Giving up on myself

Sandra Ahten's blog post this past week was all about not giving up on yourself. I have been listening to the podcast post (free on iTunes in Reasonable Diet podcast.) over and over again on my hike/walk/jogs. I don't want to give up. I am so ready to be back in the game. I'm doing the AM cardio, I even started weighing in again. For some reason, that particular part of the accountability is critical for me. I'm not ready to give up. I think I might have given up a little bit inside this year. I wasn't seeing the loss I had expected. But you know what? I wasn't doing every little thing I could possibly think of, I was doing my workouts and I was calorie cycling. I wasn't getting 60 min. in my THR 6 days/week. I wasn't weighing/measuring my eats. I was allowing more sweets. Maybe, at my age (a birthday looms large in the coming week.) it takes everything not just most of it. I don't want to give up. I want to make progress or at the very least, point in the right direction.

Actually true

Sandra Ahten of The Reasonable Diet Podcast is a great inspiration to me. One of the things that she has said on her podcast that has always stuck with me is: "Don't let your thinking protect your eating." One of the things I have had to learn how to do on this weight loss journey is to differentiate between the truth and what I think. You may think that you can't give up a certain food or habit. You may think that you can't develop a new good habit, such as regular exercise, yoga or adding extra vegetables to your meals. The truth is that is just what you think. The likelihood is that your thought is not actually true. If you take yourself out of the equation and ask is it possible for a person to exercise on a regular basis? Is it possible to squeeze some time out of my week to prevent disease and to relieve stress? If the answer is no, ok. But, if the answer is yes, then the truth is that you don't have the momentum and the habit yet. No one starts before they start. Consider that what you think is not actually true and try giving the truth a chance. You don't have to know that you can, you don't have to feel that you can, all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other.

Inspired by Penny, I'm up on my soap box.

The challenge presented was the quickest, easiest, and most entertaining way to lose weight. And it must be free. Thanks to the internet, many tools are now very inexpensive or even free. In my mind there are several parts to an effective weight loss plan. What you eat, how you choose to add movement and importantly, what you use to help motivate yourself throughout the process. I believe that each aspect can be addressed for a minimal cost thanks in large part to giving podcasters, the internet, and ultimately to Steve Jobs who insisted on something better than the walkman (remember those?)

It has been found that 80% of your success with weight loss is garnered from your diet. What you put in your mouth is pretty much the thing that determines success or failure to lose weight. The trick is discovering what causes you (not your friend) to lose weight, gain weight or prevents weight loss. I, personally, gain weight from fried chicken, Chinese take out, pizza, donuts, and ice cream. Fitday or Spark can help you make the connection from what you are eating to what happens with your body. Even without purchasing measuring cups and a food scale, just writing down what you ate can help you understand what is going on with your body. Also, make a note of when you feel good and when you feel bad. Does eating certain foods give you headaches or indigestion? Does alcohol always make you gain weight, no matter how little calories you ate? Does eating soy slow down your weight loss? Does protein powder make you gain weight? I always put on weight with those foods. You may notice similar kinds of issues but with foods that bother your body, that may be an entirely different list from my list.

Often people whine and complain about the cost of healthy food. After all, Top Ramen is like 10 cents! Well, you just found a very cheap source of calories. The question is, what did it do for you? It filled your belly. How long after that were you hungry again? Did you have to add something to it? Look, I'm not saying top ramen is evil, but consider those inexpensive veggies you can add to your diet, improve the nutrition going into your body, and still not break the bank. Be honest, how much did you spend on coffee? Those fancy coffee drinks are not cheap. But, guess what, cabbage, carrots, and fruit in season is cheap. And, what little money you spend now is much less than the price of doctor visits when you have poor health from being undernourished and obese at the same time. Visit Sandra Ahten's podcast the Reasonable diet or 6 minutes of sanity to learn more about inexpensive diet options. (I'm not paid by her for the 'endorsement', it was free.)

Last night I bought a head of lettuce for $1.29. Its a beautiful red leaf lettuce packed full of nutrition and flavor. If you buy your nuts on sale like I do at Raley's, you can get almonds in bulk for $3.99 a pound. Its not always that cheap, but their nuts are good and fresh. Thats a whole pound! Thats 16 servings. Do the math. Its 25 cents per serving. For the lettuce its about 4 servings which is about 32 cents a serving. (I'm rounding) Add lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper, guess what you just had lunch. You can add protein if you want. Thats up to you.

Exercise: walking or jogging. In theory you can just go out the front door. But, we all know there are potential issues that can crop up. I do have a small kit of things that help me with my walking, hiking and jogging. Other inexpensive options are jump rope or calisthenics. Netflix is an excellent source for workout dvds. Yoga Today.com is a free streaming source for new yoga workouts off the internet. I'm assuming that you have internet access because you are reading this.

Meditation, while more relaxation than activity, helps tremendously with your mental outlook and health. We all need a mood boost and when we aren't using food for emotional support we must get it elsewhere.

My favorite podcasts for motivation are Inside Out Weight Loss with Renee Stephens, The Reasonable Diet with Sandra Ahten, Motivation to Move with Scott Smith and Joy, Pheddipidations, and The Two Gomers run a marathon. All are free. Yippee! I love the free. Well, except you do need a mp3 player, computer, and internet access. So, in a way its free. The content is free. I find motivation on Spark people reading other people's blogs. Those are free!

The tools I use most of the time that are not free:
1. Digital food scale. I got mine on sale, it was $30 at Target. The price varies.
2. iPod Shuffle. Mine says "rapid breath" because thats what I do in yoga. Cool, right?
3. Wrap around ear buds are awesome because your buds don't fly out of your ears when you are jogging.
4. Sweat band (dollar store). I really hate sweat in my eyes.
5. cuddl-dudz workout pants ($15 Target for two pair.)
6. sunglasses (Dollar store)
7. Trainers: shoes from Ross or Sports Authority on sale. I have several pair for different activities.
8. Digital Bathroom scale
9. DVD player for my videos.
10. My circuit step for aerobics.
11 Lots of workout dvds. I may be a Cathe Friedrich addict, I'm not sure.

Maybe the most important things are the ones I don't buy. I don't have a gym membership. I don't have a personal trainer. I don't buy the super expensive name brand shoes. I do buy nice socks. Those matter. But, the truth is if you watch what you eat, journal, and do simple exercise like walking and stretching, the weight will probably come off if the macronutrients are in check. The exercise is just there to buoy your metabolism up and to keep you from being in a plateau. It helps with mood and most people experience a dip in mood during dieting/weight loss. I do.

Thats all for now, tune in next time for the EDH Diet Soap Box!

7 low carb breakfasts

Many people have a hard time dealing with breakfast on a low carb diet. I eat low carb to improve my insulin resistance and PCOS symptoms. Sandra Ahten has suggested, in her podcast, using 7 different breakfasts in a week. For some unknown reason, this seems to help kick start the body into fat loss mode. I think that the body needs a variety of nutrients and when it gets a variety of nutrients through different foods it has the opportunity to relax and lower its out put of stress hormones. Thats just a guess on my part, I do not have any research to back up my idea. Most people associate breakfast with certain foods, there is nothing wrong with having atypical food for breakfast.

Here are 7 good, low carb, and clean breakfasts to try while on a low carb diet. These are not induction recipes:

1. Roasted turkey with eggplant: In other words, use the left overs! Just heat and eat.

2. Nitrate/nitrite free bacon with eggs. This is quick if you cook the bacon in the microwave on low for 3.5 minutes. I have a handy little device that cooks eggs in the microwave in 2 minutes. I love it.

3. Beefsteak tomatoes sliced in half, salted, drizzle with olive oil and roasted in the oven. You can add cheese if you eat dairy.

4. Mushroom Omelet with a variety of mushrooms, I like criminis, shitake, and button. Cheese is not required. Fluff the egg, you can add cream or coconut cream to make it rich.

5. Saute spinach with cream cheese and almonds. Serve it with parmesan crackers (bake parmesan in a hot oven just a couple of minutes and watch closely, you don't want them to burn.

6. Mexican style stir fry: Stir fry beef strips or tofu ( I don't do the soy but some do.) with bok choy and some pre-shredded cole slaw mix, add in a small amount of either pico de gallo or salsa. I also add hot sauce to taste. For extra protein you can add a scrambled egg at the end of the cooking.

Regards salsa: Choose one without MSG, it is thought to induce insulin resistance and thus make you hungrier and also retain fat in your body.

7. Coconut milk and protein powder, I prefer the whey powder from the Sacramento Co-op. Its really clean. But, this won't help you lose weight so watch out for that.

Motivation to Move

Is a podcast that I am subscribed to on iTunes.  I like both Scott and Joy.  I listen to them when I'm on my morning jog.  I haven't signed up yet for their pay to play service.  I'm still in the job market.  However, I really like what they have to say.  Scott emphasises (spl?) doing your home work and what he means by that is checking in with your self to find out how am I doing?  This is a powerful tool because you do it at least once a week.  You look back on last week and review your performance, how you felt, and what you would like to have achieved but didn't.  Then you look at the following week and decide how you would like to feel and what you would like to achieve or get done.  This is a powerful tool because it is invoking the power of setting your intent.  There has been a lot of research about how setting your intent has a dramatic effect on the outcome of any situation.  I learned about intent setting from Sandra Ahten.  I highly recommend listening to both of these podcasts, they are a wealth of knowledge.  I realize that phrase sounds like a cliche, however, in these cases, its really true.  

A link to Sandra 

A link to Motivation To Move 

I'm about to go on my second workout from week 6 of the couch to 5k program.  I'm almost all geared up.  Its gotten warm enough that I'm forgoing my college sweatshirt.  I'm all decked out in pink.  Its going to be a scorcher by the end of the week.  We expect to see triple digits by the end of the week.  I am going out earlier to avoid complete and total melt down lol!