Diets, Food and Everyday Life!

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Pilates.

“Pilates called his method Contrology, because he believed his method uses the mind to control the muscles.^[3] The program focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles.” Wiki

So to fill in my New Years Resolution, to take a class, I went down to the Taylor Recreation center Monday night with my friend Nicole to drop in on the Pilates class. I was not quite sure what to expect this being my first fitness class ever and my first Pilates class on top of it all. However when the class was over I was surprised.

I didn’t really like Pilates, I expected more from it. Not only did I not break a sweat at all but I almost started laughing at some of the names of movements. For example, at one point we were sitting on the floor with legs out straight in front of us. The band wrapped around our hands and we were instructed to make a swooping motion toward our pinky toe like we were “sawing it off.” So there I was trying not to laugh as the instructor repeats over and over again “center and saw, center and saw.”

Needless to say I didn’t sign up for the 8 week class. I am still looking for something.

I joined the Healthy You Challenge 2008. “The Healthy You Challenge is just that, a challenge to become a healthier version of who you are right now. It doesn’t matter if you need to lose a little or a lot or even if you just want to maintain and make a healthier version of who you are right now you’ve come to the right place.”

So Friday I totally had a big eat day. I was really discouraged blowing the whole 30 days being in control of my eating out the window. But when I got up on Saturday morning I decided that now more than ever I need to rebound well. I mean the Pistons would like to just go out and win every game they play but when they lose they still go out and play the next game. I need to have that attitude.

So Saturday morning by the time I woke up I had a million excused including:

• I had a headache (couldn’t have been the drinks on Friday night)
• The Snow was starting
• It was cold outside
• It was Saturday

But I got up cleaned the house and got dressed to go to the gym, normally I work out at home on the treadmill. I worked out on the Elliptical machine for 30 minutes (354 calories) and then went to my favorite middle eastern restaurant and ordered a sandwich and big salad for D and I to have for dinner. I ended the day at 1600 which was good.

Sunday I got up and totally forgot about daylight savings for about an hour until my mom called and asked me where I was. We were going to meet at a metro park by her house and do our first 5 mile run. Well I said I would finish breakfast and be on my way, but we decided to run on an indoor track instead. I have been increasing the time that I spend running on my treadmill but I have never run outside or not on the treadmill, so I had no idea how it would be. It was great! I ran 5 miles in just under 60 minutes and then walked the track for the next 15 while my mom finished up. Now I am getting more and more excited about the upcoming trail run.

Yesterday I failed the challenge.  I was at a total of 2,014 calories for the day.

The 30 day challenge is going great to far we are on day 5 and I have stayed with it every day. Yesterday I jogged for one hour and burned about 400 calories, I consumed a total of 1600. So it was right in line.

I weighed in this morning to find out that I have lost the weight I gained in Las Vegas.

This week I weigh 156.2!

Now is when the 30 day challenge get’s really challenging . . . the weekend. We all have a tendacy to go over our calories on the weekends with going out to eat and bars and all that crazyness. Here is my weekend plan.

1. Eat at home whenever possible (this means breakfast, lunch and dinner on Friday and Sunday)

2. Go to the Taylor Recreation Center on Saturday and do some other cardio, if D feels better maybe a game of Raquetball

3. Sunday is the first run with mom, we are meeting at Kensington for a five mile run.

I totally nailed it yesterday even with going out to eat. Once again the Applebee’s Weight Watcher’s menu pulled through for me.

1,379 calorie total for yesterday.

This is something I think everyone deals with, you know except those lucky lucky people who love to exercise and find time to do it all the time (lol). Here are my top tips on Finding Time To Exercise.

1. Early to rise, late to bed.
The early to rise part of this was never my best moment, but it sure works for my mom so if you can stand to get out of bed an hour earlier then do it. The morning is an ideal time to work out.

For me it’s the flip side I am a night person. My time limit on working out is 10:30 at night. After that is too late but I would do an hour on the treadmill at 10:30 with no problem. And this has been brought up recently in the USNews Blog on Fitness post about Excercise Before Bed? Go For it. In this article

Shawn Youngstedt, a researcher in the department of exercise science at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, who has studied the question. He says it’s a common assumption that working out too close to bedtime impairs sleep, but that the evidence suggests otherwise.

for more of this article click here. So if the night time is your time to shine I say rock it out.

2.Fidget all day long!
Remember that every movement counts as exercise. According to a Mayo Clinic study done in 2005 people who were more fidgety burned on average 350 more calories a day than people who sit still. If you could create a deficit of 350 calories a day for the next year you would loose 36lbs by March 4th 2009. For me that would put me almost at goal.

So how do you fidget? Listen to your favorite music during the day and dance a little in your chair. Stand and pace when on the phone with someone instead of sitting down. Bounce your leg whenever you think about it, and think it more often. Take the stairs, or just stand up and lap around your cube or living room once in a while.

3. The Television Workout!
This is my all time favorite, what you will need is some hand weights or soup cans for weights and your tennis/ workout shoes.

Step One: Find your favorite TV show, can’t be pre-recorded we need commercials.
Step Two: First commercial break, get up and march in place think fast we want to get your blood moving. Keep marching the whole commercial break, then watch the show. Now during the upcoming commercials breaks alternate between upper body and lower body movements. I like to get mine from Shape.com.

4. The Final Straw Breaker!
I might be stealing from Nike here but “just do it.” If you are serious you know these things and you will make time. Use your babies as weights and lift the baby, use your kids as motivations and go outside to play tag or set a reminder in your outlook box for 30 and every 30 minutes throughout the day get up walk around or fidget. Just move more and you will loose more!

I did it, my Calorie total for day number 2 was 1,399! This is a huge accomplishment for me yesterday because so many things came up. Including:

- High Stress Day
- I attended a Great Piston’s Game
- I did not exercise

Things like these are going to come up all the time and I just need to deal with it. Yesterday I did.

So I decided that I am going to be having a 30 day challenge. This challenge starts today and ends on April 3. Each day I must eat 1400 calories plus any exercise calories I use during exercise for 30 days in a row.

Today I ate a total of 1,698 Calories
And I ran worked out on the treadmill for 63 minutes= 432 Calories.

Woo hoo, now I only have 29 days to go!

My race is on April 26th it’s five miles and I don’t want to be the last person to cross the finish line.