Breakfast

I am a breakfast kind of girl.  Traditional breakfast foods have always been some of my favorites.  Not the sweet stuff like pastries or waffles, but eggs, bacon, sausage, & hash browns.

Needless to say, when I began to get serious about fitness, breakfast had to change.  The key is to create breakfast that will still make me happy without breaking the calorie and fat banks first thing in the morning.

I tried the turkey bacon and sausage, but it wasn't tasty enough to justify the expense.  I tried shunning breakfast foods in favor of healthy foods that are normally considered lunch or dinner foods (chicken breast, salad), but I just missed my breakfast friends too much.

Finally I hit upon a compromise that is working for me right now.  The doctor said I could safely have an egg yolk a day, and as many egg whites as I wanted.  So I'm currently scrambling my egg with 3 or 4 egg whites and a couple slices low fat cheese, and mounding it up on 2 slices whole wheat toast.  Instead of buttering the toast, I'm spreading it with a thin layer of spicy stone ground mustard.  That really ups the flavor factor for virtually no calories.  It is so tasty!

For now I'm pretending that I don't like bacon or sausage, but I know that is not a permanent solution.  I'm still working on that piece of the puzzle.  So I just add a small dish of berries and call it breakfast.

I am learning that in order to make fitness a lifestyle, I have to take flavor and culinary satisfaction into consideration.  Making wise nutritional choices means satisfying my palette as well as my health.  I am worth the effort!

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Lunch

Here is a look at a standard lunch for me these days.  My "formula" is to fill my plate with vegetables first, then add a little fruit, some protein, a little fat, and maybe some grains.

Today my vegetables were 1 red bell pepper, 1 box of cherry tomatoes, some lettuce (hiding under the sandwich) and a pickle. Then I added an orange and a sandwich.  The sandwich is lean deli turkey and lean deli ham, low fat pepper jack cheese, & stone ground mustard on whole wheat bread.

This is a formula that I can change up according to which vegetables look good at the store, or what I happen to have a taste for.  Many times I will just skip the bread.  I always have to have either a pickle or a few olives because they are some of my favorite foods.  I try not to have cheese and olives at the same time due to the fat content; I also don't have pickles and olives at the same time due to the salt content.  Those olives just don't play well with others!

Most of the time a lunch like this will hit the spot and I'll be a happy camper until dinner.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Starting Over

Starting over. 

I read a great blog post tonight from a mentor of mine, Brenda Turnbaugh, of http://bodybybrendat.com/.  It is good enough that I'm going to recommend you go read it for yourself.  Here it is, http://bodybybrendat.com/2012/09/20/why-did-i-change-it-up/, I'll wait.

In the post, she talks about how she had a good thing going; something was working for her, and then she switched it up and lost her momentum.

I can really relate to that, except for the part about having a good thing going.  I haven't had that for a long time.  I may have never had that.

But I need it.  Bad.  So, I'm starting over.  Throwing out several plans and diets and workouts and expectations and disappointments and just starting over.

I'm not ditching FIT class.  I love FIT class and I will not give that up.  I have had to shelve it for a while to let my foot heal up, so I'm modifying, modifying, modifying at home.  I'll be very happy when I can get back to FIT.

I'm mostly starting over feeding myself.  Feeding yourself shouldn't be hard.  But it has turned into a big huge deal for me and I need to just get over it and feed myself properly.  So I will, starting now.  That means no bedtime snack tonight.

I hung a photo on my dining room wall; I can see it from where I sit to eat my meals.  It is a group of women running, and the caption is:

"Discipline is doing what you know needs to be done, even when you don't want to do it.  JUST DO IT!"

That is good advice, and I'm going to be living it from now on.

I'm more determined than ever to make this a life.  Not a diet.  Not a plan.  A life.  A good, healthy, productive FIT life.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Swimming

Well, I thought my foot was healed, but it isn't yet.  Or if it was, I've made it mad again, as it is swollen and sore.  Maybe I got too familiar with the elliptical machine over the weekend.

Anyway, my exercise choice of the week is swimming laps.  I can do that for as long as I want each session (as long as a lane is open) without even being on the foot.

Swimming is a good cardio workout if you keep your pace up, and it strengthens core and arm muscles as well.  It is one of my favorite activities.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Weekend Workouts

I think my foot is mostly healed up now, but I've still been taking it easy.  My workouts lately haven't even been worth mentioning, but I want to mention them anyway, so I can look back and see that I have been as active as I can be, even during times of injury.

Sometimes it seems that times of injury are unavoidable.  I try to be careful, but sometimes I just really crave the feeling of pushing myself to the limit, or past it.  I get in the moment, and end up forgetting the pains and just charge ahead full speed.  It isn't until later, when I cool down, that I realize that something hurts that shouldn't hurt.

So this weekend I've been at the Kroc Center, hanging out on the elliptical, or maybe spending a few minutes on the stair climber.  Nothing fancy, but it is movement, and right now, that is what counts for me.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Practicing Things I Dislike

I've said before that there are about 10 million ways a person can move their body in exercise.  Some of those ways I really enjoy, and some I intensely dislike!

I've found that if I dislike a particular exercise, it is most likely because it is hard for me to do, or I don't do it very well.  Usually it is also a move that is good for me, one that will benefit my body and help me reach my goals.

Recently, I decided that I would practice moves that I dislike.  No, I'm not into torturing myself; I believe there are several advantages to doing this.  First, if it is a move that will help me become more fit, I want to receive the benefit of that exercise.  Second, there is a particular satisfaction that comes from facing something unpleasant and conquering it, sort of an "in your face" confidence boost.

To a lesser degree, it is also a matter of personal pride; an exercise in self-preservation.  Because I know  we will be doing  some of these things in FIT class, the more moves I can perform well now means less embarrassment for me later.  I may not always show it, but I am an extremely competitive person, I always want to exceed my best effort.  I am constantly looking for ways to use my competitiveness to focus  my attention on weight loss and increased fitness.  I believe practicing things I dislike is one way of accomplishing that goal.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Red Light, Green Light

Did you ever play the game "Red Light, Green Light" when you were a kid?  Basically, a bunch of kids line up, and one person is the referee.  When the referee shouts out "Green Light", you run as fast as you can toward the finish line, and when they shout out "Red Light", you have to stop immediately.  They keep calling out either red or green, with you either running or stopping, until someone crosses the finish line.  I feel like I have been playing that game lately, and I really don't like it!

One of the most frustrating things about having diabetes is the way it messes with my feet.  The disease causes poor circulation to your extremities, and reduced blood flow causes all kinds of problems. One big problem is that cuts and blisters can take forever to heal, and if they get infected, you could end up losing your foot.  Serious stuff!

One of my goals on the way to Fitness-Gonna-Be is to be more active every day.  Green light!  One of the problems with being active every day is that it is very hard on my feet.  Red Light!

I spent a lot of time walking and running around over the long weekend (Green Light!), and ended up with a bruised sore place on the bottom on my left foot (Red Light!).   Now I have to take it easy and stay off my feet as much as possible for as long as it takes for the foot to heal.  It could be a day or two, a week, or more.

This extended Red Light has left me frustrated, but determined to find a way to stay active even with this limitation.  Granted, FIT class is out until the foot is healed, as is running, walking, etc, but I will search out ways to move that don't involve being on my feet so much.  I will develop a set of circuits that I can do in my basement.  I will alternate pushups and situps until I beg myself for mercy.  I will stand in one place and punch/kick my heavy bag until my arms and legs are like jello.  I will find a way to be active. 

Basically, I will stick my tongue out at that Red Light, and go on to create my own Green Light!

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Wanna-Be

Hey - How Did These Get in my Fridge?!

The enemy appeared in my fridge over the weekend.  As a favor to a friend who had a busy weekend, I offered to make the sweets for our after-church fellowship this weekend.  That is how these came to appear in my fridge.

One of the hardest things for me to deal with in my quest to get healthy is unhealthy but tasty and tempting foods.  My family's lifestyle seems to revolve around food.  Family functions, church BBQ's, dinner with friends, snacks watching sports; it all adds up to FOOD.  Good food.  Fattening food.  Food that is dang hard to resist.  Constant food.

I am learning that I can't put the whole world on a diet.  I can't control the food intake of the general population or of all my family and friends.  That means that I have to control my own food intake, most often in the presence of enemy foods.  I understand that no food in itself is inherently evil and I've heard the mantra "everything in moderation" until I'm ready to hurl.

My problem is, apparently my "moderator" is broken.  Whatever it is inside a person that tells them to steer clear of a food, or that they have had enough does not seem to be working in me.  It never has.  I won't say it never will, because I believe it will. 

I'm digging around inside myself until I find it; then I will dust it off, repair it, put it back where it belongs and turn it on!  It has something to do with a bible verse that I heard Sunday, which says if you walk in the Spirit, you won't gratify the lust of the flesh.  That, in a nutshell, is the answer.  I'm mulling it over every day and it is beginning to grow and take root in me.  It will grow and produce the fruit of the Spirit in my life, one of which is self control.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, and you want to know, get your hands on a bible and read Romans chapter 8 and Galatians chapter 6.  That's what I'll be reading for a while, among other scriptures.  I'm excited to see where this leads.  I'm sure it will be somewhere away from those beautiful cupcakes!

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Just a Walk in the Park

Clatt Adams Park, Quincy, IL

The weather was perfect and the skies were a beautiful stormy gray this afternoon, and all I could think about was getting out with my camera and taking some pictures.  This is my favorite one from today's outing.  I'm a novice with my camera, but I always have so much fun goofing around with it.

After about an hour I took the camera home, swapped it for the dog, and off we went for a walk in the park.  I'm counting it as interval training, because the dog alternates between sprinting and stopping to sniff under every tree and bush.  We both enjoyed it immensely. 

Exercise doesn't have to be at a gym or fitness class to count.  Anything that gets you moving is fair game.  If it makes your soul happy as well, then that is even better.  Today's outing fed my soul and made me happy to be alive and well enough to run around with my dog.  

I'm learning that movement makes me happy.  In my workbook today I had to answer a question about what activities I would be doing if my size and fitness level were not an issue.  My answer included kayaking, rock climbing, tae kwon do, competing in a triathalon, & surfing.  I want to do everything!  Making a list helped me visualize what I want to accomplish with my body, so when I want to overeat or skip exercise, I can picture myself being busy with all these activities, and I will be motivated to stay on course and continue to work toward these goals.

Sometimes, the path to a new you is as simple as a walk in the park.

Sincerely,

Tina

The Fitness-Gonna-Be

300 Abs

I wanted to finish the day off with a little activity, but nothing too hard since FIT class is at 9:00 in the morning.  I decided on this:

I found this through my friend, Brenda Turnbaugh's Facebook page.  As far as I can tell, it came from the Mio Watch Facebook page.  I always like to give credit where credit is due.

Anyway, this little ab workout doesn't take very long, but it is intense and leaves your abs quivering.  I think it is a perfect replacement for a bedtime snack!

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Just Keep Swimming

After yesterday's double FIT workouts, I woke up pretty stiff and sore.  The easiest way for me to work out the stiffness is to head to the pool.

The Salvation Army Kroc Center has a decent pool with a couple of lap lanes, so I headed over there this morning.

I'm not a fast or graceful swimmer, but I love the water and the way it loosens up my sore muscles.  I took 45 minutes to swim 1/2 mile, which is a pretty leisurely pace, but it felt good and was just the right workout after pushing myself yesterday.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Double the FIT

Yesterday's workout consisted of not one, but 2 FIT classes at Legacy Martial Arts.

FIT classes are usually held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:15 p.m., and Saturday's at 9:00 a.m.  This week, 2 additional classes were added, at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.  It is yet to be determined if these extra classes will remain on the schedule.  Yesterday I attended both the 2:30 and the 7:15 classes.

Here is a youtube clip that shows a small portion of a FIT class:

(That's me, in the background, at 1:07 working the rope, and at 2:03 flipping a tractor tire!)

FIT is a total body workout class for people of all ages and abilities.  It's great because it is never the same thing twice.  In case you don't know, there are about 10 million ways a person can move their body.  These classes incorporate at least that many.  Work ranges from old fashioned situps, pushups & jumping jacks, to using medicine balls, kettle bells, heavy bags & more.

The class is fast paced & intense, unless it is specifically slowed down with some Yoga and Pilates moves.  No matter what the work is, you are guaranteed 45 minutes of hard core fitness and sweat, with plenty of encouragement thrown in for good measure.

Be warned, this class is not for the faint of heart.  If you show up, you are expected to work.  Don't worry if you can't do every move, there is always a modification so you can work within your body's limitations.  They will help you realize, though, that your body can do far more than you think it can.  They will never push you beyond what you are capable of, but they will most definitely push you out of your comfort zone.  That is what I love about it.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Homemade Veggie Burgers for Lunch

For years I have had a love/hate relationship with vegetarian food.  For a time I tried to be a vegan, but I just couldn't get into the groove.  There are some vegetarian foods that I really enjoy and still eat on a regular basis.  The veggie burger is one of those.  Unfortunately, veggie burgers have brought their own brand of torture into my life.

The veggie burgers you get at the store taste good enough, but are lacking in a "whole foods really healthy" way and so I can't justify buying them.  I have searched the world over for a homemade veggie burger that I love.  Granted, I'm hard to please.  The veggie burger of my dreams has to be made of wholesome grains, beans, seeds, and veggies of course!  It has to hold together when cooking and taste good when eating.  It doesn't need to take like a beef burger, but it has to be tasty in its own right.  It can't have a list of ingredients that I can't readily buy in my local supermarket or a process that takes all day.  It is a bonus if it can be cooked in a variety of ways, such as pan fry, bake or grill.  I like options!  I don't know how many recipes I tried that were named "The Best Veggie Burger Ever" that obviously weren't - too many to count!

So here is where I give a huge shout out to Angela over at "Oh She Glows" for her veggie burger recipe that I now count as my go-to veggie burger.  It meets and exceeds all of my expectations.  Here is the link for the recipe.

http://ohsheglows.com/2011/07/13/our-perfect-veggie-burger/

She has many many other very tasty vegetarian recipes that you might enjoy, so go for the veggie burger, but stay for lots of delicious healthy food.

The picture above is today's lunch.  2 homemade veggie burgers with onion, pickle, & mustard, wrapped in lettuce leaves.  On the side are homemade sweet potato chips.  These are super easy to make, especially if you have a dehydrator, but still doable if you don't.  Just peel the sweet potatoes and slice them very thinly, using a mandolin makes it easy.  Then just lay them on your dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 24 hours.  If you have to use your oven instead, just place them on baking sheets and bake at 300 degrees, checking and flipping them every 10 minutes, until dry and crispy.  You can season as desired, but I just like 'em plain.  They will keep for several days in a ziplock bag.  If they get soft, you can re-crisp them by popping them in the microwave for a few seconds.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Craving

Dictionary.com defines the word craving as follows:

Craving:  v. to long for; want greatly; desire eagerly.

Yep, that sounds about right!  The thing about a craving is it can be incredibly intense, so intense that it takes over your world when it hits.  At the moment you are neck deep in a craving, you don't see any way out of it except to give in to it.  You feel like it is gonna last forever, there is no end in sight.  It is like the food you are craving is a mountain in front of your face, and we all know mountains are unmovable, right?

Not necessarily!  While it is true that cravings are intense, it is also true that they don't last forever.  In addition, there are things you can do to prolong a craving, and there are things you can do to knock a craving right to its knees.

A mentor of mine once said, "You can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest in your hair!"  How does that pertain to cravings?  Well, you can't really stop cravings from coming.  They are thoughts that come to you, whether from memories of favorite foods you've eaten in the past, that Burger King commercial you've seen a thousand times, or the smells emanating from your favorite bakery as you pass by.

But what you do with that craving when it comes determines whether it has power over you or not.  If you dwell on that craving, give life to it, savor it, you will undoubtedly end up giving in to it.  On the other hand, if you acknowledge it, but then counter it with a little pep talk about how it would taste good to indulge but it would undo all the hard work you did at exercise class, you can usually talk yourself right out of it.  Go ahead and think about how powerful you felt when you finished that last run or workout in the gym.  Dwell on those successes instead of the smell of a cookie or the sight of a pizza.  If you can distract yourself even for 15 minutes, that is usually long enough for that craving bird to fly on over your head and disappear into the horizon.  Then you can go on about your day feeling confident in your ability to feed yourself on your terms, not Burger King's.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Circuits in the Basement

This evening I headed to the basement for a workout.  I set up a circuit of 10 stations.  I worked each station for 2 minutes, with a 5 second rest in between (just enough time to get from station to station).  Then I repeated the circuit for a total of 40 minutes of work.

Here are today's stations:

~resistance band punches
~squats
~pushups
~situps
~kettle bell swings
~medicine ball throw downs
~heavy bag punches
~heavy bag kicks
~sprints
~plank

Circuits are a great workout because you can invent endless combinations of stations so you don't get bored.  You can work different stations of the same body part, or do a total body workout, whichever fits your goals.  It is a good idea to throw in a station or two of cardio, but if you keep moving at a brisk pace through every station, you will get your heart rate up and burn calories throughout the whole workout.  Many stations can be done using just your body weight as resistance, so you don't need a lot of equipment to do circuits.

I used to avoid circuits because timing them was a complete pain.  I found a free workout timer online that is very easy to use.  You can set the length of your work, your rest period, and the number of rounds you want to do.  Then it does all the work.  There are many free timers online, just google "workout timer" and you can choose the one you like best.

I hope you will try circuits next time you are looking for a fast paced workout.  They are really fun!

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be

Hello

This blog is part motivation, part accountability, part diary.  I want a place to record my trial and error, success and failure, and things that motivate me.  If it motivates someone else or helps them get healthy, that is a wonderful bonus.

I might gather enough courage to post my weight or "before" pictures some day, but not today.  I will say that I am a 43 year old, morbidly obese, type 2 diabetic that needs 5 shots of insulin a day, in addition to other medications.  I have various health problems, including side effects to the insulin that causes dizziness and nausea almost daily, which makes working out difficult.  I am learning that difficult does not equal impossible. 

Every day I am stepping away from being a fitness-wanna-be and becoming a fitness-gonna-be.  I know it will be hard.  It has been hard for years, trying to lose weight and get healthy.  Hard isn't gonna stop me any longer.

I am starting the "Am I Hungry" book and workbook by Michelle May, MD, as well as working out at Legacy Martial Arts, and the Salvation Army Kroc Center, both in Quincy, IL.  I'm also doing workouts at home in my basement-turned-mini-gym.

If you have found this page because you are looking for a magic pill or potion for easy weight loss, I am going to burst your bubble.  Such things do not exist, because I surely would have found them if they did.  I have spent my entire adult life going from diet to diet and exercise to exercise.  There is no easy way out of obesity.  It always takes hard work, dedication and sacrifice to reach a goal.  Goals are worthy pursuits and the time and effort put into achieving them is never wasted.

I may feel like whining and making excuses for my present situation, and God knows I have spent years doing so, but that life and the results it has brought me are very tiring and I'm ready to do work now to improve my future life and health.  The results will be recorded here:  the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Sincerely,
Tina
The Fitness-Gonna-Be