Haikus for Health

A few haikus:

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Dieting is hard

Being overweight is hard

Time to choose your hard

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Food tried to rule me

I ate more when sad or mad

No more; I rule me

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Hated exercise

Made commitment to be fit

Now lost without it

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Care to share your own health and fitness haiku with me?  Haikus are un-rhyming short poems with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line and five syllables in the last line. Get creative!

PS I was totally inspired to write haikus by this post on Able-Bodied Girl's blog.

My Cycling Adventure

The weather has been spectacular lately, so I've been taking as many workouts as possible outside.  Today when I got home from work, I was excited to take my bike out on the road.  I also needed to make a run to the library, so it was the perfect excuse to save some gas, complete my errand and be just a tad bit greener.

Now, it should be known that I don't own a bike, but my sister loaned me hers at the end of last summer to keep indefinitely.  I only got to ride it a handful of times before it got too cold.  It has some different gears, but I don't really know how they work or how many there are.  I mostly just ride and adjust the gears when going up and down hill until it feels right.  I'm also not the best at steering. I have a tendency to lose my balance and jerk the wheel erratically.

So today I took off, towards the library, as soon as I got home from work.  I'd like to say that biking was a good way to explore my home town, but that would be a lie.  The area between my house and the library is not the nicest of areas, and the sidewalks are full of overgrown weeds, broken glass bottles and other trash. Oh, and today is garbage day, so I was also dodging trashcans.  I was racing against the sun setting, so I had to take the most direct route to and from the library.  Plus, because of my erratic steering and the heavy traffic next to me (I rode the whole way there and back on the sidewalk, because the streets I took are so busy.), I had to focus just on the bit of sidewalk directly in front of me and couldn't look around to enjoy the scenery.

So I suppose I could of found a prettier place to ride my bike, but it's amazing how freeing it feels to be able to get somewhere with just my feet on some pedals and no car.  It also was exciting, trying to get there and get back as fast as possible.  Plus, it just feels like I accomplished something with my workout, you know?

So I'm not sure I have a point for this particular blog, except to share my little adventure with you.  And to remind you that workouts don't have to involve a gym or a treadmill. If your workouts bore you, maybe you just need to get a little bit creative with what you call a workout?

Weekend Meltdowns

It seems I've fallen into the habit of being super healthy, motivated and on track during the week, and falling off the wagon every weekend.

It's easier to stick with routines and schedules during the week. On the weekend -- anything goes. I might sleep in (until, gasp!, 8:30 a.m.!), I might work out extra, I might be busy visiting with friends or family from the time I get up until the time I go to bed, or I might spend the whole weekend vegged out on the couch in front of the TV.  Every weekend means a host of different activities, but one thing remains the same: I eat horribly. It's ironic, because at the same time I am eating horribly, I am shopping and prepping healthy foods for the week.

Is it just the lack of routine? Is it because I allow myself to eat out? Is it because I sometimes can't control my meals, what time I eat them and where?  Is it because I've developed an attitude that says, "I've been good all week, I deserve a splurge?"

I'm not sure, to be honest (Translation: those were all rhetorical questions above).  I am sure that there is nothing wrong with a splurge or a couple of meals eaten in restaurants.  I've read a lot about dieting, and I've seen the 80/20 rule referenced a lot. The principle is that you should eat healthy 80 percent of the time, and allow yourself to splurge the other 20 percent.

But, as I believe I've posted before, splurges* can be a slippery slope. Once I let my guard down and let one unhealthy but delicious treat pass my lips, it's like I've opened the floodgates for more.  It's easier to stay in control if I stay strict, but at the same time, I can't be strict 100 percent of the time. I feel like this is something I'm going to be navigating the rest of my life.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Can I get an amen!?! (Or just some suggestions on how to improve my weekend eating?)

*I apologize for my overuse of the word splurge tonight. Apparently my internal thesaurus is malfunctioning.

Loved

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22: 35-40

It seemed apropos to explore some aspect of love today, even though Valentine's Day has never been a very big deal to me.  Over breakfast I began thinking about what I would post tonight and these verses popped into my mind.  I tried to ignore them at first, but all day long I kept coming back to this single thought: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

It is a pretty radical verse, one that is the epitome of Jesus' teaching.  But a few years ago, I heard it preached in a different way and I wish I could remember the speaker and the event to give them credit, but I can't.  Perhaps more importantly, though, I have looked at this verse, and myself, differently ever since.  The point was that in order to follow Jesus' teaching and love your neighbor as yourself, you have to first love yourself.

Let me let that sink in a bit.

Sometimes the hardest person to love is ourselves, especially for women.  It's easier to focus on our flaws. It's easier to say- "My hair is weird" or "I'm fat" or "Nobody loves me on Valentine's Day" or "I'm a bad wife/sister/mom/friend" or  whatever it is you say to yourself to beat yourself up.

But you are a child of God, a uniquely created being. There will never be another you. God knows the number of hairs on your head and he loves you beyond measure.

"This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us." 1 John 4:10
"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

So today, no matter what your relationship status or your feelings toward Valentine's Day, remember that you are loved and remember to love yourself.  If you have that straight in your mind, you are so much better equipped to go and love your neighbors.

What are some ways you show yourself love?  Today, I stopped letting Singles Awareness Day affect my mood by reminding myself of this post I had been pre-composing in my head. It helped me to remember my value and in turn was able to eat a healthy meal at home for dinner as planned, instead of making a rash stop for junk food on the way home. Oh, and I've also been reading over a pretty sweet list written yesterday by my best friend that lists 101 reasons why she loves me.  That's helped too :)

This Week's Tastiness Part Two

I loved the Chile Verde recipe I made last week so much, that I decided to make it again this week. I hope that makes it a strong enough endorsement for you to consider adding this recipe to your arsenal of favorite recipes. I know I've added it to mine. It's so easy.  It takes about ten minutes of chopping vegetables, but then you just dump it all in a crock pot and let it cook for eight hours and you're done!

Mom and Dad were here this weekend and while they were getting packed up this morning, I went ahead and started making my meals.  This gave Mom the chance to taste a fresh tomatillo and Dad the chance to correct my pronunciation of it (he doesn't like tomato-like products).  It also gave me the chance to impress Dad with my ability to cook two meals simultaneously.  He's a great multi-tasking cook, and he was proud to have passed the skills on to me.

My second recipe I found on the Bell Plantation web site.  Bell Plantation makes PB2, a powdered peanut butter product that I've heard lots of people rave about on various diet/healthy living blogs.  It is just ground peanuts with a bit of salt and sugar, so it is much healthier for you then the peanut butter you buy in the store. You can either mix it with water to make peanut butter or you can use it in the various recipes they have on their site.   If you've been reading the blog, you know I love peanut butter, and I thought this would be both a healthier way to eat it and a simple way to control it (you only mix up enough peanut butter for one serving at a time.)

I decided to order some this week, because I've been curious about it.  Mixing it with water actually makes pretty tasty peanut butter, but I also wanted to try some recipes. So I found  PB2 and Pasta Bake on their website and set about making it. It wasn't until I was done that I realized the recipe never told me when to put the PB2 in!  It has it listed in the ingredients, but never told me what to do with it, so it ended up being a regular old pasta dish, with no exciting peanut buttery twist.  Oh well, it's still pretty good.

Here's a picture:

Diet Drink Detox

A play by play of my detox. Is it too much info for you? Sorry.


9:30 a.m. Sunday: decided not to buy any more diet coke/pepsi and to break the habit when my supply ran out

7:30 a.m. Monday: decided to just have one diet coke each morning until they are all gone; should be gone mid-weekend

7:30 a.m. Wednesday: had last diet coke of my life, but did not realize it would be the last; I didn’t even say goodbye

7:30 a.m. Thursday: didn’t start the day with my usual diet coke, but thought I would wait and see if I could stretch the time in between last coke to next coke; decided I would have it mid-morning instead

Midmorning Thursday: was too busy to think about diet coke

2:30 p.m. Thursday: headache began, but had forgotten about the lack of diet coke and thought it was stress-related, rather than caffeine

3:15 p.m. Thursday: went to the gym to cycle, hoping the distraction would clear up the headache

4:15 p.m. Thursday: done at the gym, but headache had gotten worse

4:30 p.m. Thursday: realized headache was because of the lack of caffeine; decided that since I had already 

dealt with it a couple of hours, I would just power through and not drink any more diet cokes

5:15 p.m. Thursday: left work to head to local gym for Body Pump (still using my free week pass)

5:45 p.m. Thursday: thought that when you have a headache, weight lifting is the worst form of exercise to be doing

7 p.m. Thursday: arrived home from gym and showered, headache was still horrible, but kept forgetting to take medicine

8 p.m. Thursday: remembered to finally take some extra strength Tylenol

8:30  p.m. Thursday: felt some relief

10:30 p.m. Thursday: went to bed with headache back in full force, couldn’t fall asleep

12:30 a.m. Friday: woke up to text message from stupid cell phone company, headache still raging

12:30 a.m.-6:30 a.m. Friday: slept fitfully, waking repeatedly; shouldn’t a lack of caffeine in my system help me sleep better?

7:30 a.m. Friday: woke with no headache; prepared breakfast and stared mournfully at one diet coke and one diet pepsi left in the fridge

8:30 a.m. Friday: went to work and told Judy K. about my impromptu ditching of the diet drinks; commiserated with her about some foods tasting better with soda

9:30 a.m. Friday: felt sad about no longer drinking diet coke; began thinking about wanting to go out to lunch to mourn my friend (diet drinks), but made plans to walk with Monica outside in the sunshine during lunch hour instead

10:30 a.m. Friday: couldn’t stop thinking about eating lunch out; ate snack instead

12 p.m. Friday: decided I was being stupid about wanting to eat lunch out and ate the lunch I brought from home, like a good girl

3 p.m. Friday: caved under self-imposed faux-pressure to drink something besides water; went to vending to get caffeine-free Sprite

3:15 p.m. Friday: realized that Sprite has 140 calories in one can! You can bet I won't be doing that again. That's more than what's in a light beer!

7:30 a.m. Saturday: 72 hours caffiene free and slept like a baby.

It really was not bad at all!  Here's hoping it helps with these last 5.5 pounds!

Self Confidence Secret

Can I tell you what makes a big difference in my self confidence these days, but really doesn't take all that much time?

Lean in close. It's a secret.

Abdominal work.

I used to never do ab work. I just figured, "What's the point of having ripped abs, if you can't see them under a layer of flab?" I thought I should be spending all of my time on cardio, and even if I did strength training, I skipped the abs.  I hated doing them.

When I first started doing ab work consistently, I was surprised to discover how quickly I could tell a difference, and what a difference it made.  During the last couple of months I have not been super consistent in the weight room (which is where I do my ab work), only getting in there once or twice a week. It has left me feeling really flabby.

However, the past several weeks I've been more consistent.  What a confidence booster it is to be able to feel my strong muscles!  This is true for all muscles, but for the abs especially.  When my abs are tight, it makes me feel/look slimmer with a defined waist line, even if I haven't lost all of the weight yet.  My abdominal muscles may not be visible to the eye, but I can definitely feel them.

I've changed up my routine from when I last posted about abs (link included above) and now include exercises for the lower abs and obliques, in addition to crunches for the upper/middle abdominal muscles.  The whole set only takes about 10-12 minutes, and I only do it three times a week, but that seems to be enough.

If you're looking for a quick way to feel better about yourself, determine a routine (perhaps something as simple as two sets of 15-20 regular crunches and 2 sets of 15-20 side crunches) and stick to it consistently for a few weeks.  Do it at least three times a week, but you can do more if you want. You'll feel the difference in no time!