You Know How a Metaphor Works~

The rest of the plan must involve food.  You know what you weight, thus how many calories you need to consume.  You know your heart rate and target heart rate for resting and working out.  You know your body mass index so you know what you need to gain, lose or maintain.  You have set one or multiple goals and have a plan for how you are going achieve them.  You are on the calendar!  Now, you must eat.

If I can just cram one more thought in here before I continue: Hormones, sleep, stress, age, activity level, physical ability and fitness, mental attitude, depression, ambition, motivation, and inspiration all affect your ability to gain, loose and maintain weight.  If you will give food and exercise a try, you may be able to reduce your stress, which will improve your sleep.  Allowing yourself to eat nourishing foods will improve digestion, which will help balance hormones.  Any activity will increase your physical ability which will boost your metabolism, thus fire your ambitions and motivation because you will feel and eventually see the fruits of your labor.  The human body is comprised of 10 systems working together; nourish all 10 systems and your body will heal itself.

You don't expect your car to perform at its best with clogged fuel injectors, low oil and no gas, right?  We can all understand that the engine of a car needs to be maintained or it will break down, hang out in the garage, watch TV with the boys and stain the cement floor.  The next step varies: a, trade in the car; b, keep piling kitty litter over the stains, ignore the car and hop the bus to work; c, call a mechanic to fix the car.  I could go into how costly but worthwhile it is to fix the ol' beast, but this isn't really about the car...  its a metaphor for your body.  If you are eating foods that clog your arteries, running low on fuel and without ...  well, you know how a metaphor works.

The good news is, you have already started looking at your diet.  (What, you're on day three of your diet analysis? ;)  The next step is easy.  Add foods that fill in the gaps.  Low on servings of veggies?  Add veggies.  Low on Fruit?  Add fruit.  High on protein?  Make your serving size a little smaller.  Instead of taking things away, at this point I just encourage you to add the pieces you are missing.  Do some field tests on recipes and foods that you think you may like and foods you know you do like.  I love carrots and hummus instead of chips and dip now, but I had to find that crunchy-salty replacement for myself.  You do to!

Fat and sugar are the greater of all of the evils in your diet.  Oils, butter, cheese, (Dairy), table sugar, honey, fruit juice, processed foods, ice cream, animal fats, bread, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, creamy salad dressing, mayonnaise, anything fried, anything from the bakery, anything from Chili's.  Start by being aware of how many of these foods you eat.  When you add nourishing foods to your diet, thus meeting your body's nutrient needs, you will feel less 'hungry' and more satisfied.  The result is turning to fatty, sugary, heavy foods less often.  Adding foods to your diet is much more likely to help you stop eating than taking foods away.

Real food... vitamins... water... and, as always, remember to wash your hands.

Anna~

If This is Temporary, Don't Bother!

Ninth:  Put your plan into action.  There is no use waiting until Monday to start at 90 or 10 day or 28 day 'Return to Section X' agenda; on Monday you will still be 90 or 10 or 28 days from your goal (Monday is 5 days away!).  Begin now!  Even better, invite someone to do it with you~  two years ago I called my sister-in-law and asked her to work out with me for 28 days.  Every other day I choose the workout, she chose the rest.  We were utilizing Wii Boxing, Just Sweat, some salsa dance video on Netflix, the Nike Trainer app on the iPhone, yoga; the workouts were rarely the same, they were always fun, and we were accountable to each other.  Why 28 days?  It takes about 21 days for something to become a habit, so if you can commit to a number larger than 21, working out just might stick.

Tenth:  Change your vocabulary.  If you look at this like a 'diet', you will not find change.  If this is a temporary road, don't bother.  If you've picked an exercise or a goal you know is unachievable, you will not succeed.  Whether you like it or not, you are already on a diet.  Healthy or unhealthy, nutritious or chemically flavored, the food you put into your body is your diet.  Your actions, attitudes and decisions are what determine the state of your affairs, your health and your ambitions; don't cloud this decision with ridiculous terms like 'diet', 'fat', 'difficult', 'can't', and 'rabbit food'.  Changing your health is about changing your choices, not temporarily cleaning out your refrigerator and donning a new pair of sneaks.

Eleventh:  Embrace the size you are!  This may sound counter productive and strange, I know, but accepting who you are right now may alleviate the pressures you may put on yourself tomorrow.  Change is slow.  Food works slowly.  Exercise works, but over time.  Pharmaceuticals make us believe weight-loss should be immediate and results are guaranteed, but the truth is change, in any form, is a gradual process that takes commitment and flexibility.   There will be set backs, there will be plateaus, there will be aches and pains, it will be difficult, it will take time.  In the meantime, be who you are and look forward to the changes that are coming.

Twelfth:  Buy a water bottle.  If you already have one, fill it up.  Keep it with you every time you sit down to a real, delicious meal.  Take it with you when you work out.  It will come in very handy when you need to wash in a vitamin.  And, after all of the gunk that is hanging around inside of your body starts finding its way out of your body, remember to wash your hands.  I'm off to go out into the world of 'summer vacation!'  See you all here tomorrow~

Anna~

A Math Lesson

Fifth:  Define how many calories you need.  Men, weight times 11 just for basal metabolic function: women, weight times 10.  Activity level dictates the rest.  If you are on your feet and moving around for more than 2 hours a day, add 250-300 calories.  If you are active (running or biking or swimming or raising your heart rate above 150 for 30 minutes more than 4 times a week) add 350-500 calories.  If you are sedentary (sit at a desk, walk only from the house to the car, do most of your activities sitting down) add 100-200 calories.  Your weight is the tool you use to find out how many calories your body needs. (.)

Sixth:  Find out your body mass index (BMI).  This equation seems a bit complicated, but I assure you it's not.  Take your weight in pounds and divide it by your height-in-inches-squared.  I am 65 inches tall; 65 x 65 = 4225.  I weight 137 pounds, so 137/4225 = .033.  The last step is to multiply the quotient by 703.  That means my body mass index is 22.7.  Knowing your body mass index will educate you on how many pounds you need to gain or loose, thus how many more/less calories you need to consume/spend.  If you want to build a house you use hammers, nails, saws, levels and other appropriate tools to construct an efficient home.  If you want to tune up your body, use corresponding tools; weight, height, BMI and activity level.

Seventh: Know your heart-rate.  Resting heart rate is how many times your heart beats per minute while at rest.  So, while you are watching The Chew, count how many times your heart beats per minute just by feeling the pulse in your wrist and watching the clock.  It should be between 60 and 80 bpm.  If it isn't within that range, it may be a clue that your heart isn't working as efficiently as it should be.

Target heart rates are a bit different.  If you quickly calculate 220 minus your age you arrive at about your maximum heart rate.  This number is important when performing physical activity and exercise.  If exercise is a new addition to your daily life, you should aim at about 50% of your maximum heart rate (a seasoned athlete can run at about 85%).  Knowing your resting heart rate and your max heart rate will help you understand how physical you should get when maintaining your body.  Remember, your heart is a muscle and it will strengthen and improve over time if used correctly.

Eight:  Grab some real, whole, naturally occurring foods, a tall glass of water, a napkin, a pencil and a calendar and make a plan.  Personally, I have a plan that includes running at least three times a week.  I also have to practice my guitar or my callouses thin and my fingers hurt, so that is on my calendar.  I make a grocery list and shop once a week.  The kids and I even have chore charts so we maintain our home, thus maintain my sanity.  I am worth putting on the calendar and so are you!  Figure out who you are, what you need to tweak, and, after all the math, remember to wash your hands.

Anna~