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