Different Perspective

It appears that i have successfully dropped 10lbs in 2 months.  That doesn’t seem like enough but in all fairness i feel 10 lbs loss is what i deserve for the amount of work i have put into it! I am happy, i am feeling better, and as always it helps push me further. 

I was told that an airplane never stays on course from point a to point b, even on auto pilot.  The airplane is constantly in correction of it’s flight pattern and flys in a zig zag to it’s destination. 

Myself, similar to airplanes, am constantly re-evaluating my exercise routine, eating issues, etc.  I will make it to my goal, but alot of corrections will need to take place on the way.

Green Giant Steamers are great! I have been buying these pups for about a week now.  I get the ones that have the vegetables in them.  45 calories per serving with 3 servings in the pouch.  10 calories per serving of fat.  4g of sugar per serving, 8g of carbs. Again those numbers vary slighty in each bag, but that is the average.  They taste great and have very few calories.  Pop them in the microwave for 5 minutes and you have an excellent tasting snack or lunch.  Just thought i would share.  These are around 1.87 at walmart! No dirtied dishes to clean up afterwards.  Good stuff.

Yesterday was extremely nice here in Missouri.  Instead of hitting the gym for some cardio, my bro and I figured it would be a great day for some basketball.  We had an excellent workout, lots of fun, and it helped mix up our weekly routine.  I think everyone should thrown in a few fun exercise days just to keep it interesting. 

I woke up in the middle of the night with a severe calf cramp.  I can never figure out what causes those, but they are seriously no fun!!!

Since we are moving this weekend, we have decided to hit the gym strong all week and take the weekend off, although moving is no light task and will prove to be its’ own workout. 

This morning, i was totally unprepared for breakfast.  We are in the process of moving, and so food is scarce around the house.  I decided to stop by the local gas station and opt for a health bar.  I found a couple different kinds, and the one i chose was a Powerbar. 

This thing had 20g of sugar!!! This is NOT a health bar, rather another candybar.  Might as well picked up a snickers and chowed down on that.  Point is, does anyone know of a good health bar with protein and/or fiber that has very very low sugar??? I would be very interested in knowing with kinds.  Also any feedback on the best and worst protein bars would be appreciated. 

I just can’t see these so called "Health" bars, being healthy at all!

I have been exercising faithfully for almost 3 weeks.  I have been doing cardio, weight lifting, and have completely overhauled my diet to eat right.  My portions are much smaller during the day than they have to.  I have a very hard time replacing the cereal though! Cereal is great, i am almost convinced i am addicted to it.  Most days i replace it with a nice bowl of oatmeal. 

I feel better mentally and physically.  It is almost as if i feel much better than i actually look!  I have been drinking 2 protein shakes a day, and that seems to help alot.  Yesterday, i clearly did not want to go to the gym.  With an incredibly stressful week, and i mean one where i spent hours so worried that my heartrate was clocked at 120 without doing anything, i was worn down and then had to put in a full days work.  I knew that these were the times where I would know whether or not i was dedicated to my exercising.  I still mustered enough energy and motivation to make it to the gym for a great workout.  I felt so good and proud of myself afterwards as i usually do.  Once you get inside the doors to the gym, everything changes. 

I literally "pep" talk myself the whole time.  I am my own bestfriend and workout partner when i am at the gym.  Of course i have my brother there to help most of the time to be accountable.  He has done a great job with his motivation as well, and it helps me to continue.  We give each other good feedback, positive statements and even some critical ones along the way, but it is helping us get closer to our weight loss goals realistically.

I would encourage anyone out there who doesn’t have a workout partner, to be your own.  Count on yourself, reward yourself, and most importantly talk nice to yourself.  Get a good mp3 player to workout with, it really helps me!

I am waiting for the day, the week, and the months, where the fat starts to melt off.  I am no longer looking at starting a workout routine, i am looking at continuing a workout plan.  If you haven’t lately, verbally reward yourself for being involved in a workout plan, to having a goal for your life.  Don’t wait for someone else to compliment you, compliment yourself, take a few minutes just to take pride in what you have accomplished, whether it was a simple 30 minute exercise this morning, or replacing one bad meal, with a good one, or whether you overlooked a can of soda.  Whatever it is, soak up all the small accomplishments.  Trust me, it will help with motivation 

DICTIONARY FOR DECODING WOMEN’S PERSONAL ADS 40-ish…………………………….49
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Stress -  early morning, small workout results, long drive to work with a long day ahead, LOTS to do!  All of these types of stress welcome temptation! Each one attempts to bully me into eating wrong and unhealthy.  I manage a Baskin Robbins, and i am constantly staring at some sort of incredible tasting treat including full flavored ice creams coming at me in many flavors, peanut butter cups that are readily available, cookie dough pieces, reeses pieces, cookies, cake, need i say more?!?!  However, avoiding it is not as hard as you would think, but on this particular day,as a group,  they seem to be luring me in.  So I rush to indulge on the M&M’s.  This could be my cheat day right? Maybe? NO! I won’t have it! Or,…yes i will, i will. I poured myself a small cup of M & M’s and sat down to my morning paperwork.  I glance over at the colorfully filled cup and just stared. 

I thought to myself…"Do i really want to ruin a great week of eating right and exercising?"  It was now me vs. the M & M’s! i continued to stare as their color appeared to get brighter and more tempting by the second.  I could imagine the taste of chocolate, and my mind was going through all the reasons why it be ok to eat them ALL!  I even considered justifying the action by telling myself i had worked very hard this week and i deserve a break, and that i should reward myself.  I stretched out my hand to the cup, and if you could picture the huge battle scenes like in Gladiator or The patriot, or in the Lord of the Rings, or movies like that where two huge armies suddenlty collide in battle…, I swear that must have been what happened in my head so i paused…and slowly i started retracting my arm…I had won!

 I withdrew my hand from the cup, and took the M & M’s back to where the came from.  I strutted to the refridgerator where i had a cold can of fruit waiting for me.  I busted it open and i reaped my reward for a weeks worth of hard work and an unimaginable encounter with temptation that I overcame!  As I eat my fruit now, i feel more rewarded and accomplished than ever.  This is my prize, this is what it comes down to, and for today, I am a winner!

Did you know? It would take you walking the full length of a football field to burn off 1 m&m!!!

Yesterday i hit the gym after work for an excellent and satisfying workout.  I have noticed though how time crunching it is trying to incorporate and good solid workout plan.  I spend about 1.5 hours at the gym.  I try to squeeze in a body part each day (chest, back, legs) and then add 20-30 minutes of cardio on top of it.  We usually push about 15 reps per set.  What i have noticed is that i tend to feel a little rushed in the workout.  It may be a good thing to feel rushed so that i don’t take too much rest between sets.  My main point is that i can understand how some people actually feel as though they do not have enough time to workout.  I really feel bad for these individuals.  I understand some use the time topic as an excuse but i think some people are legit in their dilemma.  It takes a good amount of time to get a great workout in, and i’m willing to give that time, but at some points i feel a bit guilty that i have the time to spend and others do not.  …I think it is almost time for some new pics. 

I got to thinking about all the reasons i wanted to lose weight.  Among them are health, more confidence, and the other general reasons.  Lately i have started to define the reasons a little more by what i notice in day to day living.  One of the things i notice is the way i set things down at work, or DON’T set them down but let them drop the last foot so that i don’t have to bend all the way over.  That is just embarassing and lazy!  The other thing i noticed is how hard it is to simply tie a shoe.  I also notice that when i stand up i have to take about 2 stabilizing steps meaning i have to adjust the rest of my body and fat into a good posture to start moving so that my back doesn’t hurt…also embarassing.  Sometimes it is hard for me to even let my g/f get close because of how i feel about my looks, and i even feel uncomfortable because of my size.  She is not a big girl, but any weight on my already fully formed stomach causes me to lose my breath.  It may seem like i am really putting my self down, but in reality i am drawing on more motivation.  One little mistake in my diet, and i’m a little shaken but have been pretty successful with getting back on track quickly.  Sometimes the weekends are the hardest times to follow a lifestyle change.

So far it has been around one week since we have joined the gym, maybe it’s going on two?? I’m not sure, however, it has been a rough start.  It seemed like it took forever to get on a rythm, between gym times, day care, etc.  I have been able to work in both cardio and weight lifting.  I have been very surprised at how little i can actually lift.  My cardio seems to be the easiest part even though it is still a struggle.  I actually missed the muscle soreness that i am experiencing now.  I can still hear the little voice inside my head trying to talk me out of going to the gym, but i have been successful in my diligence and commitment.  I initially started going to do cardio in the morning, but decided to add it to my weightlifting session to save time.  I’m exciting that i have beaten the first big boss which is the initial start in changing my life.