Managing the Eating

The Picture above pretty much describes how I feel all the time now. It's difficult to transition back to normal healthy life after eating like a cow due to 3 and 4 hr rides regularly. But I'm getting closer. And in response to the goals question, mine are these:

1) High Nutrient-Calorie Ratio. I believe I often get out of whack because I eat the High Glycemic index foods first (or snack on them), and it changes my appetite. Snack on Fruits and Vegetables. Eat Fruits and Vegetables first during meals before eating the other stuff.

2) Portion Control (Especially on the Carbs). I like eating plates of pasta. My body has always done well with carbs and lots of them. But it does affect the way I feel. Not enough, and I feel totally drained without energy; too much, and I just want to sit on the couch and eat ice cream. Neither are good, healthy, or solid lifelong decisions. So I'm going to try to figure out what a reasonable serving size is, and limit my intake to just that. Only eat these at meals, thus snacking on?...produce.

But someday, I will find a burrito like the one pictured above, and I will straight dominate it.

Braggin': An Ode to Trainers & Encouragers

Ever seen that television commercial for Celebrity (I think) Cruise Lines? The one where the viewer sees a 50+ lady step out onto a raised platform in front of a theatre curtain, thanking all her supporters - her personal trainer and husband for helping her get where she is....and then a waiter with a loaded serving tray slips past her to wait on the diners in the cruise ship dining room? That's me. I want to brag on myself and my EXCELLENT trainers and thank my encouragers.

The plan was to weigh in and measure my body at the one year mark of my weight and cardio training, but a visit to the doctor for my yearly GYN exam prompted us to move the assessment forward by a month. Somehow I had missed the 6 and 9 month assessments, and I hadn't been weighing myself because I had gained, not lost weight in the first four months. I knew I was building muscle and gaining endurance and I'd dropped a dress size by the 9 month mark, so I wasn't all that worried about the weight - I thought it would come down eventually if I stayed consistent in my training and made moderate adjustments in my already relatively healthy eating habits.

So after a year here's the data:

• I've lost 18 pounds! (those highly discouraging menopausal pounds)



• My blood pressure has gone from 120/80 to 100/68



• My body fat percentage has dropped from 37.5% to 30%!



• Inches lost:



• Shoulders: 3



• Chest: 2.5



• Waist: 7.5



• Hips: 5.5



• Upper Thigh: .5



• Calf : .5



• Arm: .5

So Thank you, Julie (pictured below) for getting me started with your bouncy hair and personality, your inspiringly fit booty- oops- body, your creative, just-hard-enough workouts that were perfect for my overweight, out-of-shape body and psyche, your positive outlook and counsel and your continuing encouragement.

THANK YOU, LYNN! (pictured at the top with me and on her fitness modeling comp card below). You pack a LOT of power to propel others to fitness in your incredibly strong, albeit, tiny body. Your workouts for me (coupled with my panting and groans) have been hard enough to elicit frequent sympathy comments from other women working out, hard enough to keep me dreading (just a little!) the planks or medicine ball sprints or squatting chest rows (or whatever exercise set is the current hardest) and and hard enough to make me look forward to the incredible sense of achievement and empowerment I know I will feel at the end of the workout.

You have proven to me, that even though the workouts you design for me are hard, they are always just within my reach. They have enough creativity and variety to keep me guessing about what I'll be doing and looking forward to what I'll be learning for use in workouts I do on my own. Thank you for your friendship, your consistently excellent training, your nutrition counsel and your continual commendation and encouragement - comments you've made have fueled me for weeks!

I'm hoping you guys are still with me after seeing these pictures of Julie and Lynn because I have two more thank yous. Thank you, Sam for inspiring me with your life and your encouragement and thank you, David, for continuing, throughout 32 years of marriage (even my 185 lb. pregnancy and my "don't mess with me, buster" menopausal personality) to grab my butt, make all those silly invitations to love-making, and to make me - no other thing or person - your turn-on. Here's to many more years of choosing life together.

2008 Health and Fitness Goals, Anyone?

I've never been one to get all hepped up about New Years' Resolutions, but I figured as long as I was ruminating on my fitness goals for this coming year, I might as well post them so others can check on my progress every now and then. I think I might finally, at 52, have enough wisdom / humility to value accountability to those who really care about me. So, in light of the fact that I've made great strides getting back on a "choose life and fitness" track in 2007, here are the actions I'm going to focus on implementing in 2008:

1. Water, water, everywhere, and Sandy gets her fill.

Enough of the dehydration that's been too much a part of my 2007. I proved that carrying the water bottles everywhere isn't enough. For starters, I'm numbering 6 1-liter water bottles to fill and drink each day.

2. This is the floss that followed the brush that brushed the teeth that Sandy has.

All you young'uns will think it ridiculous that this needs to be one of my goals at 52, but trust me, it does. In the thick of my despair two years ago, I went through way too many consecutive days without even brushing, and I've always struggled with daily flossing. I've been improving throughout this past year, but now it's time to make it a daily habit.

3. Sandy be nimble, Sandy be quick, to take your vitamins without a slip.

Only David knows just how dismal my performance has been on this. I figure I will have met my '08 goal if I take all my supplements 3-4 days a week.

4. Four and twenty veggies waiting on my plate, to be eaten in the raw, not baked in a pie...

More fresh, raw fruits and veggies for me in '08. I've always been a salad lover, but all the health/fitness specialists I've been reading/listening to tell me I need to consume more to have the quality of life I want to have in my 80's and 90's. I do, indeed, plan to be one of those positive, feisty centenarians in whom others still find enjoyment.

5. Sandy had some bike shoe clips that she learned how to use...

My family gave me a road bike for my birthday this past June. I and my butt have gotten used to the new riding posture (I've always had upright cruisers and trail bikes) and I am becoming comfortable with shifting the drive chain from one sprocket wheel to another. Now its time to learn to use those toe clips.

6. By the shore of sunny Seminole, by the shining big pool water...

So now that I'm officially a City of Seminole resident, and a proud holder of an "already paid for it with my taxes" rec center card, I have no real excuse other than conflicting commitments and schedules to keep me from entering the pool on a regular basis once it opens again. Here's to adding swimming as a regular part of my fitness routine in '08.

7. Sandy biked and ran the hills having swam through the water..

My first triathlon in 2008, Inshallah.

OK, those are mine. What are yours?