A New Challenge and some updates

On August 1st I am taking on this arm challenge.

It crossed my timeline on Facebook twice in one day so I decided to check it out. Then I posted it to Perkis People and invited my fitness buddies to join in. Needless to say, they did and that just makes it all the more fun. I know what you are thinking. "I wonder what her definition of "FUN" is?" Hey, whatever keeps us smiling and moving is fun in my book.

As I began to look at the challenge a little closer I began to think I must be crazy. But this is where the group comes in and keeps it 'fun'. Misery loves company (that's another group I know but the thought applies here). With others in the group doing the challenge we can laugh and applaud our attempts together. I've also challenged Carmen, Todd, Dave and the boys to join in to keep me going during our upcoming vacation. So far, Carmen is the only one to commit. I think we can drag the boys along simply by telling them they do not want Mom and Granpaula to do more than they do. :)

No one will be more surprised than me if I actually get to the full complement of push-ups, dips, curls and air punches by August 31st. But any number I accomplish is more than I'm doing now so it's still a win. And since I am not working out toward an event goal I've decided to add a squat and plank challenge to this calendar. Without the pressure of an event to train for, I can take the chance of straining something because I can afford to rest if that happens. Of course I don't want to do that so I'll be careful but I have nothing to lose for trying. :) With an event on the schedule I would have had an 'excuse' not to try.

An update on eating healthy:
Yesterday marked 8 weeks. The second 4 were much less strict than the first 4. Having said that I still did an excellent job of sticking with the concept of the plan - Protein, Veggies & Fruit with no grains or processed foods. I backed away from my plan to avoid the same food in the same day or for the same meal two days in a row. The primary reason is to avoid spoilage. I'm basically preparing menus for one. Dave is not a huge fruit and vegetable eater. He eats them but is not really on board to having them at every meal. So preparing for one in those areas becomes a real challenge if I want to maintain the variety level I initially committed too and avoid waste. I've had ice cream and M&M's over these 4 weeks too but sparingly. All in all, in 8 weeks I've come a long way of eliminating processed foods from my intake.

It was difficult to turn away from the Crème Brule French Toast that was on the menu at breakfast yesterday. A group of us went out after putting in some trail miles. I stuck to the omelet instead and truthfully it was very satisfying and filling. I was satisfied until diner. The French Toast delight would have left me wanting more in a few hours.

I'm looking forward now to finding out how this will work with running and biking and increasing my activity levels in general. One of the benefits of eating this way is having your body to use fat rather than sugar/carbs for fuel. This is very beneficial for endurance.

I did not eat breakfast before our group run yesterday and I felt fine. This result is not significant at this point though. I only went 4.4 miles and I've never run without having breakfast first so I have nothing to compare this too. I am curious to see how far I can go before feeling the need to fuel. Then I have to decide what to use for fuel on longer outings. One step at a time. ;)

Thanks for staying with me.

30 Days of a New Habit

So today marks day 30 of trying to eat healthier. The day is not over yet but I'm confident I'll make it. :).

Was I perfect. Heck no!! A co-worker went to Ireland this month and brought back Irish chocolate caramels. So yeah, I had some. Proud that I had three over three days instead of three in one day. Also, I didn't stick to giving up creamer in my coffee. Wawa Dark Roast with a splash of Irish Creamer is good. I am being careful to keep it to a splash though. Just enough. This past Friday I had a totally "off the wagon" dive into the M&M jar at home.Not going to shoot myself over it but definitely not proud of that!

The key to that one is trying to figure out why it happened. Can't say for sure but this past week was the most disorganized of the 4 weeks. During the first three I was careful to plan out my three meals. What each would consist of and shop accordingly. I got out of whack this week, got a little cocky and tried to wing it. While I did keep the grains off my plate and I did manage to have protein, veggie and fruit at each meal I don't think I had enough. I was still hungry and Friday came and I lost it. And yes I know I should have gone for a veggie or fruit based snack. *Shrug*. Stuff happens.

Why Aren't You Eating Bread

Dave asked me this last week. Although in my head I knew I had good reasons I bonked on giving him an explanation. My attempt to verbalize my thoughts was feeble at best. Yet, being the good sport that he is, he nodded as if what I said made sense. Since then, I've been working on how to explain it better. Also there were comments left earlier that I think I can answer here.

#1) Basic old (currently less active) person biology/nutrition - Carbs break down into sugar which is stored in the body for energy. The body can only store so much sugar and the rest turns to body fat. I don't need/want any more body fat. I need energy but I'm choosing to get my carbs from fruit and veggies which give me more nutrition bang for my calories.

#2) Bread, pasta and cereal are processed foods that make for lazy ineffective meals. It's just too easy to pour a bowl of cereal or make a sandwich. Besides being too easy, these items fill me up quickly and leave little room for the more nutrient rich fruits and veggies. Plus after a heavy carb meal it's not too long before I'm hungry again and craving a snack. Without bread, pasta or cereal I'm forced to plan what I'm going to eat and make it worthy.

Each meal - three times a day - has some kind of meat, fish, eggs, or dairy (note the OR - not a meat AND a dairy product), a veggie and a fruit.

You Are What You Eat

So I've been giving thought to my nutrition habits lately.

About 5 years ago I made a conscious effort to eliminate excess fat and sugar. It was not a total deprivation thing. It was things like switching from 2% milk to fat free milk; no dressing on my salad; no sugar on my cereal; swapping out sodas for unsweetened green tea or water; and in general watching my portion sizes. I allowed cheating though. I concentrated on being "good" but allowed myself a piece of cake at our work birthday parties for example and the occasional sweet treat or soda as a 'reward'. This actually worked for close to a year.

Then I was diagnosed with exercise induced anemia. This was easily brought under control by iron supplements but then I started training for my first marathon. So my iron counts were good but I was still tired. Two things kicked in. First, I "needed"to reward myself for reaching mileage milestones. Second, being tired makes me crave and give into comfort food. Same thing happens when I'm sick. And let's face it, comfort food is mostly junk calories. Good thing I was running a lot. And lately, I've been a little down about the heart thing lately so more junk calories.