December 29th, 2009

Exercise Any Way You Can

Introducing Bucket the Wonderdog

Happy Holidays everyone! If your Christmas (if you celebrate it) was half as good as mine then you should be very happy! This year we decided to add a dog to the mix- a beautifully well-tempered dog named Bucket (my daughter named him). Isn’t he adorable?! While we made this decision so that my daughter would have a playmate, we did so also because of the exercising benefits.

We live in as apartment and since making the decision to work from home I have become somewhat of a shut in. I homeschool my daughter and then work as a writer, web designer, Blogging Consultant, and am co-founder Moms of Hue and the We of Hue Network the rest of the time. I have very little reason to leave the house outside of doctor’s appointments and the occasional family outing. This has proven to be disastrous to my health as I have gained weight which is in direct opposition to what I need to do. So, the decision to get the dog came from a need to force myself to brave NY winters and get my butt and my daughter’s butt outside.

And it has.

We live on the second floor but have to climb about 35 steps to actually get there- 20 to get to the front door of the building and then another 15 to get to my door. I have been climbing those steps twice daily at the least since bringing Bucket home. In addition, my daughter and I, along with buddy walk roughly .25 miles when we take him out for his afternoon walk. In addition, in the morning we have begun walking an additional .5 mile and plan to work our way up to 3 miles. As you can see, I have already begun to get more exercise since Christmas Eve than I have probably done all year. All this walking combined with my daily EA Active exercise (once I get the doctor’s approval to continue) will help me reach my overall goal.

It is so important to get up an move. I feel better than I have in a long time because I am forcing myself to exercise. Those trips up and down the stairs count. The brisk walks of the dog around the neighborhood count. It all counts and I plan to continue getting exercise in any way that I can.

What do you do tho get more exercise in?

October 16th, 2009

Fun and Dairy Free

Went to the nutritionist. Another attempt to get my weight under control. She believes that I am insulin resistant and sent me to the Endocrinologist. I also have to have my thyroid checked. Those appointments are forth coming. After going over what I eat with her, she made me realize a few things:

1. I do not eat enough. I barely taking in 1000 calories a day and because of this my metabolism is stalled.
2. I do not eat enough protein. I really don’t like meat so I avoid it at all costs.
3. I need to work on building muscle as opposed to cardio only.

I was actually relieved to hear these things as they seem fixable. She put me on a diet- I have to eat tuna for breakfast and set an alarm clock to remind me to eat every 4 hours.  I am making a conscious effort to follow her guidelines in terms of eating. As far as working out goes, she wants me to build muscle. I am starting that tomorrow as I have not been feeling well all week.

My husband and I have decided to give up dairy too. My daughter – 3 – suffers from bloating and flatulence every time she drinks milk of eats ice cream so rather than put her through this, we are giving it up. I’m feeling really good about this decisions as the benefits of a diary-free diet extends far beyond just bloating. We – both my daughter and I – suffer from allergies and asthma and dairy is a known agitator of both.

In other news, I also had my IUD removed and the GYN suggested that I wait until after I have Gastric Bypass (did I mention that I wanted to have that) to get pregnant. I agree, but the IUD was making me freak out every month. I am going to focus on losing weight by making serious lifestyle changes and if I get pregnant, so be it. It will work out.

January 4th, 2009

Fight the Frump

Taking my cue from Michelle at The Integrated Mother, who took her cue from Jessica at Jessica Knows, I have decided to Fight the Frump. I have struggled with weight for the last 10 years. Prior to that I was heavier than most, but atletically built and in shape. I played sports, loved to walk, and ate crap but worked out. My eating habits have not changed much since, but what has changed is my activity level. Throw that together with a bout of depression and eating diasorders, and I have been a ripe mess for some time. 

My plan this year is to chang that. I want to lose some much needed weight, but I also want to get my family fit. My husband has high blood pressure (albeit not that high) and his family health history is a frightening tale of the problems of obesity. My daughter deserves a life of health and even more so, she deserves to have parents who will be around to enjoy it with her.

And so we begin.

I am enlisting several tools to help me on my journey to Fighting the Frump.

SparkPeople (Link): offers a great diet plan, recipes, member groups, and more. My name is Momontherise here.

PeerTrainer (Link): offers a great food lof for daily use. You can create small groups of up to four people to help keep you motivated or larger teams to do the same. Both can be private even if you still want your log to be public.

 

Others

View my page on Modern Mom Challenge

December 21st, 2008

Product/Book Review: First Place 4 Health

This review is long overdue as I won this book from Books-a-Latte back in October. I am sharing it today because I entered another contest and felt really badly that I had not kept my end of the bargain, and also because with New Year’s Resolutions looming in the back of every mind, many of us will vow to lose weight this year. I, for one make, this vow every year and every year I fail because I don’t do enough to change the big picture. This year, things will be different.

Carole Lewis, author of First Place 4 Health, has written a spiritual guide for losing weight. The theory behind this book is steeped in Christianity and a strong belief in God. Lewis believes that the key to losing weight is a strong relationship with God.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may know that I am Agnostic. If not, you do now. When I first opened this book I was a little turned off by the authors dependency on religion to guide health, but the truth is that I am not who she was writing for in the first place. However, I continued to read because I was interested in her approach.

 Lewis specifies that weight loss cannot exist on its own. It is part of a whole that one must break into four groups: spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental. While for Lewis spirituality is  a concrete belief in God (Christianity), for me it is about harmony and a understanding that everything is connected. If you are like me then you will find that regardless of your religious beliefs, Lewis’ approach is a holistic one and one that could work.

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And make sure you head over to Books-a-Latte. She has a great book review blog and some really awesome giveaways. Make sure you comment and tell her that I sent you so that maybe, just maybe, she will forgive me for being such a spaz. LOL