This will build some positive reinforcement that will keep you going until you reach the next goal. Keep your “Why” in mind. Don’t loose track of the big picture. Remind yourself daily of your big “Why”, the reason why you want to lose weight. Keep the sheet of paper with your reason for losing weight close by and read it every morning or every evening. This is another big motivator to keep you going all year. Losing weight can seem like a daunting task, especially if you have a fair amount to lose and you are just starting out. Don’t let it intimidate you though. Take it one step and one pound at a time. Before you know it, it will be the December and you will be 5, 10 or 50 pounds lighter. I know you can do it! Susanne Myers invites you to discover a healthier you. Think healthy cooking is hard? Or expensive? Think again. The Healthy Menu mailer makes it easy by providing you with a week's worth of healthy dinner recipes and the grocery list to go along. To find out how you can save time and money and still fix delicious and nutritious meals visit http://www.healthymenumailer.com


It's too true. As long as I am reminding myself why I want to loose weight, then I can keep my schedule. My "why"- I want to be able to keep up with my kids, and fit back into all my clothes again!!

On another note:
A pal of mine who goes to Curves also decided that we should go for hikes after our workout. I think we will do it Monday's and Wednesday's. I'm proud of being a Curves member!! Since I had been an exercise-a-phobic, this change is dramatic for me. But it's been well worth it. Not much in my life has changed. The only changes have been adding exercise to the day, and cutting down the amount of sugary foods and corn tortilla's, and adding more fruits and veggies. You may say that's alot, but it doesn't seem like it. But like I said before, it's been well worth it!! I starte Curves on 11/28/05, weighing 185 lbs (ouch!). Between then and 1/11/06 I lost two pounds!! Then I weighed myself today, and I have lost another 2 lbs!!!! I now weigh 181!! OOOHHH, but it feels AWESOME!

More to come next week. See ya!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Too much to do!

Wow! The last few days have been hectic. It actually is harder than I thought to try and stick to a "diet." I workout at Curves. They have a suggested diet to follow that works with your eating habits and workout. I took a test to determine which diet I should follow. There are three parts to the test. In the first, I had to check off symptoms that I experience on a regular basis, such as nervousness, fatigue, depression, headaches, and cravings for starch and sugar rich foods. There was a total of 20 symptoms, and I hit on 17. That was a test of symtoms of carbohydrate intolerance. The second test is a total of 8 statments. I checked of 5 of them, one including "you are more than 25 pounds overweight." OOOOHHHH is that ever true!! I am actually 50 lbs overweight for my age and height. I am 5'3", under 30 years old, therefore I should be an ideal 130lbs. Not the case at all. The last test did not apply to me. It was for people who didn't answer any statements of the second.

Based on the results, I should be on a high protein diet. I will go over that in another posting. Right now, my kids need to eat, so I will go make them food.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Welcome!!

HI and Welcome to my first post- the first of many to come!!

You ask- "What do you mean by Health and Wellness?"

Answer- You are concerned about your health, are you not? Nearly everybody in the world is concerned to a degree, some more than others. Let's face it- your health is important to you. Without good health, you would not be able to do many of the things that you currently do, i.e. exercising, working, and basically enjoying life. Your Wellness plays a part of your health. Total wellness is achieving success in four different areas of your life- Physical wellness, Financial wellness, Environmental wellness, and Personal wellness.


The Four Areas of Wellness
1. Physical Wellness:
My making sure you are well physically,
you are ensuring that you will live a longer, healthier life.
2. Financial Wellness
This is where you make sure that your financial future is safe,
and that you are completely debt free.
3. Environmental Wellness
Your home and work environment play a humongous part in your health.
Clean out your home and office, use less chemically deriven products,
and give back to the environment.
You are not the only one who lives on this planet (but you already knew that!).
4. Personal Wellness
You want to achieve total balance, freedom, and peace of mind
in your personal and family life.
By working in all four areas of wellness,
you
CAN ACHIEVE
TOTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS!!
In the future, this blog will contain links to point you in the right direction, arcticles on how you can achieve such total wellness, and much, much more!!
Watch for weekly and monthly updates.
In the next blog:
Start your year off by successfully exercising and eating right, and loosing excess weight.
I'll show you what I personally am doing on my own weight loss journey, and I'll have links for you where you can find weight loss recipes, places to workout, and where I found other helpful tips to succeed. See you then!!